"what next?" is the most often asked question from those i've known for ages and those i've just met. well, i still don't have an answer but i thought that you might want to know what i've been up to this year and the possibilities for what's next...(warning: this could be a long one)
last i wrote was new years...i was working with presbyterian disaster assistance in pearlington, mississippi. i stayed there for 8 months--leaving at the beginning of june. i filled the position of village manager most of the time, worksite manager sometimes. this involved correspondence with incoming volunteer groups, keeping camp working--food and housing, and making sure that our olunteers had work to do. work was constant and varied--shopping (food and building supplies), transporting tools and supplies and occasionally volunteers (30 college students came to work arriving in a charter bus and no other transport...news flash-pearlington roads are not built for buses), staff meetings, troubleshooting (remember to check the kerosene tank and the propane tank...don't run out (which we did). one day i got my truck stuck in the mud and then got the truck that came to get me out stuck too. that was a great morning full of laughter.
i got to meet so many people--week long volunteers (many of whom came back again and again), long term volunteers, homeowners--it was great. wonderful wonderful people. it was hard to leave pearlington but summer was coming (so hot and humid in ms) and pda was moving my camp (i didn't like the idea) and i needed some time away--7 days a week all day long is a long time. there is still so much to be done on the gulf coast, many people still not in their homes.
i spent most of june at home in black mountain decompressing and thinking of the future...took off to visit college friends on a whirlwind tour of the west coast...park city, ut--honolulu, hi--seattle, wa--portland, or--moscow, id (volunteer group)--san fransisco, ca--and then home again. it was so fun to see new places but more than that to spend time with so many friends and have so many adventures--fireworks, hikes, running out of gas (in a prius hybrid--really i did). didn't stay home long but headed to visit my sister in indiana with a trip to lake michigan for a family visit and to ohio to visit another volunteer group. 2 rafting trips down the freezing nantahala with family on cloudy days and about a week spent in hilton head. that brings us up to today (ish) which finds me currently house/kid sitting for a week and a half for a missionary who is talking at churches in ny state...
as to the future i'm still not sure but am looking at working/volunteering in malawi, africa either in a school or an orphanage for 6 months to a year. i'm working on specifying a project (maybe kindergarten teacher an hour out of the capital) and figuring out how to fund it.
i hope this finds you well and under beautiful skies. love jessi
