if dreams were thunder.

today was an eye opening and heart wrenching day. probably the single most significant day of work i've ever had. its insane what drastically different worlds people are living in on this planet. we hear 'poor' but it's hard to understand what that really means. people shouldn't have to live under the conditions that they do, when so many people people have such a drastically different life. the amount of money the average new yorker spends on rent in one month could change a childs life forever. yes i feel like an infomercial saying that, but its actually true how little money is actually required at the source to make huge differences. without any kind of health care or nutrition, without access to any education, and emerged in a violent and dangerous society, how can we expect anything other than extreme poverty. today we visited children in remote villages who have been through horrible horrible experiences. we interviewed these children for the filming of a documentary on human rights.

we first visited an all girls school in a very remote village in africa. admittedly, it was uncomfortable at first. tal and i were clearly the only white people on the grounds. all eyes turned to our crowd as we walked through. we were introduced to a young girl who had been through a horrific situation. but she had a bright smile that didnt really leave her face, she giggled over most things, hiding her face with her hands as she laughed. she was shy, but seemed happy. she was a small girl in age and size. and i couldnt help but think how strong she must be inside, to go through all of this still smiling. we met another girl who had also been through a traumatic experience just recently. she was so friendly and so eager to meet people. at the end, she asked to exchanged mobile numbers with us, she also, always with a smile.
you think about your life and what we worry about. obviously everything is relative. but that's why perspective is so important. and it's so easily lost when we continue through life as we know it, and only as we know it. i get stressed about work. work seems meaningless in light of all the other things that i have. and i can't even fathom the challenges, emotionally and physically that so many little kids, have to face every day. nothing in my life even comes close to that. and i do realize im speaking in cliches right now, but i cant help it.

after the school we went further into the town. we picked up an old man on the street in our car and drove him to his hut. there we met his family and heard their story. there were about 11 kids running around the field when we got there. the looks on their faces when they saw us, tal and i, were shocked, confused, even scared sometimes. excited other times. it helped when we smiled. smiling is universal, its comforting. walking to the hut, with 11 kids running all around us, i tripped on a branch. i laughed to myself and looking around, saw a few little boys behind me laughing too. i smiled at them and shook my head in embarrassment and they all started giggling. its nice to know, that no matter how different people seem, they can still share moments and laugh together, even if it is at my expense.

i dont want to get into the details of what each family has been through. but we continued the day visiting victims of tragedies. we are very lucky. and many people, many children, are very unlucky, in a very very bad way. it's frustrating to think about how to make an impact on such an enormous problem. and sad to think that just miles away people are living in conditions that most of us would never even imagine.

sweet thing.

It finally came. Today was my last day in LA. Six months ago, I never would have thought I’d have given up my east village apt to spend five and a half months in Monrovia, a tiny suburb of Los Angeles, lined with fast food chains and highways. It was a rough situation at first, for many reasons. For a long time all I could think about was getting out of my situation and ‘going abroad’, the deal I was promised. I think it was at the point when I finally allowed myself to realize that I would be spending most of my time in CA, that I also allowed myself to accept what the experience, in itself, had to offer.

With all said and done, in complete and all honesty, I don’t think I would have asked for anything to turn out differently. The past six months wasn’t exactly what I signed up for, but it’s led to more things than I could have expected. Sometimes things have a funny way of working out.

So bye bye LA, it's been fun. Africa, I'll see you tomorrow. And San Francisco, can't wait to see you when I get back.