Two Kinds of People

 Of the people around me, two groups stood out.
There were people I could communicate with, and those I couldn’t.
While it was pure delight to get to know the missionaries serving within West Africa, it was evident that I would never get beyond “How are you? Did you sleep well?” with the Africans who spoke French and Wolof.

The lady who swept the floors each morning as the sun began to rise, the lady who cooked amazing bowl meals, and the lady who worked on laundry… all outside my reach because of language. If I want to learn and truly know them, it will cost me before I can have that privilege. I could choose to only learn from my fellow missionaries and other English speakers, but I would miss out on the lives of the ‘silenced’ majority. And I can never offer the life of Jesus through words to those women if I can’t speak to them. — Casie