The journey home was long and exhausting, and it took a couple days for my luggage to catch up with me. Many thanks for your incredible support over the past two months … especially the last few days when my experience became frightening.
In the few short days I’ve been home I have already talked for endless hours, just spilling all the stories that I couldn’t share in my blogs. Not knowing exactly who may have been reading my journal, I was careful not to write anything that could have been perceived as culturally insensitive. Not how I would have intended it, but it was challenging to truly understand the cultural sensitivities.
What I notice most so far is that the experience is much broader than I was able to take in ‘in the moment.’ Teaching the children was the dangling carrot that lured me to Africa, but the bulk of my learning comes from being completely immersed in the Zulu culture. Isolated from all things familiar and without the freedom of movement and distraction, I sense that I have come home a changed woman. I expect to be unpacking the new me for quite some time.
I looked at all my photos last night, for the first time, and just cried at seeing those little faces that say so much without any words. I miss them terribly. I also miss going to sleep at night to the sounds of the animals … the hadidas, bullfrogs, roosters and monkeys. It’s so quiet here in Walnut Creek.
My experience is deep and profound, and will no doubt continue to unfold in me for quite some time. And in the belief that all human connections in life are for mutual growth, I trust that the there is equally profound learning left behind in Africa.
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