emilyispegeln

I had planned to do an update and tell you a bit about the ship that we live on, but I think that'll have to wait a while. Instead, I would like to quickly mention what I've been learning in class. I won't bore you with details, since it's impossible to cram 5 days worth of teaching into one blog post.

We've had Darrow Miller come over to talk to us on the Leadership School, a guy that mainly lectures on worldview. I've heard people mention worldview before, but didn't care that much about it. At uni, someone told us that it's often very difficult to work with villagers in developing countries because they have such a different worldview compared to ours. Now I think I understand a bit better what they meant.

Several African languages (and apparently some Asian ones) lack a future tense. They say that they're "walking backwards into the future". To them, life's about moving closer to their ancestors. You might hear that and say "yeah, that's cool, I've never thought of it that way. It's so interesting with different cultures!". And it is. I love different cultures. But the implications of that statement means that these cultures can never plan, because life is just something that happens to you, not something you can change. The future doesn't exist.

This mindset is not exclusive to developing countries, not at all. It tends to be more common there though, and it's one of the reasons why many of them are still stuck in poverty, no matter how much support goes to them. Many nations and people think of life as something that just happens to you. Some even say "well, if it happens it's because God wants it, so there's nothing I can do about it". Well, the God I follow isn't like that. You can't change everything in life - but you can change some of it.
If you look at life as something that just happens to you, then it doesn't matter what you do. If your life sucks, it will always suck - if that's your worldview. I've heard stories at uni from people who have tried to change the fisheries in poor villages to make their life better, but the only answer they get is "the government doesn't care about us anyway, our neighboring villages destroys everything anyway, so why would we do anything about our situation? It will never change." And that's the problem. If you believe nothing will ever change, why try?

I want to believe that nothing's impossible. I want to inspire people to believe that life can change for the better. I want people to look at their life proudly and say "yes, I really could change my circumstances to the better, no matter what other's said about me". I don't want poverty and corruption to be bigger than God and the creativity of a human mind.

And in case you somewhere read in to this that I hate other cultures and that they're all stupid, you probably have to read it again. Cause that's not what I'm saying. I want to challenge your way of thinking, the way that you solve problems and remind you that we all have the power to inspire others and change the world around us. Poverty is often not an impossible problem, it's a mindset.