Acceptance - Meeting a Leper in Africa

 Acceptance-An Encounter with a leper

 

Acceptance - An Encounter with a Leper


I was at the Kenyan border on my way into Uganda from Nairobi. The border is literally padlocked until you bribe your way through, or take hours to go through without that extra help of a little something. I saw an older man hobbling up to my Toyota 4 by 4. He was partially blind. He had no hands, only stubs, he wore rags. He was reaching out toward me when a stark naked realization hit me, leprosy.

"Mzungu, give me money....Mzungu help me"...He pointed his stub toward me, my hand reached out, I touched him. He startled and moved  back...Mzungu...you touched me...

I looked aThe Ngong hills is a place where I used to go and find simple self acceptance.t him, thoughts flashed through my mind, like all of us his deepest need was to be appreciated, to be accepted...Every human being wants to be valued I thought.  He like all of us wanted to be loved. Love a simple word and yet so much is involved.  In English we are so limited when it comes to the word love...You can love hamburgers, flowers, people, friends, lover, children and always use the same word.

The Greeks can say it in more ways than us...I storge you...family love, philia, brotherly love, eros...intimate love...agape...unconditional love....

He wanted to be loved, to be accepted for what and who he was and yet he was frightened by it. I knew from my own life-story that nothing in life has such a lasting and fatal effect as the experience of not being completely accepted.

When I am not accepted, then something is broken in me. A baby who is not welcomed is ruined at the roots of Experience the real Pearl of Africa-Uganda its peopleits existence. A child who does not feel accepted by its teacher will not learn. A life without acceptance is a life in which a most basic human need goes unfulfilled.


Acceptance to me means that I am welcomed to be myself. Acceptance means that though there be a need for growth, I am not forced. I do not have to be the person that I am not. Neither am I locked in by my present or past...Rather there is room for me to unfold, to outgrow the mistakes of my past. In my own personal life I would call it an unveiling...An unveiling of who I can be, who I can become, and who I was meant to be...

When I am not accepted, I am a nobody...To accept a person does not mean that I look over the defects, or try to explain them away. Nor do I act like everything is rosy or fine. When I deny the defects of another person, then I do not accept them. I have not touched them at the core of their being and will be a participant in their unveiling.

The man stood in front of me...."give me a lift,  Mzungu,  to Jinja"...I looked at him, I could smell him...My insides went through a quick war with themselves...Come, lets go...

The stench of his humanity filled the truck....I turned to the window for a breath of fresh air, even though the heat was unbearable and the humidity was high.

Soon we rolled on through the gates and on to Uganda and his destination of Jinja which was 50 kilometers away.

He began to talk and told me his story...I began to listen with my heart...I heard his ache, his joys, his need to be someone...more than a leper, but a person with a name. I asked his name and he told me...He was al Luo, he grew up in a wealthy family and yet came down with leprosy...He had no one...he lived off what he was able to beg....

We stopped at a roadside chicken vendor and took some bbq'd chicken on a stick. He had not read Emily Post on table manners, he simply devoured the meat...he thanked me.

We drove on in silence and I reflected on some things I had learned in my youth...the time when Jesus reached out and touched a leper, going against the code of his day making  him whole.

The pain of rejection...I felt it before myself and remember going to  a therapeutic massage place filling out the forms and she asked me why I wanted treatment and I replied..."I simply want human touch"...

The man next to me craved that same thing...To be touched, to be accepted...I reached over and took his stub...I said,  "I know how you feel"...He started to cry softly...We drove on...jon.

   

Wisdom is the finest beauty of a person.   Money does not prevent you from becoming blind.  Money does not prevent from you becoming mad.  Money does not prevent you from becoming lame.  You may be ill in any part of your body, so it is better for you to go and think again and to select wisdom.  Come and give, that you may have rest in your body, inside and out.

Traditional African Saying

This Year Experience Africa by visiting its Pearl - Uganda

Africa-The Inner Journey...

