8/13/10 Lets start a revolution

I am currently on the plane on my way to Cairo after a fantastic safari experience. Over the past few days since we have left Shirati, Melody and I keep sporadically coming up with ideas of what we can do. Immediately after our safari, we took a taxi into town and purchased cleats for the coaches (it was their single personal request), 2 more soccer balls (since 2 out of the 6 brand new balls that we originally bought exploded), soccer goal nets (the first set ever in Shirati), and cones (to facilitate practices). We also went to a digital print shop and had 55 photos printed of the group picture of all the girls to send back with Pili and Enock along with all the equipment. We also bought some small things for Junior’s mom and had a picture printed for Babu. Ideas keep streaming in. We were thinking about some sort of sustainable fundraiser that our girls soccer team could do in Shirati to help fund their future equipment and cut out reliance from us foreigners. Mel and I are also super motivated to help Junior and his family. I still think of Junior, a 10 year old, that spent his life locked behind bars simply due to circumstances of him having a mental disability and constrained resources in his family and in the entire country. I truly want to go back and raise awareness of mental disabilities in developing countries and how they are unrightfully neglected.

Since the beginning of our trek to Africa, so many of my perspectives have changed. I knew that I was idealistic coming in as a person in my early 20’s. Although it is sometimes difficult to face disheartening situations or handle reality, I still feel like my naïve outlook brings determinism. I was blatantly told by some adults that Junior’s situation is essentially hopeless and that I should concentrate on things more worthwhile efforts such as vaccinating lots of children. Those statements, although I realized their well-meaning intentions, angered and disappointed me leaving me feeling more helpless. If we decided that one life was not worth saving because it is not cost effective and not worth it, then why would we ever want to save a person with cancer or AIDS since we could just spend the money on vaccines. Nevertheless, I’m learning to channel that frustration to something productive. I am hoping to appeal to large U.S. non-profits in the mental disability field to help as well as consult with special education teachers. In a dream world, I would raise enough money to build and staff a special education school for children in Tanzania since there is only one right now. I know it is possible though, since leprosy wards have been built in Tanzania and the government covers all citizens with HIV or AIDS with medications. In my short life, I’ve learned that if I feel passionately about something and brainstorm a bit, it is totally possible to make a difference in that cause. I look at the ecstatic 50ish girls in our soccer program and it is so inspiring to know that if opportunities exist, willing and eager people will embrace them. I hope that the excitement that Babu expressed about his newfound clothes, bed, and school supplies will help him realize that secondary school and university are attainable things in his future that looked so bleak just a few weeks ago. I think that we are all capable of creating revolutions in small and large ways. It starts from an individual level whether it is somebody that is first in their family to graduate college or winning first place in a race. I believe that the same self drive can be expanded to encompass families, communities, and the world.

I was reading in “Half the Sky”, one of the most inspirational books I have ever read dealing with empowering women all over the world and battling issues such as sex trafficking and maternal mortality, that volunteering in developing nations is so essential. I could not agree more with that. Although some cynics may say that the amount of money that is spent on a few people traveling to Africa could be better allocated for funding projects, I (and the authors of Half the Sky) disagree. I feel that the reason is because the few that venture to poorer regions of the world are usually affected by what they discover: a world that exists beyond their own. A positive chain of events continues after that point whether it be that person lives their life knowing how to appreciate things and not waste or they may inspire others to become involved and further contribute. I wholeheartedly recommend that everyone should travel to a developing country and live with the people and learn if it is possible at any point in their lifetime. I know a lot of us have unwarranted fears about the illnesses, violence, and instability in poorer nations, myself included. In reality, its often much more unsafe in an American major city…Los Angeles has way more petty crime than Shirati in my experience. Once you work through the hesitation and nervous anticipation, you grow so much as a person and take away lifechanging experiences. Like they say, you can read all about poverty and culture in a book or watch it on TV, but until you are actually there, you will never fully understand it.