Masterehi

 This loosely translates to “a feeling of contentment”. 

Recently I have been thinking a lot about what having all your needs met actually means. My thoughts on this are two part, and I will start with talking about how handy and competent Comorans are. 

2 weeks ago the lock on my door broke, meaning when I got home, sweaty and tired, from a long day of teaching the door would not open and I could not access my room. This stretched my patience to its furthest limits. I should have known there was no reason to panic though, because Comorans have yet to let me down when I’ve been in need. My 8 year old brother was able to squeeze through the metal bars on the window to my room, in fact he is the only one that fit, so the entire operation of fixing my door/lock now rested on his shoulders. My dad and a neighbor got home from work and positioned themselves right outside the window instructing Abou on the finer mechanics of using a screw driver and lock removal. By this point the comedy of the situation got to me, and I found myself thanking Allah that Comoran children are incredibly competent, because Abou was able to remove the lock and I gained entry to my bedroom!

Another example of Comorans being highly competent is when, during a bus ride to the capital, the bus’s gear shift completely stopped working. This was highly stressful for me because we were essentially in the middle of nowhere, stopped on an incredibly steep hill. Again my worries were unfounded because the driver and a few other men simply got off the bus, fiddled around for no more than 10 minutes, and the situation was fixed and we safely arrived in the capital. 

I think the reason why Comorans are so competent is because they have to be. There aren’t locksmiths and mechanics readily available to be called, and even if there were most people wouldn’t be able to afford those services. Thus, Comorans have learned how to take care of things themselves; they are self sufficient. This is something I think Americans could stand to work on. 

This leads me to the second part of my thoughts. The other evening I had a sore throat and all I wanted was a cup of tea. However, we haven’t had electricity for the past 3 weeks so I could not use my electric kettle, and my family was busy cooking dinner so they did not have time to boil water over the fire for me. I found myself feeling very frustrated. It should seemingly be so simple to make a cup of tea but of course nothing is ever that simple here. Then I started thinking about how easy it was to achieve immediate gratification in the United States, and how I definitely took that for granted when I lived there. Most of the time in my life here I can’t immediately satisfy my wants, and even sometimes my needs. Especially with the power being out, I can’t watch a movie in bed on my laptop even if that’s all I’m craving. Or sometimes I’ll be very hungry because my family doesn’t eat lunch until 2pm and even after 8 months here I still wish we ate at noon. 

I have had to learn how to find gratification from much simpler material things, like a cold bucket shower, or not from material things at all, but rather from a contentment inside myself. I believe that every person has this ability to be content regardless of the circumstances around them, but it isn’t until our usual comforts are stripped away that we are challenged to find it. 

I’m writing this and realize that even with my “hardships” I am still incredibly privileged compared to my friends and family in Comoros. It was fully my decision to come here and I have easier access to opportunities when I’m done my service than many of the girls my age. But I am thankful that I can have an appreciation for living a simpler life now, a life where all my needs are met, even if it’s not in the same exact way as in the US. 

The Comorans I live alongside have made lives for themselves, they find joy and contentment (arguably easier than Americans do), and are self-sufficient. The relationships I’ve made with these people and the life that I live here can accurately be defined as “Masterehi”.