My Coffee/Kola Life

MY Coffee/Kola Life

Cultures, places, and peoples have traditions and customs that are unique to them. That is certainly true of Liberia, West Africa where I live and the Midwest United States where I grew up. I write this blog to address those kinds of things from a cultural, social, systems and theological basis.

I started thinking about this a long time ago (or "ever since" as Liberians say.) I recently had an experience that solidified my thoughts. Here it is.

My husband, speaking from the backseat of the truck said, “Hand Sah this Kola nut, please, Linda.” Sah was our driver for a long, tiring trip to the southeastern part of Liberia, West Africa.

We had just left the home of a friend from the Southeast. We had arrived unannounced. He lost no time in sending someone to buy soft drinks and Kola nuts. We were welcomed to his house. The most important part of that welcome was the presenting of the Kola nuts.

Kola nuts are products of the Cola tree, which is native to West Africa. In Liberia, they are used as a symbol of welcome, respect, and friendship. They also can be chewed to fight hunger and tiredness (they are high in caffeine.)

As I handed the Kola nut to Sah, I said to him and the rest of the folks in the truck, “I think my cup of coffee is my kola nut.” They all laughed.

I said, “Seriously, in my culture Coffee seems to me to play the same kind of role as Kola does here in Liberia.”

They were skeptical. And yet, I know in my home and the homes of my friends and family, Coffee is ever present in welcoming and hospitality. When welcoming people, my go-to action is to offer coffee.

Case in point: I was in Liberia on the day a Liberian relative who lives in my home area in the US called to say she would be stopping by my house. I said, “Okay, I’ll put on the coffee pot.”

She laughed and said, “Linda, you’re not in Minnesota anymore. No coffee needed.” (I wondered later if I should have offered a Kola nut. I’m sure she would have been happy.

I’m not saying Coffee and Kola and the traditions around them are identica---they are not. However, there is a similarity between their chemical properties and, most importantly, between their position and status in the cultural traditions of which I am a part. I celebrate that. I also know the differences are real and complicated.

It’s a privilege to live and move in the midst of those cultural traditions. My life is rich and full because of that privilege.