Navigating Money Matters in Africa

If you consider Thomasville First United Methodist Church your home church, you know that next week me and 9 others will be traveling to Rwanda for a short-term mission trip. TFUMC has a long history (close to 17 years) with some people there and make an annual trip to continue those relationships.

Since I came on staff here, I've been assisting the team in training activities. Most of these trainings have been centered around cross-cultural awareness because, as you probably know, when you go into another culture it's important to recognize that the way you think, communicate and perceive the "good life" might be different from those you are visiting. When stepping into another culture it's important to be a learner.

One aspect I wanted to highlight for the team was how money is dealt with in Rwanda and surrounding countries. How money is handled here in the US and in many parts of African is very different. I wanted to learn more about this and so I interviewed a good friend, Issa Ebombolo, who’s originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, but lives in Zambia and has studied in Canada. 

Issa works in Zambia with an organization based in US/Canada that Amanda used to work for, Mennonite Central Committee. 

 Issa is a great teacher on African culture and can express the differences regarding money in North American and African cultures extremely well, among many other things.

 Funnily enough, Issa grew up just a few kilometers from Cyangugu, Rwanda, which is where me and the team will be most of our trip. It's a small world!

This week I wanted to include the video interview on my blog to share with you all that might be interested in learning about cultural differences.

Thanks for reading and watching!


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