Goodbye Gals

On one of my final days in Clemson I had the pleasure of spending yet another afternoon with the fabulous T.D.H. before she takes off for Lesotho. If only I met the 80 pound weight requirement—I would be her luggage. I tried unsuccessfully to hide the envy running through my blood. I am plain and simple still having much difficultly coping with the unexpected early termination of my service, more and more as the reality of unemployment sets in. Knowing and accepting that life is unfair are two extremely different concepts; this is not how it was supposed to be(!!!).

My jealousy and complaints aside, I hope T.D.H. could sense my joy and excitement for her on this upcoming adventure. I give her a vote of confidence—she is cut out for what the next two years (plus or minus) will throw at her.

The South was very underrepresented in my class of volunteers, however, she will not be the only girl representing the Upstate of South Carolina in Lesotho, joined by C.M.B.—who T.D.H. so generously allowed me to share her time with.

We all have our own pre-departure fears—discussing with them openly, honestly, and without passing judgment I did my best to alleviate some of theirs. The difficultly here being I lived a very princess-esque lifestyle; my “survival” approach stood out from others.

Neither girl had a question they had not already sought out an answer to on their own. They were WAY more on top of it than I ever was, my best example being I did not even know how to pronounce Lesotho (le-soo-too) until training began. Eeek. Or the fact I was literally adding to my bags the morning I left my home, which turned into rearranging them to meet weight requirements at John F. Kennedy International Airport the day of the final flight. Then there was my final goodbye phone calls lasting into the wee hours of the night. I was an emotional wreck.

Well equipped, both physically and mentally, these girls head to Philadelphia today, where they will meet the rest of their crew, eventually departing for the Mountain Kingdom soon after. Happy, healthy, and safe travels to all of these fresh faces.