A Journey of a Thousand Miles...

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. ~ Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu

My upcoming journey of 6,852 miles from California to Mali also began with a single step. As most of you already know I was selected by The One World Foundation to lead a team of volunteers on a two-month community development engagement in Mali this summer. As it is a volunteer assignment, I needed to raise funds for my project fees and the trip itself. I created a one-page information sheet about the need for donations and I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support I received from my immediate and extended community. Thank you all so very much for enabling me to take the first step of this journey!!

I am going to Mali to do what I can to make a difference. I will be volunteering primarily with issues of access to healthcare and primary education. By doing so, I hope to expand my sense of the possible, both for myself, for those I meet and work with, for those who have helped to make this trip possible, and for my disciplines of nonprofit management and community development. I expect to return full of enthusiasm, insight, and a deeper comprehension.

In the meantime, I made an appointment to get all the shots I will need to travel (shudder!) and I signed a form stating I will only drink bottled water while in Mali. There are so many warnings about what to do to avoid getting some tropical, intestinal "fun" (thanks to all those who gleefully shared details) that I am worried about not able to relax and accept and appreciate Malian hospitality (think Babel).

I "met", online anyway, the team of young leaders from the U.S. One member is currently in Boston working with Outward Bound; another member is directing a program for youth in Hollis, Queens, and yet a third left a banking position in NYC to work for a nonprofit in South Africa. I can't wait to meet them in person. I am also very excited about meeting and working with the young leaders in Mali, working with nongovernmental organizations ASDAP and World Education, and using French in a professional setting (thank you to all my French teachers over the years). If you haven't clicked the above hyperlinks you should as both are very impressive organizations.

Once I get to Mali, I will be working with our country coordinator to set up a weekly speaker series for the group, featuring representatives from government agencies in Mali; local organizations such as ASDAP, Haute Conseil Nationale Islamic, and Groupe Pivot/Sante Population; and local representatives from: USAID, UNICEF/UNFPA, World Health Organization, CARE International, Africare, the US Embassy, and the World Bank. It will definitely be interesting to weigh all the various perspectives.

I am excited and nervous about the upcoming trip. And somehow as long as I've got these papers and presentations due before then, and graduation afterwards, the trip doesn't seem real yet. I worry that as much as I have to offer the organizations and people I will encounter, that I will still be learning far more from them than they will be learning from me. I don't quite know what to do about that imbalance other than to accept it humbly.

We don't have our departure dates yet but we are supposed to be in Mali come June 1st. Until then I will continue to update you on my preparations, and after that point I will be coming to you live from Timbuktu.

Full disclosure: My work will be centered in Bamako, the capital of Mali, but since most people have heard of Timbuktu and not Bamako, I employed artistic license.