CHANGING LIVES

I love the words of the South African philosopher, Gift Gugu Mona: ‘‘The most rewarding times are those spent in changing lives, for the sake of humanity.’

I hope that during our time spent at VIS we managed to change some lives for the better. This is all we can hope for, that we did what God wanted us to, and in the process, were able to make a positive impact on other people’s lives.

How can I begin to describe our time in Ivory Coast? How can such an amazing, challenging, life changing experience be diluted into a few words? There were times when we were happy and fulfilled; there were times when we felt overwhelmed and unable to cope with another day; there were times when we were unutterably sad; there were times when we felt hurt, angry, frustrated, resentful, questioning, exhausted; there were times when we were homesick for family, friends, familiarity. But through it all we knew we were in the right place, at the right time, that God was with us and would give us the strength that we needed for everything that we needed to do.

All I can say is that our lives were never the same again. We had caught a glimpse of a very different world: one where children were lucky to receive a basic education; a world where people lived a simple life; a world where people became sick through lack of understanding about basic hygiene; a world where people lived in superstition and fear of evil spirits; a world where people turned to the witchdoctor for healing; a world where medicine was too expensive to buy, so people became sick and often died; yet still a world where people’s greeting was an enquiry about the family rather than a complaint about the weather.

I hope that our African experience changed some lives. All I know for sure is that our own lives were changed, enriched and humbled in an unforgettable way.