Our first night in Tanzania when Karlie handed me the stapled paper, I knew. I knew where the paper was from and who wrote it. The quarter sheet of paper that made each one for my efforts worth it, read “Sarat loves Zoe I miss you.” Stapled to the note was a bracelet made from string and beads. The gesture might have seemed so simple to him, but meant everything to me. Sarat has been, and continues to be, the source of some relief and so many new goals.
Two summers ago when I met Sarat in Cambodia, he was 13 years old, the same age as me at the time. Sarat and I connected while I worked at the orphanage. He is such a caring and hardworking human. When I was doing manual labor around his home, he would follow me and ask how he could help. This made me feel truly useful. Not only was I helping do my job temporarily, I was setting an example for Sarat who started developing impactful habits that would last even after we were gone. I remember helping Sarat with his english homework and having him help me practice my Khmer. Sarat made me feel at home. He helped me be inexplicably excited to wake up early work for him and for all of his brothers and sisters, day after day.
I still think about Sarat and Cambodia daily. I am so grateful that we both had the courage to be completely vulnerable and trust one another. Our relationship was one that developed so quickly, and even though I couldn’t bond with him for very long, I bonded with him very deeply. I will never forget Sarat or the things he taught me about choosing happiness.
When I received the note, I understood the feelings were mutual. He remembered me over a year later and wanted to remind me, he loves and misses me. The feelings I received reading his words are the basis of my goal for Morocco. In Morocco, I will strive to be remembered. I want to make so much of an impact on someone that they remember me the way Sarat does.
Not only has this helped me set goals, it has also instilled some fears in me. In Tanzania I felt myself doubting my own abilities as a teacher. The schools we work at have teachers who are qualified. They went to school and studied how to teach effectively. I was asking what I could possibly offer that these individuals couldn’t.
My answer is care. I truly care about the education of each one of these children. I am not teaching for money or a reputation or a raise in social class. I am doing it because I want to; I want to show these people I believe in them and think they can accomplish anything they put their minds to.
Sometimes I worry that I won’t make an impact because I am not truly a teacher. Although, I know if I work hard enough in Morocco, I can give hope to each person I encounter.
