Ten years ago today, I woke up in Africa
Exactly ten years ago today, I awoke to discover that I was not in Kansas America any more. Late on the evening of September 19th, 1997, I had arrived by plane at Lilongwe International Airport in Malawi after two days of travel from Washington, D.C. With me on the journey were about 25 people I had just met a couple days earlier. Everyone I had ever known and everything familiar to me were all suddenly half a world away.
Quite naturally I began to wonder what in the world I was doing. Why hadn’t I just gotten a job… a real job like a normal college graduate? Sure everybody talks about joining the Peace Corps. We all saw the same TV commercials growing up and thought that looked like a really “cool thing to do”. But who actually goes and does it? As I stepped outside the morning of the 20th, I knew that the answer was… me. I actually went and did it.
At that moment I really had no idea what was in store for me during the next two years. In retrospect it was a wonderful experience that I would never trade for anything. Of course the highs were high, the lows were very low, and there were many times along the way that I thought I had made a big mistake. But I was always able to pull myself together, laugh about my troubles, and continue the journey.
My ability to make it through those two years was due in no small part to the support of those around me: my fellow Peace Corps volunteers, the Peace Corps staff, the teachers and students at my school, and all the Malawians I met along the way. To this day I feel a special connection to Malawi and a strong bond with everyone from my original group. Most of them I’ve kept in touch with, many I’ve seen recently, and the rest I think about regularly. I’m sure this ten-year anniversary of the beginning of our adventure brings back memories for all of us.
So to Alaina, Alex, Angie, Becky, Betty, Christine, Craig, Eleanor, Elise, Fred, George, Ivy, Jen, Jodie, Joe, Judy, Julianne, Julie B, Julie S, Katrina, Kim, Melanie, and Tonya, I thank you for sharing the Peace Corps experience with me and wish you the very best in all you choose to do. Zikomo kwambiri and yewo, yewo, yewo chomene.
Maybe in another ten years, I’ll go all Sergeant Pepper on you: “It was twenty years ago today…” In the meantime, take care and muyende bwino anzanga.
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