Where's the Baobab tree, bwana?

There's things to look forward to in Tanzania. For me being a trekker, summitting Mount Kilimanjaro would be a dream and a feat. A safari in the vast wilderness of the African Serengeti pretty much is as exotic and romantic as it gets. Paris and Venice ...so yesterday and over rated. Trust!

I'm a simple person who enjoy simple pleasures. I want to see trees. What I look forward to are the magnificent and visually awesome and strangely hypnotic Baobab trees in Africa.

This fascination and curiosity stem from a childhood book I read which greatly impacted me emotionally. Probably the first book that made me cry for the author's rendition of his watercolor illustration of Baobab trees made me wonder if they were real or a made-up kind of tree that the author took in creative liberty. Antoine de St.-Exuperty's Le Petit Prince takes place in Saharan Africa. His description of the landscape and the Baobab trees were the first impression I had of Africa: mysterious, remote, and lonely. I recall reading the English version, The Little Prince, on my mother's bed alone as a kid one late afternoon. After I finished the story, I cried for the little prince disappeared into the vast desert and the pilot wondered what became of his little friend. I hope he was able to continue caring for his beloved rose and clean out his volcanoes. From the little prince's world, it was the Baobab tree that has embedded in my memory. Once and for all, I want to witness if these trees do exist or only in the imagination of St.-Exupery.

 

I collect this book in different foreign languages. Swahili will be next.

 

bwana in Swahili means "sir or mister"

Boston bound to see Bon Bon

I will fly to Boston to visit my only child, aka Bon Bon from Sept. 4 to 12 before I leave the country to serve Peace Corps in Africa.

Gaining her approval, acceptance, respect, and blessing were the one and only challenge during my Peace Corps application process. I encountered not a single obstacle... except her. The long drawn out exhaustive application process, or the 5 weeks of getting medical clearance in India, or the never ending paperwork with continuous updated resume were all kindergarten work compared to having to face my only child's disapproval. As a parent, it eats your inside when your child is unhappy or terribly sad.

When I learned of that fateful nomination back in March 2012, that late evening, I composed a very neutral, mature, and thought out e-mail announcing the "good news" to her and my brother. I rewrote, I reread, I rewrote, I reread, and I rewrote some more before I clicked sent. All the while smoking a small Burmese cigar to calm my nervousness.

The next day I was waiting for their replies at each hour on the clock. I was in Mandalay, Myanmar and they were in USA, bro in west coast and kid in east coast. Finally after at least 48 hours, I received a reply with a forward attachment from Fendi. The e-mail to me was calm, rational, and straightforward. The forward was an e-mail sent to my brother and his wife who serve as surrogate parent when she needs additional support. I cringed, shuddered, and became highly stressed as I read her initial reaction. She received my good news announcement while attending a class in college. As she read my supposedly good news of my nomination which probably means my impending departure, she got up from class and went straight to the bathroom to cry and composed the email to her uncle and aunt explaining her dilemma. Oh my God....that's major hardcore taking it badly when one needs to remove oneself to have the privacy to cry! Oh poor baby, mommy never want to hurt you. I'm so sorry. I love you but can you understand what I'm doing?

After that e-mail, there had been several exchanges of e-mail communication where I stated my point and she stated her point. This was a dilemma that we both faced. Neither is right nor wrong. Her issue was valid and completely understandable. Her concern was that I wouldn't be accessible to her while she is in college as this is an important time in her life. If she needed her mother, how would she be able to get a hold of little old me while I'm in po dunk Africa living amongst the bushes? She called me selfish although she struggled herself with that term. How can she call a person selfish who is serving Peace Corps. Good point, Fendi! Selfish is always a theme she labels me growing up and to some extent, she is not completely incorrect. Self absorbed as a very young divorced single parent...yes, it happens. I want a life, too.

During my travel and while she was in college in Boston, there was no conflict resolution via e-mail or the very unenthusiastic phone conversations. Naturally, this is a matter that needed to be dealt with face to face in person.

When we were finally both back home in California in the beginning of July, we had a total of three conversations regarding this issue. Convo #1 went nowhere. Convo #2 wasn't any better and lastly Convo #3 which was the night before Fendi was to return back to Boston for work was finally productive. There was a genuine exchange of dialogue where I was able to understand my daughter's feeling and thinking. This goes beyond the Peace Corps gig; this entails a more deeper issue.

