I wrote the following poem one year ago, I remember it like it was yesterday. I sat outside on a concrete bench and watched the sun set into Lake Victoria as I scribbled this onto scratch paper (I love scratch paper!). Now, I am back in the United States which is an ocean away from that concrete bench. I flew into Minneapolis on Sunday evening, my first thought upon looking down from the airplane and seeing pinpoints of light scattered across the farmland of southern Minnesota was, "Ohmygosh, look at all that electricity! Every single one of those family farms is connected to electricity! That is just so incredible!" I've continued to have similar "Wow, no way!" moments each day I've been back- the first glimpse of my niece's closet (Look at all those clothes!), my first trip to the supermarket (Look at all those boxes of fake food!), my first sighting of schoolchildren (Look how pale they are!), my first observation of a trash pick-up (Gosh, a robotic arm picks up the can!). It's like I'm seeing America through a brand new set of eyes, maybe I'll get inspired and write a poem about reverse culture shock. In the meantime though, here's last March's attempt at 1st grade poetry:
Mzungu = White Person
Christy Stutsman
March 7, 2009
“Mzungu! Mzungu!” you yell out to me,
your eyes brightly shining, your face lit with glee.
“Ciao! Ciao!” the toddlers chorus,
a greeting of the missioners who came here before us.
“America! America!” Lauren and I shout in reply,
we’re not European, we say “hi” or “good-bye.”
Warm greetings are common, a nod or a wave,
more often a handshake, it’s their absolute fave.
Wet hands, sticky hands, hands dripping nasal goo,
oh yes, what a pleasure, it’s nice to see you too.
We part and move on, striding down a dirt path,
by the lake there are children enjoying a bath.
No matter where we go, the landscape doesn’t change,
deep brown to vivid green spans the full color range.
Cows, donkeys, goats, dogs, and pigs,
a multitude of creatures wandering about on four legs.
African animals are harder to spot,
well…except for the hippo that Lauren just fought!
Both knees are gashed, left arm is achy,
but I’m the one who knows her story’s a fakey.
She was running with me when she tripped on a rock,
the blood began to drip in a jagged line to her sock.
Kenyans had to gawk, on Doc Balient’s door we did knock,
he gave a tetanus booster so her jaw would not lock.
We joked about ways to get out of here,
we were doubting survival in Karungu for a year.
But, our perspective is now brightening,
it no longer seems as frightening,
we’ll make it in this place
with just a little bit of grace.
Mzungu = White Person
Christy Stutsman
March 7, 2009
“Mzungu! Mzungu!” you yell out to me,
your eyes brightly shining, your face lit with glee.
“Ciao! Ciao!” the toddlers chorus,
a greeting of the missioners who came here before us.
“America! America!” Lauren and I shout in reply,
we’re not European, we say “hi” or “good-bye.”
Warm greetings are common, a nod or a wave,
more often a handshake, it’s their absolute fave.
Wet hands, sticky hands, hands dripping nasal goo,
oh yes, what a pleasure, it’s nice to see you too.
We part and move on, striding down a dirt path,
by the lake there are children enjoying a bath.
No matter where we go, the landscape doesn’t change,
deep brown to vivid green spans the full color range.
Cows, donkeys, goats, dogs, and pigs,
a multitude of creatures wandering about on four legs.
African animals are harder to spot,
well…except for the hippo that Lauren just fought!
Both knees are gashed, left arm is achy,
but I’m the one who knows her story’s a fakey.
She was running with me when she tripped on a rock,
the blood began to drip in a jagged line to her sock.
Kenyans had to gawk, on Doc Balient’s door we did knock,
he gave a tetanus booster so her jaw would not lock.
We joked about ways to get out of here,
we were doubting survival in Karungu for a year.
But, our perspective is now brightening,
it no longer seems as frightening,
we’ll make it in this place
with just a little bit of grace.
I would absolutely love to get the opportunity to experience something like this. What an incredible journey you have been on. And you have the ability to see life now from a much wider perspective. How amazing.
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