USD Magazine Summer 2007

[ a l t r u i s t ]

A YEAR TO REMEMBER Excerpt s f rom the b l og of Beth Roger s -Wi t te ’ 02 , who ’s coming to know Af r i c a by spend ing a year in southern Sudan

MY FIRST BLOG ENTRY EVER. Sudan. The Sudan. This vast, mys- terious country was not on my radar screen before the Darfur atrocities began making head- lines. I am now living and working in the heart of a region that has endured horrific civil war on and off since 1956. Where had I been? Though I pride myself on being “worldly”— I read the newspapers, watch the news and traveled to 30+ coun- tries around the world before my 26th birthday — I only somewhat knew that the Dinka people were a tribe in Africa and I certainly had no clue that they were being mur- dered by the tens of thousands. But my blog is not a place for a history lesson, nor is it the place to moan about ignorance in America. The purpose of my blog is twofold: to allow my friends and family to really “see” and know Africa as I am coming to really see it, and to give me a forum to process and evaluate my experiences here. My village of Agok is full of cul- ture, beauty and relative peace. People are slowly beginning to accept me as a staple in the com- munity. Children still wave and run after me and women still giggle when they see me doing things “only men should do”like hang out in the market or drive, but mostly, I feel like people are watch- ing out for me and are more and more willing to open up to me. I WORKED INCREDIBLY HARD for over two months this summer —pouring energy, sweat and tears into the internship. And although I was registered and all set to return to my dual degree program (and POINT OF VIEW

blog the other day from an aid worker in Darfur who mentioned that his trip“back home”in 2005 was as much, if not more, difficult as his time in Darfur. I felt this when I was in the Detroit airport rest- room after the long flight from Nairobi awaiting the Customs line. I was failing at all attempts to get water to come out of the motion- sensored sink faucet (you honestly forget how to do basic things when you’re away frommodern comforts for so long) and was just thinking about how incredibly clean and spotless this airport rest- room seemed when a woman walked up next to me at the sink and said,“I can’t believe how dirty it is in here, this is ridiculous”. I burst into tears. My short stint in the U.S. has been relaxing and overwhelming at the same time. But it did make me realize how difficult it will be for me to settle back into an American lifestyle when I go back to graduate school next fall. While I always predict being shocked by the overabundance, waste and indulgence in America after spending time in other countries, it is even more blatant and depressing after living in southern Sudan. How on earth can we allow some people to have so much more than they need while mil- lions others live without having their most BASIC human needs met? It’s always hard to swallow and even though I feel like I’m attempting to play a role in even- ing out this disparity, we have yet to even make a dent. For more detailed posts describing Beth’s journey in the Sudan, go to www.theworldbeth.blogspot.com/.

running water and flush toilets) at GeorgeWashington University in D.C. for the fall 2006 semester, I decided to temporarily deviate from the path I had set for myself and return to Sudan to work as a full-time Mercy Corps employee for one year. My return to Sudan has been intense, to say the least. My job, “deputy program manager” is really just a fancy title for some- one who does a little bit of every- thing! That has included supervis- ing a program staff of 11 people; overseeing all finances for the office; developing training materi- als; conducting meetings with local groups under a tree; manag- ing a construction bidding process; becoming an expert at driving the All-Terrain Vehicle; coming up with creative ways to implement a program in the thick of a harsh rainy season that ren- ders already bad roads impassa- ble; pushing the Land Rover out of the mud nearly every day and much, much more. What is most comical to me is that even though I don’t have much experience, a lot of this requires simple com- mon sense and a lot of patience and creativity. And I do have great supervisors who I talk to by satel- lite phone daily to help me remember to breathe! I HAD A PRETTY EYE-OPENING moment standing in line for my espresso and croissant in the Amsterdam airport as I was flying to the U.S. from Sudan for a visit home. I’m only a bit comforted that I’m not alone in my feelings of“reverse culture shock”in returning briefly back to the U.S. I was just reading a

BETH ROGERS-WITTE

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