Like Sands Through The Hourglass

Milestone update blog entries typically consist of a brief overview of the writer's story. The instances of when they first arrived at their post, the beginning feelings of nervousness, the initial embarrassments, etc., are all rehashed and the morals are briefly listed alongside of them. However, I do not feel the need to start from the beginning, because I have it all here in my blog.

Therefore, I will only give an update of how recent events have shaped, and will continue to shape, the rest of my service. I have been doing small projects since I came here, instructing village children to wash their hands, writing up small discussions for maternal health, but I haven't had any inspiration that would lead to a project that I felt I would be able to use to define my service. There is nothing wrong with not having a large project, as many of my bosses have told me. Sometimes, drinking tea and eating at people's houses will leave a longer lasting impression than any project, they told me. I, however, prefer to have something that I can point to and say that I did something; this is simply part of who I am.

For the past few months, I have been going to a youth center in Er Rachidia. It began last year, during winter, when I went there as part of an HIV awareness campaign. I contributed to a skit competition. The students decided they wanted to continue the club, but with a general health focus. We got together and decided that we could have a small health fair in May. I would come into class every week from February through May and teach topics regarding health, and the students would lead the health sessions on that day in May. I went to my coordinator, who turned it into a week long festival to coincide with the Er Rachidia music festival in June.

As a part of the festival, Peace Corps will have full run of the youth center for the entire week. Not only will health lessons be taught, but we will also have Youth Development and Environment volunteers come in and give their own lessons. My project has blossomed into a Peace Corps showcase, and I could not be happier. If successful, this health fair will continue every year.

It is funny, that upon reaching the year point, that I would find myself finally with a project. I have told family back home that I could not see myself doing another year of simply going to houses and drinking tea. I had said that if I didn't have anything by then that I would leave at Mid Service Medicals. Before this project, before the yawning realization that I would be leaving here before I know it, I felt as though I were merely drifting in this culture. But now, as I approach the edge of the upper bulb of the hourglass that is my service, I feel a sense of narrowing inside of me. Before, within the bulb of the beginning of my service, all of my activities seemed disconnected from each other. But now, I feel that everything that I have done so far has, in essence, prepared me for this time.

Once this project is over, it will almost be July. The issue becomes just waiting. Nothing is done from July through the end of October due to the heat and Ramadan. Once that is over, I will have my own time for Halloween, Thanksgiving, birthday, Christmas, and New Year's, so none of the other volunteers will be available for us to work on anything large together. Once January gets here, it will be too close to work on anything large. I will work, obviously, but the projects that I work on will be much smaller in scale than this.

So, as they say, like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.