From a team member:
Some of the realities of living in Africa are that here we don’t cancel school because of “snow days,” instead we have “bullets-are-flying days”

Recently we canceled class when people were shot in front of our school and a small riot ensued. When the gun shots began, we nervously gathered our students and left the school quickly. We remained as calm as we could while our school guard reassured us it was totally normal.

Guns are not an everyday occurrence it does highlight a normal reality.

We’ve scurried away from riots twice. We’ve learned to keep an eye out whenever we are stuck in traffic. We never pull our phone out in public or wear a backpack downtown. We have seen drivers get pulled out of their car and beaten up. Mainly we PAY ATTENTION and watch what the Africans do.

This is a part of living cross-culturally. We learn to pick up on cultural cues when a situation is dangerous.  We remain vigilant and watch how those around us are responding.

Pray for the safety of our teams!