Monday, June 18, 2007
training
Hey everyone! Training is really great so far; everyone in my group is awesome. We have five guys and five girls, 7 of us are in our early 20s, 2 are in their early 30s and 1 woman is 52. She's brave! I'm sure some things will get on my nerves but they all seem pretty cool so far. We've just been getting a lot of lectures and stuff about multiculturalism. Useful, but I wanna get there! Really, there isn't much to say yet, so I will peace out and write in this next time from Kenya!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
leaving on a jet plane
There's a line of one of my new favorite songs, "Junkyard" by Page France, that's constantly running through my head lately.
"...And you were told to glow majestically and love until your hands bleed."
Wow. To me that's just the great commission right there in modern poetry. Beautifully true. It's a righteous idea, wanting to go and help people halfway around the world, but the closer it comes the more ominous it looks. I mean, if my back hurt after just trying on my 40 pound hiking backpack, how am I going to carry it up the second tallest mountain in Africa? How am I going to react to the kids who live with almost nothing? I guess the biggest thing I'm scared of is just doing a bad job. I'm afraid I won't be up for it physically or mentally, that I won't be able to keep up with the crazy pace and rustic conditions, that I'll realize this isn't what I'm meant to do. This is a huge experiment determining the direction of my entire future. When I think of that, I get terrified. But I know that everything is in God's hands. I'm going because He wanted me to. I just pray that I really can set myself aside this summer and pour my whole body, mind, and soul into helping these kids; they're the real reason I'm going. I'm trying really hard to remember that it's not about me.
Final preparations have been stressful-my video camera broke two days ago and I had to hurriedly find a solution for that. I was about ready to tear my hair out. Not a good sign for my prospects in Kenya if I get so crazed by something like that. Take it all in stride, that's what I need to do. Anyway, I'm mostly packed, and I fly back to Long Island tomorrow for a few days of training. I'm very excited to meet the group. I'm nervous about liking them although logically I know they all have to be awesome people to be doing Crossroads in the first place. It will great to be among my own kind, aka more world-saving hippies. I can't wait! So I will be leaving the country on Tuesday night-7 hour flight to London, then a 9-hour flight to Nairobi. Spending the night in Nairobi then catching a bus to Nkubu then next day. I'll post an address when I get it, I would LOVE postcards/letters. Also, if YOU would like a postcard from Kenya, kindly email me your address and I will try to oblige.
So this may be it until I get there, we'll see if I have time to update during training. I like blogging and I tend to ramble on, hopefully it will get more exciting but I apologize anyway. For now, please pray for my back because it really does have problems and it's going to be a long two months if it's hurting all the time. I'm a wimp, I know. I'll leave you with this from Switchfoot:
"The tension is here between who you are and who you could be, between how it is and how it should be. I dare you to move like today never happened before."
"...And you were told to glow majestically and love until your hands bleed."
Wow. To me that's just the great commission right there in modern poetry. Beautifully true. It's a righteous idea, wanting to go and help people halfway around the world, but the closer it comes the more ominous it looks. I mean, if my back hurt after just trying on my 40 pound hiking backpack, how am I going to carry it up the second tallest mountain in Africa? How am I going to react to the kids who live with almost nothing? I guess the biggest thing I'm scared of is just doing a bad job. I'm afraid I won't be up for it physically or mentally, that I won't be able to keep up with the crazy pace and rustic conditions, that I'll realize this isn't what I'm meant to do. This is a huge experiment determining the direction of my entire future. When I think of that, I get terrified. But I know that everything is in God's hands. I'm going because He wanted me to. I just pray that I really can set myself aside this summer and pour my whole body, mind, and soul into helping these kids; they're the real reason I'm going. I'm trying really hard to remember that it's not about me.
Final preparations have been stressful-my video camera broke two days ago and I had to hurriedly find a solution for that. I was about ready to tear my hair out. Not a good sign for my prospects in Kenya if I get so crazed by something like that. Take it all in stride, that's what I need to do. Anyway, I'm mostly packed, and I fly back to Long Island tomorrow for a few days of training. I'm very excited to meet the group. I'm nervous about liking them although logically I know they all have to be awesome people to be doing Crossroads in the first place. It will great to be among my own kind, aka more world-saving hippies. I can't wait! So I will be leaving the country on Tuesday night-7 hour flight to London, then a 9-hour flight to Nairobi. Spending the night in Nairobi then catching a bus to Nkubu then next day. I'll post an address when I get it, I would LOVE postcards/letters. Also, if YOU would like a postcard from Kenya, kindly email me your address and I will try to oblige.
So this may be it until I get there, we'll see if I have time to update during training. I like blogging and I tend to ramble on, hopefully it will get more exciting but I apologize anyway. For now, please pray for my back because it really does have problems and it's going to be a long two months if it's hurting all the time. I'm a wimp, I know. I'll leave you with this from Switchfoot:
"The tension is here between who you are and who you could be, between how it is and how it should be. I dare you to move like today never happened before."
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
I can't sleep...
Karibu! Welcome to my blog! I thought it would be a good idea to create a blog for my trip in order to more easily keep in touch with all who care about my travels! I won't have internet where I'm staying, but hopefully I will be able to get to an internet cafe in a nearby city on weekends to post on here and keep some contact with the rest of the world! So here we go...
I'm not sure exactly with the time change but in around 13 days (June 20) I will finally be arriving in Nairobi! I am so beyond excited because I've been preparing for this trip forever-reading, raising support, and working hard in order to be able to afford it! Here's some basic info about what I'll be doing for those who are interested:
I'll be working with a group of 10 people from around the US (most college students and recent graduates) at the Huruma Centre orphanage in Nkubu, near the city of Meru and Mount Kenya. We'll be renovating a dormitory there and doing other construction projects during the days and playing with and tutoring the kids at night! We'll also get to do some awesome side trips on the weekends and travel through Kenya for our last week after working for six weeks at Huruma.
"Huruma" means "compassion" in Kiswahili. I'm hoping that some of my basic Swahili knowledge comes in at least a little bit useful! I'll also be bringing my video camera so I'm hoping to get a lot of great footage and put together some sort of documentary once I'm back home. This is going to be a huge test for me; I'll get to see whether or not I'm really cut out for the Peace Corps! So right now I'm just buying equipment, packing, doing background reading, and getting more and more impatient by the day! I cannot wait to finally fulfill my dream of going to Africa. I just pray that God will give me the strength to be the best I possibly can be each day of this summer so I can show a little of his love to everyone I meet!
I'm sure that I will post a couple more times before I leave. Assuming all works out as planned this will be a really great way to update everyone on what I know will be an amazing summer! Thanks for stopping by!
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