Homecoming Thoughts from Afar

Photography by Mehves Konuk

I received a confirmation for my flight back home to America yesterday.

December still feels a long way away, but I am excited to return home (if only for a while) to reconnect with friends, family, and to simply enjoy the things I've missed while being overseas.

This morning I got a link for a blog post about the unavoidable question from friends and family of, "So, what did you accomplish, really?" upon arriving home from working overseas. The title of the post intrigued me, especially as I have already begun mentally preparing for my transition out of East Africa. Reading the post got me thinking about the first time I travled abroad for work, back in 2008, when my journey of international development really began. I remember going with such lofty expectations of the things I would be able to accomplish there, the lives that I could change, the impact I could make. Well, when the end of the year came, I was disheartened by the fact that I had not really met any of my goals - at least to the extent that I had hoped for. So what did I do? I decided to stay another year, hoping that an additional 12 months of overseas work would create some of the "success stories" that I so longed to bring home.

Needless to say, at the end of yet another year, there were no huge success stories, no life-changing events, no big accomplishments, that I was able to claim responsibility for. Did this mean that no good came out of my time spent abroad? No. Did this mean that lives were not impacted and changed from the interactions that we had? No. Did this mean I had wasted two years of my life? No.

What it did mean, however, and what it exposed, is that so often we get caught up in the big accomplishments that we fail to see the little accomplishments that actually do occur. The small, seemingly incidental, yet influential moments that are just the beginnings, or middles, of what is yet to come. If we - religious or not - live life believing that everything has a purpose, that everything that happens is meant to happen, then we cannot reject the "small" impacts that eventually culminate into the final product. If everything is connected, and every experience helps shape someone - or something - then everything we do indeed has meaning and contributes to ultimate change.

I have been working in East Africa for the past 15 months. As my time draws nearer to its end, I find myself involuntarily reflecting on all of the people and "things" that I have been a part of. The part of me that seeks achievement and longs for recognition searches high and low for anything that I can bring back home to talk about. After all, no one really wants to hear about the struggles and hardships of the year. Few people want to hear about the trial and error (especially the error) of activities and projects conducted. Yet, these are the very things from which change occurs. These are the very things from which we learn, and grow - the process - that ultimately helps reach the goals that we have set for others and ourselves. So why is it that we don't work harder to bring to light these parts of our work experience, regardless of where we work and what we do? Why is it that no one ever asks about the process, yet are so interested in knowing the outcome?

I cannot answer these questions in full. So, in the meantime, I can work to change my personal expectations and perspective about the work I do overseas. After my initial "unsuccessful" years abroad, I realized, and really learned to understand (perhaps even a little too late) that change is indeed a process. And, if we are unwilling to focus on and invest in the process, then we really shouldn't expect to get the results that we are looking for. Homecoming may always continue to be associated with an overwhelming number of questions about our activities and accomplishments, but we will always have the choice to fight the need for recognition, and to shed light on the journey and process, even if the results don't scream success.

"The Clarity Paradox"

We've all heard of the saying that "less is more." Personally, I've never really bought into the idea or experienced the "more" part of this saying (after all, "less" is generally, well, just..."less"), until today, after stumbling on an article called The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. In this article, the author, McKeown, talks about the idea of success, and the reasons why some find success while others simply don't. He attributes success (or lack of success) to something he calls "The Clarity Paradox," which, in a nutshell, claims that "success is a catalyst for failure." McKeown explains the paradox like this:

1. When we really have clarity of purpose, it leads to success.
2. When we have success, it leads to more options and opportunities.
3. When we have increased options and opportunities, it leads to diffused efforts.
4. Diffused efforts undermine the very clarity that led to our success in the first place.

After reading this, I have to admit that I see his logic. So many people (and organizations) reach a certain level of success, and find themselves with opportunities and options that they never had before; kind of like a kid in a candy store with too much money to spend. Unfortunately, what happens every now and then is that we spread themselves too thin (and sometimes make bad investments) in attempts to run after new opportunities.This, of course, is not to say that opportunities are a bad thing - we just need to make our decisions wisely and carefully to mitigate any negative outcomes. 

At this point, you may be asking yourself how one can maintain success without falling into the "Clarity Paradox." Luckily, McKeown gives three suggestions for his audience: 

1. Use more extreme criteria.
2. Ask: "What is essential?" and eliminate the rest.
3. Beware of the endowment effect.

If you want in-depth explanations of those suggestions, I encourage you to read McKeown's article, after all, they are his ideas, and they are conveyed much more clearly in his own words. In the end, if you remember nothing else, remember this: we need to stive to adopt a "disciplined pursuit of less" by "purposefully, deliberately, and strategically eliminating the nonessentials." I know this may seem like common knowledge to many of you, but the way I see it, this is pretty good advice not only for success in our careers, but for success in all aspects of our lives as well. 

