Tag Archives: travel

wait

I learned to wait in Kenya, sitting in the shade of trees, being, breathing, until the time comes. Sometimes for the matatu to finally guzzle and cajole itself to a start, sometimes for the quorum to slowly make their way over the bulbous stones to the collection of chairs wobbling on uneven ground circled intoContinueContinue reading “wait”

to be divided/whole

Bewhere your feet are,I’m told.Yet as the plane sweepstoward Kisumu, rifted valleybelow, universearound, descending towardhome,I find my mindresting notin Kenya, but justwhere my feet are:air,among clouds,at the shelter far away,that place of refugeto whom life has entrustedviolence,with the little boywho thrashed angry,body consumed with ragebigger than bones,as he looked to the sky, wonderedaloud‘what do cloudsContinueContinue reading “to be divided/whole”

who seek refuge

  These are snippets of stories of some very small few of the humans who seek refuge in this world, whose paths I briefly walked alongside and whose lives I, alongside and within the incredible community of humans volunteering, did my best to care for while on Lesvos, and whose wellbeing is bound to myContinueContinue reading “who seek refuge”

The Privilege To Call This An Adventure

The large bus is careening and weaving, whipping over the twisting, compact roads. Occasionally, another bus barrels around a corner and down a hill from the opposite direction, and both vehicles are made to slow so that they might peacefully pass the other, only some four or five inches between the two, squeezed against theContinueContinue reading “The Privilege To Call This An Adventure”

Stand Still

 “There is time to stop and watch the bubbles,” Mariah said earlier today, as we sat on a bench on the south bank of the Thames river, watching two men dip large pieces of rope, tied to the end of tall wooden sticks, into a large bucket of soap, waving billowing bubbles through the wind. ContinueContinue reading “Stand Still”

365 days full

Recently, a friend who also writes, and who has also had a year of seeing life through broadening lenses, reflected on the past twelve months of learning and discovery in pictures. As many words often do, it spurred my own thoughts, caused me to look through delightful photo memories, moved me share. A year agoContinueContinue reading “365 days full”

back/here

On being back/here: Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it feels like being hugged. Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes it all feels fuzzy, like I’m walking around this world in a bubble only I can see and inside of which there is a Moses and there are children dying and there are momentous-seeming movements. But mostly itContinueContinue reading “back/here”

just like that, it’s time

Written 7 August 2014 Take it as it exists before you. Take the sun as it rises before you, not some other view. Take the coffee as it sits before you, not some newly fresh, attempting to be perfected pot. Take the child as it laughs before you, not some dream of where their lifeContinueContinue reading “just like that, it’s time”

hellos and goodbyes

A close friend sent me these words from Dr. Miriam Adeney yesterday, saying they reminded her of me: “You will never be completely at home again because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.” ThisContinueContinue reading “hellos and goodbyes”

an ode to my suitcase:

As I pulled out my suitcase yesterday and began to fill it for my upcoming travel to Kenya on Saturday, I thought about all the places we have been together.  Together, we have made five trips to four countries in four years.  It’s safe to say I’m in love with my suitcase. Not only isContinueContinue reading “an ode to my suitcase:”

inconclusive

A week and some odd minutes ago, I was landing at Indianapolis International Airport, walking through the same entrance terminal to terminal B that I walked through 6 months previously, that time ‘departures’ this time ‘arrivals’. Since then I have filled my days with pots and pots of coffee, chunky sweaters and wool socks, naturallyContinueContinue reading “inconclusive”

the sun it rises, the sun it sets

Today, I am sick. Today, I am stressed. Today, I am a ball of emotions which fleet through my mind and heart a mile a minute.  And so when I got home today after a coffee-fueled afternoon of paper writing and apartment scrambling, I could have just gone to bed and taken a nap. ButContinueContinue reading “the sun it rises, the sun it sets”

3/4 joyous uncertainty

When I consider my life in Senegal overall, it can essentially be divided into fourths: – ¼ part: deep, personal, growing, reflective, change-the-way-you-approach-every-day life moments which from moment to moment big and small can be both entirely challenging and entirely enlivening and of which I write and speak often. – ¾ part: moments where youContinueContinue reading “3/4 joyous uncertainty”

a week of grace

I spent the past week in Richard Toll, a small town in northern Senegal as a part of my “Senegal River Valley” class. We spent the week visiting various agricultural projects taking place in what is one of the most fertile region of otherwise flat, sandy, and dry Senegal; we learned about sugar cane andContinueContinue reading “a week of grace”

learning at the beach

I went to the beach today with my host sister, Corine, her fiancée, Michel, her friend, Ellen, Ellen’s husband, Amadou, and my friend Caroline. Here is what I learned at the beach (because every moment is a learning opportunity): Senegalese people are intense. In many different ways, both good and bad, both heartening and distressing,ContinueContinue reading “learning at the beach”

this is why i came here

written 19 September 2013  We’re sitting outside, my sister and I, the electricity out and searching for the cool breeze. We’re talking about weddings and clothes and what to do when boys harass you on the street as they often do and the pressures for women which exist across cultures. Papa comes out to joinContinueContinue reading “this is why i came here”

and so it shall be

Written 16 September 2013 Today seemed like a day of opportunity. Opportunity to learn and to discover. Opportunity to understand and ask questions and listen. Opportunity to laugh and sit and come together and be a part. Opportunity to take time, to think, to rest. Opportunity to greet others and build relationships. Opportunity to workContinueContinue reading “and so it shall be”