A year of preparing. Months of waiting. Seven shots and daily Anti-Malaria pills. Trying to pack your life in one bag. The bittersweet goodbyes. Fourteen individuals looking for something more.
In life there are very little things I know for certain, but one thing I have always felt to be intrinsically true to the core —that the world is too vast and too intricate for humans to only see one perspective, one piece of the larger whole. For me, it has never been enough to live in Canada and call myself a Canadian. My sense of place has always been mixed up in the clouds somewhere. Maybe it is my mind that is in the clouds, wishing for something similar to a combustion of fantasy and reality. A chance to escape, yet a chance to connect. While I love the people that surround my life, and love the security of not having to worry about purifying my own water, or contracting malaria from mosquito bites, or various other things I take for granted, I have never felt at home here. They say the home is where the heart is, well my heart does not just have one home. It was made to be nomadic.
In 5 hours I will be on a plane heading into a country that just 3 days ago experienced tear gas attacks and violent riots in Uganda’s capital city, Kampala. Although there is unpredictability and risk involved in an experience like this, I cannot wait to be among the Ugandan people, learning, growing, and seeing the world from their perspective. I cannot wait to see the beauty that lies there, among the people and in the landscape. To a summer spent in my new home —in the Pearl of Africa!
Thank you to everyone who has supported me over this past year. It means the world. To my friends and family: I will miss and love you. See you August 20th.
