My Africa Insights

WHAT AFRICA HAS TAUGHT ME….

By Kay L Trotman

K&D Serengeti Tented Camp; Tanzania Africa 2011

Every time I travel to Africa my Africa insights become sharper and I see and learn new things. That’s even if I go to the same place more than once. Especially on safaris, the scenery, animals, and the experiences are different even in the same country or same area. Yes most animals are the same, but you’ll see them in a different light, under different circumstances, and in different seasons.

With this last trip to Kenya, I made an anniversary of sorts, traveled over 25 times to Africa, various parts, and that means 25 or more safaris, depending on how you count them. That’s a SILVER anniversary. I think that’s cause for celebration. And most of those trips occurred since 2007. It’s not a record, I certainly know others who have made the journey twice as many times over the years both before 2007 and after, but after starting DESTINED TO TRAVEL, I’d say that’s pretty impressive, if I say so myself.

If there is one thing I can say that I’ve learned from all my travels throughout Africa, I think I can sum it up in two words – LOOK FORWARD. In Africa, if you speak with one of the locals and they talk to you about their life, their plans, current events, what they know about other nations, their village or their future, the one thing that is consistent is their ability to move past any negative (while I might look at something more negatively, they do not) and focus on the positive. In fact, it’s difficult to find any negativity in a nation that is as ‘third world’ as Africa, even in some of the poorest places.

I’ve had occasion to speak to many people, from all walks of life, from different tribes, in different positions, of different statures. I’ve had occasion to talk extensively so I could get a feel for their culture and traditions, and their perceptions of the USA as a country and its people. Consistent among those I talk to is that they are always positive, no matter how bleak the situation is or may appear, or how many obstacles are put in their path. They ALWAYS look forward, never back – LOOK FORWARD.

And this, in the face of what some might see as situations of hopelessness, despair, and often defeat, the attitude is pervasive, WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, YOU MAKE LEMONADE type attitude. Don’t compare life in Africa to life in the USA, you can’t, but you can compare attitude, situations, opportunities and humanity.

Africa, (the countries which I have visited first-hand) has shown me, as well as many of my guests, the true meaning of humility, of humanity. In their humble origins, this ‘third world’ nation demonstrates something we should all strive for, no matter how difficult our situation.

An incredible African sunset

Wealth in Africa is not solely determined by money in a place steeped in culture, poverty and sometimes insurmountable challenges; wealth is written on the face of a child receiving a pen or paper, by an adult receiving the gift of a hat, or a book, or the sharing of two dollars between friends, of giving what little one has to someone else because they need it more.

That kind of wealth is worth more than money. No, wealth is not determined solely by money, it is so much more. In more ways than not, Africa is a wealthy nation, filled with a people and a culture, rich in those traditions that demonstrate, not man’s inhumanity to man, but man’s humanity to one another, a lesson we can all learn and use in our lives no matter where we live.