Understanding Our Brother's Culture

Culture has always been a word I have used, formally, to describe the current state of my own. Whether it was a newsworthy story seen on TV as I watched NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams as a precocious 13 year old, or a concerning issue in conflict with one's moral framework they felt they just had to share in sabbath school, culture is the basic fabric we stitch together as we seek to define ourselves in the cosmos. In less eloquent terms, it exists as a nametag we attach on our upper left breast to accurately identify ourselves to others. In an age where life seems to be dictated by the endless cry for belonging, culture has manifested itself as the defining element in our human existence. As perfect as we were once created to be before "The Fall", culture as a consequence of human history has transformed how we seek to interact with those around us.

It’s no doubt that our American culture has transformed over the years since its inauguration in 1776. What our founding fathers wrestled with in seeking to construct a nation held together on the premise of religious freedom and free speech, is far from the focus of our present-day leaders when faced with the threat of an tyrannical middle east on their quest for jihad and a financial economy supported by our great grandchildren to come. All politics aside, our generation is nearing a fundamental break point in the value placed on relationships, for I have yet to discover what 18^th century university student struggled with social networking and interpersonal communication, and so I hypothesize that even within this nation's short tenure, our culture has evolved through time. 

In the days of posted telegrams and horse drawn carts, culture was defined more specifically by the excellence of man and the enlightenment of good, rather than the specificities of difference. In every aspect of dress, etiquette, and religious adherence, the nature of one's culture was connected through the mutual understanding of united brotherhood-a mere universal code of honor and respect. Unique as our decedents may have been with one another in belief or aptitude, one could argue they sought to define cultural differences through outright superiority and desirable intelligence as a means for discriminating those who lacked the aforementioned characteristics. It is true that society did have its social classes defined by monetary worth and familial inheritance, but culture did not divide the privileged from the impoverished in matters of understanding like we see today.

As I have come to ascertain the current situation at hand for missions in the field, specifically Africa, I have arrived at one problematic observation noteworthy for allowing effective long lasting work to be accomplished for The Kingdom. As a student missionary this year, the times the other missionaries and I have socialized together between the busyness of the weeks expired have often been spent around Sabbath feasting. It is apparent to me that our sophisticated American, highly technological, business-minded, and litigiously leading culture has played to our disadvantage when striving to build upon our relations with many African people who thirst for strong unwavering bonds. Our expected impact when we arrive on the ground is slightly off the mark. As an example, it has often been said, “the people of Africa are so kind hearted and easy to please and it is just so rejuvenating to see their smiling faces even when they are poor and have nothing.” But what I stand to clarify here is not that they share free smiles and kind regards because of a ‘lack of nothing’ but rather because they belong to a culture so invested in relationships with others. Relationships cannot be purchased and they have long discovered the key to happiness. 

I often visit the local sports club in town where I hold a membership to play golf with my good friend Trent, compete in football friendlies with the other members, and pretend to lift weights. When entering the grounds, one must walk past the front desk and through a corridor which leads to an outdoor restaurant situated on the veranda overlooking the football pitch. Seated behind the glass of the concierge desk usually sits a reserved and gracious young woman who answers questions and resolves member's concerns. Our relationship for a long time consisted merely of short greetings in passing as I would briskly enter the club. Our relationship changed one day, however, when I went to pay for a round of golf. I noticed that she was protruding outwards in a rather natural discourse, through the mid-lower abdominal region. I took the bold leap and asked if she was pregnant to which she very fondly responded with a slightly embarrassed nod and smile. Congratulating her, I asked when she was due and where she would deliver in town. After a short discussion she asked if I would come visit her in the hospital and see her new baby. Puzzled by her exotic request, my mind raced to understand why she would ask me, a stranger, to visit her in the hospital.  I hastily took a mental step backward in my mind as I choked over my next few sentences, earnestly searching for some rational understanding for her request and then it hit me: Blue prints for relationships and culture are not universally alike and who am I to judge?

In my time here I have interacted with only a handful of Malawians as a teacher in this small school, and each encounter with them has further solidified a deepened interest in seeking to better understand their culture. When I first arrived in the country, I was in need of assistance in straightening out my visa situation with a Temporary Employment Permit (TEP). To expedite the matter, it was recommended that I kindly ask the secretary to the Education Director for the Union for her assistance as she had experience with this process many times over with previous expat missionaries. The first several times we conversed, progress in submitting the appropriate paperwork seemed slow and enduring. Little was accomplished and by means of seeking value in her beyond her professional help, we had no relationship. As days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, several encounters in the cafeteria of the Adventist Lodge and running into her around town eventually manifested in her remembering my face and eventually my name and before I knew it, I had a brand new minted TEP stamp adorning my passport authorized in full. The process was unrealistically long and arduous but as inconsequential as it seemed, my relationship with her meant the difference in receiving what I needed in order to stay inside the country.

You see, the approach we make coming from a culture influenced by the confines of business mindfulness leaves no room for a meaningful relationship in the midst of accomplishing our intended tasks. I learned that in needing to pay for a round of golf, my potentially ill-advised questions led to the destruction of a superficial barrier that divided common ground and the birth of a simple but cherishable relationship. I learned that in my need for a TEP, going out of my way to acknowledge the secretary and inquiring about her as a person beyond her job, changed her mindset about fulfilling my TEP application. The end result was accomplished and a relationship instilled. I had won them over. 

If we are to be called to missions in other cultures, we must be willing to meet the people where they are, currently, and make a conscious effort to be relationship builders. As for the people of Malawi, it is developing a relationship alongside conducting business that reassures longevity and begins the process of ensuring success in the work we set out to achieve. Coming from a culture in the States where it is not abnormal to work an entire career without caring for a relationship in seemingly inconsequently daily matters, i.e. the receptionist at the doctor’s office, the person on the other end of the 1 800 line for credit card support, or the cashier at your local grocery store, we often lack the need to possess or nurture these simple relationships all while living our selfish lives. In Africa, relationships with people override the demands of work. Money holds attention but relationships lead to successful completion. 

On this here evening within the confines of my mosquito net, this has been a revelation from my experience so far. In this Malawian society that I am immersed in working to further the work of the gospel, it is vital for my small classroom, the expats working in Blantyre Adventist Hospital, and the expats at Malamulo Adventist Hospital, to understand the appropriate approach when making contact with the people of Malawi if we want to excel the work of the church and leave a long lasting vibrant image of who Jesus is through medical ministry. As relationship builders, the fruits of our labor will bear success for years to come.