Traveller’s Serendipity

“Do you think you would be able to push through the overwhelming challenges to risk being an inspiration to a single child or colleague? Are you willing to face this?”

These are the words that a friend gave me when I was recently struggling with my site, with feeling I cannot do enough, wondering if I have what it takes to be of service to my students and my community. But when she phrased it that way, from deep within came a resounding YES...

Sometimes, the air in the village becomes too thick to breathe. The pain, the fear, the knowledge that you can never do enough . . and that you must accept that becomes almost too much.

This was the case on Friday – I hadn't slept enough and was out of sorts the entire day. I knew I had to get away. Other plans had fallen through, and I decided at the last minute to head to the coast.

When I arrived, things didn't look good! Everywhere was booked due to the Easter weekend. But it is amazing the faces in which God appears! First, there was Beth, the sand-boarding instructor. She is wild and beautiful – blonde hair tousled by the wind. Her hands and legs are leathery like a lizard's from working in the hot, Namibian desert. Her white VW van is full of sand, beer bottles and my favourite kind of dog. She offered me a lift to a beautiful backpackers hostel - home of local the sky-diving outfitters. She told me, “the bar there is full of adrenaline!” Immediately, I loved the place.

But, they only had vacancies the first night....the next day, the Guardian Angels continued to appear. Some of the workers at the hostel helped me find another place to stay. Travel serendipity!

What this teaches me is faith and trust. I have never made such a spontaneous decision before. My life is usually planned to a “T.” But here, a new serenity is gradually setting in. Things will work out. As my wise brother once said, “No doubt, things are unfolding as they should.”

The experience of the Peace Corps, of living in a village, in a culture, language, society and people which are not my own is very humbling. As a non-profit CEO said, “Every day, I have to make the decision NOT to give up.” This is also the case with the Peace Corps. Complacency sets in so easily, tripping you in the dark. But with a new humility, a lot of Grace, a reverent trust in God and the Universe, we can overcome complacency.

“You are not in control,” I have always been told. I believed it on an intellectual level, but on a deeper, perhaps subconscious level, I fought it tooth and nail, trying to trick my way into order and a perception of “control.” Yet in the village, there is little I can control. All I can control is myself, my attitude, my teaching and how I choose to interact with others. There is little magic I can work to reverse poverty or to dissemble macro-level systems of oppression – we can work towards this, but it takes time, patience, the right window of opportunity, and a full court press working at both the grass-roots level and with the overarching policies governing the local, state and international levels.

Perhaps even the “control” that I think I see is also an illusion! When the mirages melt away, when you are tired and weary to the bone, perhaps that is where truth and grace lie. Perhaps there is a new freedom in this. Maybe now is the time, the moment we have been waiting for. I am grateful for the many faces of God, for Guardian Angels and for traveller’s serendipity. Thankful for much-needed lessons that I am finally learning.

It is Easter weekend. Thank you to God for your hand in all of our lives and our work. I see you more clearly here than ever before. Thank you for sacrificing your Son for all of us. And thank you to Jesus for being the original social justice activist. It was Jesus who uplifted and loved the poorest among us so deeply. Thank you for being the original and most powerful example.

Happy Easter, dearest hearts! :)