Hello friends, family and fellow adventurers. I am embarking on a journey this summer that has been ongoing for a year now, when I first heard about the Beyond Borders program at the University of Waterloo and applied for it. When I got in over the summer and was faced with the prospect of volunteering for three months in the summer of 2011 in the developing world, I was both excited and anxious about what this journey would involve. The nerves are still there, as they are before any big step in each of our lives, but I truly am looking forward to my trip.
I will be leaving in May to either Kenya, Uganda, India, the Dominican Republic or Ukraine to help out in non-governmental organizations in these countries focused on alleviating the poverty that they face every day. It will also be a personal development journey as I will have to rely on myself in a foreign country more than I ever have had to in the sheltered life I have here in Canada. I look forward to this because the experience I will gain seeing what is outside of my bubble will be invaluable to learning what it is I want to do with my life and where my next steps will be. I don't know where I will be going after university but I genuinely do believe that we can learn so much about ourselves by exploring the world around us. I also often hear that the best way to learn about the world is to travel and this is an opportunity that fit all of my needs: learn about myself, learn about the world and help where I can.
As some of you know, I go to the University of Waterloo for Political Science and International Development, and these two programs form the basis for what my interests are in engaging in an international program like Beyond Borders, where I will be learning in a global environment, as much in the classroom as abroad. The three months of international placement is also balanced by the next four months of volunteering I will be engaging in at The Working Center in downtown Kitchener (http://www.theworkingcentre.org/). This is an opportunity to not only volunteer in the developing world but in the community as well. I have not focused my volunteer placement yet or how applicable this will be to my overseas placement, but the lesson that I am learning from volunteering is the importance of action. It is far easier to read about the world's problems then acting on them and attempting to fix them and as a Beyond Borders student I am looking to become committed to looking for solutions at both the local and global levels.
A man that I was talking to over the summer at work said something when I told him about this program that really struck a chord with me. When I told him about this program and the dreams I have for what and where I wanted to go, he simply told me "take it now". The lesson here is that you never know what is around the corner; what commitments, responsibilities, injuries, accidents or changes that are outside of our control which could rob us of our opportunities. This is a wonderful opportunity that will teach me so much about the world and that I will be able to share with others when I get back. Therefore, I am quite glad that I have grasped this and ran with it because no one is graced with the ability to look into the future. I don't know what is around the corner but I hope that this trip will be the start of putting my thoughts about alleviating global poverty and all that I have studied into action.
I encourage everyone to live by the spirit of 'take it now', for it can be a very inspiring message. We are capable of so much as human beings and we need to lose our inhibitions and act to live in a world we are proud of. I look forward to using this blog as a way to communicate my journey with my friends and family and I hope you learn a bit more about the world as I do.
Until next time,
Conor Brennan
When you wrote "take it now," if made me parallel our life and experiences like this to a hockey game (or some other team sport). Games are a lot about opportunities as is life: sometimes we wait for the opportunity and sometimes we make it happen but we need to recognize it and go with it nonetheless. We practice so that we are better able to see the opportunity and make the most of it.
ReplyDeleteWe have a chance for a breakaway and we'd better "take it now" because we don't know what the rest of the game of life will entail. We might "score" and come back with a great feeling of accomplishment or we might fall flat on our faces but we have a strong support and team either way.
* "it made me . . .
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