This blog began as a chronicle of an 11,000-mile solo road trip, a voyage of discovery and self-discovery. But those journeys never truly end, do they? And so, though no longer between jobs, when I hit the road again, I was determined to continue the story. Traveling as a member of a delegation, sharing a room with two other women, and spending nearly every waking hour with nine high school students doesn’t accord one the space to unravel a story, to brush the dust off of yesterday’s details. And while I wrote daily, I struggled at it, seeking, but not finding, the capacity for reflection as we traveled.
But the stories have lingered, rising in dreams, in unbidden memories, in response to news, sounds, tastes, or to the fabrics that hang around my home. So, claiming my year, I have dusted them off. Much of the writing comes from my journals during our stay in Ghana, some from memory, or conversations with those who traveled with me, or before me. The urgency comes from the closing of a year, but also from the dawning of a new one, and as my stories of Ghana come to a close, I will be gathering new stories, sights and smells, new discoveries and self-discoveries in Ecuador as this adventure of life unfolds.
One further note: I traveled as part of a delegation from Kentucky Country Day School through the Sister Cities of Louisville program whose mission is to: “Promote peace through the respect we show, understanding we foster and cooperation we seek with our Sister Cities around the world - one individual, one community at a time.” I traveled with three other adults and nine students, whose names have been abbreviated for their privacy.
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