"How Did We Get Here?" Stories

Story is a powerful thing—moving those who hear to laughter, tears, and deeper thought. I am so honored that each individual who shared in this project was willing to invite me and others into their story. It’s really easy to use stories for entertainment or for a quick feel-good moment... but let us be moved into action. To truly love, you cannot hoard privilege. We can all find ways to share what we have with those who have not. We can each find ways to love our neighbors every day by hearing them out before jumping to judge and assume.

See Gallery Story Transcripts here

Benito

Deeksha

Eddy

Edy

Marcia

Kadoma, ZIMBABWE (The Answer Is Within) | Travel

Going to Zimbabwe for 10 days validated a truth for me: Africa doesn’t need America (or any foreign source of saviors for that matter). I feel so blessed to have seen with my own eyes the inherent skill, leadership, and camaraderie that exists within their country.

Lasting Impressions leadership camp activities

But after the trip, I am equally aware that the long term impact of trips like mine often rests not in the painted walls or loved-on babies that teams leave behind, but instead in the hearts and lives of the team-members going forward. Don’t get me wrong, I know God uses the prayers and time spent to uplift and benefit the people we encounter as well; I just don’t flatter myself that it’s essential for me to go. It is a privilege to travel into a person’s life for one day or week, share and learn about them, and then fly back to my comfy home.

Why do I get to do that? It feels unfair. Learning and connecting through travel is something I love, and I believe being engaged in missional work is important because Jesus commanded it. Still, it leaves me with so many questions as to how we go about it.

The cities that we visited in Zimbabwe (Harare, Kadoma, and Chegutu) showed me a world of beauty unlike anything I have ever seen. Just like any culture, they have been enriched by the sharing of ideas between other cultures; but what I saw so vividly in the eyes of these children is that the answer is within.

I love looking at this picture. I think it’s my favorite one from the whole trip.

While we were there, we didn’t necessarily “do” a list of good, but we surely saw it. I got to see the most beautiful examples of leadership being cultivated within the community. We as Americans may think of missions and foreign teams as doing the good, but that is not the case. The real work is done by the people every day.

An early childhood development teacher at Jairos Jiri, a school for blind children

Zimbabwean men and women, white and black, are raising up the next generation to problem solve in resourceful and effective ways, engaging their collective minds in teamwork and racial reconciliation, and boldly facing challenges head on. I have so much respect for them!

Lasting Impressions camp owner/mentor/speaker extraordinaire

Preschoolers with a Lasting Impressions camp leader

In thinking about the impact of my trip in particular, a few questions have been rolling around in my head. I don’t have the answers, and I don’t know that there are hard fast answers for any situation. One question I have been asking is this: How can we as outsiders partner with local organizations in third world countries so that our relationship builds them up from within (supporting its existing teachers and leaders) rather than building up ourselves? That question was not fully formed before I went, but it was the root of why I knew God told me to go on this trip. My team’s goal was to focus on asking God how he wants us to partner in the work he is doing, and that is the question we are still evaluating now that we are back.

God commanded every single one of his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations,” so if you’re a Christian, we are all called in that sense to be engaged in missions. But what does it look like? Sitting and sharing a meal with your next door neighbor from Saudi Arabia? Traveling and forming friendships with people from around the globe? Adopting an orphaned child in your own city? All of these could be valid options. The cool thing is, God has been reminding me that he will help me know what my part is in all of this is. It’s really not about us. It’s all about what he is doing. I’m glad we humans get to be a part of such a grand story.

Food for thought for myself and any other follower of Jesus: When you see people in need of Jesus, but you don’t know what your role is, ask God. Don’t shy away from travel or international adoption, if he tells you to go, and don’t force it if his answer is no.

Antonio (Spectrum 03) | Portraits

Never mind that these portraits were taken in December. (I said I was behind, right?) This is a judgment-free zone.

Due to recent events in our world, I've been freshly reminded that a few achieved milestones in the fight for equality do not equal constant progress. Sometimes we take a few steps back. We are humans. We will mess up. There is grace for that! Still, my frustrations with the current state of the world and how it is possible to still be calling people "apes" and penalizing people for standing up (aka kneeling) to a prejudiced system compel me to action. If you’re looking for a mantra, here’s a good one: I am not the standard. There are other ways of doing life, and they are just as valid and significant as my way. 

