Being grateful for what you have. Everyone keeps asking me to keep them updated with how my journey is going, and if you know me, you know I voice my opinion when it matters. What I want to say, I believe it matters. It’s easy in life to make friends, it’s harder to find the ones you know you trust. If you’re a part of my life, I hope you know just how much I actually truly care, how much I’d do anything to make your life better, to make the world a whole a better place. Such optimism is unfortunately a long and maybe unobtainable goal to reach but, one I’ve always felt myself bear on my shoulders. Regardless, my message to you today, be grateful for what you have, hold it tight, love it, cherish it, and be thankful for it. How is Africa..? What can I tell you? You’ve all seen the infomercials, “this child needs your help, and for just a dollar a day you can provide so much.” Every “Cedi” here is worth roughly $0.25 US. For 10GB of data, it costs me $80 Cedi’s. I specifically go to this one lady down the street further than I need to go just because of her smile. My first encounter with her, I needed help getting a SIM card for my iPhone, and she was going through packaging to help me locate what I needed and I was extremely grateful for it. At the end, I purchased my Internet, SIM Card and a pay as you go and it cost me $122 Cedi’s. I gave her 5 for herself and she responded with “God Bless You.” You could see this thankfulness in her eyes, this desire to hug me and really express her gratitude and, it makes you think. You’re driving though the village and have 15 children run up to your car so grateful to see you, waving and shouting, “Abruni! Abruni!” You’ll never understand how much a couple dollars and bottles of water go so far to them and, it makes you think. I have this amazing gentleman at the front of our house named Adam that does security 7 days a week for 12 hours every day; 6am to 6pm. Every day we talk just about anything from, what I think of the weather and heat in Africa to, how much he loves Justin Bieber…. Unfortunately, the SIM Card I bought from that lady didnt work out, and the credit I had was essentially a waste. Instead of throwing out the $5 I realistically spent, I went to ask Adams what the provider was on his phone and sure enough it was the one I bought. I give it to him and he says to me, “Are you really giving this to me? Do you realize just how generous this actually is? Thank you so much Master Beau.” Two days later, he gives me a call to go out front to meet him. He has one of his friends that owns a camera take a picture of us together thinking he just maybe wanted something for a scrap book. The next day I come out for a smoke he tells me to come up front, “I have something to show you.” Doesnt he get a print out of our picture and tells me, “Now, no matter what happens if you stay, if you leave, you’ll always have a memory of our friendship.” And guess what… It made me think. “You can’t miss anything if you never had it to being with.” There’s no McDonalds here, there’s no malls, there’s no nothing; there’s all your discarded trash shipped over for these people to take and be eternally grateful for it. To return the favor to Adams I asked him, “If I ever go out to the market, is there anything specifically you’d need or like to have?” The conversation was interrupted and yesterday he sends me this text message. Hi my gudfriend how are u doing I hope by now u are relaxing comfortably. U asked me to think of what I will like u to buy for me. To be honest I can’t tell exactly what I want u to buy for me. Anything u buy for me I will be very grateful to u. By the way thank u very much for being so kind to me. I don’t know how to thank u by Adams. I don’t even know how to respond to that, I don’t. This extremely kind hearted man, he works 12 hours every single day and is such a grateful man. I makes me think. I miss my family. I miss my girlfriend. I miss my friends. I miss my cat. I miss my car. I miss my games. I miss my shows. I miss my NFL. I miss bed. I miss my home. I’m here on a journey, just how long that will last I’m not sure. Maybe I’m selfish, maybe I’m greedy but, I’ve found so much to be grateful for what I have. It’s so easy for us to laugh and complain about our problems and hashtag on Facebook FirstWorldProblems, I’m guilty for it myself. This experience has made me realize just how ignorant I truly was taking for granted what I actually had in my life. For work related, I had to visit the Police Station here… It was missing half of the back wall. Their computer was a sheet of paper and a pencil. The Commanding Chief office… Well, I didn’t get to see it because the door was closed but, his door was an old bed sheet with a paper stapled to it reading “Commanding Chiefs Office.” Public transit is and old beat up van that simulates as a circus clown car; people are hanging on and sticking out half their bodies just to stay inside. You go to the market place and they see your skin, they BEG you for just a single Cedi and afterwards treat you like royalty. Maybe these people are just don’t know what’s available in different parts of the world but, they’re happy. Maybe they don’t have a local stand where they can sell data cards but, I haven’t seen a single person not working for what they need. Some stand by the side of the road and beg you for money but, they’ll be there with a shovel filling major pot holes believing that they’re of service (God I wish we had some people like that in Niagara…). My point is, these people have no idea what they don’t have but, they’re happy. Every day I see their smiles. Every day I see them working their asses off. Every day I can’t help but to think. Cherish what you have. You hear all too often that “You don’t know how fortunate you really are.” Maybe we’ve become so accustomed to hearing this quote it goes in one ear and out the other but the fact is, it’s true. I’ve been blessed to come here for a job opportunity that will make my life back home much greater. I’m grateful for it. I miss a lot of things, and days like today I don’t know how to cope with it when I have all these others thoughts running through my head. I said goodbye to many things leaving home, none of which was easy. A part of me is homesick. A part of me really wonders what I actually need in life to be happy. A part of me just wants you to know, be grateful for what you have.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 06:24:49 +0000
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