Any place worth going is worth taking a long time to get to.

You could cite a different African proverb every day for a year and still not come close to exhausting the supply of those fabulous bits of wisdom. It might seem strange to you then that I have not made proverbs a more prominent feature in my blog. This is largely because I feel like a child here at times- the recipient of said proverbs, not the giver. Can I speak with enough wisdom and authority to pass them on to others?  But I guess we are all both learners and teachers.

I have now passed through the Johannesburg airport a few times. On the wall of the departing lounge in letters a meter tall is written:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Yesterday I was coming back to the city from working in the field with a group of other agricultural extensionists. We had all stayed the week in their house in the small community of Capinga, going out during the day to various surrounding communities to carry out conservation agriculture activities. Done for the week, we were heading home on our motorcycles, plodding along at 30 km/h on a highway where I knew I could easily go 60 or 70. We were stuck at a snail’s pace because a couple of the motorcycles had seen better days and decided that they’d had enough of highway driving. In case one of them spontaneously stalled and needed a push start, we stuck together. The temptation for me to pick up speed on a downhill, slip into 5^th gear, and speed home to a shower and clean clothes was immense. I could have made it there in half the time traveling alone. But then the above-mentioned proverb came to mind. I was wrong. Alone, I would not have made it home in half the time. Alone, I would have still been stuck in the little house in Capinga. That very morning I couldn’t get my motorcycle running on my own and needed to ask Dercio to start it for me.

Alone, I would not get very far.

My colleague Dercio Romão planting cabbage in Capinga. 

I felt bad a few weeks ago when I had to catch an early bus, and my host brother was volunteered by his mother to escort me to the station. I was telling my MCC colleague how I felt bad, but Stephanie said, “don’t feel bad Rebecca, that’s what brothers are for.” Sure enough, the next day when I knocked on my brother’s door at 4AM, he jumped out of bed without the least big of sleepiness or grudging, picked up my bag, and saw me to the bus. When I need to know what is appropriate attire for a wedding or want to learn how to crack open and grate a coconut… that’s what sisters are for. When I need to buy a helmet in the part of town where guys always whistle at me, that’s what brothers are for. You could choose to be independent and go it all alone. But when you choose to call on your brother or sister, instead of feeling embarrassed or helpless, you feel like you are a part of a family where people help each other, because that’s what brothers and sisters are for.

You don’t have to go it alone.

A group of women in Caphaia working together to make seed beds and plant vegetables for the first time. 

Mennonite Central committee works primarily by partnering with existing local organizations in the country where we work. We normally do not carry out our own projects, but rather support the endeavors of local churches and NGO’s working the areas of peace, relief, and development.  My North American sense of efficiency is sometimes compromised as a result of this complex but beautiful relationship. Then I ask my self,

“Why are we here? Is our purpose to go fast or to go far?”

Mr. Manuel standing in his garden plot in front of the dam at Maulemaule. 

Lucia António, Luisa Luis, and Quiniria Bernardo in Cabvewe. After three years with this project, they hardly need any reminders on now to prepare seed beds- they've got the experience they need to continue on their own.  

What does going far look like? It could be many things.  It could be local people with the compassion, vision, and capacity to have great positive impact in their communities in areas where they see need. It could be sustainable and just community development. It could be the growth of cross-cultural relationships based on mutual trust and collaboration. It could be communities worldwide in a right relationship with God, one-another, and creation (MCC’s own vision). We have far to go, but to the best of our ability, we are going there together.

Together, we can go far.

Me and the women of Caphaia standing in front of the 5 seed beds we planted together that morning- the first time for this community. As Romao and I were picking up our things to leave, a couple of the women picked up their hoes once again and started immediately putting to use what they learned by preparing more seedbeds so they could plant the leftover seeds.