Working for what?

So my job has become quite the boring occupation. I used to look forward to coming to work. Even though my job is not one that I care to nourish into a live long career. I enjoy the aspect of teaching and training people now. But I am training them on how to use a computer system. I knew nothing about J.D. Edwards a year and a half ago. Now I am training people on how to use the system. It's simple now that I understand basic concepts but there's so much more to it that I do not know. Therefore, I am only able to train people but I am not qualified enough actually do any development or programming stuff. So I'm in a rut. If the development or any tech issues are not resolved then I cannot do my job of training because I do not have a working system with which to train. So here I am. Sitting at the corporate office. Waiting for other people to make decisions so that all changes and fixes can be resolved then, and only then, can I do my job. I despise the hurry-up-and-wait mentality.

So anyone got any job openings that you know about that I would be interested in?

Since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a translator. I wanted to learn 6 or more languages and be able to switch between each of them with minimal effort. Now I speak French fluently and Spanish proficiently but no where near well enough to carry on a conversation without having to stop and think and use the most elementary words. After all, I started learning Spanish in elementary school. Maybe that's all that stuck with me.

Really though, I want to go back to Africa. I want to explore the entire continent. I want to find which country holds my heart. Which motherless child looks at me with their big beautiful brown eyes. Waiting for that look that'll melt my heart and cause me to want to take every orphan with me, make Africa my home, nourish them to health and show them unconditional love. I want to teach people how to be self-sustained. I want to cripple those organizations that bring food to the starving. They are "dis-ablers." They cause people to become dependent on the food that is delivered to them. If the food does not come for a while then all they can do is sit and wait for the next delivery. Why don't we teach these people to take care of themselves? Do we really want to keep the poor poor and the rich rich? Is that what it's all about? Are we so egotisical that we would rather let people starve until we decide to open up our hands and feed them our leftovers?

I want to help. I want to jump out of this rut. Run away from this company and follow my dreams. I am so passionate about it. I want to make a difference in the lives of people who appreciate each moment.

Why do I love Africa? I love Africa because life is simple. It's heartfelt. The people are warm and caring. (Yes, this is a generalization and yes, for you cup half-empty people, there are insensitive, violent people there too... similar to the United States) I love Africa because it's part of my heritage. Truly, it's part of many peoples' heritage. Some would rather deny any relation but it is the United States. There was slavery. Slave owners had sex with their slaves. Some of those sexual encounters resulted in offspring. Those offspring had children and their children had children and on and on. So purity of "race" is a thing of the past. But I digress.
I love that my wardrobe in Africa consists of a piece of fabric to cover my legs and t-shirt or tank top. Nothing complicated. No worries about matching or being in style.
But alas, there are some not-so-great things about Africa. Political instability. War. Starvation. Disease. Lack of Infrastructure.

I wish I could solve all of those problems. I wish I would see happy faces every where i went. But I can't. Yet, I can make one little change. I can start with step one. Teach the people how to feed themselves. Then with food in their bellies, maybe, just maybe they will be able to find life worth living. They can strive for peace and reconcilation. They will have the strength to work on infrastructure and getting medicine to the sick.

I've got high hopes.