Video of morning call to prayer

what does it feel like to be

oppressed?

Video of walking to squatty potty or other dev-w video bit

what does it feel like

to live in poverty?

algeria

i am a privileged,

spoiled, rich,

weak, picky

american.

this is just the plain truth.

i don’t like this about myself

i often romanticize the simple life, the lives of the poor.

i don’t get it.this is the problem with privilege:

even if i willingly give it up,

it was still my choice to make.

so there i am.

in algeria.

beautiful mountains.

fabulous food.

wonderful family that i am finally getting to meet.

and i’m CRABBY.

…turns out, in all my travels to the developing world, i had never gotten out of my western bubble to learn what it really feels like to live in poverty and

oppression.

it doesn’t feel all that great.

life is hard.

I don’t want to lessen the suffering of the algerian people, but

they deal.

most of them are just used to it.

unlike me, the crabby privileged american, they do not recite to themselves

“every problem has a solution”

whenever they encounter difficulty.

they don’t have a

solution to every

problem.

(matoub lounes, singer and social justice leader

of the berber people, was assassinated: 78 shots

entered his car.)

some things are

just difficult.

and some things are

beautiful.

beauty in the midst of poverty and oppression.

i had problems noticing: i was a little too focused on the

bathroom issues.

that’s the truth.

it made me wonder: how much beauty am i missing out of here, in my easy life, because i’m Still

focusing on the problems?

yeah.

it was a big learning experience.

“the berbers and the barbarians”

and humbling.

it was hard, and i am thankful.

(did you notice I didn’t say “it was hard, But I am thankful”?)

i am thankful that it was hard.

i am also humbled to discover it was hard.

and i

wonder

how many times do we try to make things easier rather than allowing ourselves to learn from the hard

things?

or, at Least, how often are we really thankful and aware of how easy our

lives are?

me, not much.

algeria helped me rethink that.

thank you,

algeria.