Encourage. Learn.

I have four words I am using to capture the vision of what I’ll be doing in Africa. They are Love, Serve, Encourage and Learn. Today I’d like to share with you how I intend to Encourage and Learn while in Africa.

Encouragement is often needed when we are working at something challenging. Living and work in Africa is challenging. One of my goals is to be able to listen and offer encouragement to those who are doing good work in Africa. I will be with many different groups, serving many different needs. Each group will have different struggles and needs. I know that I cannot meet those needs. My goal and hope is to be able to listen and then speak words of encouragement into people’s lives. I hope that the small amount of time I can also give will serve to help carry the loads these people are under, even for a short time.

I think that we should never stop being students. As soon as we do, we get stagnant. I want to be a student of life, a learner …seeking wisdom from all corners of the world. I know that often it is the homeless, the destitute, those who live in poverty, the child, the quiet woman in the corner, who have the most wisdom and insight on life. I hope to sit at the feet of these people and learn… ask questions… listen and write what they say. I want to learn how they see life. How they deal with issues. How they live day to day with such joy and strength. I want to learn other things too… how to dance, how to say words in Luandan and Juba Arabic and Swahili. I want to learn African names, and be called by mine. I want to learn why they eat green, unripe mangoes, instead of waiting until they are yellow.

My favorite times in Uganda last summer was when I got to sit with my “mothers”… my adopted African mothers… and talk with them. My closest, Clementina, had such wisdom, we laughed and laughed and then spoke seriously too, sitting out under the trees… digging our toes in red earth. And there were others too.

I am going to Africa to Learn. And I am going to Encourage. To give a hug where it is needed, to sit and weep or laugh or be silent or listen … or just be. There will be times of incredible busyness, and times that are empty. I hope to soak everything up, and to give all of myself to Africa.

Thanks for reading!


Noelle Gornik will be serving throughout Eastern Africa for 3.5 months this summer. She will be working in S. Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.