Bladders and Tongues

This story is actually from my time in Kenya, but I think it’s worth sharing.

Maruti and I had driven almost 3 hours on a hot, dusty road into Kenya’s interior. I had drunk about 2 liters of water for the sake of survival, and now sat with my friend waiting for the arrival of the vice principal. It’s always a bit of an embarrassing thing to excuse oneself to meet bodily needs, but I knew that such a moment had come and was becoming increasingly necessary.

“Maruti, do you know where the bathroom is?” He looked at me blankly, and I realized I had chosen the wrong euphemism. “I need to use the restroom.” He still didn’t understand, and discomfort was shifting into pain. “The restroom? The lieu? The W.C.? The water closet?” He was not following me, and pain was making me willing to be more graphic. “I need to pee!” Nothing. “I need to pass water.” Nada. Finally, illustrating my words with hand gestures: “There is water in my body here, and it needs to come out!”

“Ah! You need to use the toilet!” Toilet. Right. Why the heck did I not think of that one?

One other bit of miscommunication was cleared up, and one of a bit more serious nature. Frederick has been hearing me tell the story of our conversation from several years ago, which climaxes with my quoting him as saying, “You must come to Africa. We do not need you; you need us.” He graciously explained to me that he felt his words were taken out of context, and were misrepresenting his thoughts. A clearer explanation of his thinking is this: Africa does need us, and we need Africa. His invitation to come was an invitation into partnership, to come ready to give, but also ready to receive. There is much that we must learn from each other, and we will grow to be more like Christ as we grow together.