There are points when I am reflecting about the summer ahead, and I find myself becoming increasingly nervous about the risks or the finances, or whatever else it is for that day. But I find that all of these negative feelings dissipate when I turn my thoughts to the work that I have the opportunity to participate in this summer, how much I am going to learn and experience, and the women that I will be able to meet. The injustice that is happening there is enough to erase any fears I may have.
Honestly, I do not have a set goal concerning what I want to achieve this summer. I don’t know what to expect, other than I expect to come back changed. I do not want to come back with the same black and white way of seeing the world that I have had for so long. I want to be unnerved and uncomfortable. I want my preconceived notions about the culture to be erased and replaced with the reality of a very different culture than my own. And lastly, I want to learn. I want to learn about the ins and outs of the slave trade; learn about how to help a person who has been through that much pain; and learn to walk in ever growing humility and compassion.