One thing about being away, especially traveling to a third world country, is that you become very disconnected to what's happening at home. I text and email occasionally, but I'm completely removed from the day to day. No longer checking my email every ten minutes, a sparse quick moment on Facebook to post a pic or two, that's IF I'm able to get on the Internet at all. Some days it's just not possible.
We adjust easily because frankly there's really very little time leftover and it doesn't always coincide with the WiFi cooperating when there is a window of time.
But it's not a bad thing to disconnect. It's actually kind of freeing,
As disconnected as we might be away from home, the more connected we become with the people here, both those whom we are traveling with and those we are serving.
During our cultural orientation we learned the first value of importance here is communality. Here there is a mindset to commune rather than separate and a belief in social capital, what goes around comes around.
In fact, chatting with some of the business team yesterday, they encountered some resistance trying to show how the merchants can differentiate themselves to sell more, or to have a customer choose their Kenke stand over their neighbors. But why, they wonder, we are a community.
Disconnecting to connect.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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