The Shock of the New

I haven’t written for a while. Time flies when you have people to catch up with, places to go, things to do and a nice cool temperature to live in. I’m trying to make the most of this time in England before the baby comes, and along the way I’m having to re-learn how to ‘do’ life here again. 

Although I’ve been back since April, I’m still not entirely back into the swing of things having lived in a developing country for over four years. Reverse culture-shock can be a slow-burner, I concluded after our first NCT group a couple of weeks ago. The ice breaker question was ‘tell the group something odd about yourself’ and all I could think was ‘where do I start?’

These classes have been a good way to meet new people but Steve and I have had to battle to shake off our apparent Fulaniness. The idea of men in Djibo even talking about the process of childbirth is unthinkable, let alone a room of them gathering with their wives to look at explicit photographs, bounce around on gym balls and learn about massage and bowel control.  We’d never be taken seriously by our African friends if they knew.

Coming to the UK from a country as poor as Burkina, the place where most people get reverse-culture shock is apparently in the supermarkets. Homecoming missionaries and foreign visitors are said to have fled their trolleys at the mere sight of an aisle crammed with food or sent into a spin by the sheer variety of tomatoes.

Reverse culture-shock aside, British supermarkets are bizarre places. Such choice and abundance in a world of need, and apparently 40% of it often ends up as waste. Tesco is now burning 5,000 tons of unsold meat a year to make biofuel. Some people might think they deserve a pat on the back for this but I cannot personally reconcile it with the realities of world hunger. Since I’m not accustomed to shopping much at supermarkets, I’ve been more easily able to live by my convictions and chosen not to start. It helps that Chichester has some great farm shops, a local market and we have some generous neighbours with an allotment. 

 I’ll admit that I’ve been mildly obsessed with the whole subject of ethical and eco-friendly consumerism for the last few months – how to make choices that don’t exploit workers in Africa, Asia or even on our own turf, and to do it all on a budget. It is both fascinating and frustrating, and it makes grocery shopping at the market in Djibo seem blissfully uncomplicated. I’ve been inspired by some great talks by Shane Claiborne and James Odgers, founder of the Besom Foundation, and his discussion course Simplicity, Love and Justice. And I’ve really enjoyed compiling ethical fashion pages for Caris Magazine. In case you haven’t heard of it - it’s a great Christian magazine for teenage girls, and I thoroughly recommend any 11-15 year old girl to subscribe to it (www.carismag.co.uk).

It’s now less than 6 weeks until the baby is due and we’re pretty much prepared, I think! By small miracles of providence, we have a fully furnished house now, including a baby room with virtually everything we could need. We’ve hardly spent anything; just said ‘yes please’ when family and friends have asked if we wanted various hand-downs from them and people in their churches. A huge thank you to everyone who has helped us in this way.