I'm off!

Why is my heart beating so quickly?

It’s difficult to describe the tumult of emotion I’ve been feeling for the last few weeks. I spastically alternate between giddy excitement and nail-biting apprehension (for those who know me well, don’t worry, it’s the former that tends to dominate), with moments of calm, clarity speckled in between. I’m feeling anxious in a good way, because despite my apprehension, I’m comforted by the fact that I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. In T-minus 10 hours, I will be boarding a plane on-route to Zambia to begin my 13 month placement with Engineers Without Borders.

The details…well, as much as I know.

The details of my placement are still being figured out, but I will share the general gist with you. I have been placed on the EWB / CARE Zambia “Sorghum Market Enterprise Project.” Sorghum, eh? Well I’m glad you asked.

The staple food crop in Zambia is maize, which is prepared and eaten as a thick porridge called nshima. Everyone loves nshima. No meal is complete without nshima. But all is not well in the world of maize. It requires consistent rainfall to thrive, and the Southern Province of Zambia has been hit by increasingly frequent droughts over the past two decades. As a result, the area is suffering from chronic food insecurity, so in 2005, EWB partnered with CARE Zambia to address this in a sustainable manner.

Sorghum is a drought and heat tolerant cereal crop native to the region that appears to have real market potential in Zambia. This project aims to promote sorghum as a viable alternative crop in drought prone areas. The idea is to establish a sustainable, market-driven “value-chain” whereby farmers can grow and sell sorghum as a cash crop. And in years where their maize crop fails, the surplus sorghum can be used to supplement their food supply, thereby improving food security. This is the ultimate goal.

The project has fared well in its first two years, and Nina Lothian (fellow EWB volunteer) and I will be coming in to help with scale-up and expansion. But while all this seems like a great idea and I’m very excited about it, I’m also very aware of the many challenges still ahead on the long road to food security and sustainability.

Who, what, where, when...why???

Me. Sorghum. Zambia. 13 months. And the big why…

There are many reasons why I decided to take this next step, and I don’t think I can fully articulate them, except to say it just seemed like the right thing to do. This probably sounds like a cop-out answer, a not-so-clever way of avoiding a hard question. But it’s the best way for me to describe it – the right thing to do.

During our pre-departure learning session, we were asked to pick 3 things from an enormous list that describe what we value most. My 3 things were: Do the right thing, fun and laughter, and of course, love. And if you look at it this way, it becomes obvious why I’ve chosen to take this path.

I have an incredible appreciation for community, for it is fun and laughter and love all made manifest. But I also feel very strongly about the injustices facing humanity. And so it is my belief in this common humanity, this global community that has compelled me to be a part of the solution, to do the right thing.

I expect this placement to be the funnest time ever. I also expect it to be one of the hardest. But that’s why I signed up…I’m ready for the challenges, and I’m open to the good times. I’m looking forward to getting to know the people of Zambia and letting them get to know me. And hopefully, I’ll have some impact along the way. It will be a roller-coaster year of awesomeness, and I’d like to invite you to join me on the ride.

Lots of love,

Thulasy