So, things are coming together. I've been packing, repacking, shopping and ordering books, trying to get ready to head out next Saturday, the 18th. I just got an email from Peace Corps with an attached letter from the Country Director of Peace Corps in Kazakhstan, John Drotos. He was right in saying he imagined his letter would find us in a reflective and excited mood of anticipation towards this journey on which the recently invited, soon-to-be-volunteers-in-training are about to begin. He said, if you're not ready, now is the time to change your mind - drop out now before you disappoint anyone other than yourself. He also says, " Do you really have what it takes? Are you self-confident (but not arrogant) and mature? Are you motivated with a strong desire to help and learn? Are you an independent self-starter? Do you have a quest to understand others? Are you flexible and patient?" I will find out soon enough if I am, in fact, all of those things, but I am pleased to know I have been called some of those things before. I'm excited and anxious, but a good kind of anxious. Anxious to start working, and find out how and where I'll fit in a whole new culture and community. Finally, I'd like to share the Chinese proverb Mr. Drotos closed the letter with, saying that to him it displays the theme of the Peace Corps nicely:
Go to the people. Live among them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build on what they have. But of the best leaders, when their task is completed, their work is done, the people will all say, "We have done it ourselves."
Here's to an open mind and an amazing opportunity.
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1 comment:
Have a great time! My mother and father in law were both Peace Corps vols in the 60's (he was Malawi and she was India). Then in the late 90's she was the medical officer for peace corps for southern Africa.
Anyway, their experience, mainly in the 1990's, was that people who really immersed themselves in the local culture had more fun than those who kept running into the city to check their email. I think balancing that is more difficult today with "instant" access to home.
That will be my prayer for you--that you find the balance that allows you to both let your mom know you're alive with regular blog postings and to leave the USA behind enough to experience Kazakhstan.
Have a great time!!!
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