A Nudge

I had the fortune of traveling to two counties in Africa (Namibia and South Africa) as part of a May Term class my final year in college. The trip had an incredible impact on me and left me with memories I will cherish forever. Last spring I learned of an organization called Global Volunteers, through which people can travel to a variety of countries, do service work while there, and be able to count the trip as tax-deductible.

When I went to Africa two and a half years ago, it was mostly as a tourist. While the first trip wasn't always easy -- I tend to struggle a lot with homesickness -- I've known since I left that I want to go back to Africa some day and do something *useful* while I'm there. I've been looking at a trip to Tanzania through Global Volunteers since last spring. I have a lot of back-and-forth moments on whether I'm ready to do this or not, but God has a funny way of nudging me in the right direction.

A couple of weeks ago, a woman at church told me about an opportunity to volunteer in a nearby town by packaging food that will be sent to....of all places, Tanzania. I went to the organized event this afternoon and was amazed by how many people were there helping. They had 10 people at a station with 30 stations set up in a middle school gym. I got there almost a little late for the first packaging session, and shortly after I arrived they actually had to start turning people away because they didn't have enough room for them to work.

At each station we were putting together packages that contained soy product, dried vegetables, rice, and a vitamin tablet. These packages were to be dumped into boiling water and cooked to provide 6 servings of filling, nutritious food. I'm still not quite sure how we did it, but in less than an hour's time, the 300 workers had packaged 30,000 food packets. We were asked to quit a half hour early because they had another whole shift of volunteers scheduled to come in and needed us to leave them something to do.

The whole time I was working, my mind was on my own Africa experiences and my desire to return to the continent where I left a piece of my heart. I'm still not sure I'm ready to travel halfway around the world completely on my own, but it's only for 3 weeks and I know I'll come back, my life changed for the better once again. The most perfect part would be that I would be able to teach in a local school as my service project while there. How perfect!

The only real thing -- other than my own hesitancy -- standing in the way is that I don't know when the school year will start next fall. I am unable to go on the June/July trip because of a summer class I'm taking, and the July/August trip will mean I don't return to the States until August 16. If school keeps starting earlier here, this won't work. If, on the other hand, we go back to starting school a week later, I will have time. I also think if I keep telling people I'm thinking about going, I start to convince myself I'm really going, and that helps. I know I was scared out of my mind the first time I decided to go, and it appears this is no different!

Here are a few links regarding the topics in this post:

• Global Volunteers

• Kids Against Hunger -- the nationwide organization that supports satellite locations which package this food product to send to various places around the world

• Outreach Africa -- the local organization that does many things to support the people of Tanzania, including being a satellite location for Kids Against Hunger

Love and Praise

I'm a high school teacher. I don't usually get heaps of love and praise from my students the way many elementary teachers do. Today was different, and it's amazing how one student can make a teacher feel so good. I received a handmade card from one of my Algebra B students today thanking me for doing my best to help her understand. I will never use students' real names in this blog, but I'll call her Liz. Liz also wrote that I'm one of the only teachers that she can come to with her problems, not only problems with classwork but problems with anything. Wow. I was moved almost to tears by Liz's simple handwritten note.

Liz works very hard in my class but gets frustrated -- as anyone who cares would -- when she doesn't understand something. She has come in for help during her study hall fairly often recently and even after school once in awhile. After all her hard work, she still failed a test earlier this week. I don't usually offer test retakes. I figure that a student needs to put in appropriate effort the first time. However, on this particular test I had two students fail who have been working their tails off and just didn't feel that was fair. Most of the time when a student fails a test, it's because they haven't been paying attention in class and haven't been doing their homework -- something to which I'm sure many teachers can relate! In any case, I let Liz and the other student retake the test and will average their scores. At a quick glance, I believe Liz got every single question right on the retake.

It's amazing what a little effort by a teacher can do for a student -- for their grade, for their self-confidence, for their feeling of worth. I love my job.

That First Awkward Post

I decided to make another step in the technological age and create a blog. I've long considered blogs an invasion of privacy. Who would want to post their personal lives online for the viewing pleasure of the whole world? But then I realized it's also a way of being able to self-publish stories you are willing and even *want* to share with others.

I graduated from college in 2006 and am now in my third year teaching high school math in the Midwest. I had for many years been very good about keeping track of my "stories of the day" in a journal/diary, but I was so busy the first year I taught that I got out of the habit and haven't gotten back into it. I had so many crazy stories during my first year that my mom told me I should be writing them down to publish in a book one day. Lack of time kept me from doing that, and I regret it now. Hopefully this will be a way of not losing those memories in the future.

I intend to use this blog for two purposes -- stories about teaching and stories about traveling. Teaching defines me. I spend a lot of time preparing, grading, etc. on top of the normal school day. I love my job and the opportunity it gives me to connect with my students. There are often moments of frustration -- usually during my 5th period class! -- but I haven't had a day yet this year that I would consider a "bad day." (Knock on wood....)

I also really like to travel. I didn't have an opportunity to do much of it growing up -- my family just didn't take vacations. But I have been trying to broaden my horizons as an adult and will share some of those experiences in future entries.

In any case, here ends that awkward first post. There will be more less-awkward posts to come!