Author's Note: Traveling to far off countries is in my DNA. A few months back, I went on the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website to look for the countries that have the lowest covid rates. One country seemed to speak to me through cyber space to come visit. The Gambia. It is the smallest country in Africa. To me, it felt like both The Gambia and God were calling me to visit there. I could not resist their beckoning. ~ Ellen Petersen

While trying to pass the time on my 27-hour journey to a country that called me to visit, I became intrigued by a passenger who was one aisle away from me.
 
I was fascinated by her because she looked so refreshed, so un-jet lagged, so unlike how I felt.
 
I kept looking at her, wondering how much time and effort she must put into maintaining her external appearance.
 
Then I went deeper, meditating on why she did this. Was it for herself or for the world?
 
I did a pursual of her appearance.
 
She had long pink nails, I mean really long. They matched her toenails. I wondered how she could get anything done with such long nails. She kept looking at them during the flight.
 
She wore high heels; I mean really high. Her clothing was clearly designer label. She wore makeup; I mean a lot of makeup. Lip stick, eye liner, mascara, blush.
 
When we got close to landing, she took out her mirror and applied even more makeup. Then she dolloped perfume on her wrists.
 
When she stood up to prepare for disembarking the plane, she reached for her carry-on luggage. It was a Christian Dior bag. It was at that moment that I thought to myself: “This woman is the polar opposite of me.”
 
I was wearing purple hiking boots, zip off travel pants and a T-shirt. I looked and felt completely disheveled. When I stood up to prepare for disembarking the plane, I reached for my carry-on luggage -- my LL Bean backpack.
 
Why am I reflecting on this? Because I need to make sense of why The Gambia seemed to call me for 3 years, because after being there for 10 days, it was a complete mystery to me.
 
That’s where the polar opposite passenger comes into play. 
 
The Gambia is the polar opposite of what I expected.
 
I expected a country that was beautiful yet in reality, Gambia is far from being beautiful. It is a country that does not wear makeup. 
 
Its complexion of poverty is evident. Its stench of pollution is sickening.
 
We humans prefer seeing people and countries with makeup on because it is much more appealing. It’s prettier. It looks and smells nicer.
 
We want to see people and countries that look refreshed, who put on their “best face” for the world to see.
 
But the reality of our world is that most people do not live that way. It is not pretty.
 
I need to stop spending so much energy on the “why” I felt called to go there and instead raise awareness of the reality that 9.2% of our world’s population - 689 million people - live in poverty. That is the ugly truth.