I’m wondering how I got to be almost 40 years old and have never crossed a land border between countries. We didn’t do international holidays as a family. The United Kingdom is a cluster of islands, so I’ve crossed borders by air and sea. So, I guess the answer is self-explanatory.
This week, however, I ticked the experience of crossing a land border off a list I never wrote. I drove from Lilongwe to Lusaka to attend a meeting with colleagues. Crossing the border as a driver and vehicle owner only adds to the experience and the waiting time.
It’s a regular point of frustration that global news isn’t truly global. You’ll hear little apart from conflict and disaster from Malawi or the African continent. At the same time, you can gorge on a live feed from the White House. The global political news has been a source of grief for me these last few weeks. Here are a few ways this 63-hour trip gave me some points to reflect upon.
Where do you come from? What do you bring?
Crossing the border with my car meant making declarations to the immigration and customs officials of both Malawi and Zambia. After 6 years of calling Malawi home, being asked, “Where are you travelling from?” often brings sweat to my brow. It’s a straightforward question, but my head whirls with “Does he mean where I live? Or where did we start today? Or where am I from?”. I answered, “Lilongwe”. I passed.
Then, the process of declaring that I am the valid owner of my vehicle, which is fully paid for and insured, and that I am licensed to drive it. Alas, a previous owner was not so scrupulous and left me a fine to clear at the border. At various times, the car and its contents were checked to ensure we were not making illegal imports/exports.
I understand the vital role of managing the flow of people and resources in and out of a country. Yet this (not always quite so simple) administrative process was a reminder of how much value we put in where a person is from and what they bring with them when considering if we’d like them to share our soil. Apparently, it doesn’t matter as much where you come from if you have $5 million to spend.
Borders aren’t drawn in the soil
I’m an adult and I still expect a red line on the ground to let me know where one country ends and another begins. I’m not sure when we entered Zambia; maybe there was a sign, but we set off at 4am and my recollection is sketchy.
European leaders drew Lines dividing Africa on paper, mostly on a table in a room in Berlin 130 years ago. Lines that divide ethnic groups and landscapes were designed by those who’d never seen the places or people they were cutting apart. Explaining why 30% of Africa’s borders are straight lines.
But as we drove, the fields were still mostly full of maize and tobacco. We continued to talk in Chichewa/Nyanja, and on a previous visit to the north, I could continue to use my broken Chitumbuka. The rains and their impact on harvests remained a principal concern.
But that border, however arbitrary, still lives in people’s minds. Some Malawians talked of their neighbours as “fellow Malawians”, and some Zambians opined that Malawi should just become part of Zambia.
Three years of Russia’s war on Ukraine and a crumbling truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict and, once again, at tables far from the conflict, foreign leaders are drawing their lines for the borders without respect for the people who live there.
Stamped foreign
To pass through toll gates, I had to show a piece of paper to prove appropriate road fees were paid for my “Foreign Vehicle”. Tolls were paid and the paper was stamped to show my progress along the Great East Road. Extra administration was required because this vehicle wasn’t local. Not that I minded; for the most part, that road was a breeze!
As foreign labels mean people and vehicles are given extra scrutiny, the label of “Foreign Aid” has made vital spending an easy target. I have many more thoughts on how USAID has been decimated, and I may put them down at some point. This was followed by news that the UK aid budget, in its already weakened state, will be further slashed and represents a trend gathering pace across many countries.
Because the spending was “foreign”, the justification to spend it has to be higher but, with tragic irony, the reasoning to cut it does not, and even if you accept the premise that these budgets need to be cut, how it is happening is horrifically cruel and will cost lives. And so the shortsighted nationalism of the COVID-19 pandemic rears its ugly head again.
For the love of God and Neighbour
Global political news has stirred an anxiety that I’ve found wearying. It has brought out anger, at times apathy and more often exhaustion. The realities of life where the impact of these headlines hits hard are the context our news is missing. And all this for borders? When any country decides to come first, it decides others come last.
Perhaps what is most challenging is trying to comprehend this as a Christian. I hold no store for the notion of a “Christian country” not here in Malawi, not in Zambia, where it is recognised as the state religion in its constitution, and not where sections of the church distort biblical teaching for political expediency.
Scripture recognises borders, political leadership, property and also the plight of sojourners, widows, orphans, those who are poor and those who are hungry. Jesus declared the love of our neighbour as an irremovable component of our love of God.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:36-40, ESV
The season in which that love is made known predominantly through personal actions seems to ending. The need to express love through resisting the concerted efforts of those curating wealth and power at the expense of those most vulnerable is overwhelming and growing. That includes challenging the heresy in our churches that support it.
“In The Sermon on the Mount Jesus notes that love for neighbor is the starting point for love for God. If Christians took this seriously, our witness for Christ in the world would be powerful and persuasive.”
Rich Villodas, The Narrow Path
Photo by Johanneke Kroesbergen-Kamps on Unsplash