A New Year, A New Continent
I’ve been telling people that they will have one of two reactions to the big news that Libby and I have. You’ll either say, ‘Holy Shit!’, I tell them, or your reaction will be a nonchalant, ‘I expected that’.
The guiding plan behind going to graduate school has been to get a job that I really want, something that I really feel proud about and fulfilled in doing. I want to write for a living. After the the completely inept way the U.S. media handled the spurious claims of the Bush administration about Iraq posing an imminent threat, I toyed with the idea of trying for a career with a major news-gathering agency and helping correct the destructive bias found there. However, with the concentration of media ownership in so few tightly controlled, ridiculously wealthy pockets and the Mainstream Media’s reliance on advertising dollars to operate, I quickly lost interest in pursuing a career in journalism.
In early 2006, a fellow Democrats Abroad Japan member gave me a book so powerful that I’m still feeling the reverberations of its message to this day. Jeffrey Sachs's The End of Poverty brought the daily reality of a billion humans living in the Global South, ensnared in a trap of poverty, disease, isolation and environmental stress, into such high definition that it still haunts me. Beyond describing the way nearly 20,000 people die every day because of preventable diseases - malaria, TB and HIV/AIDs - he explained an economically realistic solution to alleviate the suffering of people exactly like you and I, who because of where they were born are subject to hardships we may never know.
His book was the beginning of an awakened appreciation for my luck (is there a more perfect description?) in having been born in a prosperous section of the world. I've been committed to using my talents in a way that alleviates the suffering of others. I decided that I wanted to work in the field of development, as a writer or communicator. Even though I was never really sure that a job like that really existed, I chose to study International Relations and Communications in Australia, hoping that such a job would reveal itself.
A few months ago I came across a job description on idealist.org advertising a position at a non-governmental organization in East Africa. The position was for a Communications Coordinator, someone who would handle all donor correspondence, organize volunteers, assist in fundraising and oversee the production of the organization’s monthly newsletter. I applied and, after a lengthy hiring process that involved written and phone interviews, I was offered the job! On 15 January 2008 I begin my new job as Communications Coordinator at Amani Children's Home! In about two weeks I will be moving to Moshi, Tanzania to begin my career as a writer in the development field and I couldn't be happier or more motivated to begin.
I will be a voice for the children at Amani. Because of various factors, the children - ranging from toddlers to young teens - don't have enough food to eat, a safe place to sleep or the opportunity to go to school without Amani. Some of the children have lost parents to HIV/AIDs. Some are victims of domestic abuse. All of the children have found a sanctuary from the streets at Amani.
Libby is of course coming, too. She's going to stay in Australia until early March to tie up our loose ends. This marks the second extended period of time that we’ve spent apart from one another. We had a month on opposite sides of India last year and we’re not looking forward to doing that again. Because I’m arriving 6 weeks earlier than Libby, I’ll be able to suss out the area and find us a place to live.
This blog has been inactive for quite a while and we apologize. In 2008 we intend to update more frequently with stories and photos about our experience in Tanzania. We hope you’ll check back and join in our new lives in the new year. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
