“It is nearly 6pm here in Chad. I am sitting here in the bar of a hotel in the capital city, N’djamena because our guest house has no TV. Many of us, from many nations have gathered together, watching the inauguration of President Obama. It is fitting that I am sitting here with a Kenyan, our accountant working in Goz Beida (our field site) as well as a fellow American, Mary from our HQ in Seattle. The broadcast is live but since I am in French speaking Chad it is via France24, a broadcast originating in France, and therefore it is in French! Not my best language! I am thousands of miles away from US soil and listening in an unknown language, yet through the distance and language barrier I still feel greatly tied to what is happening. I feel a sense of hope, excitement and pride as Aretha sings and Biden and Obama take their oaths, as Obama gives his first presidential address and the choir sings the National Anthem. This is a special time. I am struck by the actual mass of those who have come, waiting patiently in the deep cold for their opportunity to witness history. I am struck even more by the facts that, in every corner of the world people are currently fixed to their tele screens or their ears are closely listening to their radios to witness in their own way this historical event.” - written during the inauguration
Photo taken moments after the inauguration of myself and Mary from HQ doing some work on our computer before heading into dinner for 'the last supper' before heading to the field.
It has been a few days since President Obama took office and already there is a sense of change in terms of our Nation's perception overseas. Maybe it is just me or maybe there is a change. What I know is that a decades ago when I first travelled overseas there was a certain sense of pride that I felt as an American and people often responded in a positive way. I will never forget the elderly German woman I met in the Hartz Mountains in 1991 who asked me where I was from. When I said I was from America she literally thru her arms around me and embraced me and started to tear up. In her broken English she managed to say in such a sincere way, 'Thank you, thank you so much!' Not everyone had that kind of response but generally I felt the US had a good name out there.
However, in the past decade or so things have changed, so much. No longer do I respond with pride when I am asked where I am from. No longer do I get the sense that we are in good books with the rest of the world. But in a very short time I have already seen a difference. I am currently in Chad, a country that is widely Muslim and is challenged with a history of war and insecure borders. I have had to meet a number of officials in the last few days and get their permission to travel around the country and each of them smiles so big when I tell them I am from America. Obama comes into the conversation every time and it is like a new image is already in their minds of what our nation stands for. I am encouraged and grateful and recognize nothing is forever but we should appreciate what we have while we have it.
Photo taken moments after the inauguration of myself and Mary from HQ doing some work on our computer before heading into dinner for 'the last supper' before heading to the field.
It has been a few days since President Obama took office and already there is a sense of change in terms of our Nation's perception overseas. Maybe it is just me or maybe there is a change. What I know is that a decades ago when I first travelled overseas there was a certain sense of pride that I felt as an American and people often responded in a positive way. I will never forget the elderly German woman I met in the Hartz Mountains in 1991 who asked me where I was from. When I said I was from America she literally thru her arms around me and embraced me and started to tear up. In her broken English she managed to say in such a sincere way, 'Thank you, thank you so much!' Not everyone had that kind of response but generally I felt the US had a good name out there.
However, in the past decade or so things have changed, so much. No longer do I respond with pride when I am asked where I am from. No longer do I get the sense that we are in good books with the rest of the world. But in a very short time I have already seen a difference. I am currently in Chad, a country that is widely Muslim and is challenged with a history of war and insecure borders. I have had to meet a number of officials in the last few days and get their permission to travel around the country and each of them smiles so big when I tell them I am from America. Obama comes into the conversation every time and it is like a new image is already in their minds of what our nation stands for. I am encouraged and grateful and recognize nothing is forever but we should appreciate what we have while we have it.
Comments