I have vivid memories as a kid of what I thought it would be like to go to Africa. It had this allure over me that had my wild imagination going at full speed. I don’t know as a kid if I ever thought I would actually get to Africa, but the funny thing about life is that I have been to Africa more than any other part of the world. There is something about Africa that draws me. A friend of mine named Mike told me the first time that I arrived in Africa that there is a rhythm and a pulse to Africa. I believe him. I know that you will probably laugh at me, but I think I knew this from the very first moment that I saw Disney’s Lion King.

I was in South Africa working with an amazing organization called Orchard Africa (www.OrchardAfrica.org). They work with disadvantaged communities throughout Africa to help restore hope to villages and townships where the HIV/AIDS pandemic have destroyed entire communities and have left an entire generation of children orphaned and vulnerable. It was in this setting that I met Pastor Victor. I can honestly say that he is one of my personal heroes.

Pastor Victor is a quiet leader. Incredibly humble and very consistent. He himself is an orphan and has committed his life to being a change maker in South Africa to see the future generation of young Africans not experience the same fate as their parents. He works in the Northwest Province of South Africa, in a village that most will never go to, and from this place he is changing the world.

For most of the years that I have known him, Pastor Victor was single. And then his whole world changed. He met a woman and fell in love. I was thrilled with this turn of events because I really do believe that finding love is an adventure all its own. The relationship progressed and they decided to get married.

He and I were walking down a dirt road in his village when he was sharing about his upcoming marriage. As we were walking along, he made a comment about how hard he had worked to save up for the bride price for his future wife. Now bride price is not something that was a foreign concept to me. I am culturally aware enough to know that this is a very common practice, but this was the first time I had ever been in an actual conversation about it, so my curiosity was excited. I had always wanted to dig into some of the nuances of how this whole bride price thing actually works, so I was like a kid in a candy shop.

So I asked him first for permission to ask some questions. I don’t know what the cultural appropriateness is about talking about bride price and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t the social equivalent of asking someone’s political position in the United States. He said it was fine and so I asked him, “Pastor Victor, how much was the bride price for you to get married?” He said, “I had to pay seven cows in order to get married.”

OK, I am not sure what I thought he was going to say, but this caught me off guard. Some context, my wife is the daughter of an organic dairy farmer in Michigan. I have an idea of the value of a cow, and I was quite taken back by the fact that it was seven cows to get to marry the woman of his dreams.

And so I asked what I thought was what any reasonable person would ask. I asked, “OK Pastor Victor so how does this thing go? Did you ask if you could pay six cows instead? I mean seven cows is a lot, right?!?”

Pastor Victor looked at me with complete shock. He then said, “But she is worth seven cows. Why would I pay less than seven cows for her when she is worth seven cows?”

And then it hit me. I have no cultural clue or understanding how this whole bride price thing works. In my North American mindset, it makes complete sense that we need to haggle over the price and get the deal. In the South African mindset, this wonderful woman was worth every single cow that was given for her. She was a seven cow bride!

And so I came home and asked my wonderful daughter of an organic dairy farmer wife how many cows she thought she was worth, and quickly discovered that this concept doesn’t quite translate to the United States very well. 🙂

I have spent the past over 14 years being impressed at the work of Orchard Africa. What began as a feeding project on a garbage dump has since grown to a movement that helps local churches respond to the AIDS/Orphan pandemic through a model that provides more than just food, but a strategy for creating sustainable change in communities where they work.

I know that many people have moved on to the next crisis and issue in the world, but the HIV/AIDS pandemic isn’t done ravaging Africa. Maybe you would like to get involved in changing the world for one child or one village. I would ask you to drop by the Orchard Africa website and discover how you could be the difference if you decide to get involved. Visit www.OrchardAfrica.org for more information.