365 later

So, it has been almost exactly a year since I first touched down in Goma town. A year ago I was overwhelmed, excited, nervous and…well… overwhelmed. Now I am in a completely different situation. I am back at school, sitting inside my warm home shielded from the cold outside. Very different from where I was last year. School is different than I remember. It’s fun. I generally look forward to going to classes and I am eager to learn. I find myself actively seeking time to be alone and reflect. I don’t reflect on anything in particular I just think about where I have been and where I am going. Whether it be about school, friends or my last year I am trying to think, to make sense of it all, whatever “it all” may be.

A question I have wrestled since mid summer has been “how has your experience this past year changed you?” WOW. Deep eh? I thought the answer would come easy to me. I thought I would be able to just open my mouth and an eloquent answer would just flow out. But I open my mouth and…nothing. I don’t know if I can’t find the words or I just don’t know yet. Goma and HEAL seem so far away. Years ago. Another world. I know I have been affected by my experience I just don’t know how exactly. It will come with time. The odd smell, a song, even the sound of a helicopter flying overhead brings me back to the dusty jagged streets. Goma has become a part of me; I can’t point out what part it is yet. Patience.