last week two of my favorite people cam eto visit. jori and patrice arrived at noon on thursday right in time to welcome ben poor to town- the guy who walked here from indiana! The two of them got roped into holding some of his welcome banners so im sure they were on the even news! thre were a few media sources, all of the volunteers, a brass band, and residents- it was a pretty hapenin' time. ben's website is pretty cool: benswalk.com
after the excitement we walked to the corner store to get a drink- pennington was DYING from the heat:) at 3:30 we started on dinner prep, then the girls left for their hotel and i joined them later for a nap before we hit the town. they already had pretty important observations to share so we did a good ole fashion PA debrief which got me thinking....would you two care to add your thoughts to the blog!? I'd love for folks to see it through your eyes too...
Our first stop that night was a really great hooka bar then we went to see Soul Rebels play- an amazing brass band that play at the same spot every thur night. The night ended by us being pulled over by the cops for a missing headlight (the wiring is mesed up dad!) THe cop made all of us put our hands out of the window before she approached the car then asked if we had any weapons- very strange...she then proceeded to check all three ID's and finally came back to the car with: "you know the saying 'it's not what you say it's how you say it?' 'well, you were very polite so i'm letting you off with a warning" ...i wasnt too sure where she was going with that at first. was a broken light worth all that!??!?! Oh well, it made for some extra excitement i suppose...
it was amazing to have some members of my extended family in town... we balanced our time between site and relaxing time- well more vacation time which was nice for all of us. it was sad to see them go.
after dropping them off at the airport it was back to work- sunday barbque was a hit and the week got off to a great start because I FOUND OUT MY PEACE CORPS ASSIGNMENT!!!
October 29th I head off to (unknown city) for the staging event (predeparture training) then November 1st I leave with my training class to NAMIBIA, AFRICA!!
i can't wait...i cried when my parents told me, the mail was sent to their place, and i've been smiling ever since. i'll be a health extension volunteer helping to build the capacity of local NGO's for HIV/AIDS. i'll be doing program development, liasion between community, organizations, gov't etc, assisting with development and dissemenation of educational materials and much more im sure. the packet i read was HUGE and i have a lot to do in the next ten days: update my resume, write a motivatin statement (5 part bulletted essay that i'll probably post for ya'll), apply for my visa and peace corps passport, and then much more before my actual departure.
besides YAY!!!!! the most common response when i tell people is "isn't that where angelina's baby is from?" maybe we'll be at the same coffeeshop one day... :)
speaking of coffeeshops: today i took the day off to take care of some of the paperwork and to read all of the information sent to me about pc. i went to two different places and both times people started conversations with me. they asked why i was down here and i told them a bit about EC and then they asked what i'll be doing when i went home and i told them about the peace corps. both of their responses were similar to a question jori asked me while she was here: are you punishing yourself for something?
i've been sitting with that question ever since jori popped it and i had to think about it differently when it was posed today. i'd never thought of what i do as a punishment- most people i've worked with, whether here or in public allies, are all doing it for similar reasons- there is a need, we have a passion to be involved, and we're having amazing experiences and meeting amazing people along the way. being down here and heading to africa are just as selfish as anything else- the words "selfish" and "selfless" have such concrete negative or positive connotations that makes it difficult for me to express exactly what i'm trying to say but i hope you follow me. i decided a few years ago that when i travel i want to work my way through countries- not just visit. peace corps is a perfect way to do that. im excited about the challenges, looking forward to how i'm going to continue to mold and be awoken to my true self and impact others just as they will impact me along the way...i need to give this more thought but generally- no, the decision to head overseas is not a punishment, it's truely a gift!!
i'll be sleeping on this quote tonight from the one and only browniest sanders of all the browns:
"courage is the capacity to confront what can be imagined"
...let's all be a little more courageous.
peace,
sb
3 comments:
SARRAAAAAAA you leave like seriously 3 days AFTER my 23rd bday. Umm yeah, I need to call you, cuz I hafta see you def. before you leave. I love you!
Buffie, you're very selfless for doing the work you do in the way you do it. Also for how you treat others. Your selfishness, though, is why you're so great. Everyone's selfish, but your brand of serving yourself involves getting paid nothing, living in a "developing" country for 2 years, and working for people whose suffering goes largely unnoticed in the world. You're so damn selfish! Can't wait to visit. Love you. ~Willie P
adding to wil's cheese, an excerpt for you, my dear...
"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no 'brief candle' for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."
this piece wasn't just a performance, it was a calling. and you walk the talk girl. i'm so freakin' excited for you!
can't wait to catch up one-on-one. can't wait for the conversations and your hugs! ugh... miss 'em. see you in less than two weeks. peace and jini love.
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