Today was staging in Philadelphia. The orientation was a little hokey (and redundant to everyone who did the assigned reading), but it was nice to finally be around people who are in the same boat. We talked about our anxieties and ambitions and no one questioned our motives. I was a nervous wreck last night and this morning, but I feel much calmer now, knowing that whatever challenges I face in the coming years, I'll have a network of pretty awesome people in Malawi that will have my back.
Tonight our group of 21 education volunteers will leave the hotel at 3am on a bus to JFK where we'll catch our 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. From there, we fly to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, where we'll stay in a hotel for the first few days before moving to our training village near Kasungu. Despite the immediate and daunting task of getting to Malawi, right now I am just super excited to see a different part of the world, learn a new language, experience a new culture, and hopefully change lives for the better!
To close, here are a couple quotes that really resonated with me today:
"Peace requires the simple but powerful recognition that what we have in common as human beings is more important and crucial than what divides us." -Sargent Shriver (first Peace Corps Director)
"Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." -The Serenity Prayer, Reinhold Niebuhr
Adios amigos!
No comments:
Post a Comment