By Josephat Seleman Hema from Tanzania.

“What is home to you? Do you think you can have more than one homes?” Interesting. I was asked this questions promptly one day in an interview after a Sunday Service. However, I had a different thought that day; I was not thinking the same way as I usually think when I think about home. Yes, I come from Tanzania, Eastern Africa, from the World’s Southern Hemisphere, Southern of the
Saharan desert and not so far away from the equator line. About 4220 miles away and one or two hours ahead of Germany in the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). But I live here in Germany now, feeling absorbed and embraced, feeling the similar warmth that makes me feel home, surrounded by people’s smiles. From the first day, I arrived at Düsseldorf airport and being gifted a BVB scarf that reads, “MEIN VEREIN, MEINE HEIMAT” meaning “My club, my Home”, I felt it. Home can be a feeling rather than a certain specific place on Earth, I believe so. And so when I was asked the “What-is-home-to-you? And Do-you-think-you-can-have-more-than-one-homes?” questions, I just replied that I think home is one, we all have one home and we all share it. Guess what is it?

‚The World. The Earth.‘ Yes, we all dwell in this oblate spheroid thing, 149.6 Million km from the same Sun, chilling on different parts of the land, 384,400 km from the same moon. We are connected by pieces of land and water bodies that embrace each other every day. The Nile river takes water from the Lake Victoria around Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda in East Africa and pours its water in the Mediterranean Sea that connects Asia and Europe, then squeezing through the Gibraltar strait to the Atlantic Ocean, and Arctic Ocean, then through the Bering strait To the Pacific Ocean that adjoins the Indian Ocean through the Indonesian numerous islands to bring the waters back to the Tanzanian Dar es Salaam coast. Don’t we feel that we are sharing everything? When I landed at Schiphol international airport in Amsterdam I realized that I was breathing normally, just like in Tanzania. We even have the same oxygen, approximately 20% composition in air? So cool!! (Don’t laugh at me, it was my first time to cross the continent over the Saharan desert and Mediterranean Sea). Does it make sense that we all have one Home but live into different “sub-homes”? Hold on,

Have you ever heard of Pangaea?
In his 1912 publication,The Origin of Continents (Die Entstehung der Kontinente); Alfred Lothar Wegener (1880-1930), A German polar researcher, geophysicist, meteorologist and the originator of the scientific theory of continental drift, proposed the concept that the continents once formed a contiguous land mass called Pangaea. Pangaea was a super continent that existed during the late  Paleozoic  and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago due to Earth’s tectonic plates movements. Despite various critics the Berliner Alfred Wegener faced, the theory has been widely accepted over years through evidences such as the similarities of flora and fauna between the continents and also the advancement in measuring of continental drift with GPS (Global Positioning System).

That means, the World was one (Actually “is” one), with no political borders we see today. Only natural features such as mountains would separate people. That means a person would just walk a little distance from Rabat, Morocco to Philadelphia, USA, for example. Introduction of political borders have led to redefinition of the word “home”. I mean yes I have roots from the Nyaturu tribe in Singida (Central Tanzania),I have residence in Dar es salaam(Tanzania Eastern Coast), I have a Citizenship in Tanzania, I have an origin in Africa, but I have a Home in the World. On April 19, 2019, three days prior to Earth Day, American rapper Lil Dicky released a song called ‚Earth‘ on the campaign to support environmental protection. The following are the words on the chorus of the song;

We love the Earth, it is our planet
We love the Earth, it is our home
We love the Earth, it is our planet
We love the Earth, it is our home
Does it make sense to you?

As I write here I dream that one day people will be warmly embraced and feel home wherever they are in the World, maybe more than how I feel home in Germany right now. Just like how relaxed I feel when I enjoy the breeze and the scenery of the Lake Phoenix in Dortmund. Just like how I love the window of my room here, with its natural décor of a wall-climbing flower that makes me feel acomfort and a sense of belongingness. Or more than that. I remember one day I was asked by my German friend; Leonie, through phone, “Where are you right now?”, and I replied “I am on my way back home“. I said “home” referring to Meylantstraße 77, the volunteers’ house. And suddenly I asked her (and myself as well), “Did I just say home? Strange!” She replied saying that she was happy that I feel home in Germany. And yes, of course, I was happy, I am happy.