Moving toward Cultureblindness

Sometimes I worry about my kids. Maybe you do too, if you’re blessed to have them. Sometimes I see attitudes in my kids and I think, “Where did that come from?”

For example, my kids haven’t exactly bonded with the local culture here in Togo. They don’t speak the language—except for a few words—and don’t really like to mix with a lot of people. Occasionally we’ll stay home on Sunday and have “family church.” They ask for it every Sunday. (I mean, wouldn’t you if going to church meant sitting on the ground or a backless bench for three hours while everyone spoke and sang in a language you didn’t understand?)

The scariest thing about the question “Where did that come from?” is that maybe the answer is “me.” Maybe they pick up on some subliminal signals that I send that betray a sense of superiority or an attitude of aloofness. Oh, I hope not, and I try hard not to send those signals, but what if…

And it’s hard to know how to respond as a parent. If I force interaction, maybe they’ll withdraw even more. But if I don’t do something, does it communicate that they’re actions are okay?

That’s why I’ve been gratified over the past couple of weeks to see my kids grown in leaps and bounds in mixing and mingling with the local kids. Everyone is out of school, and all of our teammates have been out of the country. With their normal playmates away, our kids would normally try to squeeze in every hour in front of the TV or Playstation that they could get by with. But this week, they’ve been spending whole days playing outside with the neighborhood kids. They get into all sorts of things and get filthy, and I’m so grateful. Their attitudes have done a 180.

This has just been a good reminder for me on the value of being stretched beyond our comfort zones. Friends gone, and parents who curb TV hours means that they have to do something – and they end up finding that they can enjoy people that they had previously shied away from.

It’s true for all of us, that our greatest growth personally, theologically, physically however – comes when we’re pushed to consider, attempt, encounter things that we normally would not.

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Update on Nkoli and Lydia

Today I found a new clinic for people with HIV/AIDS that is located just a few miles from us. The services and prices are the same as those offered at “Espoir Vie,” but the location is much closer. Praise God!

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Jeremy lost his second tooth today while eating corn-on-the-cob.
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