Burden Bearing

Unfinished thoughts as we rush out the door to Cape Coast this morning....

One sign of respect that we have tried to show is that we make an effort to photograph people only with permission (typically adults) or by request (typically children). Because of this, we don't have many photos of one of the sights that has been most intriguing to me: the people (mostly women) carrying everything on their heads. Some carry delicate items - we saw a woman yesterday navigating a very bumpy and crowded and hilly street carring about 6 dozen eggs in crates on her head. Some carry life-giving items for sale - a bowlful of water packets, Bibles, and fruits of all sorts. Some of the items are very heavy. Yesterday we saw a women carrying a tray of 10-15 pineapples on her head. She couldn't lift the tray up there alone, so someone assisted her, but once the tray was situated, she carried it with her head held high. Some carry less essential items - I saw one person with a TV atop his head and a woman with a purse carried ontop of her head rather than with a strap over the shoulder. Some keep their packages on their heads even when they are relaxing. Yesterday we saw a woman sitting in the median with her flip flops kicked off. She was enjoying a snack and a break, but her goods for sale stayed atop her head. When I asked Manny, he said that they don't feel the weight on their heads because they are so used to it and that the strain of picking the burdens back up is much more difficult. The packages or burdens for each person are different, but the streets are overflowing with people carrying them. And the one common denominator is that each of the people holds their head high under the burden. Faces are for the most part proud and smiles are large and as an outsider looking in, I don't see any evidence of strain.

It made me think about the burdens we bear and where we carry them. Do we bear burdens that are heavy? Or life-giving? Are they too heavy in comparison to the benefits to ourselves and others? Do we bear them with heads held high? Did others place burdens on us that we couldn't have picked up on our own? Do we bear them with a smile and offering life to others through them anyway?

The people of Ghana bear their burdens beautifully? What would it mean for us to do the same? How can we help each other bear burdens?