With all the postings on Facebook of women sans make-up raising awareness and money for Cancer Research, it prompted me to think about what I/people put value upon in this world.
For me living in Africa, my make-up lies gathering dust in the corner of my shelf…so putting up a photo of myself without make-up is just what I look like EVERYDAY here (besides the days when I wake up super early and have time to kill before school…) - might still be shocking for some I suppose.
"It's sometimes a bit sad how women feel this conscious and subconscious pressure to look and be a certain way."
This was a comment that a female friend made this morning to me. But it's true, back in London, whilst I was never particularly one to cake my face, I still felt bare/plain if I did not at least have a bit of eyeliner "framing" my eyes. When I would turn up to school without make-up (usually because I was running late), I'd without fail be asked if I was feeling ok/sick/tired - so naturally, I never wanted to look 'sick.' Looking back, I used to spend a small fortune on high-end make-up to not look constantly ill!
Actually, the comment that my friend made was based on the fact that I told her that labels/brands here just do not exist in the same way that they do in the developed world. Yes, you see them around but people do not wear them as a sign of status - the true commercial value of brands like Prada, Vera Wang, LV, Gucci, Ralph Lauren etc are just not known here. I've seen Prada shoes in the market alongside shoes from Primark/Primani being sold for the same price. I've seen men wearing women's clothing (not in the sense that they are wearing dresses or skirts but clothes that are sized for women or labelled from women's clothes shops.)
I guess we assign value and status to certain possessions in our lives - and sometimes sadly, it's based on the name/brand/label that the object/s carry. Yes, sometimes we are paying for QUALITY but sadly, usually for me, it was for the brand - a momentary satisfaction that I could afford a bit of 'luxury' but the guilt that followed at the amount I spent seemed to cancel/drown that feeling out pretty quickly!
I mentioned in another post a while back about the clothing market here. Not a lot is purchased brand new. Most items of clothing are bought in markets - and these are stocked with second-hand clothes from the developed world. Those 'Happy sacks' or charity donations you make every-so-often are often sold on, (NOT in the charity shops themselves) but sent to places like Africa to be traded in the markets - charities make MORE money that way! A friend of mine here wrote an excellent blog post about it if you want to find out more:
So living in Africa has been somewhat refreshing for me. I have not needed to be concerned with societies' norms and pressures to look a certain way - I now fully appreciate how God loves and sees me - from the inside out…I am not loved because of the clothes/shoes I wear, or by hiding my blemishes - God looks beyond the surface and He sees ALL yet loves me/us all the same. And with this same heart, that's what I want to be able do.
I wanted to end with my neighbour wearing my Armani sunglasses…the cost of which would pay for her nursery fees (and a few of her friends) for a year or two!