Listen to those that are different from you and choose love. Learning to appreciate and respect another way of thinking is half the battle, friends. Take time to listen to the stories of others--whether at the grocery store, in your neighborhood, or on "the other side of town." This is Antonio's story: 

"I grew up in a [predominantly] Caucasian town. My best friend was biracial as well (black/white). It was crazy to grow up around people that had no exposure to culture, especially as a pre-teen and teenager. 

Raised by my white grandmother, I was always different in the household. I always embraced my culture but because I wasn’t raised around it, I didn’t know a lot of things about it. The town made it so hard for me to be cultured because they were afraid of it.

People are afraid of what they don’t know.

The people that I met when I moved to a more diverse town helped me to really embrace who I was. They have helped mold me into the man I am today. There have been pastors, father figures, mentors that I have been blessed enough to look up to! Because of them, I no longer feel out of place but exactly placed in this world! 

The program I am furthering my education in is school counseling. The reason I wanted to do this is because I want to make sure that the youth of our generation or the next don't grow up without anyone. I know that during my childhood as a youth, I didn’t have anyone to talk to or go to that would talk me through these things. I now believe that is my calling in life. My hope is to give back and to help youth to not go through the same mistakes I went through." 

Ashley (Spectrum 02) | Portraits

Being a minority has made me stronger. My wounds run deep and as of a year ago, starting to heal. I never talked about my racial issues or the attacks I’ve received with anyone really until I moved to Knoxville. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling was valid, or if I even had the words for it. All I knew was anger, confusion, and shame. I mean, my family being from Uganda, born in America, going to a predominantly white school, having mostly white friends... Not African enough, not black enough and obviously not white enough.

Now because of my social character, making friends wasn’t hard, but fitting in was. I mean FULLY fitting in. Lovey in crowded room, but never really FULLY expressing myself. I think I got “the race talk” in second grade. I found myself doing extra to make someone feel comfortable. However the more I buried my hurts and my wounds, the harder it became. I LOVED my friends, but I didn’t know how to tell my white friends how I felt; they don’t know the struggles. Not that I’d wish it upon anyone... now I see God loves my skin, and doesn’t need me to “be black” when it’s convenient or live under the labels that make people feel good. He will fight for ALL people.

The labels that have caused some type of disadvantage are: I am a first generation African American, a child of divorce, single, a woman who is now living in the south, so I’m decently low on the scale of what culture would call #winning. The way this country was set up, I’m not supposed to make it; but Christ beat death for me, therefore I win too. So I wear my disadvantages proudly, so people can see how big my God is and watch Him show up. No, I don't always wake up with this mood, but once I believe in this truth, there’s no stopping me.

McKenzie (Spectrum 01) | Portraits

I love seeing people in their most pure and honest form—apart from the filters of media characterizations and stereotypes. When I look, I see fearlessness in one's gaze, serenity in another's smile, years of stories bundled in a laugh... all this richness in an individual's experience is hard to discover if we don't first choose to really see them with unfiltered eyes. 

We live in a world where expectations for your race are pinned onto your diaper as an infant and drilled into your head as you grow. In these expectations are rules for what you can and can't do, how you can talk, how loud you should be, what music you should listen to... as a _____ (fill in the blank with your race) man or woman. But people's stories go beyond these parameters. 

I've been thinking about the experience of being a minority in America and all the different stories that exist within that experience. We stand out in a crowd, which ironically can be an incredibly invisible feeling. Are the people I am encountering really seeing me? Or, do they see the black girl I'm "supposed" to be? 

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” MLK Jr.

Now, thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr. and men and women like him who fought and prayed hard for their dreams, my sufferings are minuscule compared to the experiences of the 1950s and 60s. But we all know there’s still work to be done. 

I asked some friends, with whom I share the minority experience, Tell me what shaped you. What has your experience been like? No expectations, just questions. 

This is my friend, McKenzie, and this is a little snippet of who she is: 

Defining parts of my childhood include "becoming a Christian for sure. . .  just being around people who loved God really helped me understood who I was as a Christian. 

A really close friend I had who God allowed to grow up with me through my teenage years [really impacted me]. We shared everything together, and that was really a blessing because I really got to know myself because of her. I learned that thinking deeply and having really analytical thoughts wasn't weird. I had a friend to share my thoughts with!

My parents and siblings have ALWAYS been there to support me. I just think I learned what love is and how to love from my immediate family."

Thank you for taking part in the Spectrum portrait series, McKenzie.

More stories to come.