A Community...A Family

As the truck in front of us hooted its way through traffic, a huge cloud of smoke came towards our car. Quickly the taxi driver and I rolled up our windows to avoid the toxic cloud in our car.  Ahh.. Nairobi traffic, How I missed thee? Yes even the pollution that has made me sick a few times already...ok well maybe not that much.  It had been nearly 5 days since I stepped out of my apartment so there was something so exhilarating about merely sitting in the dreaded evening rush hour traffic.  I was on my way to the Acumen Fund Global Fellows candidate dinner. Global interviews have begun for the new class of fellows and this time I'm on the other side. As I sat through the jam watching the people outside scramble to get into the local buses or matatus I started reflecting on where I was a year ago.

I had just returned from India mid January 2011 and made my way back to Iran.  I was excited to see my family but even more excited at the idea of getting ready for my Acumen Fund interview set in mid-February in NYC. I was so nervous because I wanted this fellowship so bad. I remember always repeating to myself, "be yourself and give it your all". I figured that as long as I show how deep my passion runs for this line of work I can at least walk away knowing I was true to myself and the interviewers.  Well it worked! 

I arrived at my destination and was greeted with some familiar faces. I was suddenly overwhelmed by excitement and joy as it had been a while since I merely communicated with anyone outside of work. Hugs were exchanged, and the immediate "where have you been?" were fired.  As we waited for the candidates to arrive I found myself content, a difference of where I've been emotionally in the last week. As the evening went on, I tried to get familiar with some of the candidates. As usual they were pretty extraordinary individuals. 

We started off dinner by sharing our infamous Acumen Ah-Ha moments. I was overwhelmed with a sense of community and family, as each member of the Acumen Family stood up and shared their Ah-Ha's. It was so refreshing to hear that I am not alone, even in my thoughts on this sector and in my emotions in this current stage in life.  

Being at home, alone, consecutively makes you lose sight of what you have right around the corner and what your original goals are. Cabin fever has heavily kicked in along with self-doubt and reverse confidence in work and myself. Just the emotional roller coaster of being in a new country brings on the self doubt and out with the ambition and drive. 

Remembering that we are here to not only help others but help develop and grow ourselves is an important thought I have to keep in the forefront of my mind and emotions. Positive results will come as long as I keep my moral imagination and confidence in myself. Spending the evening with my Nairobi family and community helped restart this. Now I must do a better job at  keeping in better contact with my community here.  

A village on the far Southern coast of Kenya working together as a community to grind maize to  provide food for their families. They grind anywhere from 40kgs to 60kgs per day! That device was very difficult and cumbersome to work with but as a community they took turns, helped each other and achieved their daily goals.

*The title of this post is an excerpt from a children's song typically sang before meals in Montessori classrooms: "Look around and you will see community, a family, we are brothers sisters all...."