You would expect that Culture Shock would hit you immediately. And we did have some degree of culture shock right away. There were all of the “differents” to get used to. But the biggest shocks are just now coming.

Friday afternoon I had a very long conversation with a Kenyan friend. It all started because I had stepped on cultural toes with army boots. To share the exact situation would cause me to step on cultural toes again. Suffice it to say that in trying to be helpful and supportive my actions were interpreted as rude and made my friend feel betrayed! Yikes. And the more I tried to explain why I had done what I had done, the worse it got. I finally realized it was a cultural issue; ceased trying to explain my good intentions; and simply asked for forgiveness-which was readily given.

I came away from the conversation emotionally drained and with a dawning awareness that I’ve been stepping on cultural toes the whole 9 months I’ve been here. What a humiliating and humbling realization.

No one can explain culture shock or culture stress to you. You have to experience it and be slapped in the face with it, then you understand it. We truly have our own cultural filters through which we see and process and act. We came to Kenya not wanting to be the “ugly Americans”, hoping to serve and be gracious guests. But not until your good intentions are grossly misinterpreted because of cultural differences do you realize what a huge chasm there is to cross. So once again I cry out, “Oh God, help me!”

And I trust that He will. I hope that this process will make me more aware not just of cultural biases, but personal biases that are so much a part of me I’m not even aware of them.

This is a short note. This one has hit me hard and I’m still working through it.

Blessings to your and yours,

Nancy