An Awakening of My Senses
When Culture Shock became Culture Fear
By Will Johnston
I like to play with hypotheticals in my down time. It could be what would happen in a class, or writing a project, or a later conversation I’m going to have with a person. They’re easy to come up with and I can think of some crazy hypotheticals when I want to. Going to Africa was no exception. I was going to a place I was unfamiliar with having no experience in Africa with Alang having made the mission trip once before. Since he grew up in Cameroon, I felt better, but that didn’t mean that butterflies went away.
My biggest concern going in was how culture shock would affect me. I have traveled out of the country twice before, both times to England, but Africa is a whole different ball game. We were going to be living with little access to the internet, little access to A/C, and entering a country that has civil unrest. Granted, that was the English speaking part of Cameroon and we were in the French speaking parts, but we would be traveling twice to extreme lengths and I didn’t know where we would be in relation to the conflict. Alang told us the last time we did this mission trip, he returned home and suffered from culture shock for three months. The worse part was not knowing what culture shock would look like to me. It affects people differently and that amount of unknown was terrifying.
The minute we got into the van for the first time in Cameroon, I was terrified. I expected normal roads and normal road conditions and got the complete opposite. Traffic was a nightmare, bumper to bumper but always moving with five or six cars fitting width wise on a three lane road. I would look out the window watching motorcycles zip through traffic on inches from hitting us. The infrastructure was really poor and every time a significant pot hole came up, we had to slow down to not pop a tire. The van was small for me in the backseat with my knees pressed into my chest and the back of the seat in front of me at the same time. I was like this for 90 minutes before we arrived at our house. My anxiety lessened seeing our gated property and having rooms with A/C. But often, there would be power outages sometimes lasting two minutes, other times ten plus hours.
“I would be lying if I didn’t have thoughts second guessing coming along on this trip”
My mindset now was take things easy. We just arrived with a buffer day before going to Toube. I could take a break, chill in the house all day, and settle in to Douala. I didn’t get my wish. Alang had some errands to run and wanted us to come along to: 1.) show us Douala, and 2.) show us the work he’s doing as he tends to a little boy named Daniel. Waking up to Mark telling me we were leaving shortly brought the anxiety right back. Now, when I heard errands, I thought it would be maybe two or three hours. I think we were out for six or seven hours, missing lunch, and having dinner around five. My normal patterns were already changing rapidly. But I was getting a little used to Douala. Another day or so and I would’ve been okay. The next day we went to Toube.
Toube was an extremely different experience then Douala. Living in huts on the sand with no A/C in the smoldering heat and humidity was icky feeling. We were only there for two days but I had seen enough to last me a week or two. After we arrived back in Douala, I knew I could now rest and I did. All this happened within the first four days of our fifteen days in Africa. While I was relaxing, I knew there was still over ten days left in the trip and we had to go to Bangoua in three days.
I would be lying if I didn’t have thoughts second guessing coming along. In my journal early on, my closing thoughts for entries were mostly about how I was so overwhelmed that I wanted to go home. The days away felt like weeks away, like I would never go home. It was then that I thought, my culture shock is not shock, but fear. To that extent, it is partially true. I was overwhelmed and scared in a new place. Each day, it felt like there was something that went wrong whether it was a minor thing or major. Nothing was going right with what I was planning. But the thoughts subsided. Entering Bangoua, I knew what to expect (to an extent). I knew how the days would go. The people we would see. And when we would be leaving. In fact, after our last shoot day, I had a new perspective looking at everything. I could finally take in the cultural experience.
“I am thankful for everything God has blessed me with.”
After returning to America, I did more research on what I had been feeling. For me, I was feeling culture shock and culture stress. Culture shock takes many forms: homesickness, disorientation, depression, sleep disturbances, and lack of focus to name a few. Culture stress is a stimulus overload making one feel annoyed, withdrawn, tired, and irritable. Thinking back on the experience, I understood why, and we all experienced it to an extent. Some of us slept for 10-12 hours a day. Some were a little more irritable and withdrawn at times. I experienced enough symptoms I think to feel both hands.
The main question I got when I came back was, “did I have a good time?” To say, “ yes” would be a lie, and I did that multiple times. It’s the easy answer to go to but things weren’t peachy the whole time. The answer I told a lot of people was, “it was a good experience.” And that is 100% true. I experienced new cultures that I would never have known outside of this experience. I met tons of great people who I may never see again but know they left and impression on me as I hopefully did with them. But the experience made me cherish everything I had at home so much more. It made me realize I don’t need the expensive new phone or flashiest clothing. I am thankful for everything God has blessed me with.
