The Small Things

I had some pretty incredible encounters yesterday. They may not seem like huge things for some, but for me they made everything worth it and in my book they're going down as successes in my service. My morning started off by going to one of my schools to help facilitate the spelling club an English teacher and I started a few weeks ago. Of course this teacher arrived 20 minutes late, but after overlooking that minor detail everything went especially smoothly. All the students were participating and asking questions. From where I was standing it seemed like they were all interested. I loved every minute of it.

After the club was over, I proceeded to walk over to my regular suk(shop) to buy carrots and green beans (he’s the only one who I have found that has these on a regular basis). As I was getting ready to pay him I realized I had left my wallet at home. I told him never mind on the vegetables and I would come back and buy them another time. He looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to leave without them. He told me not to worry about it, that I could just pay him another time. I told him I could come back later that day and he said not to worry. I could come back the following day or the next week, it was no problem at all, “chigir yellem.” That small act of kindness made the rest of my day great. I can’t think of this ever happening in America. You can’t go to a grocery store and walk out with your items without paying and only your word to the manager that you’ll come back with the money. But here, this man who barely knows me trusts me. No questions asked.

Later in the afternoon my girls club met. I could immediately tell that the girls were more comfortable this meeting than last. The change in some of them from just a week ago was unbelievable. A couple of the girls whose voices I had yet to hear were raising their hands, wanting to participate, and sharing their ideas. It was wonderful to see. But that’s not what added the cherry to my day. After the club was over, my counterpart (the teacher working on the club with me) informed me that the day before, one of the girls had expressed her feelings about this club to her. She said she was so happy to be a part of it and that this wasn’t just important for her now, but also for her future. And this was why she wasn’t going to be absent to any of our meetings and make sure all the girls would come. She found all of the girls the day before to remind them to come to the club. I don’t know how to express how I felt on hearing that. As a volunteer you never know if the work you’re doing is making any kind of difference. I have no idea if I’m helping my students or teaching them anything. Hearing my counterpart tell me this made everything that’s been challenging about this experience worth it. If I leave Ethiopia having only helped that one girl, I’ll know I’ll at least have done one thing.

So those three things, the spelling club meeting, the suk owner trusting me to pay him later, and the student in the girls’ club telling my counterpart how happy she was with the club were small encounters, but these are the instances that make this experience worth all the pain. I’ve lived in Ethiopia about 17 months now and it has been the hardest thing I have ever done. I am constantly questioning myself, sometimes asking what I’m doing here, wondering if it’s really doing anything, but those moments yesterday made it all worth it and made me say, “I’m happy to be here.”