It’s been a quiet season; a season of winter,
of waiting, of wondering and hoping and longing and relaxing.
What I thought would take a few months has
taken a few more, and I’ve been waiting, waiting, and waiting. I’ve done my best not to waste the time,
embracing it for the gift it has been!
Since leaving Liberia, I traveled to France and to Canada, and then
returned to Minnesota to clean out my grandmother’s house which sold in a manner
of days. I surfed and loved a month of la pura vida in Costa Rica and a week of
paradise in Hawaii. I spent a couple
long weekends in Boston, ran an anesthesia course in the Democratic Republic of
Congo and relished in the springtime in New York City. I’ve spent time with my siblings and their
families and watched hours of Law&Order marathons. I’ve exhausted my travel fund and savings
account and returned back to my hometown in the north woods where winter hasn’t
quite given up yet. And finally, finally, I get to
share what I’ve been waiting for!
I’ve accepted the position of Director of Programming
and Training for Peace Corps, South Africa, and will be moving to Pretoria in a
few weeks’ time. And I’m so, so, so
excited.
I’m also nervous, and guarded, and gun-shy,
and hoping with all hopes this will be a good, good thing. I think it will be. Everyone tells me it will be. But if you’ve followed my blog for awhile,
you’ll know this is the third ‘really exciting announcement’ I’ve made in less
than two years… and obviously the two previous ‘dream jobs’ didn’t really work
out the way I had hoped.
But in the same way I refuse to resign
myself to being miserable and staying in a place that isn’t a good fit, I
refuse to make decisions based out of fear of what might or might not happen
someday. So I’m putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward into
what feels like the most right thing I’ve tried. It might not work out. But it’s still worth
trying. It might be (and I really think
it will be) really amazing, for a lot of reasons. But either way, I keep reminding myself, this
is what it looks like, this life to the full; one foot in front of the other, as best I know how.
And the last two things? They were worth
trying. I thought I would love working
in academia, I couldn’t know the realities of it without trying first. I thought I would love learning a new field
and working in child protection, but I couldn’t have known how much I missed
working in and how passionate I was about global health until I wasn’t doing it
anymore. As one friend lovingly reminded
me; this is what it looks like, trying to figure out yourself, your passions,
what you were created to do. Sometimes
it happens in your early 20s, and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t
regret one second of those experiences and am grateful for the person I’ve
become because of them. And I have
certainly clarified what I love, what I don’t love, and what I need to flourish
personally and professionally and be the healthiest person I can possibly be
wherever I am and whatever I’m doing.
And I believe this next thing checks every
box.
The Peace Corps. A US Government agency that sends volunteers
across the globe for two years of service in a developing nation. Started by John F. Kennedy, there have been
235,000 volunteers since it’s inception and currently there are 7300 volunteers
serving in 62 countries. I served as a
volunteer in Benin, 2009-2011, my first Africa experience, one I’ve never
recovered from. It ruined me for ordinary
and I’ve stayed in Africa with various roles and organizations ever since then.
I remember when I was a volunteer looking
up to the person who was the DPT; she was such an inspiration to me, and a
little seed was planted way back then. She
was someone I wanted to be like. And that
was a role I’d love to do, someday. It’s
always been in the back of my head as a possibility for the future, but I’d
been told numerous times how hard it was to get a job with the Peace Corps; it’s
SUPER competitive, with amazingly talented people applying all the time who
have super impressive resumes and education and experience. It also takes years to get through the application
process, I was told. So I always held it
out there as a dream but never really thought I’d get to a place where that
dream could be reality.
When I accepted the fact that the Liberia
job wasn’t working, after talking with several close friends and advisors, I
decided to throw my application into the pile with Peace Corps. Honestly, I
didn’t think anything would happen, it was a long shot and a good motivator to get
my resume in shape to apply for ‘real’ possibilities. And even if they did like my resume, the process
would take years, so I figured I’d find something else for a few years and then
maybe be considered for the DPT position.
And just a few weeks later, I had an
offer. To South Africa. What a dream!
I love the Peace Corps. I have since I
joined ten years ago. I know it well. I
have several friends in this role in various countries, many of whom I’ve
worked with to develop volunteer projects in collaboration with Mercy Ships and
Orphan Relief. I’ve never known anyone who hasn’t absolutely loved the job. It’s a big job with a steep learning curve,
and South Africa is a beautiful but incredibly complicated place with challenging
racial, economic, cultural, and political histories and structures. It’s not going
to be a walk in the park, but I do feel like this is a lot smaller of a leap of
faith than the last two things I tried. And
I’m SO EXCITED that all the clearances have come through and I can finally get started!
So once again I find myself transitioning
to a new place full of new things and new people and new challenges, but with
the added advantage of having visited there several times, knowing the
organization I’m joining and the work I’ll be doing, and even having some
friends living nearby. I’m working through piles of paperwork and lists and
logistics, buying various household items and packing up and organizing what I
want to take with me. They will ship my household goods for me, so it’s the
first time I’m not constrained by the size of my suitcases, which is really
fun!
It's been a frustratingly long season of waiting and wondering and winter. Springtime is coming. Finally, new things are blooming. Thank you for sticking with me as I navigate
this crazy life of mine. Expect to see things pick up a little here on the blog as I
have more than just vacation photos and complaints about the north woods snow
to share! Also, I’m posting one photo
per day over on Instagram, which I started on Jan 1 this year and it’s been
really fun to be able to keep track of my travels that way. Follow me @krissyonmercy if you’d like!
--k
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| New York City spring blooms |
