...slowly starts.

"Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt 

Our lives are moving pretty slowly here as Peace Corps Volunteers. This is not to say that we aren't having a good time or that we count our work here as any lesser than before. It's just that life in general is slow. I say this to try to minimize any frustration towards us on your end due to the lack of information we are giving you regarding the work that we are doing. There truly is little to report. 

As volunteers in a new country and a new community we were instructed to take the first few months when arriving at site to get to know the community. Introduce ourselves, say hello, explain why we are here and be a constant presence at local organizations, not to start work and not to jump in feet first, full steam ahead. It sounds simple. It sounds repetitive. It sounds a little silly. Why come all the way across the world and essentially do nothing? 

Prior to this blog post I baked 2 loaves of bread, a cake, and 2 types of granola bars. Not for any reason other than I had the time. We watched a few TV shows, read our books, and thought about doing laundry. We have lots of time here. I think I would be frustrated if prior to my late day boredom I experienced the highlight of my week.

Sean and I decided to take a stroll down to SOS youth village just to see what was up. I mean, like I said we had the time. We were greeted by a young primary age boy who knew us from our visits to his school. He asked if he could walk around with us and of course we agreed. Answering many questions (I asked a lot of questions) this young boy spoke freely of his life here, what was good, what needed to change, and where he desired for us to make an impact. He was a boy to be proud of. 

As we left him we told him we would see him on Tuesday at school - our usual day at the primary school. As we walked home I began to think about the ease of conversation that occurred, not just from this young boy but people throughout the week. We are now being the ones greeted by children, bomake, teachers, and neighbors. We are beginning to have follow up conversations, and inside jokes aside from the general complaining about the weather. We are becoming missed at church, school, and at the shops. 

It sounds simple but it is truly important. It sounds repetitive but all relationships are in some way. It sounds silly but until we prove we are serious we will remain a joke. 

So while it seems like we are doing nothing we are trying very hard to set ourselves up to do plenty. It takes time to trust, understand, listen, and learn from anything or anyone new. So we are taking our time to get the first part right from the start. Hopefully in a few months our posts will be full of stories of projects, failures, and successes. So in the mean time please bear with us if you are bored - or bake something, that's what I do.