And on a more personal note...

Why go to Namibia?  This is probably a question that most of you are asking or have already asked.  For the grand answer; I'm not sure if I have one.  For many, this would be the original question you would ask before going somewhere.    Whats the point, really, why should I go, what will I really get out of it, what can I really do?  There are obviously more questions than that and truly I should have answered every one of those before I sent in my application.  That would be the rational thing to have done.  I'll explain why I didn't...

I am a subscriber to Outside magazine.  Once a month I feed my curiosity and live vicariously through the explorers, athletes, and humanitarians, that travel throughout the world.  The articles are my hopes and dreams to one day in a cliche, "do it all."  At 7:30 a.m on a Thursday I had about two hours before class.  Usually I would mentally prepare myself for the day to come and get extra work done.  That morning was different.  I sat in my chair and stared blankly at my tie-dye wall, my map of the world, my wonderful books.  Who am I?  One of my biggest fears is being a hypocrit.  I can talk this big game about how I want to help the world, inspire people, travel, be an individual, because really, that is what I want.  But I look where I am, the things that I promote, and what do I have to show?  Not much.

I had been contemplating volunteering for a while now, doing something that I felt meaningful and that I was really giving back.  But there hand't been any opportunities that I fell in love with.  I started up my browser and instead of thinking so locally I went larger.  I came upon Harvard' WorldTeach and saw that they had a summer program to Namibia, a country a knew nothing about.  Great, unknown, a mystery, I naturally loved it.  After some basic research I found that Namibia could actually use help, especially within their education department.  They need teachers, badly, as many adults are unqualified to teach or not around because of HIV/AIDS. I felt I could actually help here. I love teaching and traveling.  The country seemed unique and had a culture that I had little knowledge of.  This was an adventure, but an adventure where I could actually help others, just as much as they would help me grow.

After I rushed my application (tremendous thanks to those who helped me through), I sat back and realized what I had just applied for.  Being a teacher in Africa for a summer.  Excitement, confusion, nervousness, all ran through me.  I pondered on myself for a while.  I thought, "I can help people here too you know."  And it's true, people do everyday.  I began to realize how people go through their daily lives everyday without getting a thanks or an appreciative glance for the work they do.  All of us are humanitarians in some way.  Co-workers who make the day go by a bit easier, because of their generosity, their friendliness, their care.  Family, who's unwavering commitment to your success always pushes you a bit further.  Friends who you can confide in, who can take a load of your back and shoulder it on theirs for a bit.  Bosses who provide you the means and help to get you by.  Teachers, whose job it is to ensure student success on every level, going above and beyond what we perceive their school time duties and sit at home on the weekends because they are busy making sure that student learns and gets further in life.

These were just a few of the many examples that ran through my mind.  People help each other everyday, whether we realize it or not.  Granted not everyone is perfect and virtuous, but there is usually something everyone does to help someone else.  Maybe this an idealistic sense of the world and probably is.  Of course there are the follies of selfishness and greed, but I think there is something intrinsically inherent in everyone to want to help, whether that is just being a friend or donating money.

For me, Namibia presents itself as an adventurer where I can help others.  For most of us, this is our life already.  With Namibia, I fall into my selfishness, because I fuel my travel urge.  But I know that deep down I am doing this because I want to be that inspiring ro-model for the students that I cannot wait to meet. I want to help provide them the drive, hope, and dreams, so that that they will succeed in life, with whatever they want to do.  At the same time, I want to provide them the tools to get there.  This is a teacher's dream and for now I feel that I can provide the most by teaching in Namibia.

I hope this helps explain the question.  I also want to thank every one who has every helped me along the way, I feel very lucky to have had such support throughout my life.

Best,

Alex,

p.s. please excuse the typos