As much as many of the Price family members despise living in the Congo, it had to be some time or another until someone discovered a blessing of living there. Leah has the first major epiphany.
This comes through knowing her newly acquainted friend, Pascal, who was introduced into her life by her little sister, Ruth May, through the simpleton game of Mother May I.
Despite their language barrier, they used creative hand gestures to help understand one another. Over the course of a few weeks, simply being with one another helped each realize the others' culture and lifestyle better. For Leah, this was quite an eye-opening experience.
"It struck me what a wide world of difference there was between our sort of games-"Mother May I?", "Hide and Seek"- and his: "Find Food", "Recognize Poisonwood", "Build a House". And here he was a boy no older than eight or nine."
....
"For the first time ever I felt a sitrring of anger against my father for making me a white preacher's child from Georgia....My embarrassment ran scarlet and deep, hidden under my clothes." (pp.114-115)
This is quite the powerful passage from a first person point-of-view of Leah. Note at the end she says her embarrassment was hidden under her clothes. The significance of clothing being mentioned has to do with how blessed she is, and now knows she is. Pascal, after all, owns only a pair of khaki's. Clothing seems to run as an extended symbol throughout the novel, displaying wealth and status.
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