Taking It All In - Bitter Sweet Goodbye

December 10th 2013 - D.C.

Every journey must come to an end and I now turn the page on my African adventures.

Although not as thrilling and mysterious as the beginning of my mandate, this part is almost if not just as important as my arrival in Malawi. I believe it is fair to say I've been up and down, low and high, happy and sad; and I wouldn't change a thing. I say I came here with no expectations, but I was secretly hoping to gain experience and above all, knowledge.  Not the kind of knowledge school institutions teach you, but rather knowledge about myself.  Knowledge about how one grows, adapts and deals with new unknown challenges.  A common knowledge exclusive to one's personal experience.  A knowledge that makes one grow, yet remaining the same person.  

Sad to leave,
looking forward to what's next.

The past three months have not only allowed me to travel and see new things, but more importantly allowed me to gain confidence in a work environment.  Development work is a two way relationship where one gives and gains. I want to think I gave more than I received, but that would be a selfish lie. I can already think back on my work and see the world in a completely different way. 

I know some of my acquaintances will expect me to come home and either convert to a different religion, change my diet, go from driving to walking or synthetic to organic.  And I don't blame you.  But these are not changes that occur consequently to this type of experience.  I shared these thoughts with some fellow volunteers from the same programme and even though we all live different experiences here, we will forever share a common understanding of the situation we put ourselves in; the latest never being understood by our friends and family unfortunately. 

So we find comfort in looking forward to what we miss from home, and how soon we will fulfill these gaps in our daily lives: from purchasing a coffee to go, to having access to "normal" wifi speed. 

Unfortunately, I have had access to these things in my last week, and I came to the conclusion that these cravings and luxuries do not mean much. They are just things.

Our mandates oblige us to use different means to obtain common ends. In other words, we all want the same things, but how are you going to get them?

The question of how much effort, patience and understanding then comes into place.  Time, resources, opportunity... These factors will make it or break it in the end. 

I will not continue to share on the work and daily struggles of a volunteer in Malawi, but I hope this can give you a glimpse at how I've dealt with things over the past months. 

Traveling to South Africa, during this time especially, was more than I could ever hope for. Although I spent only a short period visiting the busy metropolis that is Joburg, I could definitely understand more of SA and experience the separation this country still faces to this day. 

I am happy to say I have grown and my connections have as well. My work gave me a network of new contacts which are key to my contribution to the AECDM. 

To all my co-workers, fellow volunteers and friends, I thank you for sharing this chapter in my life.  You have helped shape my experience and I am grateful for your support along the way.

Zikomo kwambiri ndi zabwino zonse,

Sammy xx

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