Patience

But the fruit of the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. Galatians 5:22-23

When I was on Go MAD trips we would often say ‘TIA’ (this is africa) when the day didn’t go to plan or when things were taking an exceptionally long time to do. I now find myself saying this quite a lot! I love it though and have learnt that the best thing to do is just embrace the way of life here!

I would think of myself as a fairly patient person but i feel that God has definitely been teaching me something more about patience recently. Nothing moves quickly here (except some crazy drivers). Life is slow and a very relaxed approach is taken to many things. It was on a particularly slow dalla dalla one morning this week that i began to think about patience and when i especially need patience here. I began to think of quite a list!

There are the little everyday annoying things like how long it takes for the internet to load. That circle to show the internet loading can be quite mesmerising! I discovered this evening that a bucketful of patience is needed when trying to talk to your family on skype! I shouldn’t really moan about this as having the internet in my house and having a working laptop is such a blessing but you definitely need patience! Then there are the times when you go shopping and wait for the person behind the counter to a) acknowledge you and b) to stop reading their paper or chatting to other people and actually serve you and not serve the person who jumps in before you. This is a weird one as you find yourself wondering if they actually want your money and thinking we should be less British and just be more pushy!

Getting a dalla dalla to town is definitely a time where you can get stressed out about how much time it is taking to get from a to b. It doesn’t help that whilst you are going about 10mph and stopping every few seconds you are being squashed by the person sitting very close next to you. There is no such thing as personal space on a dalla dalla! At the end of a long hot day, you are tired and just want to go home. These are the times when no dalla dalla appears! Breathe in and out and have patience!

“The times we find ourselves having to wait on others may be the perfect opportunities to train ourselves to wait on the Lord.” ~ Joni Eareckson Tada

This past couple of weeks there have been times at work when my patience has been put to the test. I have had a couple of women come in to Rehema to be trained in something. One lady, Bhoke, i knew had been in before and previous people have tried to help her learn a new skill but with no success. This made me a bit apprehensive as to what i could do differently. I sat and tried to teach her to make a bracelet. It amazed me that this woman could not do a simple braided bracelet but we took it step by step. The frustrating thing was that this woman began to think she could do it by herself and began ignoring me sat next to her doing each step. Then you just have to breathe in and out stop her and begin again trying to do it a different way. After several hours i thought she was getting it and was so happy. Then she did a move that was completely out of the blue and i realised she really didn’t have it. Sitting at a table for hours training someone, repeating the only words i could say to help this situation (i have never said over, under, wait and no so many times in one day!) can really test your patience. Fortunately my amazing friend Nat came and kept me sane! Another hour or so going over it and then i gave her some string to go home and practice on. She came back this week and the great thing was that she had practiced. The sad thing was it looked nothing like what it was meant to look like and wasn’t consistent enough that she would be able to do it again. Breathe in and out and think of something else for her. A beaded necklace. Stringing white beads onto elastic with a colour bead thrown in at regular intervals. No joy there either. The truly frustrating thing was that you could see how much getting this work meant to her and how her trying to speed ahead and do it her own way was just her way of desperately trying to learn and be able to earn some money to feed her family. The situation wasn’t helped though by the fact she kept stopping to feed her baby - right there and then! The sweet thing was that the second time she came she also brought her son so he could look after the baby. Nat put him on the swing in Rehema and his whole face lit up as he had his first experience on a swing!

“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them– every day begin the task anew.”  ~ Francis de Sales

The humbling task of learning Swahili is also quite a test. I am so impatient and just want to be fluent now! I have to keep telling myself this is not going to happen overnight and rather than spend time stressing about it, actually pick up my book and learn a new word! My Swahili lessons are going well and i have an hour and half lesson each week.  The rehema women are amazing at encouraging my Swahili but i just long for the day when i know what they are saying to each other and also the day when i can understand what everyone on the dalla dalla is saying about us mzngus!

Living here it is definitely not always easy but it is good to be challenged!

Highlight of the week- Going to the orphanage on my day off and Alexi getting really excited when i played music on my phone. Such a simple thing but it brought such a smile to his face and to mine! The smile lasted throughout my time there despite most of them having wet bottoms and snot and food down their tops which also ended up on my top!