Akagera

Kigali's Abandoned Amusement Park

The best thing about traveling to a new place is finding the city's best hidden secrets. These hidden secrets can take on many forms; a hole in the wall restaurant, an awesome market or shopping area, a breathtaking view. However, in all my years of traveling, the one thing that I never expected was to find an abandoned amusement park. I wish I could say that I had indeed "stumbled upon" this phenomena by accident, but in reality, I only found this place because of my determination to find out if the surrounding rumors had any truth to them.

So, early Saturday morning, after having enjoyed a lovely breakfast, Deke and I set out to solve this mystery for ourselves, once and for all. It took a while of searching and a few wrong turns, but finally, we found ourselves standing in front of about a dozen red bumper cars, overgrown with weeds, dust and cobwebs - the usual result of neglect. We turned the corner and found even more abandoned parts; unicorns (for a carousel perhaps?), dolphins that twirled, water boats for the nearby lake, and even an indecently exposed mermaid. Needless to say, this expedition was pretty creepy but pretty awesome all at the same time, and made for a pretty exciting Saturday morning!

Rwanda's Museum of Natural History

Today, Deke and I decided to visit the "Museum of Natural History," located right in Kigali, not far from the town center. It never really occurred to us that the museum was something we wanted to visit, but it seemed like a good idea given the fact that we didn't have much to do today. For the equivalent of about 10USD (half price with a student ID or proof of residency!), we were able to get 30 minute's worth of entertainment at the museum. I wouldn't say that it was worth my money, but I did get a few laughs in, so that's always a win in my book! So, before you continue further to the "tour", you should disregard any preconceived notions you may have regarding the words "natural history" and "museum" - unfortunately, museums here are just not the same as they are at home. With this in mind, sit back, relax, and enjoy your visit! 

This exhibit, entitled "Akagera," depicts the wildlife found in Rwanda's safari park.
(notice the diversity of animals that share the same habitat; yes, including the river otter on the right)

 

 

 

 

 

 

An array of of artifacts, starring the miniature-sized wooly mammoth.

The dinosaur exhibit (not plastic toys).

The vast variety of East African animals (again, not plastic toys).

Two hippos in battle, with a giraffe overlooking the scene.

Two cubs play as the nearby male watches protectively over his pride.

A mountain gorilla protected inside a glass case.
(notice the authentic elephant skull in the background that has no protection)

Authentic alligator hide, laying on a tile floor, exposed, with no covering.

I hope you enjoyed getting a small taste of Rwanda's Museum of Natural History. If you're ever in-country, I hope you find your way to Kigali and take a look for yourself! I promise it will be worth it, one way or another.

follow the yellow brick road

Street signs (like the one above) have been popping up all over Kigali over the past week and a half. In case you didn't know, street signs are a completely foreign concept here. Sure, there are signs that indicate the general location of different offices or restaurants, but the signs that we rely on so heavily in America simply don't exist here. I'm still trying to figure out what all the letters and numbers mean (K for Kigali, N for...?), but I think eventually I'll understand it. In the meantime, they mean absolutely nothing to me!

I myself am really hoping that these signs will make giving and following directions easier because, as you can imagine, giving directions in a country with no street signs is quite a challenge. Recently, I was invited to a friend's going away party. I had never been to her house, even though it a 10 minute walk from where I live. You'll see after reading her "directions" how creative you need to get when trying to direct people to new places. However, as complicated as it looks, her directions were quite useful. More useful than these street signs, at least! Do the directions to her house make any sense to you?

"To get to our house, drive on the main Nyamirambo road, pass through Biryogo (the busy colorful Mosque area where the road splits and comes back together), continue up the hill, pass the Kobil station on the left, pass the Merez Station/Spectra Bar on the right, and then you will go over two speed bumps. Just after the second speed bump, turn left at the corner with the big SP sign and Inyange milk billboard. (Moto drivers will know this corner as "ERP" in the French pronunciation, "ay air pay.") You will now be on a semi-dirt road. Continue on this road for less than a minute and take the SECOND road on the right. It is uphill and very bumpy. After this turn, take the road that immediately forks left. Continue until the end of this road, for about a minute, when you will come to a big antenna on your right and you will be forced to turn left and downhill. Our house is the second on the right and is the biggest and brightest house in the area. It has a bluish-green gate."