This poem was written by an [nlcf] alum, Katie Pepiot. She is currently serving with the Peace Corps in South Africa. We read this poem in the social justice service on Feb 22nd.
Come In
by Katie Pepiot
Koko Dumela!
All are welcome
in this house.
Come as you are.
Hungry?
Eat.
Thirsty?
Drink.
Tired?
Rest.
Our home is
Your home.
Generosity remains
my favorite part
of Tswana culture.
What’s mine is yours
and I am
because
you are.
Where collectivism
wins over
the individual.
There can be no “I,”
only “we.”
The notion that
we are all
linked inextricably together
and have an innate
Responsibility
to each other
is one that just seems to
make sense to me.
We should want to take
care of each other.
We should have a stake
in each other’s lives.
Not simply because of
reciprocating
motivations,
but because we
all share membership
to this world.
And because
we need each other.
We should care
because
in a poor
South African village,
a woman in a tin shack,
living off of her retirement pension,
manages to feed
Anyone
and Everyone
who comes to her door.
There is always enough.
And there is always room for
One more.
It is this perspective
of South Africa
where I glimpse
a small piece
of what Heaven
Must be like.