living fully alive

I found this post earlier on Gabi's Blog.


And it was (yes, you guessed it :]) an inspiration.

Enjoy.

And visit her blog and see how she's changing the world.

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Don’t go to Africa, by Joan Smith

by Gabi

[this made me smile deeply and so I thought I’d share it as it contains important pieces of the culture and heart of my home-land.]

So don’t go to Africa…

- if you’ve already determined that people are poor because they are lazy.

- if you aren’t moved to do something when you see abject poverty, people who are sick and have no health care providers at all, schools with no resources, school-aged children too far from public education and too poor for private education.

- if you can’t tolerate no schedule, standing around waiting, daily detours for cell phones, food for others, banking and people who have so little asking for more than you have to give.

- if you’re not flexible with your time, your thinking, your attitudes and your prejudices.

- if you can’t see beyond the poverty and lack or resources and see the love, caring, compassion and humanity in life here.

- if your wardrobe can’t tolerate red clay stuck to your shoes and clay dust clinging to everything else.

- if you don’t want to be awakened by a rooster at 3:30 and 4:15 and 6:05.

- if you can’t accept heartfelt gratitude for the smallest gesture of help.

- if you can’t say no.