Christian Missionary ‘Discouraged’ To Find Africa Isn’t Complete Wasteland That She Can Save

[Jesus Malverde]

There is perhaps no bigger misconception in the West than in regards to Africa. It’s a massive continent with dozens of countries and cultures, but for reasons that defy logic, many Westerners insist on viewing it as a monoculture – a single entity that is poverty-stricken, war-torn, and starving.

That is certainly what Jes Tidwell was expecting when she embarked on a missionary trip. In a post she wrote on her blog, she explains that despite high expectations, she just couldn’t fall in love with Kenya because – as she soon discovered – the country, and especially its capital of Nairobi, is modern, affluent, and kind of similar to cities in America.

She notes:

My heart was prepared for dirt floors.
For dirty laundry hanging everywhere.
For kids that were half naked and covered in bug bites.
People who couldn’t speak English.

Instead she finds a modern supermarket with people of all races shopping among each other, modern luxuries, and conveniences.

That’s good news, right? You travel to Africa, expecting to see the worst of the world and instead find that the people are living well. That’s a good thing! Unfortunately, Tidwell doesn’t see it that way. She expresses utter disappointment that the ugly, diseased Africa that was sold to her wasn’t here in Nairobi:

It just wasn’t what my heart was expecting.
Nairobi is a hub for lots of international business. A place where new buildings are being built left and right and where traffic is a nightmare and a half.

But this girl from the states expected Nairobi to be like what you see in the movies. Or on Feed the Children commercials.

What follows is a tone-deaf account of how her Kenyan hosts try to cheer her up by explaining that there are other places in the country that aren’t so great. The entire exchange is cringeworthy.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/02/04/christian-missionary-discouraged-to-find-africa-isnt-complete-wasteland-that-she-can-save/

[treestar]

1. What would really get to her is that

there are Kenyan Christian Missionaries who come to the USA, figuring it is in need of Christianity.

[iandhr]

2. Sounds like something from The Onion

[Jesus Malverde]

3. Totally agree!

[Downwinder]

4. Travel can be enlightening.

[Jesus Malverde]

5. The world is an amazing place.

Always a surprise around the corner.

[L0oniX]

6. Someones been watching The African Queen again.

[hunter]

7. If she wanted to "save" bug-bitten people living on dirt floors...

... why'd she leave the U.S.A.???

I could introduce her to a few living within walking distance of my home here in California.

[Jesus Malverde]

8. ^^^^DUZY^^^^

[Orsino]

9. One of the attractions of missioning may be finding brown people to feel superior to.

Desperate brown people who will make you feel important, whom you can more or less force into lip service to your faith. The ego is a tricky thing, and ought to be examined regularly by people dealing in person with inequality. I'm not surprised to find that the blogger is a white lady, though, there's not much there to make me impugn her motives.

[lunasun]

10. +1 form of a delusional belief

[MisterP]

11. she did shoot two bucks while she was there

but that was all the money she had