Will I later want the next big thing? Sure. I have gone right back to old habits from before the trip, but my perspective on life is different. I find myself cherishing the little things more. I take more chances at opportunities waiting in front of me and know that they won’t all be great, but they will be worth the experience. This trip shocked my senses awake making me aware of much more than before.
Did I enjoy the trip? Yes, with all its ups and down. Would I do it again? Yes, I would consider given whatever my current circumstance is. Do I recommend this trip for everyone? No. There are people who may be thrown for a loop with the change. What I do instead recommend is everyone go out and find a new place to explore. Open your eyes to the world around you and you will be changed when you come home.
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Our first big screening of the film was with the senior showcase in May 2020. The next step for the film was to submit to a variety of film festivals. We got some great news from the 15 minutes of Fame Festival. 15 Minutes of Fame is a Film Festival based out of Florida, and is a collection of films produced anywhere in the United States or Canada that are under 15 minutes in length. Submitted films were viewed by a panel of five judges and the highest scores became official selections. We got our Official Selection notification at the end of October. It is with great anticipation that we look forward to the digital screening of the festival that runs for the month of December. We are one of two documentaries being screened.
Before being brought on to this project, I had already edited numerous short documentaries and short films both at Stevenson and my various internships. I knew how to organize and prepare footage, but I was only doing it at a semi-moderate level. Most of the time, the footage was on the same hard drive as the project and I was only dealing with-on average-maybe two hours of footage in any given project. I knew that this would be a totally different animal so I had to make sure I was ready.
I like to play with hypotheticals in my down time. It could be what would happen in a class, or writing a project, or a later conversation I’m going to have with a person. They’re easy to come up with and I can think of some crazy hypotheticals when I want to. Going to Africa was no exception. I was going to a place I was unfamiliar with having no experience in Africa with Alang having made the mission trip once before. Since he grew up in Cameroon, I felt better, but that didn’t mean that butterflies went away.
I woke up at 3:00 am the day we left for Toube. My mind was coming up with all types of ideas on what to expect to see in Toube. Would this be when culture shock hits me? Will I feel like I’m starving myself to death? Will I be able to handle some of the sights I see? I didn’t go back to sleep. Everyone else woke up around 5:00 am. The ride to the boat was one of the smoothest rides we had so far. There were actually roads (most of the trip) and they weren’t in terrible condition. Plus, not many cars were out at 6:00 am (understandable). Police/military were patrolling the roads and pulled us over a couple times wondering our reason for traveling. Geh showed his military ID and explained what we were doing as other men shined flashlights into our van. We were cleared to go but it was a little nerve wracking watching men with guns tell us whether or not we could go and wondering what would happen if they told us to exit the vehicle.
Our first big screening of the film was with the senior showcase in May 2020. The next step for the film was to submit to a variety of film festivals. We got some great news from the 15 minutes of Fame Festival. 15 Minutes of Fame is a Film Festival based out of Florida, and is a collection of films produced anywhere in the United States or Canada that are under 15 minutes in length. Submitted films were viewed by a panel of five judges and the highest scores became official selections. We got our Official Selection notification at the end of October. It is with great anticipation that we look forward to the digital screening of the festival that runs for the month of December. We are one of two documentaries being screened.
Before being brought on to this project, I had already edited numerous short documentaries and short films both at Stevenson and my various internships. I knew how to organize and prepare footage, but I was only doing it at a semi-moderate level. Most of the time, the footage was on the same hard drive as the project and I was only dealing with-on average-maybe two hours of footage in any given project. I knew that this would be a totally different animal so I had to make sure I was ready.
I like to play with hypotheticals in my down time. It could be what would happen in a class, or writing a project, or a later conversation I’m going to have with a person. They’re easy to come up with and I can think of some crazy hypotheticals when I want to. Going to Africa was no exception. I was going to a place I was unfamiliar with having no experience in Africa with Alang having made the mission trip once before. Since he grew up in Cameroon, I felt better, but that didn’t mean that butterflies went away.
I woke up at 3:00 am the day we left for Toube. My mind was coming up with all types of ideas on what to expect to see in Toube. Would this be when culture shock hits me? Will I feel like I’m starving myself to death? Will I be able to handle some of the sights I see? I didn’t go back to sleep. Everyone else woke up around 5:00 am. The ride to the boat was one of the smoothest rides we had so far. There were actually roads (most of the trip) and they weren’t in terrible condition. Plus, not many cars were out at 6:00 am (understandable). Police/military were patrolling the roads and pulled us over a couple times wondering our reason for traveling. Geh showed his military ID and explained what we were doing as other men shined flashlights into our van. We were cleared to go but it was a little nerve wracking watching men with guns tell us whether or not we could go and wondering what would happen if they told us to exit the vehicle.