Think with me about culture clashes and preferences that separate us into tribes. When the Spaniards came to the Americas they searched for Gold, of which the Native Americans seemed to have plenty. The Spanish traded the “Indians” (as they were misnamed) beads and cloth for gold. What a deal! Yet, if you asked the Native Americans if they got a deal they would have said “yes.” See, preferences do rule. Value is just what you think it is. To the Inca, or the Aztec, the gold was plentiful and the cloth was rare.
Another example is when an American tourist comes to the bush of Africa and trades a T-shirt with a Coca Cola logo for an African bracelet or panga (knife) and just knows he made a good trade. Yet the market person selling goods in an African market wants and needs the T-shirt. It is a rare item to him. He can make another bracelet in an hour. He cannot buy the logo T-shirt. He too thinks he made a good deal.
When I go to any mission field, and I have been to many, I will inevitably be looking for food I can eat. Often I cannot eat what “they” (the indigenous peoples) are eating. What they prefer I may detest. I have been in places where the locals were eating dogs! Not hot dogs, but DOGS! Nothing is wrong with it (unless you are the puppy), but just not what I prefer.
Rosey Oyuki & her son, Emmanuel with Barry
