A couple of days ago I met a kind man as we both were walking. I pretty much have conversation with ten to twenty different people a day. Usually it only involves very basic “small talk” in Swahili. This man, much to my surprise, spoke very good English. I informed him of my project here, and he said I am welcome to His "hosue" (if that is what you want to call them) at anytime. After saying this, he introduced me to his wife, and pointed in the general area of the house. I thought nothing of it. I did, however; notice that he was Muslim. His wife said nothing to me, and was dressed so that only her eyes could be seen, and he was wearing that “hat thing” (sorry if that offends anyone, I have no idea what those are called). That was all that our conversation amounted to.
Today, he drove past me on his Motorcycle. He slammed on the brakes, and yelled over to me, “Mambo!” When I approached him, he asked when I would be coming over to his house. We made a time for next Thursday, and I got his phone number this time.
I had already had a few casual drinks with my Muslim friend Moe in Germany, and now I am having dinner with this man in a week. This is exciting to me, two people of different religions being able to kindly interact. My faith is completely out in the open too. I by no means (here especially) wear huge “Jesus pieces” while going around telling the world that I love Jesus. But I also am not ashamed to bring it up relatively quick in conversation, and I have thus far. I am not one to stereotype Muslims as being radical, heartless, and evil people. I am smart enough to realize that this is just a stupid stereotype describing a radical few. None-the-less, I am still happy at the fact that we can coexist. I hope to have some meaningful conversation with him over dinner, I am curious to see where our speech leads...
These are exactly the kind of experiences I was looking for, this is why I am here. My hospital work starts Monday and I cannot wait...
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