Not Homesick Nov 8

         In the opening scene of Robin William’s Patch Adams has peaceful piano music as he states,  “All the restless hearts are trying to find a way home.” And questions “How far away home can be?” But then he defines it:  “Home. The dictionary defines home as both a place of origin and a goal or destination.” As I come to the blue and gold gate from an exhausting long night out, I realize what is making Selekleka home to me.

                This past year as my family moved around, my dad coined the phrase “Home is where your pillow is.” Home: The safe place where you can go and relax enough to sleep. Where your worries and anxieties can be left out. My room is my home. No matter how exhausting my day is or how many times I question where I am, I am grounded in a safe compound in block 55. It may not be the address on my driver’s license or where the mail is delivered, but it’s home.

                I can leave on weekends to Axum or Shire. I used to want to go. To get internet. To connect back with home. I haven’t been in three weeks. It’s not that I don’t want to connect or that I am forgetting all my loved ones back in America, but I love being in Selekleka. I love the busyness of market day and running into people I know everywhere. I love having kids run up to me to twirl. I love going to a pool house/suk in the evenings to hang out with teachers and friends of all ages. The weekly coffee ceremony dates and free time with compound friends are precious. Home is where you are loved and love back.

                Maybe it’s just me, or the fact that everyone knows one of my site mates is in America, but more people have asked me if I am homesick and missing America. I do. I miss calling my mom about any and everything. I miss bike rides and baking with my dad. I miss super hero movies and gummy worms with my brothers. I miss my friends and the goofy, fun things we do together. I miss sewing and watching “Mysteries at the Museum” with my grandparents. I miss church. But I’m not homesick.

                 Although no one can be replaced, I do have a landlady who makes sure I have sugar after the famine ended and watches out for me like a parent. Today she made me bread. I hang out with goofy teachers and do fun things. I have friends here that would help me in a heartbeat if needed. I play with children. I text people that care about me. I talk with people about religion. I am safe. I am loved. I love. I am home.