The Transition Artist

I’ve made some pretty big promises about my intent to blog about my trip to Africa the past couple of weeks, and today’s technically my first day of travel (I flew to DC today and have a layover here until tomorrow), so this is the part where I follow through. I’ve had an incredible roller coaster of a week and I’ve had such a massive pot of emotions and thoughts swirling around that I just want to share some reflections and set some intentions before I officially arrive in Africa so that I have a sort of foundation for what I’m going to do there.

My first order of business here is to establish the reasons that I’m traveling to Africa to begin with. I honestly can’t really tell you exactly what sparked my initial interest in Africa or why I fell so madly in love with the continent as a whole because I genuinely don’t remember. However, what I can tell you is that I’ve been interested in Africa simply from a cultural perspective since I was about fifteen years old. The only logical explanation I have for this is that God must’ve put this deep craving and need to love and understand people on this continent in my heart because He knew I was up for it. I’ve been saying I wanted to go to Africa (in basically any capacity) since my junior year of high school, and the fact that I’m sitting here now anticipating leaving tomorrow morning is completely surreal, but to say that getting to this point was easy would be the understatement of the year. 

When I first found out I was going to get to go on this trip and proudly produced my paid itinerary to my family my mom told me that she was really proud of me, and followed that with, “God helps the husslers.” I laughed because I thought she was joking at first, but realized that even after a whole lot of praying and hoping, I would never be here had I not been willing to work for it. I stumbled upon an organization called the Mocha Club in 2011 and felt so strongly about the work they were funding in Africa (for HIV/AIDS projects, education, orphan care, clean water, and economic freedom) that I became a monthly donor. When I started school at Belmont I realized that the Mocha Club offices were right down the street from campus, so I used a project for my public relations class as an excuse to go down and meet the staff. I immediately loved the laid back attitude and passion I saw in the staff members, and decided at that moment that I wanted to intern for them. I made it a point to stay in touch with my contact there, and got involved with Purpose Project right as the new fundraising tactic launched. I organized the first group Purpose Project with some girls at Belmont and raised $2,400 to fund education at New Dawn (our school in Nairobi, Kenya) and then lived on $1.50 a day food budget for a week since that’s what the kids we were trying to send to school lived on. It was hard. And I was so humbled.

I applied for an internship with the Mocha Club and worked with the staff there from August until December of last year, and just as my internship was coming to a close, something incredible happened. Sometime around September I decided that, no matter what it took, I would go to Africa this summer. My goal was to get to meet and live among the people I had become so enthralled with from a distance, so that I could form real relationships and have a firm understanding of exactly what I was working for. I like to think that my whole goal in all of this has always been to change the world by improving these people’s lives, but I’m not naive enough to assume that my visiting an African country for a month is going to change the lives of the people living there permanently. I am, however, thoroughly convinced that it will change mine. I don’t mean to say that I’m going with purely selfish motives, just that I know that I can make a small difference towards change, but the biggest difference is probably going to be a change in myself.

With that in mind, I set out researching every possible volunteer opportunity in Africa that I could find (which, by the way, is an almost endless process because they’re primarily either: expensive, somewhat removed from the actual lives of the people being “served,” or really sketchy..) and telling everyone in the Mocha Club offices that I was looking for an opportunity. I hit so many dead ends, until one week our country director from Rwanda, Pastor Mezack came to visit and speak to African Leadership (Mocha Club’s parent company) donors and board members about his minstry. Thinking it might be cool to listen in, I showed up to his coffee and conversation night, and ended up having my own conversation with him afterwards during which I told him about my interest in visiting Africa. He immediately invited me to come visit his home in Rwanda, gave me his email, and actually began helping me plan a volunteer trip to Rwanda. Anyone who was around me during this time got to experience me frequently in gushing mode, excitedly discussing my potential trip. I even started learning Kinyarwanda to better communicate.

The same night, I happened to have a different conversation with Emily Blackledge. Emily is the project coordinator for African Leadership, so she facilitates all of the physical projects the Mocha Club raises money for by working with the country directors on the ground in Africa. I mentioned that I was trying to get to Africa and that I needed more internship credit, and next thing I knew she was asking me to stay on staff, but interning instead for African Leadership specifically. So right then and there I became the first intern in the company working only for African Leadership on project development. I was literally spewing sunshine and rainbows I was so excited. To make this long story a little shorter, I basically started working with African Leadership this semester (starting in January) and helped develop our sustainable development teaching program among other tasks. I pretty much worked on anything put on my desk to the best of my ability and loved it. To reward my efforts and allow me to continue to be a part of the training program that I helped develop, as well as make my dreams of visiting Africa come true, Emily asked me to attend the African Leadership Summit Conference taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with all of the country directors. The most wonderful part of this offer was that the firm would be covering my ticket to the conference and back, and if I wanted to stay and work with a project partner of ours, then I would only have to pay for that part of my stay.

God works in some mysterious ways, and the trip details for Rwanda that had been a rough outline of plans dreamed up by Pastor Mezack and myself for quite some time remained just that, and I found myself stuck in the dreaming and planning process. With only a month until the conference and a plane ticket already purchased, I started scrambling to figure out how I could stay and volunteer. Emily, my godsend of a boss, offered to forward an introduction letter and short description of my ideal volunteer position to our country directors to help me out. The email was sent, and a few short days later I had an offer. Peter Odero, our project director for HEKO (The Heritage Kenya Organization, benefitting those affected by HIV/AIDS) offered to host me in his home in the Kibera slums of Nairobi (the largest in Africa, actually) and have me teach community classes to children K-2nd grade during the week days, attend and help with his church services on Saturdays, and take part in the women’s HIV/AIDS support groups on Sundays. I quite literally cried the most joyful tears you can imagine at how wonderful and perfect this opportunity felt. Conveniently, a proposal from FashionABLE for a pilot project on scarves made by the ladies at HEKO coincided with my trip dates, so I was asked to help facilitate that process as well.

Based on the fact that I’m hopping on a plane to Ethiopia and have gushed so thoroughly about all of these things, I’m sure it’s become obvious that I wholeheartedly and without much hesitation accepted these offers. I’ve been praying daily and asking God to prepare my heart for this trip with the knowledge that I’m in over my head. I understand that living in a slum is nothing like any of my past experiences. I also understand that I’ve never lived with HIV/AIDS and that I’ve never worked on a pilot project before, and probably have no idea what I’m doing. But for some reason these things don’t scare me. I know these opportunities arose for a reason, and I have to believe that it is in God’s plans for me to go into this hard place and struggle a little, but hopefully find something truly beautiful in all of it. I’m ready to hop on the plane tomorrow, knowing that I might not be fully prepared, but so glad for the fact that I’m not. I’m heading into this experience with no preconceived notions and no expectations besides that I will allow myself to be present, patient, and open to all of the people and places that I will encounter.

Many people have expressed their concerns about my safety, and I would like to make sure you all know and can rest comfortably knowing that: yes, I have gotten all my immunizations; yes, I’m taking my medicines; I do, in fact, have literally half a pharmacy’s worth of remedies for various ailments; yes, I brought mace; and no, I am not going to trust strangers or venture off by myself (and/or go out in Kibera at night). These are my assurances for my loved ones, but all I ask in return is that you’ll pray for me, send positive energy my way, think of me – whatever form of prayer or expression you choose; and mostly, support me. Your support means the world, and I’m so happy and touched by all that have shown it. If you’ve read this far, I’m really impressed (because, believe me, I know this post is long). I won’t be so long-winded in the future, but I will continue to share my experiences as often and fully as I can!

Until next time, go in love.