Living in a western culture, I am not faced with many problems. Here in England the extent of my worries surmount to: "I hope I have a big enough coat on so I don't have to walk BACK up the stairs again before going out" or "I wonder if the sun will come out today." Often I hear people grumble and complain about their train being late or how the cinema smells, and I'm right there along with them. While things like this can be annoying, it's not reason enough to curse the train conductor or go about the day with a rude attitude, yet we amplify them and let little things ruin our day. Let me tell you about a people that despite all their hard times they generally still keep a smile on their face and joy in their hearts.
About a year ago I took a job to go to Uganda and make a short film for a non-profit organization. This video would be used at a fundraiser for the building of a much needed hospital. I had been to a third-world country before, what I saw then was a group of people that were completely bitter about their situations. While some of the kids were warm and accepting, most of the adults were distant and stand-off-ish. They would look at my group and I with much less than happy expressions. Because of my past experiences I expected nothing different. How wrong I was, and how thankful I am for being wrong.
I arrived and immediately noticed a difference. We were greeted off the plane by a man with smile on his face. This man took us to his house and was our gracious host for the next bit of time there. This doctor was also our escort, he took us to the village where the hospital will eventually be. Life in the village is very poor, for lack of better words. The children have to walk a few miles with yellow jugs (called Jerry cans) to fill them with water at the nearest well. The families have food to eat but not much with nutritional value. The children's clothes are tattered and torn, and their sandals are 5 sizes too big. Many of the children have health problems that are easily treatable but because they are so far removed from a hospital they aren't able to receive the care they need. I know that if I lived in these kinds of situations I would break. However these children are far stronger than me. Giggles escaped their mouths every time I showed them a photo I had just taken of them moments ago. Imagine never seeing what you look like and suddenly at the age of 10 being shown a picture of yourself. Can you imagine the joy you would feel? Can you even get a slight idea of how happy you would be to see what everyone else sees? I know I can't even grasp an inkling of what it would be like.
As westerners we take the little things for granted, and when we are slightly uncomfortable we become far too irritable. While the kids here probably complain, and have ample reason to, they do it far less than us. If I had to sum up one thing I learned about this trip it would be that there is always someone worse off than me, and I have no good reason to complain about any of my "first world problems."
