What I Learned in Africa - Prologue

Hello again audience! Some of you may remember me as the author of such stories as “There and Back Again: A Servant’s Tale by Jon Miedema”, “At The Dome” and “Whales”. “At the Dome”, and “Whales” kick started my dabbling in non-fiction prose way back in the first grade. The books were critically acclaimed by my first grade teacher Mrs. Paas, not to mention my parents.

From there, fast forward over 15 years to a trip to Nicaragua, a journey that rekindled my interest in writing and influenced me in a very profound way. I spent many days writing and retelling the story of a ten-day voyage in a poverty-stricken nation spent with a team of extraordinary individuals. The team, in addition to the experiences shared with them, challenged me in ways that have impacted my life to this day.

For me, going on “serve” trips usually has me returning with more questions than answers with respect to my place in this world and my perspective of my native culture. My 3-week trip to Kenya was no exception. As I begin to write this new story, the experiences I had will remain authentic and real to me, but my evaluation of these experiences will reveal things that I perhaps didn’t think about at the time and will hopefully help me make sense of everything. Or at least some of it. Hopefully most.

It is my most sincere hope that through this story I can give my readers a little more insight into what I experienced beyond “The trip was awesome. There were lots of giraffes. I endorse trips to Africa”. This is story is just as much for me as it is for the people around me, especially those that kept me in their prayers and supported me. As I stated in the prologue of “A Servant’s Tale”, if I can inspire even just one person to perhaps approach or see things from a different perspective through my story I would consider it a victory.

God is good, I can at least tell you that much after spending time with my African brothers and sisters in Kenya. So without ado, I bring you “What I Learned in Africa”, a story about fellowship, adventure, spirit, and hope.