Distracted With Africa

As I've said earlier, I've wanted to go and volunteer in Africa for the last couple of years and yet, in all of my time off, I hadn't gotten anything sorted ... I was starting to wonder just how much did I really want it? Friends had given me people I could talk with to get more information, often of their own experiences. And yet, I followed up with no one ... I had the time, I just never picked up the phone or sent the email ... I'm not sure why and it's not been something that I have thought about / reflected on until just recently ... my gut is telling me part of it has to do with my insecurity reaching out to people, especially those I don't know ... and I think it also had to do with my fears of going – yes, I wanted to go and I was unsure – if I talked to people and figured something out, I really would be going ... I'm realizing that my travel approach can be summarized as a two step process: “mull / have a general idea” and then “rip the band aid off” e.g. jump into something quickly and cross my fingers ... I have to explore the whole reaching out to people thing more – especially as it is through talking to people that I most like to learn – research (as we've already established) is not a preferred method - however one I do hope to improve in ...

When I was driving through the US, I decided that the easiest thing to do was a Habitat for Humanity program – I had looked at them a number of times over the years. They appealed to me because their projects were very tangible, they seemed to work closely with the local community and I liked the idea of doing physical work. There were even a couple of trips during August / September that I was interested in, including one to Ethiopia … however, it took me too long to get off the mark and when I was in Greece, it became clear that it wasn't going to come through.

So, all of a sudden, September was just around the corner and I had no plan ... I was really cutting it to the wire, especially if I wanted to volunteer. And if I couldn't volunteer, I'd decided I would do the organized safari / overland trip thing as that would at least get me to Africa. So I was back on google (my best friend traveling) and came across the GVI organization – I had seen their site before (someone had forwarded it to me I'm pretty sure) - they had some volunteer opportunities in both Kenya and South Africa (Capetown) working with under privileged children and the dates looked possible. So, what the hell, I filled in the on-line application form (for Kenya as I thought that might be a more remote / African experience than Capetown) and must admit, didn't think too much more about it – especially when I hadn't heard anything back the first week. Instead, I continued to research safari trips and had found a couple that could be options but nothing I was so excited by that I booked. Then just as I was leaving Siena I had an email ... the volunteering was a go if I was interested and could get everything done quickly - the departure would be in less than 2 weeks - needless to say, distraction went into overdrive! I arrived in Florence most concerned with finding an internet cafe where I could print and scan medical forms, information, plane tickets etc.

And I was excited, after all this time and all this futzing or lack of doing, I really was going to make it to Africa and volunteer. I had no idea what to expect but just knew it would be a hell of an experience – one way or the other!