Hugeness?

So the topic of the day probably deserves a lot more thought and insight than I'm going to give it tonight... but something keeps popping up over these past few days.  I've mentioned this topic before on this blog, so really, there's probably nothing new to say about it...  but I'll say it anyway.

Started when I was flipping through an Oprah magazine the other night.  Yes, I like the Oprah magazine.  Call me a ... well, whatever you want to call me, but I do enjoy flipping through the occasional O magazine.  And I do mean the "occasional" one, because the only ones I ever see are the ones that I bring from home when I go once a year!  Anyway, I was flipping through the April issue (which is probably the only one I will see for the next several months!) to make sure I hadn't missed anything the first few times I went through it (yes, I know, but this is true confessions night on "African Adventures"!).  Anyway, I realized just how much of the magazine is devoted to women's weight.  Whether it's about how to lose weight or how to be more content with whatever shape you happen to be, or how to dress to make yourself look to be a better (that is, smaller shape).

And I was thinking to myself that I'm actually really glad I don't spend most of my time in that sort of North American mind-set anymore.  Admittedly, I'm not the skinniest girl that walked the face of the earth.  In fact, I know that in some ways, I'm downright chubby.  At least the Wii Fit tells me that I'm "Overwieght" and gently tells me that my BMI could be a bit lower, but at least I've not yet entered the "Obese" zone! 

Anyway, despite these slight "flaws" in my body shape, I certainly don't spend my days obsessing over it.  And while I've been trying to cut back on the Coke lately because I know it's not good for me, I really don't think too much about whether I'm eating too much or whether I could eat more healthily (is that a word?!).  I eat lots of veggies.  I mean, LOTS of veggies.  Most meals consist of vegetables, eggs or beans or lentils, some bread or noodles, and fruit.  There's really not much I could do here to eat more "low-fat" or be more calorie conscious.  I'm just happy to have the basic foods to eat that I do! And it's fine.  It just doesn't really occur to me that my chubbiness could be an issue... until I stick my nose in an O magazine!
 

So the other night when I was reading the O magazine, I was really thankful that I don't live in a society that obsesses about weight.  In fact, people here, if they're going to obsess about weight, will tend to obsess in the other direction!  For example, just yesterday, over tea during our workshop, one of our colleagues here (a local man) was telling us all about marriage in his community.  The climax of his story was the fact that people from his community like to marry "huge women like this one..." as he points at ME! 

I think I'm really getting used to the fact that chubbiness around here is considered a desirable trait!  At the very least, it's not something to be ashamed of.  People very openly discuss how fat they are or how thin they are.  They don't really make any judgements about it, they just quite openly and frankly discuss their weight and their bellies (or lack thereof).  And coming from a culture that's so obsessed in the Oprah kind of way about weight, it's really refreshing to be surrounded by a culture that just doesn't really mind... and in fact even celebrates the fact that a person is healthy and can afford to have some meat on her bone!

On that note, I think I need a snack ... :)