I believe she was finally convinced that my departure, assuming I will be invited at the time, wouldn't seriously impact her life. As I explained to her: college life with studies, summer school, job internship, boyfriend, friends, vacations and all-around-crazy-shit-that-goes-on-in-college would make her life full and busy. If she needed me, I am an e-mail or a mobile phone call away. What difference does it make if I'm in California, France, or Tanzania?  I asked her how often does she contact me if it wasn't for the typical "hey mommy, send me some dough s'il vous plait" or " okay, i have relationship issues, I need your advice, Dr. Wendy". More resolutely, it is her understanding that I actually have vacation days where I am able to return home to USA if I chose to. Better yet, I asked her to get her slim young ass to where I am. If staying in a mud hut house with a hole in the ground as a toilet is too hardcore and out of her comfort zone, for God's sake, I'm a cool and generous mother offering to meet in Morocco or a midpoint between Massachusetts and Tanzania. What kid will refuse an offer to go on a wildlife safari? Probably Bon Bon!

Enters staging info....

Today the anticipated staging info arrived in my inbox. Philadelphia it is! Hello Philly steak sandwich smothered with onions, cheese, and lard galore worthy of a heart attack squished between an empty nutrient heavy on carb bun. Gonna try to get me one last decadent American fast food before I leave for Africa where corn mush resembling paper mache glue is their staple diet. This white gruel is call ugali. I better be digging it 'cause I'll be eating plenty of it.

According to the schedule, October 1 is a full day of orientation and the following day, October 2 is the fateful departure to Tanzania from Newark airport with a stop over in Amsterdam. Would be mighty considerate if they'd let us, Peace Corps volunteers-to-be, off for one last pork fest of all-you-can-eat-CHEESE in Holland!

We will arrive Dar es Salaam at 11:30pm. Whoaaa....late at night, all dark, in black Africa....Karibu Tanzania!

In 31 days, I depart for Tanzania to serve Peace Corps

The entire Peace Corps application process took 11 months, nearly a year, from submission of application to acceptance of invitation. As I reread my first entry, I was pretty close in "hitting it on the spot" regarding where and what I'd be doing. I suppose serving Africa in the health sector is quintessential Peace Corps.

I have been invited to serve Tanzania in the capacity as a Health Extension Worker where I will be educating and promoting health and naturally also in the realm of HIV/AIDS. I am very pleased with the country and the assignment given to me. Of all African nations available, to be given Tanzania is to be given a golden ticket of country invite. It's a country where some natural wonders of the world exist such as Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a UNESCO site where wildlife roam at the crater, and adjoining the splendid Serengeti National Park, where the Masai people reside and where safari takes place.

When I received my Peace Corps blue envelope, it was neither Ethiopia or Kenya. To my delight, it was Tanzania. I had hope among these three countries, I'd be given Tanzania because it may be more developed. This is a total positive since I need to have accessible communication with Fendi, my daughter, whom finally there was resolution of the idea I join the Peace Corps. Her final acceptance and resolution is a "blessing" to me. I may not have accepted the invitation if she was to continue having strong negative feelings of my departure. I assure her that I will be in communication with her and that I plan to return home to see her and by all means, I'd be ecstatic If she would come visit me in Africa for I would love to share with her a different world and her culture and people.

Since I have returned from my nearly 8 months of travel and in preparation for Peace Corps invitation and finally acceptance, I have been bombarded with organization, preparation and some studying. Some days are completely productive, others are quite useless with nothing getting accomplished.

31 days will past as fast as a lightning bolt. I should take this brief time I have left with family, friends, and my beloved Sweet Pea whom I have tremendous guilt in abandoning since she is an old dog of 16 years. Most likely she will pass on during my service. This is the only one thing I am leaving behind that makes me cringe with sadness and guilt.

The Final Interview or You are In!

After I had submitted the updated resume and extensive questionnaire, I will be waiting for a call from the Peace Corps Placement Office to further investigate my candidacy. This is the final interview before they decide whether to invite me or not.

This phone call came in on July 17, 2012. It woke me up from the guest bed at Raffy's house in which I had spent more than several days at her home. I feel like Kato Kalin, O.J. Simpson's long term live-in guest, a useless regular fixture at a friend's home.

I spoke to Fritz, the officer who will place and assign me a post. We exchanged thoughts on a few items that was a concern to me and after some explanation from me and him, in conclusion, he tells me he will be inviting me to southeast Africa. I asked him which country. Of course he can not divulge, so then I asked him to list me the possibilities. After he spits out a list of south eastern countries in the African continent, I told him I guess it's either Ethiopia or Kenya because I had previously checked Peace Corps Wiki and I saw these two countries for October 1, 2012 departure. His lips were sealed. Fine, it's more fun for me to wait and be surprised, anyway!

I become to love the color blue! Yes, the coveted Peace Corps invitation package comes in a blue folder!

I am now legitimately stoked as now I have been told that I will be sent an invitation. I can't wait for the postman to arrive at my home bearing a gift to me...a gift of good will.