Why am I here?

So I couldn't seem to get my shit together or the confidence to begin this blog until now. So here we go. I will try to keep my posts brief, I know everyone has busy lives, but I can't make any promises. The beauty is, you can just stop reading. If you are even reading now, hello, hello, are you there?


So why am I here in East Africa? I am doing an internship in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for six months as the Project Officer of Urban Agriculture for an NGO. 


Four years ago as a barely working actor with a shitty restaurant job, newly broken up with the love of my life, I traveled to Tanzania to volunteer and have a new experience. It changed my life. Not in that way that people say experiences change their lives and nothing actually changes but in big life-changing ways. 


I was volunteering, for utterly selfish reasons like self discovery and wanting to give my life some kind of purpose, in a rural village called Bagamoyo (it means "Lay your heart down"- that's amazing so basically I HAD to go there). Much happened in that short time, like realizing I wanted to reunite with my partner who I had broken up with a few months before (After I left Bagamoyo we had a romantic reunion in Bali and I hope to spend the rest of my life with him).


One of the most significant things  occurred to me while I was teaching. As I taught these amazing teenagers who were designated as "street youth" who came each day on time to learn from me and sat on the ground working so hard, I realized how valuable education is and that I have not taken full advantage of my own opportunity to get an education. I could go on and on about the teens of Bagamoyo but I will just say that they inspired me so I returned to Vancouver and went back to university. This summer I was in my final semester of a four year degree when I was awarded this internship. Back in the very same country that inspired me to go to university! Is it just me or is this amazing full-circleness.  Honestly, it makes me believe in the power of dreams and action. 


A bit of Africa
My first day here I was introduced to a man, Hilary, who works in my building. I looked at him with amazement and I said "I know you". Then I asked him if he used to live in Bagamoyo. Turns out he was one of the drivers for the organization I volunteered with in Bagamoyo! People this is crazy! I am in a city of around 4 million people and I see someone in the first few hours I am here that I met 4 years ago in an entirely different city (I am aware that is poor sentence construction but I am trying to articulate my amazement). It is astounding to me how small and connected our world is.