The End and another Beginning

Three years, six original paintings, 36 amazing Small Grantees in rural development, several exotic vacations and safaris later...I come back to this blog journal. I guess in some ways the need to get it down is in the transition into-and now-the transition out of my Africa. I don't know why we need witness to movement, but there it is. Maybe we are afraid of losing ourselves in the rapids and just need to be sure someone on shore knows we are entering a vortex of humongous, churning change.

And I am. The end of four years of gifted experiences living in Uganda. The termination of my work with diverse local community based organizations trying to do right for themselves. Pentimento-ed on to the immediate, is the end of international living, most of it in the Foreign Service diplomatic community. Twenty four years of living in other countries at various levels of their economies, and a full 16 of those years in Africa. It has been such a core piece of who I am since the age of 20....who will I be without it? Does it really have a permanent effect, or does it evaporate like a vapor?

I am interested to find out.