Africa Angst

Half the time I'm euphorically excited to move to Africa, the rest of the time I'm terrified.

Logically I realize Tanzania is a relatively secure, stable country, so sure, I'll be safe there. Right? Then I look at maps and see that Uganda- where the Lord's Resistance Army mutilated women and kidnapped children- borders Tanzania in the north. Then there's Rwanda, with it's recent Tutsi genocide, close by the other side of Tanzania. Then there's the Sudan. Yeah, I don't even want to think about Sudan.

Yet I can't go back to the States to teach. I can't go to a sheltered life where the scariest thing that happens is walking by myself at night in a dark parking garage.

Perhaps God is building me up gradually to, I don't know, hmm, something that requires bravery. I've spent the past 20 months in Bangladesh and other parts of Asia in semi-safe areas. Now I'm moving to Dar es Salaam, which I'm told by my new school is more dangerous. What's God planning for me after two years in Dar?

I don't want to know. Not yet anyways.