The International Terminal

I’m 24.

I’m at the airport.

And I’m moving to India.

I’m waiting to board a flight to (literally) the other side of the world, and the weight of this decision, while two years in the works, is finally settling in. My head is in a million places - scattered like those little hand held puzzles where you try to get the ball in the hole but it goes around and forward and backwards and sideways stubbornly resisting settling in one place. I can’t seem to pick one emotion and hold onto it.

At the airport in the international terminal there are so many languages being spoken, so many differences to observe. It reminds me how big the world is. It’s easy to forget, especially when the world, as it sometimes does, revolves around you. It’s one of the wonderful things about travelling. One of many. You are part of something bigger than yourself. Bigger than your concerns or worries or joys or problems. Our lives are important, incredibly so, of course. But so are the lives of others – our families, friends, neighbors, and those strangers on the other side of the world. College graduates are forced to decide what it is we want to do with our lives. And the answer is so much bigger than the job - that’s just one facet. It’s about how we lead our lives. It’s about what we choose as important – what values, what choices, what guidelines, what relationships matter. The answers are personal. I believe I know what matters and what’s important to me. It’s constantly evolving, but whatever it is, it’s lead me to here. Right now. Witnessing my own microcosm of multiculturalism in the international airport terminal. Moving to India.

Through the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), I’ve received the World Partners Fellowship. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger, and disease among people of the developing world regardless of race, religion, or nationality. The fellowship places me with a local, grassroots, Indian non-governmental organization (NGO) for one year. I will be working for an NGO that helps empower artisans to create sustainable livelihoods off of their traditional craft work. It is located in a small town named Bhuj in the desert of Western India. Bhuj will be my home for a year.

It’s difficult to answer exactly why I’m doing this, and the reasons are many and involved. But as I get served pretzels and wine on the airplane, I think about how luxurious my life is. I have everything I could possible need and a thousand times more. I’m not trying to run away from it, but I am attempting to remove myself so that I can better understand the world and the problems that need to be solved. I want to understand through experiences; statistics can only convey so much. I know that ultimately it will be me who gets the most out of this volunteer work, but hopefully along the way I can do some good for others.

* Postscript 7/29/09

I think my brother put it best when he said in response to this post, "Don't you think you're being a little dramatic, Jamie?" He's right. And even though I'm a tad embarassed, it remains since it's pretty much exactly what I was thinking and feeling at the time. Historical accuracy trumps chagrin.

http://www.khamir.org/

http://ajws.org/

http://ajws.org/what_we_do/service_and_travel_opportunities/world_partners_fellowship/