The word travel encompasses incredible meaning for me. I don’t believe I expected anything of what I actually expected and that’s good and…disappointing. There are so many expectations built into the idea of travel, the romance of meeting a stranger, the mysteries to unfold (golden idols maybe?) and such. No one told me that the smell would be different. Walking into the airport in Tel Aviv, the air gently reeks of cigarette smoke and in Uganda, you smell fire and burning garbage. There is an idealized version of travel that I’m glad I was broken out of.
Dedicated to my past, present and future travels, I hope to put up pictures, share my experiences, and keep updates of my sponsor daughter in Uganda.
More to come…
I’ve been to Uganda and Israel. Uganda was a 4-week trip in the summer of 2007 where I worked for International Children’s Network (http://www.icnchildren.net/) and collected information for their website. I met my own daughter over there and had the huge blessing to be able to play with her…Naginda Doreen. She’s 6 years old and she wrote me that everyone calls her the “smart girl.” Yeah, I’m proud. I hope to bring her to the states for a visit someday and pay for her college education.
I went to Israel in 2005 with my aunt and uncle (visiting my uncle’s relatives). I’d go back in a heart beat to eat the food, hike in the Negev, and visit the beach. We visited all the sites to see, walked the walls of Jerusalem, saw the place where Jesus might have lived as a boy in Nazereth, and looked at ancient palaces of the kings of Israel. The sites and cities were fascinating if only for their culture, but I could not help feeling heavy hearted. Jerusalem is divided into four quarters, Armenian, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. The divisions, the prejudice, the conflicts…the whole country is divided.
Travel is definitely in my future. I want to have a profession that I can use practically to help those who need it. I’d love to teach in Africa for a year (as a math teacher) or do research or do doctors without borders. I’m a people person, I love to teach, help and encourage others.
