I am not alone!

I am in the snowy "city of brotherly love" where the cheese steaks melt in your mouth and the liberty bell lies dormant but never silent. I am so excited to be here among 36 other Americans that I know will become my best friends. The first day of orientation left me in the biggest state of relief I have ever felt. For the past year, I have had to fight and defend my reasons for wanting to serve, and now I can just be me. I could not fathom that people actually shared the same anxieties as I did as well as the same aspirations.
Now that orientation is finished I am feeling more nervous but strength lies in numbers and I know I have the support I need within reach now. While other volunteers are anxious about using pit latrines, I can't explain the fear I have in knowing that I probably won't be able to hear my nephew's voice for months at a time or that the mail system is so corrupt that I will not receive my mail. But they tell us that "no news is good news" because if something were really bad than that's the telephone call that family at home will not want to receive. So not to end on a scary note, please know that I will be safe even if you don't hear from me. Now the favor I ask of you is to do the same.