Travelling with the eyes of others
Kathy, one of the MCC Zambia reps, shared this quote at the MCC Zambia retreat in April, and it’s stuck with me ever since. While I’m sure I would have had a great time in Zambia and Zimbabwe whether anyone cared or not, knowing I had a home and friends to return to made it … Continue reading
Language Barrier
A room full of eight people eating should never be this silent. We scoop rice into our mouths, gnaw on chicken bones and pierce chunks of squash with our forks, but nobody speaks. It’s my first night in Mtshabezi, a rural community about an hour and a half outside of Bulawayo, and I’m staying with … Continue reading
Dress Code
A few weeks ago I went shopping for a pair of jeans in Bulawayo, and I was thrilled to put on denim for the first time in more than two months. But when I shared my excitement with Ratidzo, a Zimbabwean in the MCC office, she asked me incredulously, “why didn’t you bring any with … Continue reading
Victoria falls and beyond
Sorry for the long silence, but life here has been busy. My last few weeks in Zambia were spent following up with people finishing up everything I should have been doing the last two months so I wouldn’t have had a big crunch at the end. Then I spent the weekend at a retreat on … Continue reading
What do you say
There is no good way to ask a teenager if their parents are still alive. There is no good way to have a girl tell you about the time her mother was attacked by dogs while working to pay for her school fees. There is no good way to respond when a woman tells you … Continue reading
emily ruth adventures 