Last Saturday I had the great pleasure of spending a day at the Teach Africa conference run by the World Affairs Council of Oregon talking with people about Yo Ghana! and meeting with scores of people from and interested about Africa. I made some good contacts. More importantly, I was reminded of what Yo Ghana! (and the rest of life) is all about.
What I kept hearing from the various presenters and people I spoke with was this consistent message: your life is not your own. It's a profoundly un-American sentiment. We are constantly told that we are "captains of our own ship," that we owe it to ourselves to pursue happiness as fully and relentlessly as we can. That might bring us into contact with others. Or it might not. And it is fine and dandy for us to rid ourselves of friends, spouses, even children we find irritating, boring, or overly demanding. Our only sacred duty is to self-actualize.
Most of the rest of the world doesn't think this way. Certainly most Africans do not. The Ghanaian pupils who write letters to students here in Oregon often comment, with pride, on how they help their teachers and family members. The first thing that Stephanie does when she gets home from school in Akropong is to ask her family what they need. Then she provides it. Studying is very, very important--but not as important as one's social duties.
The scores of happy people at the Teach Africa conference revealed why caring for and about others is so important: it's what we are designed for. Service is not simply about helping others; it's also the path to a deeper and more permeable self.
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