11 / 68
RANGE RIDER | SPRING-SUMMER 2018
9
M
y story began in Kenya. My
home and heart reside in
Tanzania. I currently live
in the United States. Here is how my
story unfolded. Two years after my
parents were appointed as missionaries
in Shinyanga, Tanzania I was born in
Nairobi, Kenya in 1996. Growing up on
a 150-acre farm in western Tanzania,
East Africa shaped my worldview in
ways no other background could. I
grew up in a multicultural atmosphere
filled to the brim with friendships from
countries all across the world. I had the
opportunity to attend an international
boarding school, Rift Valley Academy,
in Kijabe, Kenya where I met and built
relationships with people from over 50
different countries. I can say without a
doubt, though, that the most important
relationship I made was with my Savior
and God when I was eight years old.
Little did I know the enormity of that
decision and how it would affect me
and every single relationship I've made
since.
I believe the kingdom of God looks
like my boarding school looked: people
from different nationalities, ethnicities,
languages, and even religions living
together; not necessarily under a roof
of equality, but rather of equity. We are
not all similar or equal, we are different,
yet what we share is our humanity and
our likeness, made in the image of
God. However, we are made different
for a reason, for the edification of one
another and the glorification of the God
who made us.
Therefore, my family consists of more
than just my American blood relatives.
Those whom I call family are Tanzanian,
Kenyan, South African, Dutch, Korean,
Canadian, Malaysian, Italian, Scottish,
British, and countless more. My first
roommate in boarding school was a
Canadian girl who grew up in Lesotho.
Other roommates were Korean but
grew up in Uganda, American but grew
up in Rwanda, British but grew up in
Tanzania, and Dutch but grew up in
Malawi. These girls became my closest
friends and sisters, I lived with them for
nine months out of the year and it was
our differences that brought us together,
those differences did not tear us apart.
The country I grew up in should have
made me feel like a minority. And it
did, but I felt no negativity associated
with being a minority. I always viewed
it as edifying and an opportunity to
learn rather than judge or view myself
as better than anyone else. Because I
am not. I look forward to the day all of
humanity views one another through
the eyes that our Savior does. And
from now till that day, to not settle on a
like-minded perspective, but search out
diversified worldviews and friendships
with people who look different than we
do.
I have asked myself time and time
again: am I Kenyan, or Tanzanian, or
American? Am I all the above, or none?
I choose all the above, because to me
it means I have chosen to overcome
boundaries built by humans, and
barriers separating peoples created by
society. This is what I like to think the
Kingdom of God is going to be like.
And this is what I urge the students and
faculty of Hardin-Simmons University
to aspire to be, a place that looks like the
beautiful, ethnically diverse, kingdom
of God.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
by
Jaree Bell '19
Jaree Bell '19 spent
her summer abroad
in Italy with HSU.