The Story (or How I Lost My Mind and Ended Up in Africa)

(Written at O'Hare airport on 9 October 2007)

I know a lot of people have heard my story but for those who haven't, here goes...

In 1998, I was a college senior with big dreams of becoming an international correspondent for CNN or some other news outlet that would allow me to travel to exotic places. Then I was convinced by a friend to attend a conference for a human rights organization, and by the end of the day, I was ready to throw away my globe-trotting, journalism aspirations and go to law school to become a social justice do-gooder.

I went to Northwestern law school, worked a lot of internships at legal aid clinics and NGOs, and amassed an amazing amount of debt. (Which I can only manage because my husband, Mike, actually enjoys working with computers and therefore makes a lot more money than me... usually.) At the end of it all, I found myself working at the Office of the Public Guardian in Chicago, representing children in abuse and neglect cases. The work was hard but rewarding, and I met some amazing kids that I cared about heaps. But after about a year and a half, I realized that this work wasn't exactly what I wanted to do -- my heart wanted to do international work.

So I left the PG's office and moved to Rotary International, spending two years as the Youth Exchange supervisor. This position definitely gave me a chance to do international work; I interacted with people all over the world on a daily basis and learned about so many different places and cultures.

Around May of this year, as the end of a major project that took up most of my two years at RI seemed finally in sight, I took stock of where I was going and my plans for the future. I had gone to law school to practice international human rights law -- and I had done the law part and the international part. What was left was adding it all together with human rights work to finally reach my original goal.

About this time, I learned about a fellowship opportunity with a human rights organization I had worked for in law school. After some encouragement from Mike, I applied, and three months later, they made me an offer -- one year in Zambia (unpaid but with three weeks vacation!). After some hemming and hawing, I finally said yes.

I can't really remember what happened after that. Like the title says, at times I think I've lost my mind, but I guess the rest of this year will be the proof.