I spent the first week in the highlands of Lesotho- an incredibly mountainous region called Paradise Pass. Basutho hospitality was overwhelming; the scenery was overwhelming; the experience itself took over your entire soul.

The second week I spent in Leribe; a town of about 40,000 people spread out over a great area of land. Here I researched local organizations, reconnected with Abid and the rest of the Student Reach group, and participated in a couple community events. The most cultural of these events was an event called “Grandmothers Day”, at a local community centre run by a Canadian NGO. The centre it self was the first of its kind in the area, and seemed like a popular place for youth and grandmothers alike.

The day itself revolved around grandmothers- grandmothers whose children had been murdered by AIDS and most of whom had been left with up to 4 or 5 children. They had discussions revolving around economics and grief (and I learned how these two are so directly related). Most was in Sotho, but the leader and volunteers spoke fabulous english.

In the large room where we sat with over 30 grandmothers, I noticed a sign on the wall, cut out of magazine letters, like the kind I’d used to make with friends in middle school. It sloppily read: “WHAT DO YOU WANT MOST?”

IT helped me to realize that these grandmothers don’t wish for the impossible- they don’t wish that they hadn’t been burdened with the caring of their own blood, they don’t wish that everything would go back to the way it was before AIDS tore their lives apart. What they hope for is the future and for it to hold health and prosperity for them and their family and their neighbors.

They say that this young generation will be the one to bring change, and that we must look to the young leaders of today. As a young person myself, I’ll be looking far back a generation or two to find my own courage and to remind me that what these people want most is hope.

Posted in Britt Martyn | 1 Comment »

I’m new to blogs. Most of the time I keep my thoughts to myself. So this is a change for me- the whole world now having access to them. This past year, for me, has been full of change, but it’s also been very circular in nature. I’ve learned to ask questions, I’ve found answers, but sometimes (and more often then not) I find myself back where I started-questioning the basic things that I thought I had understood not so long ago. Maybe I’m the one going in circles now; maybe I should start at the beginning.

Last summer I spent a month in rural India. That seems to be explanation itself for my confusion, no? I did the whole deal: fundraising, vaccines, pre-reading, arrival, see, question, departure, shock, re-integration. I learned a lot about fairness, privilege and responsibility. I experienced the fact that where you are born, what color your skin is, what sex you are, what caste you’re part of determines your future in this world, like it or not. I asked how (and why), I got angry, I felt guilt, I rebelled, but my life has gone on up to this point. And now I’m beginning to realize that the world is full of answers- all any of us has to do is reach out and pick the one we want. Truth may be relative, but if I want an answer to how the world got this way, why we can’t seem to change it, or what needs to be done to fix it, all I need to do is ask the next ten people I meet on the street. Chances are, they’ll all have their own answers; and so will all the respective books on that well known Chapters table, “How to change the world”.

So, I now ask myself how far have I, personally, gotten in a year, since coming back to Canada. Do I feel more at ease with what I have done to help? No way. Do I feel satisfied with the way the world has responded to the genocide in Darfur? The bombings in India? The crisis between Israel and Palestine? Nope. Time will pass, and things may change, or they may not. However zen that sounds, I recognize that there are few certain things that I still hold on to- because the uncertain is what keeps me going and allows me to understand that big and extraordinary change is still possible.

What has actually changed in the past year, then? I have.

In confronting this coming summer, this new trip,
new opportunities will undoubtedly present themselves. I’m going to Africa to learn, to soak up as much as I can, to understand and to try and find some peace myself.

I’m going to try and find out where all these answers that I’ve discovered fit in to our world.

-Brit
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

Posted in Britt Martyn | 1 Comment »