Danger of a Single Story

Over the summer I got the opportunity to minister in Guatemala. Guatemala is a beautiful country, with a lot of culture and poverty. Months before I left for Guatemala, I had a mindset of homeless people begging for food and money, like the homeless in Philadelphia. When I arrived to this beautiful country of culture my single story was way off, the people there are very talented in art and take pride in everything they have. Some families who didn't have much did the best they could with what they had. The mothers would sweep their front porch to get of the "old dirt" for "clean dirt". The last day I was there my team and I got to go to a flea market, where the people would sell things that they had made such as clothes, jewelry, toys, and much more. I was reminded of this experience when I was reading/listening to the speech "Danger of a Single Story", when Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was telling a story from when she was younger. The story was about a poor boy named Fide who was domestic help for the Adichie family. One day Chimamanda and her family traveled to Fide's village to visit. During their visit Fide's mother showed them a beautiful basket that his brother had made. Chimamanda had a sort of pity for Fide because, he was poor. Once she saw the talent that Fide’s brother had possessed her mind set changed about Fide and his family. I felt the same way as Chimamanda did when I first got to Guatemala, after a week of traveling to different cities, my mind set changed and saw the talent that the people had possessed. I didn’t feel the same kind of pity from when I first got there, it changed throughout the week, once I explored different cities, and saw the wonderful art work, and learned about their culture. By the end of the week I was jealous of their artistic ability and culture.