Category: Africa
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The Trigger Scent of Safari
I’ve been on many a safari. In English usage, the word ‘safari’ is used almost exclusively to describe an animal-viewing expedition in Africa. Having grown up on the continent, however, I like to use the word in the context of its native tongue. ‘Safari’ simply means journey in Swahili. Like many words in Swahili, it…
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Morocco – climatic dissonance
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Up to that point in my life, I didn’t know such an experience existed. Cognitive dissonance. When we returned home, that day was the one we told everyone about. It was ten years ago, but four children and many relocations later, I remember it like it was maybe…
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George H. W. Bush, from a dung floor under a tin roof in Chebitet, Kenya
I have mental snapshots and memories of the main house on the family compound. We were living with a Kipsigis family on their rural Kenyan land, surrounded by rolling hills, grazing cows, and red dirt. In this main building, we shared meals around a long table and the boys slept in the corner, having given…
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Even This Stone – An Easter meditation; Grootfontein, Namibia
Lil’s P’s cowboy boots slipped on the side of the rock, belying its composition of pure metal. We didn’t expect to befall a space treasure on our Namibia trip, but it happened to be on a not-too-distant detour on the route from Windhoek to Rundu. We followed signs from the highway and when we arrived,…
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Mbunza Living Culture – Namibia
As the van came to halt on the sandy track, beyond the grass partitions we saw employees move into position. Unlike Victoria Falls four hundred miles to the east, Botswana’s Okavango Delta 260 miles to the southeast, or Namibia’s own Etosha National Park to the southwest, the Kavango region of northern Namibia doesn’t experience droves…
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Learning in Africa
We spent most of the month of July in Namibia, Zambia and Tanzania with family. Here are a few things I learned. 1. Washing clothes by hand cleans your fingernails and stretches your hamstrings. Sometimes, while traveling, washing machines are available. Sometimes they are not. In Africa, it seems Westerners are often content to wear…
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Turmoil in South Sudan – Interview with American family who calls South Sudan home
On Christmas Day you probably were not thinking about South Sudan. At least not very much. I wasn’t. But, if you are the Faders, you were. They left their home and relationships in South Sudan for a Christmas holiday, not knowing their return would be tenuous. A year ago the Faders were featured on willtravelwithkids,…
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The Ill-Fated Feast – Mom’s perspective
As I recalled the account of a fateful holiday meal, posted yesterday on Communicating Across Boundaries, I asked my mom to recount the event from her perspective: That Thanksgiving is a bit of a blurr. Of course, I wanted it to be perfect. Dad had gone to Malawi, by train, to get our beloved students.…
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The ill-fated holiday feast
Today I have the privilege of writing a guest post for Communicating Across Boundaries. Marilyn Gardner of CAB is a passionate writer who covers a wide range of topics. I appreciate her perspectives on culture and Third Culture Kid (TCK) issues. She spent formative years in Pakistan and has traveled extensively, with a keen eye…
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A TCK gives birth
By the grace of God and with the expert coaching of my husband, I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy boy in September. He was eight days “late,” but they come when they come. The labor was, of course, excruciatingly painful. But it had a beginning and an end – and a completely worthwhile reward.…
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