Now
that time has settled, and I have slept, I will introduce this blog in the way
I had formally intended. The name of this blog is “We make the road by
walking”. Upon preparing for this adventure in Carmeroon, my mother gifted me a
journal that became a symbol of the next step in the development of myself as
the person I aspire to be. The gift inspired me to begin making the changes in
myself and in the world that I see necessary for a positive change in both.
Trust me when I say that I know, at this point, that changing the world en masse
is an insurmountable task, but to anyone who has ever seen the movie “What
About Bob” we know that it takes “baby steps” to achieve anything, big or small.
Once I had recognized the significance of the journal and the goals that I set
forth in the writings to be entered into it, I asked my childhood friend who is
an incredible artist to make an insert for the first page. I prompted him with
only two things. I told him to think of me and what I am doing, and the word
journey. This friend has mastered many mediums in the artistic realm, so my
expectations were open. When I met with him two months later he handed me a
sleek laser etched insert with five words on it; Make The Road By Walking. The
emotions I felt upon viewing this piece for the first time were overwhelming
and many things in my life began to fall into place.
For those of you who knew me in the time I lived in Boston and New York, you remember my proclivity for walking and exploring those cities. I would routinely walk multiple miles a day. During these walks my mental wheels were always turning, it is where I get my best thinking done. It became clear that the road I have followed my whole life, has been made by walking. This is the first way in which this phrase holds significance to my life.
Now as for how the title pertains to the life I am currently living. The addition of the word “we”, signifies the fact that in order to do anything that will have a lasting impact; it cannot simply be done alone, nor can it be done in a streamline manner, it must be slow. Many international aid workers go into their work with finite ideas about what needs to be changed and how it must be done. It is this mindset that causes so many failures in international aid throughout the world. For a person to think that they can impose an idea, plan, or structure to a culture they do not yet understand is folly. With this in mind, there is no other way to approach a situation like the one I find myself in but with an attitude of collaboration, openness and patience. I have been taught many things throughout my life in the United States. These lessons will prove to be instrumental to my success in this current endeavor. But the learning on my part has only just begun. It is with these aforementioned thoughts in mind that I go forth, with many tools and skills to aid me in the process, and a conscious knowledge of the fact that here, I am a child. I know little of what it takes to live a life in Africa, let alone what it will take to positively influence the youth of Cameroon in a way that causes sustainable positive change. I will humbly walk through each day, experiencing life with a new set of eyes, for I know this is the only way I will ever see life here as Cameroonians do. The process will be difficult. More than likely the most difficult thing I have ever set out to do. Bare with me while I struggle through self doubt, isolation, a new language, new pace, new food, new faces, new surroundings, new climate, new pains, new tragedies, new triumphs… a new life.
It is at this moment that my life makes a dramatic shift. I haves spent the last 27 years of my life learning to talk the talk. And now, it is truly time to learn how to walk the walk.
For those of you who knew me in the time I lived in Boston and New York, you remember my proclivity for walking and exploring those cities. I would routinely walk multiple miles a day. During these walks my mental wheels were always turning, it is where I get my best thinking done. It became clear that the road I have followed my whole life, has been made by walking. This is the first way in which this phrase holds significance to my life.
Now as for how the title pertains to the life I am currently living. The addition of the word “we”, signifies the fact that in order to do anything that will have a lasting impact; it cannot simply be done alone, nor can it be done in a streamline manner, it must be slow. Many international aid workers go into their work with finite ideas about what needs to be changed and how it must be done. It is this mindset that causes so many failures in international aid throughout the world. For a person to think that they can impose an idea, plan, or structure to a culture they do not yet understand is folly. With this in mind, there is no other way to approach a situation like the one I find myself in but with an attitude of collaboration, openness and patience. I have been taught many things throughout my life in the United States. These lessons will prove to be instrumental to my success in this current endeavor. But the learning on my part has only just begun. It is with these aforementioned thoughts in mind that I go forth, with many tools and skills to aid me in the process, and a conscious knowledge of the fact that here, I am a child. I know little of what it takes to live a life in Africa, let alone what it will take to positively influence the youth of Cameroon in a way that causes sustainable positive change. I will humbly walk through each day, experiencing life with a new set of eyes, for I know this is the only way I will ever see life here as Cameroonians do. The process will be difficult. More than likely the most difficult thing I have ever set out to do. Bare with me while I struggle through self doubt, isolation, a new language, new pace, new food, new faces, new surroundings, new climate, new pains, new tragedies, new triumphs… a new life.
It is at this moment that my life makes a dramatic shift. I haves spent the last 27 years of my life learning to talk the talk. And now, it is truly time to learn how to walk the walk.
