“Where your head is more in heaven than your feet are on earth”

"Now I yearn for one of those old, meandering, dry, uninhibited roads which lead away from towns… where you may forget in what country you are travelling…

along which you may travel like a pilgrim, going nowhither; where travellers are not too often to be met;

where my spirit is free;

where the walls and fences are not cared for;

where your head is more in heaven than your feet are on earth.” (H.D. Thoreau)

To start at the beginning.

There were 24 of us in total, mainly young grade 12 students, a couple parents and a few adults. I was in the role of leader-in-training- shadowing the man who has been leading the trip to the DR for 17 years. I was eager- eager to share my experience, eager to give of myself and enrich the experience of the young people.

The first couple days in the DR were a challenge.

I was in unfamiliar territory- I missed Haiti. I longed to know the culture, the issues, the people- and I missed the opportunity to share that with the group.

I struggled because I longed for the opportunity to lead- but as it turned out- 17 years of leading makes it difficult to delegate.

I was lost.  I was frustrated, I felt like a fish out of water. 

It took me until the evening of the second day to snap out of it. To stop dwelling on what this trip WASN’T and start focusing on what this trip WAS and what I could make of it.

An opportunity to learn.

So that is exactly what I did for the next 6 days. I asked questions. I dug for clarification. I immersed myself in the communities we visited, I hugged every child who got close and I shared a smile with anyone who met my eyes.  I made the most of it.

It wasn’t Haiti , it wasn’t the chance I had been waiting for to LEAD but it eventually felt right.

“where my spirit is free;”