TIA

TIA: This is Africa
lush, green, crickets and birds sounding day to night (most shocking is the laughing bird which sounds almost like the wiked witch of the west with wings), a crescent moon hung in the sky like a bowl spilling stars into the darkness, hot sun pouring golden light through my morning window, cool breeze swishing palm fronds in the evening, a lingering handshake and a genuine smile bring warmth to even the most stern faces from taxi drivers to street children nothing like a grin to change the mood, water that runs only sometimes, power shutting off in the grocery store, the faint smell of bodies and traffic wafting everywhere... this is Africa.

Thus far I've met kindness everywhere from my colleagues to strangers. The school is beautiful and while I'm far from knowing my exact responsibilities or schedule I have a feeling I will slide into place here. Having spent time in India and Nepal, I fall easily into the 3rd world sense of time - there is an ease here, a lack of hurry, a different time table for measuring when and if you give up the hurried worried mentality you find that there is really no need to barrel forward into the future, it's coming at whatever pace you move so why not greet it with a relaxed embrace. My apartment is lovely, though I've seen some of the houses and long already to move into one where there are yards not even Bodha could imagine (with avocado trees and sugar cane). I cannot say I'm without fear but I decided to burn it up for the New Year, to stop indulging in insecurity and to live in a space of "I can" (shout out to Obama who according to Uganda is "made in Africa!"). We are all capable of more - we can give more, learn more, teach more, love more, live more - we can step outside the boundaries we set for ourselves and dip our toes in the unknown without hesitation, even if it is just for a moment, the glimps might change us for lifetimes.