Peaceful Pathway☮

“Growth means change and change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown” This whole journey has been an exploration from the cosseted, comfortable life I used to know to the overwhelmingly daunting indefinite.   I know this may seem pretty obvious, but when small situations happen back home, and I realize that they mean more to me than they should, then I remember the fear and nerves I should be feeling by living so far away.   Everyone is okay, thank goodness, I have just had to re-evaluate what I know to be sure from my solid foundation of home. Fact #1 : my family is uprooting yet again to an unknown house in a few months.   Fact #2 : the person I used to love, care for, and share every part of myself with has found someone else to fill the empty spaces in my absence Fact #3 : life goes on back home.   Whether I’m there or not (and whether I like it or not) Fact #4 : I really have no reason to be upset about it, (and...

Another year has flown by, and now, writing you from the cozy air-conditioned room in the Gobojango Health Post, I am happy to say that I am extremely satisfied with where my life is right now. I had the great opportunity to go home for the holidays.   Let me tell you, there really is no place like home for the holidays…it was exactly what I needed and satiated some of my cravings.   The most unfortunate part about arriving home is the actual travel to get there… I started my journey the Thursday before my flight was to depart.   Since I had a doctor’s appointment that day, I figured I would remain in the capital for a few days until I had to head south to catch a flight.   Though this may sound appealing, the couch surfing situation and homelessness aspect of it wasn’t as appealing as I originally thought.   I felt like such a mooch!   (Although, I’m not going to lie, it was pretty enjoyable when I stayed with volunteers who were h...

So...funny story...I woke early this morning to hang my laundry. Scrubbin' at 6 a.m., my mom would have been so proud! And lo and behold...it downpours. It hasn't rained in Gobojango since I've moved here five months ago, and yet it was raining so hard the ground was flooding. Just. My. Luck. At least the garden got some rejuvenating natural rainfall!

The other day, a woman came into the clinic on her last leg of strength.   The doctor even said he wasn’t sure she was going to make her next appointment.   It was so disheartening seeing how, by not adhering to her medication, this beautiful twenty-seven year old woman was allowing the vicious virus infesting her body to take over.   I’ve seen her vivacity and vigor diminish over the past few weeks, and am at a loss at trying to understand why she won’t simply take her medication.   HIV is truly a brutal virus that, if left untreated, will consume every last healthy cell in your body.   Though I have lived amongst and interacted with people who have been affected directly by this virus for the past eight months, I still feel as if I am a novice to understanding the influence it has upon its victims.   Deaths are a common sadness that occur, and funerals are just about as normal to attend here as weddings. I wonder why some women are so hesita...

Aish, it has been far too long since my last post, and for that, I apologize! Usually when so many good things are happening, it’s hard for me to take the time to sit down and reflect over them! However, this cloudy/rainy morning, I’m curled up on my couch with Caesar, listening to some good music and ready to dispense an overview of the past month!           Let me first begin by saying that the Peace Corps is a journey that has lead me through some of the most trying times of my life.   I’ve learned so much about myself and the world that we live that it’s oftentimes been extremely difficult to digest it all.   I’ve worked so hard to come this far, and in doing so, I feel as if I cannot allow myself to fail.   So when a small project is unable to see its completion, I feel like I’ve failed on a personal level.   It’s been a learning experience to be able to grow and not take the fault in small disappoint...

Whew! What a past couple weeks I’ve had! It’s busy busy here in Botswana, lots of great things are happening, and the rainy season is a’comin’! Let me keep you abreast of the recent going-ons in Gobojango alone.   First of all, I’m in the process of writing a Peace Corps Partnership Program Grant for the primary school to get shade in their newly built playground.   The students of the school out-scored every other school in our district on their 2011 aptitude tests and therefore, the school received a sum of 30,000 pula to put towards the development of the school. Well, after buying a new copy machine, updating a roomful of computers’ software, spending money on some small prizes to encourage kids to continue athletics, and building a new playground, the development money has run out.   The only thing is that, though the playground is beautiful, the sun scorches the equipment so quickly that children are not able to use it or play on it during the summer mo...

“Come, my friends. ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world For my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset And though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven That which we are, We are. One equal temper of heroic hearts Made weak by time and fate But strong in will To strive To seek To find And not to yield.”                              -Alfred Lord Tennyson                 With each passing day, I’m faced with more opportunities to seize the world in new ways. Yesterday, I ate lunch with President Sir Ian Keretse Khama.   It was wonderful, and flattering to feel so important, but the most inspiring thing was the president’s willingness to listen to the citizens.   During both ward meetings (bot...