Reflections of my ongoing African JourneyExperience the real Pearl of Africa-Uganda its people

Africa One Man's JourneyAfrica - One Man's Journey:  Places, people, events that deeply touch our hearts. When you go on a journey there is something you see with your eyes, hear with your ears and even smell.  Here is my journey in Africa both the inner and outer reflections. 

Africa - Reflection on the JourneyAfrica - Reflections on the Journey:  Stories and thoughts of inner reflections in Africa.  As we travel along, things from our past illuminate the present.  Here you find some thoughts shaped in Africa.

African Carving - The shaping of the soulAfrican Carvings - The Shaping of the soul:  Events tend to mold and shape us.  The events of life shape us into who we are.  Here a carver of of soapstone teaches me about the shaping of the soul, the making of character.  In some ways it is easier to shape a piece of soapstone than it is to shape a human being.

African MeditationAfrican Meditation:  Thoughts formed and shaped in Africa.  Places in one's life can evoke things within.  Africa has done that in my life. A time of inner reflection.  There is more to a trip to Africa, than the magnificent Rift Valley, Lake Victoria, the Mountain Gorillas, there is that time where you sit somewhere on a balcony in Africa overlooking  a lake, a river, quietly you gaze into the African night and reflect.

African Night SoundsAfrican Night Sounds:  African Nights are filled with sounds that you never forget.  They stick with you and living in Africa they become a familiar sound, they even become welcome.  In a city there is hardly ever total silence and even in the wilderness there are the sounds of the night that do something deep within.

Messengers sent to usMessengers Sent to us:  We don't meet people by accident, often they are messengers and to our surprise they impart to us exactly what we need at that moment in times.  The key is the one who is receiving the messenger to recognize that the message is for us. 

Easter in Africa - Reflections:  Some thoughts about hollow chocolate bunnies and a fulfilled life instead of a hollow life that is simply empty.  There are not many chocolate bunny treats here in Africa, instead Easter for most Africans is a celebration of life.

Celebrations with an African Twist:  Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years in Africa.  Sometimes finding a turkey is a bit tough but there is always a reason to celebrate in Africa. 

Seasons of LifeSeasons of Life:  Lessons learned along the way.  As you get older, one of my observations is...that you either get bitter of better. There are new temptations along the way.

My African Puzzle RingMy African Puzzle Ring: How do you put a puzzle ring back together?  How do you put life back together.  Some observations as I attempted to put my puzzle ring back together.

Beauty of the HeartBeauty of the Heart:  This is about inner and outer beauty, while looking at the Kaloli Bird (Marabou Stork).  The stork is quite ugly, at least I think so, but when you see them soaring over Kampala city, there is a grace and beauty to them, you simply have to see it.

Why AfricaWhy I went to Africa and left:  Doors open and doors close for us.  Some years the events of life unfolded and I wound up in Africa, I have come and gone and once again I am back in Africa, it simply gets to you.

Sitting on the River NileSitting on the Nile River:  To some almost sacred, the Nile, a source of water for many, a place to fish for a livelihood, for some such as myself, a place to sit and reflect as the water flows by.

One Question asked - Who are you?One Question asked -Who are you?:  As I landed in Kigali Rwanda I was questioned and asked "Who are you?  It has stuck with me...who am I?  A human doing or Human Being?

Different Paths - Similar HeartsTwo Men - Different paths - Similar Hearts:  Reflections early in the morning as the sun rises awakening to the call to prayer in Uganda.

African SolitudeAfrican Solitude - Reflections of the Soul:  The stillness outside of us bringing stillness within.  To be still for some is a labor, we love sounds, instead of the simple sound from within, the sound of silence.

This year Experience Africa-Discover one of its Pearls-The Mountain Gorillas of of Uganda.

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Last updated: 21 August 2010

Acceptance - Meeting a Leper in Africa

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