Heroes

I’ve had so many people tell me that they’re proud of me, and usually they thank me for my service. It’s such a weird thing to try and respond to because honestly, I’m not a hero. If you have a strong mind and don’t mind lowering your standards of life (to a still livable level) then peace corps is absolutely doable.

I was told by one friend that what I am doing is heroic and that this world needs more people like me. I’m just not a hero for doing this, my hero is my director that is trying to pursue equal education for girls, my hero is my female counterpart at my school that goes out of her way to teach the girls at the school to pursue anything they want to do in life because they’re worth it. My hero is my male counterpart teacher that teaches the male students to be respectful to women to respect all people equally until given a valid reason to not do so. My heroes are the teachers and community memebees that come to me asking for advice on how to fix the issues that plague their life and society. How guilty do I feel when I don’t have the answers they seek. I can only help them get to their own answers.

My job is to try and teach my students as best I can and to help my teachers develop themselves as best I can. But I have so much to learn from them too. Grit is so engrained into society here that most Americans could learn a thing or two from living here for even a month, a week!

I’m no hero, and I don’t feel like one. The true hero of this story and journey I am beginning is not the narrator but rather the characters within it. 

Life is a struggle here but it’s a struggle I undergo for only two years where as the people I’m living around live in this struggle for their entire life. I’m simply a vessel for a story to be told and I must tell it frequently and honestly. 

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