Preparations

I never realized how much preparation is involved in going abroad. I have traveled many times abroad but I either didn't stay in the country that long or I didn't need a Visa or vaccinations to get into.

Today, I spent part of the day researching what vaccinations I will need to spend 7 weeks in Tanzania, and yea, its a lot! 10 to be exact: Hep A and Hep B, Malaria, Meningococcal, Rabies, Typhoid, Tetanus, Polio, Measles and Yellow Fever. Ummmm, wow! It's a good thing that I am not too scared of needles.

I will be living in Arusha, Tanzania at the foot of Mt. Meru. An interesting little fact I learned about Arusha today: Arusha's clock tower is supposedly the midpoint between Cairo and Cape Town, representing the halfway point between the two termini of the old British Empire in Africa. The clock tower is now adorned with the Coca Cola symbol. Way to go capitalism and globalization!

I have a feeling that this experience is going to be the biggest culture shock that I have ever had. I was reading about some of the customs of the Maasai people and some of them are so completely different than anything I have ever experienced. Now don't get me wrong I love learning about new cultures and I value all of the customs that new cultures have to offer but for some reason I am so nervous to be out of my comfort zone for so long and potentially by myself. I have never really thought of myself as dependent on what I know, what I understand but the idea of being by myself, in a country where I don't speak the language and don't understand the customs is a little overwhelming. But, I can do it. I know I can. This is going to be an incredible growing experience for me, I am sure of it.

Remember, Namaste.

And I'm going to Africa!

So, even though I created this blog almost a month ago, I am just now writing my first post. :) I swear this will not be indicative of my posting abilities while in Africa.

When I started in the Bonner Community Service program as a first year at Rhodes and heard that we received some money to do summer service abroad, I was so excited because I knew that this would help me to go somewhere where I had never been before but had always wanted to go, Africa. But when I was researching the program and plane ticket costs, the money that I was receiving from Rhodes and the Bonner program was not enough to make my trip to Africa a reality.

So I sent a proposal for a mission scholarship to the Associate Pastor at my church in Florida with the hopes of raising a little bit of money to help with the costs. This church has always supported me in all of my endeavors and I hoped that they might be able to spare a little money to help now. Well, I just received word from the Associate Pastor that it looks like the church is going to be able to fund the entire cost of the plane ticket! That is a lot of money and something that I never thought I would receive! What a blessing and a gift!

God definitely works in mysterious ways. Three years ago, I never would have thought that I would be sitting here today in the planning stages of a service trip to Africa. I am so overjoyed and filled with emotions that it is difficult to adequately write what I am feeling. I just feel so blessed and loved.

So what exactly am I doing and why am I doing it? I am now planning (!!!) a trip to Tanzania, Africa, to work with the Maasai people, the indigenous people of Tanzania and Kenya. Because of their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well-known African ethnic groups internationally. The Maasai culture is one of the major attractions of the tourism industry in Tanzania and yet, the Maasai people are not benefiting from the tourism. I will work with a local NGO, ILKDNA, in the hopes uplifting the economic conditions of the Maasai women. In addition, I will be leading English classes for the Maasai women and children.

So thats the logistics of what I am doing- the more important part is, why am I doing it? I try to live my life by the Gospel lessons. Jesus came to earth to save us from our sins and commanded us to love our God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. In this globalized world, I think we often forget the love our neighbors as ourselves part. Jesus did not mean, love your friends and family, love the people who think and act like you, love those of a similar economic status, love those who have received the same amount of education as you or love yourself alone. No, Jesus tells us to love everyone. Everyone. The homeless, the working poor, the Republicans, the Democrats, the drug addicts, those in prison, anyone who is oppressed or an outcast of society in addition to the people that society deems easy to love. Jesus lays it all out there for us, tells and shows us what we are supposed to do, all we have to do it follow it. Jesus ate with the tax collector, talked with the Samaritan woman, healed the lepers-defied social norms! How radical! Jesus shows us and now we have got to go out and do the same. That is what life is about for me. Serving, being in community with all of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Think about it, the most radical thing we can do, is choose to love each other.

And so that is what I am going to do. I am going to make community with, to love, my brothers and sisters in Africa, in the hopes of doing something to lighten their load, sharing their burden and they in turn will share mine. That is the great thing about community- sharing. If I am open to it, their hopes, fears, burdens will become my hopes and fears and burden and my hopes, fears and burdens will become their hopes and fears and burdens. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the human beings capacity to love. In the face of the worst possible trial or tribulation, we never loose our ability to love.

Love is all you need.

I realize how silly and idealistic it seems, how one could say, "oh you young college student, you. you don't know the ways of the world!" But think about it! What can love not do? Love can bring food and water to those who don't have any, love can stop fighting, love can teach children how to read. Love do all of these things because Love died on a cross to save us. When we love each other, we are realizing one another's humanity. Its the namaste idea- I recognize the Holy One in you. That is what this whole trip is about. Namaste.

So now I am off. Excited and so so thankful.