The Garden Café
In Okajandja, Namibia, there is an Oasis from the stress of
being in a country so different than what we are used to. It is owned and
operated by a couple of people who heard the call several years ago. They went
to Namibia to work with CHI but found their hearts pulled towards working with
older young people who did not necessarily do well in school and needed
training and mentorship to gain marketable skills. They also needed the Lord
Jesus and guidance, or discipleship, in learning what it means to follow Jesus.
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| Uncle Christiaan, Heidi, Kim, and Tony who, with Kathryn, blesses many young people with their ministry. |
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| Familiar tasting food is a treat. Yum! |
Anyhow, the Garden Café is a true oasis. In fact, Okajandja
has the training center for the Peace Corps for all of Namibia. The Peace Corps
volunteers are very frequent customers. On our last visit to the café (I
couldn’t get enough of their breakfast wrap and Andy loved the hamburgers and
crepes/pancakes), there was a group of about 8 Peace Corps volunteers at the
next table.
I found myself deeply saddened and even made a little queasy
by the conversation. The group was a mixture of 6 young people who looked like
college age, a man about our age, and a woman who looked about 60. The woman
was busy buzzing around…on her computer, on her phone, isolating to get some
privacy. When we said hello and found out she’d be in the south near Keetmans,
she just said, “I hope the 2 years goes fast.” Huh? What is she doing here?
Checking off a bucket list item? The man our age was talking with the young
people and, to be honest, I felt like I wanted to invite him over “to give him
a break.”
The language was sprinkled with ugly words and posturing for
attention and position. You know, people taking over each other and the bad language
is all-too-common. I’ve been known to throw in a spicy word all too much too. A
young man was trying to get the group to go to a bar, now that their training
was over. He wanted to ‘get wasted.’
So why did I have such a strong reaction to my eves
dropping? I think a part of it is because
my connection as an American. That is self-explanatory. I think the real reason
is that they were harsh and self-centered and in a country who doesn’t need
people coming to it to make themselves feel good or, especially, to make
themselves and their own county feel superior. Of course, I instantly wonder
how much of that I have done or am doing. I also find myself so thankful for
the difference between the norm and the young people we spend most of our time
with. Our kids have something more on their mind that themselvess, as do most
of their friends. The conversations are worlds apart.
Idle talk can pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise
can heal.
A man we met in Germany, who’s job it is to help people like
us successfully experience other cultures (Jochaim), called the goal in travel
and especially trying to work with people in other countries, “Pearl Diving.”
The people at the café that day aren’t in the process of pearl diving, which
means actively looking for the gems in a different culture. In fact, they
weren’t even near the beach, let alone in the water.
They were hidden in a familiar little café with familiar
tasting food, wallowing in the worst of what our world has become…obsessed with
self gratification, immediate comfort and pleasure seeking, and the total lack
of any sensitivity to increasing what is pure and lovely and worthy to be
spoken and shared. (verse about idle talk).
It reminded me personally to get back out there…away from
the familiar and easy. It is important to rest and retreat when needed, but
make sure to be thoughtful about what I say and do and why I do it.
The other day we met a man in an excruciatingly slow moving
line, as we were leaving Johannesburg, South Africa. He had been there on a
very deluxe hunting trip only 15 minutes from the airport. He told us about the
need to cull the herd. If there is food
for 8 Oryx and 10 are there, all 10 will die so…let the hunters take out 2 and
everyone is happy. I told him I was the typical hypocrite…hate the idea of
hunting but eat the meat. He didn’t get my attempt to be funny.
He asked what we were doing in Africa. We easily rattled
off, “working in a children’s home.” He asked if that was an orphanage. Andy
said, “Yes, mission work.” The conversation stopped. Firstly, I thought it may
have been the religious connotation of ‘mission work’ that stopped the
conversation and made the man turn away. Maybe. But, this time I think it was the
alienation one feels when they feel subtly condemned. That was not our intent,
but I suspect that is how he felt.
I don’t want people to feel this way around us. And I don’t
want to let the unique and enriching opportunity we have had to connect with the
ministry of CHI, the Ark in Keetmans, the children and staff and missionaries, to
feel like we are condemning people who don’t do the very same things we are
doing.
In fact, nothing rubs me more wrong that a person in
ministry who thinks that everyone should be part of that same effort. If the
Holy Spirit is real in the believer who trusts in Jesus as their only way to
the Father, than He (the Holy Spirit) directs the believer. And, if we are each
made in the image of God with diverse and specialized and individualized gifts,
than we are all going to be doing different things…for God and by God. Whew. I
must be hanging around too many passionate French people lately (-:
So, how do Andy and I talk with people and share this experience
without alienating (I’m talking about strangers mostly.) Well…I don’t really
know any other way than to be honest. But, I also know that people “ don’t know
how much you know until they know how much you care” … about them. Our real job is to care and to
show it and to be honest; I think I’m on track with that. We will see.
Oh Lord, please help us be the kind of people who make
others feel accepted so that they can recognize how much you love and accept
them. Thank you for the times you use us in some way … to bless someone or
encourage him or her to move forward. Thank you for Andy’s talents and for any
way you have used and will use us in the future… for Your Glory and for the
benefit of all your beloved. Amen
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