Operation Crossroads Africa Blog

It's so strange to say that I've been back from Africa now for as long
as I was there. The past two months have been so busy, so demanding,
and so...utterly the same as the past three years have been that it's
hard for me to believe that my entire life was transformed in just two
short months.

I think the thing that scared me the most about coming back to the
United States was the fact that it was entirely possible that I would
come home and forget about everything I saw while I was in Gambia.
That I would return to my normal life, keeping what happened to me
while I was there as simply a memory, a good one, but a memory
nonetheless. As I struggle to figure out my roller coaster of emotions
and come to some sort of understanding of my time in Africa, I would
definitively say that the word "memory" does not come close to
describing my current attitude toward my experience.

A more accurate term would probably be more along the lines of
obsession. I think I've been termed "Africa girl" in all of my
classes, among my peers, by my professors and definitely by the people
in the park scholar and dean's offices. The people I met in Africa are
still so real to me that I just can't shut up about my experience
there. I feel so dedicated to fighting on behalf of their rights:
their right to have books to read in their library, their right to
have adequate resources in the classroom and as many decent teachers
as possible, their right to have toothpaste and toothbrushes so their
teeth are not constantly hurting them, and their right to feel like
someone who has access to the whole pie is trying to get even a sliver
of the leftovers for them.

What has been so surprising and so refreshing is that my life is
filled with people ready and willing to help in their struggle. Dean
Lynch and the Park School are helping send a huge shipment of books
down to the library, a talented group of my peers and friends are
helping organize the shipment, my sister in Arizona is taking time
from her incredibly busy life as a teacher to get children's books
from her school donated, my doctor offered to help in any way she
could, and the list goes on and on. It makes me feel so proud because
I feel that it is easy for me to help because I've seen it. I know all
of the people who will benefit from the work we're doing, but everyone
helping out and giving so much is doing it just because they feel like
it's the right thing to do.

So, I'm planning on going back for my entire winter holiday, leaving
before finals end and coming back on the day before classes start
again. I honestly can't wait to get back to Gambia. While I love this
school and all that I've learned since I came here three years ago, I
feel that I've learned what I need to learn from Ithaca College. I am
thankful for every opportunity I've been given, but everyday that
passes shows me more and more that the adage "with privilege comes
responsibility" is so true for my life. I know that my responsibility,
at least for the time being, is to Gambia and so I am excited to go
back at Christmas and figure out exactly what I'll be doing when I
come move there after graduation. Hopefully it will be teaching
English, but I'm pretty much open for whatever comes my way.

I'll keep you posted on how things pan out...