Friday morning. Check inbox, nothing. Refresh. Nothing. Refresh again. Nothing.
Waiting to discover where I will be spending 3 months this up coming summer has allowed me to truly understand the feeling of “anxiety”. Prior to my acceptance to Beyond Borders I had always been interested in traveling to a developing country to volunteer. I had been exposed to various opportunities to do so, however I never built up the courage to follow through with my desire to participate. Most focused on the religious experience of “mission trips” or were too costly with few opportunities to fund raise in order to offset the cost. When introduced to the idea of Beyond Borders, I knew this was the opportunity I had been looking for, but had doubt in my mind that I had the ability to follow through with the process. I’ll apply- but I won’t get an interview. I’ll go to the interview-but I’ll back out if I don’t like it. I constantly made justifications that would allow me to rationalize applying for such a drastic life experience. Shocked to be here today, ready to embark on my travels, I am amazed with myself that I have come this far.
Refresh. Check again. Refresh….
The long anticipation of discovering my placement has cieced (for a while at least). When reading the e-mail from Joanne, all I could think was “okay Joanne, get to the point. WHERE AM I GOING?!”. And then, in the last paragraph, 2nd sentence Your placement will be Kariobangi, Kenya working with Education 4 Life. Then came the water works. Worried, relieved, stressed, excited, scared, speechless, and yet wanting to tell everyone I knew. I was going to Africa!
Worried. What were my parents going to think? I had told my family my #1 request was Uganda and they had told their friends, and the word was passed along. Never did it cross their mind that their daughter would actually be living in the most dangerous placement location, let alone a slum.
I figured I would do some research. Try to ease their worries with some positive (safe) information about Kenya before breaking the big news. To my horror, Google did not do me justice. “Kenya: Police target illegal gangs after Kariobangi” and “Kariobangi Murders” were the only articles I could find. I have yet to share this information with them, so if an entry is not posted next week from me, you can assume why.
This past weekend I’ve begun to further investigate the country of Kenya and gather as much information as I can. Although I wish I had the ability to spend more time on this, I’ve also been given the opportunity to travel with the Finance and Economics Committee for the Pre-Budget Consultations hosted in various cities around Ontario. I will touch on this in my next blog as I have numerous points on this that I am excited to share with you.
For now, this is the end of Blog Three. As I continue to discover more information regarding my placement I will update.
I was so happy the way I found out. I was doing non-computer work on purpose and every hour I would take a 10 minute study break and check my computer, finally at noon I took a shower and when I got out my email was open and the email was just sitting there. I sat down and I read the email from start to finish. I was thinking that this was just an explanation email and that another email would come in the afternoon with the placement but there it was the 2nd sentence in the last paragraph. Immediate facebook update: (sorry Joanne). I hope you are enjoying your time across Ontario, Hopefully we will see each other sometime before the flight. Keep Well!
ReplyDelete-Sebastien :)
Sam, you blogging style is amazing! I love the way you write and the way your posts are real life stream of consciousness. It makes me feel like I am sitting there with you, waiting and worrying about your location placement!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your placement btw!
xo