Sense of Community

The safari trip was one of my favorite experiences thus far, not only because of the animals running free in the wild but because of the peace I felt from being immersed in nature and its beauty. At first, it was a bit frustrating to have extremely limited wifi, lack of lighting, and lizards/bugs in our rooms. However, when I woke up at the crack of dawn the next morning to meditate, I was amazed at the beauty surrounding me. I walked along the different paths and observed the various types of flora and animal species, many of which I had not seen before. It just felt right to be there.

As I was reflecting about all I had just experienced and walked down the stone path back to my room, I heard rustling in the trees. I saw the trees sway from side to side. First, the trees were swaying in the distance and then began to increase in number and grew closer. I began to worry that there was a large animal approaching me. Then a small monkey poked his/her head out of the bushes and stared at me curiously. More monkeys jumped from tree to tree as that same monkey came closer and closer to me. I cannot completely describe it, but being so close to another species that I have seen mostly in zoos are as a pet, in nature free to roam as it pleased, really made me ponder. It reminded me that being so lost in one’s individual schedule and virtual responsibilities such as responding to emails, calls, and texts, can make one lose site of the importance of such things as community and interpersonal relationships.

Over time, the culture of excessive phone use has been increasing in prevalence throughout much of the world, especially the United States. All eyes glued to phone screens in a restaurant around dinner time is not a rare occurrence. Most socialization seems to be online, texting, etc. Relationships are turning less and less interpersonal, which is decreasing the ability of one-on-one communication, especially in the younger generations. Uganda seems to have a collective society, where persons in communities look after one another. Everyone seems to work together to even raise a child, or fix a car. When the bus broke down on our way back to the hotel, three men who did not know any of us joined the bus driver to help him fix the engine. The individualistic thinking of the US where “every man for himself” is a common phrase, has shown to be detrimental to society and even health, especially mental health. We could learn a lot from Uganda and its rich culture, which is a mixture of the various and numerous cultures in Uganda. The people of Uganda seem so intermingled with each other and are truly a collective society, as in much of Africa. It is commonly overemphasized that Americans can teach much to Africans. Although we can all learn from each other, in many ways Africans can teach a lot to Americans.

 

 

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