Six months ago I quitted my job to pursue a dream and an impulse
of leaving my life behind and donate my time and knowledge as international
volunteer. When I told my family and friends about my decision, they looked at
me surprised; even for some of them I was crazy, but still they were happy for
me. For some seconds I knew that it did sound wild and I was even offered to
take more time to make the choice and join the team of volunteers that was
going to start the period in November. Even though it was an overnight decision,
there was something that deeply told me that July was my time. I didn’t need
more than two weeks to deliver my job position to my boss and friend who
unconditionally supported me, buy the plane tickets and get everything I needed
to move to this little-known country called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
that since then became My Priceless Paradise.
I was also told by my friends that six months were a short time
and with the blink of an eye I would be going back to Colombia. To that I used
to reply that for such an intense experience, I didn’t think that half of a
year was short at all, this as a “defense mechanism” because if that adventure
hadn’t begin, I didn’t even want to think about finishing it already!
Unfortunately, they were right. I’m now going back to Colombia and
I wished I could have stayed longer. This was, without a doubt one of the most
enriching, unique, challenging, giving, spiritual and grateful experiences of
my life. So of course realizing that this precious period of my life is done
brings a bunch of mixed feelings. The good thing about this powerful time of my
life is that a little piece of it will last forever because after such a
powerful experience you can’t be the same person you used to.
Learning and seeing with no filters the real effects of climate
change, how the life style of thousands of people depends on the extreme
weather conditions of droughts and floods, not being able to go to the beach
because the rise of the sea level completely whipped it off, studying and
reading from Monday to Sunday environmental topics to prepare lessons for more
than one hundred kids and working shoulder to shoulder with the farmers and
artisans to enhance the local development was a huge labor and the satisfaction,
joy and gratitude is indescribable.
Like if that was not enough, I had the fortune to meet invaluable
friends, teammates and teachers with whom we enjoyed life at the maximum, like
if every day was the last one. Endless road trips along the curvy Vincy
roadways; flawless street parties where no filter was imposed to enjoy the
Caribbean flavor; paradisiac landscapes of waterfalls, mountains and of course
the master king; the volcano of La Soufrière; my little ones at the school that
at first went running all around shouting “white people”; stopping at every
corner because there was always a smile of a friend and time to have a short
chat of how things were going; the best deal of three Hairouns (the local beer)
for $10 Eastern Caribbean Dollars, which lead to always share a drink; the
smiles of everyone after knowing that there was cake for dinner; the most
beautiful sunsets seen from the boat of my friends the fishermen; lovely Bequia
as my perfect dream goodbye and endless more memories that are impossible to
list but that are kept in the deepest and most special pocket of my heart.
