Getting Ready

On December 31, 2008, I leave for a three month trip to East Africa. During my time abroad I plan to visit Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar and I will also spend a month of my trip volunteering with TAWE (the Tanzanian Association of Women Entrepreneurs).

I've been planning this trip for several months but I feel like I've been preparing for it for years. When I was in sixth grade I studied Madagascar and since then have always wanted to visit Africa. Sometime later in middle or high school I wrote myself a letter which included a list of things I wanted to accomplish by the time I was 25. I wrote the letter, stored it among my personal items and promptly forgot about it. Then, in early 2008, when I was home visiting my parents, everything started to fall into place. My parents had just put my childhood home up for sale and I had a lot of boxes and mementos to sort through. I came across the letter I had written to myself over a decade ago and discovered that I was supposed to have visited Madagascar, Kenya and Tanzania by 25 - and I was set to turn 25 in June 2008! I think I could have easily let that moment pass, kind of discarded it as a silly relic from the past, but I was also seeking some balance in my professional and personal life. I had just moved to Chicago and was struggling with having to fly to Annapolis for work each week and not having time to be home and make new friends. I had also recently signed up for a career coach (Phil) at Deloitte. After several weeks of discussions with Phil all of these factors came out and it became apparent to me that planning this trip was very important to me. I spent a few weeks taking care of administrative and permission granting activities with Tim, my family, and Deloitte. Once I had all the support in place, it was just a matter of planning the trip and finding an organization to volunteer with. Again, through a series of lucky circumstances, I ended up forging a strong relationship with Heartland International, a Chicago-based NGO that worked directly with TAWE and was looking for a volunteer on the ground for several weeks. I had many meetings with Bev (from Heartland), and eventually that relationship was in place as well.

I've spent the past few months planning, buying, packing, and preparing for this trip. I've had my flights since September, I've been packed since November. I'm still working with a wonderful network of people to complete my trip itinerary, but I trust that will fall into place soon. I'm nervous and sometimes my doubts knock me down, but in my heart I know that I am ready and will be able to face any challenges. AND, if I can't handle it, I have a pretty great support system of people who can help me handle it.

As my new favorite song by the Killers says, "And sometimes I get nervous/When I see an open door/Close your eyes/Clear your heart/Cut the cord." So here it goes . . .