Incongruities

I have spent the afternoon cooking and listening to the BBC. It’s been months since I have heard any sort of news and so the News Hour this Saturday afternoon was quite interesting and made me miss listening to NPR.

This afternoon seems like a number of incongruities. It seems so strange to be listening to news about suffering – in Burma, Zimbabwe, Israel, Lebanon – when I am surrounded by suffering here. News, by definition, is what is not the norm, what deviates from ordinary life. On-going suffering in the average life of a significant number of someones in the world, unfortunately is normal. When something extraordinary happens, like a cyclone, elections, borders opening or closing, then the media highlight that. It seems to me then that one of the roles of incarnational ministry is to bridge the gap between normal lives. Many of our friends and family live fairly normal North American lives and many of the people with whom we are acquainted here in Mozambique live fairly normal Mozambican lives. Part of our role as MCCers here is to help people on both sides of our world understand each other. The normal happenings of life here do not make news on the BBC (and frequently the abnormal occurrences don’t either that I know of), but for us who are new here, they are news. For those who read our blog, they are news; news from our life here, news about how people here live.

The other irony was cooking. Cooking is something women around the world do every day, several times a day. That’s nothing newsworthy. But as I begin conversations with someone at Canadian Food Grains Bank (CFGB) to organize a learning tour in association with our sand dam project (that they are funding), he mentions the global food crisis in every email. Like I said, I haven’t heard the news in MONTHS (actually since early October 2006). We get our news from the International Newsweek which comes at least three weeks late and sometimes not at all, so we have quite a few gaps in our knowledge of the world. Plus the news that someone at CFGB has interest in is different than the reporters of Newsweek. So yesterday, I did some research on the internet about the global food crisis.

I learned that food prices are going up rapidly. As the prices increase the most vulnerable in the world are made even more vulnerable to food insecurity (Food security is the ability to feed oneself and family sufficiently, i.e. 3 meals a day, every day). Many of the people in the world who are subsistence farmers still depend on buying a significant quantity of their food. When prices of basic foods increase, those who are already struggling to provide food for their families in addition to school fees, transportation, etc. have to make difficult decisions between food and other necessities. Prices here in Mozambique are increasing and at least here in the Gondola-Chimoio area, the harvest is sketchy because of too much rain. This area of the country does not struggle with food security like places like the Mandie subdistrict where the sand dam project is located. This explains why someone at CFGB is concerned about the global food crisis. CFGB and MCC are both supporting the End Hunger Fast as a way to educate concerned persons in North America about the realities in other parts of the world. For more information about that check out http://www.mcc.org/food/ or http://www.foodgrainsbank.ca/urgent_appeal.aspx

So, I spent the afternoon cooking chili, baking a cake and making mint tea. The chili has ground beef, a treat for Joél and I here, and it will last for a minimum of three meals for the two of us. The cake has four eggs and sweetened condensed milk; I made it to take on our picnic tomorrow afternoon with our friends from the UK, whose fellowship rejuvenates our souls. Learning more about the global food crisis makes me think all the more about how do I live here with integrity. We live more simply than we did in the States but it still above the means of people in the church. Some people in the church are going to have some difficulties later this year because of their weak harvests.

How do we make choices that will benefit others and not take away from others’ lives? There are ways that we eat that is different than people here because of our understanding of nutrition and what our bodies need. There are ways that we eat that is different because of the differences between our cultures. There are ways that we eat that is different because of what we can afford. And yet what are ways that we can live that does not tax the earth and people’s survival and yet honors God? We could eat only rice and beans for economic and social reasons for the rest of our lives, but I do not think that is not being responsible stewards of the knowledge that God has given us or adequate long-term care of our bodies, created to do God’s work. I will eat rice and beans because I like them, because they are healthy, because they do not tax the earth, because they are cheap and should I ever have to make decisions to severely limit my food consumption they will be two foods that I will chose.

I have always struggled with inequalities – just ask my parents what I was like in my teens with regards to Christmas. I will continue to struggle with inequalities; it is who I am. Sometime during my teens when I was yet again having a conversation with my dad about inequalities (the conversation was about me being a girl and having access to education while many girls around the world do not have that opportunity), he said something that has stuck with me since then. He said that it is by God’s grace that I am where I am. God’s grace. I do not know why I am fortunate enough to have food security, health, education, a good husband, the opportunity to live and learn in another country, but I do. It is grace. I have a responsibility to use my resources to serve God and others. I will fail. And as this week, as I wrestle with the tension between my food security and the global food crisis, I have to give myself grace. Grace to learn, grace to make mistakes, grace to change, grace to share and grace to celebrate. That is not breaking news that will be reported on the BBC; but it is a good reminder to me that the weight of the world does not rest on my shoulders.