2013. It held countless memories, laughs,
tears, adventures, and new beginnings. But I am ready to say goodbye and move
forward into a new year. 2014 is going to hold an adventure that will change my
life forever. In the summer I am traveling to Arusha, Tanzania on a service
trip. There we will be helping students, teachers, and orphans at the Naserian
School and Orphanage for 3 weeks.
My biggest fear so far is being the only
person on my trip who has not traveled with Children's Global Alliance before.
This scares me because I feel that everyone has had more experience than I, which
puts me at a disadvantage. However, at the same time in a way this feels like
an advantage. I have no expectations to be broken. I will venture into Arusha
with a clear set of eyes fully open to the gift that these children are going
to share. I have nothing to compare them too. The children in Tanzania will be
the first kids who will be part of me for the rest of my life.
The most difficult part of this experience
will be saying goodbye. Saying goodbye is always the hardest, most heartbreaking
part of any trip, but even more so after being in a country for three weeks while
building strong connections with these children. When I depart from the School
the most heart wrenching part will be knowing that there is a possibility that I
may never see these children again.
Coming back from Tanzania I think I will
be changed in so many ways but the biggest difference will be that I will be
more grateful: grateful for all the little things in life that we take for
granted in America, grateful for a loving family, my friends, fresh water, and my
education. In less developed countries they live simply, not off of what they
want, but what they need. They are grateful for everything that we take for
granted. In comparison to them even one the poorest people in America will
still not understand the way that the Tanzanian kids live. In America we know
that we will have food to eat, clean water to drink, and a home of some sort to
go too. However, in Tanzania every day holds uncertainty. The kids never know if
they will come home to food on the table, or even fresh water.
The kids don’t understand love on the same
level as we do. In some ways their idea of love runs deeper than ours does, but
in other ways our love runs deeper than theirs does. Some of the kids don’t know
what it is like to feel the love of a mother. To think that they do not know
what it is like to come home every night to someone who will always love them no
matter what they do is what truly inspires me to work as hard as I can to
overcome all of the obstacles that I have and will continue to face as this
adventure continues.
