I have now spent 8 weeks of my life living in Africa. I have been totally blown away by the experience. It is a place I never thought I would visit in my lifetime! I witnessed the birth of a country, saw the vast deserts of the Sahara, the Alps, Mediterranean Sea, Mount Kilimanjaro out of the aircraft window, but the most important was to be able to experience the people and culture of South Sudan. It has been a extremely rewarding experience to be a minority for the first time in my life. I receive stares, discrimination, and was even confronted a number of times. I saw first hand, the effects of malnourished and impoverished people. In a small way, I felt like by doing my job, I was able help aid some of these people.
African society is extremely different than western society. Many countries in Africa are still trying to find their path to success. I hope for the people of these countries, they find peace, stop corruption and most important take care of the underprivileged.
As I witnessed the lead up to South Sudan’s independence, I saw a country that was building, cleaning up garbage, and generally improving its way of life for its citizens. A month and a half later, I see a country who is still building, but the garbage is starting to pile up again, people are getting lazy, and the country is under a major fuel shortage. This will hamper further development.
So as I write this, I am sitting in Nairobi, Kenya with only 22 hours till I am seeing my wife and daughter at the gate of Toronto Airport. I defiantly am returning home a different person and have a new appreciation for what we have in western society. But I am still looking forward to returning in 2 months to that continent they call Africa.
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