I’ve spent the past three years of my life getting paid
nothing to do one of the best jobs in the world—education development work in
Ghana, West Africa. In many ways, Ghana saved me. Developing curricula,
traveling, and building strong relationships with the Ghanaians I worked with
gave me a sense of satisfaction and a challenge that I desperately needed. I
love teaching, and I’m confident that I will always be a teacher in one way or
another. I just needed a new, creative outlet in which to teach. I had also had
a life-long dream to go to Africa. Along came World Joy, and everything fell
into place.
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With my amazing friend, colleague &
photographer, Heather Leeflang |
International development work is hard. Really hard. Crying
buckets of tears and feeling like giving up hard. But I L-O-V-E it! There’s
something about this work that brings out the true essence of me. I feel more
alive and more like myself. My first few trips over, I would cry on the plane
ride home because I knew that some important part of me didn’t know how to BE
anywhere else. I would put it in the closet and anxiously await the next time I
could take it out and feel complete again. I’ve since figured some things out
and I’m out of the closet (so to speak), but I know that this work is good for
me, and, I think, I’m good for it.
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| One of my Ghanaian training teams |
As far as the Peace Corps itself, I guess it started with a
dream. A literal dream. I’ll keep the specifics to myself, but suffice it to
say that Peace Corps gave my heart a little tug. Soon afterward, my life
changed in a way that allowed me the opportunity to apply. When I got my
invitation to serve in Uganda, I was sooooooo excited! It felt right.
The biggest hurdle came when I spoke to World Joy about my
decision to join the Peace Corps (and therefore leave them). They offered me
the amazing chance to live in Ghana for two years and do development work with
them. It seemed perfect and perfectly logical. But, for reasons I do not
completely understand, it didn’t feel quite right. It was extremely difficult,
but I decided to stick with my original decision to join the Peace Corps.
Now I’m on the verge of leaving (less than two weeks!) and I
have days that I feel confident in my decision and very peaceful, and days when
I wonder what in the world I was thinking. I cry about leaving the people I
love. I feel homesick for Ghana. I miss the classroom. I guess I’ll just keep
putting one foot in front of the other, holding on to that dream with a Gollum
grip.
