In Kenya, people take Chai. Taking Chai is a cultural ritual in which people talk and drink tea as a group after breakfast, upon arrival at work, before everyone leaves work, and then again at dinner. Kenyan Chai tea consists of fresh warm milk-straight from a local cow, water, tea leaves and sugar cain. Taking Chai lasts atleast an hour, and is mandatory before any work can get started, or before anyone is allowed to leave work at 4pm. Chai is too strong, too sugary, and by most Americans' standards, a complete waste of time. Many times, I have found myself asking why I have seen people taking Chai while important business or pressing matters are piled up at the Missions of Hope Center.
In America, we put work before friendship most every day...and we get a lot done. But at the expense of what? So I must ask myself, is this Kenyan time of fellowship and tea drinking unproductive? Or is it a form of worship, a model of Christ's call for us to be relational and devoted to one another in brotherly love?
Julie, interesting that in the light of all you say about the spiritual benefits of Chai time you misspell sugar cane as in "Cain slew Abel"!! Tea time at my workplace is too often 30 seconds between tasks that often seem devil driven.
ReplyDeleteBless you and your work, Howard