Standing Between Me and Dar

Only 14 days stand between me and Dar es Salaam. Needless to say they will possibly be the most stressful 14 days of my life as 4 final exams also stand within these days. BUT here's the beauty of God's plan, "Dar es Salaam" literally translates to "The abode of peace." So of course I am stressed and currently surviving off of free food and caffeine. Of course I am worried about 4 exams and their importance in my career. I say of course because I know I am being prepared to see the world differently. I wonder How different I will see the world from the Abode of peace?

The other day I watched a beautiful movie by HBO called "Mary and Martha" about a woman who leaves her husband in America and takes their son to Mozambique for 4 weeks. While there he contracts Malaria and dies within a day of showing symptoms. This of course destroys her life and but she returns to Mozambique to find her peace. While there she runs into a woman who lost her 22 year old son to Malaria. As the story goes on the woman work to help raise funds to buy mosquito nets and malaria medication for thousands of people in Mozambique. There is a line in a the movie that states "Did you know that if you take every single person killed in a terrorist act around the world in the last 20 years and you add to that all the lives lost in the middle east since 1967 and you add to that every American life lost is Vietnam, Korea, and every American engagement since then (Iraq, Afghanistan) and then you multiply that number times two - that is the number of children that die of Malaria Every Single Year."

If this fact doesn't hit you somewhere in your heart, you might be a lost cause.
Wondering what you could do to help? http://www.malarianomore.org/ this is a great cause that the movie was based on. we live in a world where 660,000 children are dying from a treatable virus and I'm worried about an exam? whats wrong with this picture.





A lot of people ask me if I'm scared or nervous to leave this last week. and this made me realize I'm more afraid of not going. That sounds weird and I don't know exactly how to explain it. I think what I am trying to say is that I am afraid of not being fully in the moment while I'm there, that a part of me will want to be back here. I've never traveled or been completely off the grid before and I just want to take full advantage of completely letting go of here. Caring about exams, about rent, about what I will eat next, about boys or lack their of. I want to find peace, I want to fully thrive in the abode of peace. 

I write all of this while studying at a local cafe sitting across from my beautiful friend Melanie Rose who just made me cry thinking about all of my friends that I will miss while I'm gone :(