There’s something magical about the first moment you set
foot in a place that will be your home. It’s the way you feel when you see your
freshman dorm room for the first time. It’s the tingly feeling you get when
you’ve finally found the perfect house. It’s the start of a new chapter, the
realization of a dream, and really…it’s an incredibly nice way to feel.
That is how I feel about Mayenzere. My training is preparing
me for my career as a teacher, teaching me how to maintain my health, and
filling my head with a new language – but nothing prepared me for the way I
would fall in love with my new home.
It’s just beautiful. The people are beautiful. The vast,
open land is beautiful. The sky is beautiful and enormous and goes on forever.
At night, I lose time just staring up at all of the stars. It’s breathtaking.
My hut is just as I pictured it - mud walls, thatched roof -
and will be home to a number of wild creatures as well as myself. It is
situated on the homestead of another teacher, and enclosed by a log fence. I
will cook in a separate hut, beside my house, where I have a small gas stove. Cattle,
goats, and chickens freely roam the sandy ground between the neighboring
homesteads. Children run around in groups, fetching water, washing laundry,
playing and singing.
The culture here is so musical I can almost hear
it…everything has a certain rhythm; the exchange of greetings, the steady walk
of a woman with water upon her head, the low conversations around the
cooking fire. It’s all woven into a simple but amazingly rich melody of peace
and beauty.
And the most amazing part is that I get to learn how to sing along.
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