A few days ago one of my close friends and I were talking about his interest in joining the Peace Corps and moving to East Africa. He asked me “How would you define home?” I had just come back from a one-month internship in Kathmandu, Nepal followed by a one week visit in Yamagata, prefecture, a place I called home from 2006 to 2011. I had not been back to Yamagata for 5 years, yet I referred to the Baikados, a kind-hearted Japanese family that had taken me in as their own 10 years ago as family. Despite our nationality, racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic differences, we are family. No one could tell us differently. As soon as I stepped foot across their threshold, they welcomed me with hugs and smiles. We talked as if no time had passed and we recalled memories that brought laughter from the gut. They remembered my favorite foods and prepared a feast at the end of my visit that moved my heart to the point in which I became speechless and filled with gratitude and love.
My friend was contemplating doing his service abroad was curious as to how I could move, settle down and make a home for long periods of time in distinctly different cultures like Ghana, Belize, Japan, Ecuador and Nepal. He wanted to know why I chose the path of living in different cultures and not settling down and calling one place my home. As I get older, I do envision settling down and calling one place my home for an extensive time, yet, each place I have lived in has been home for me during a significant time in my life.
The 6 months that I spent as an international exchange student at the University of Ghana’s international student residence in Accra was as much of my home as the two years I spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in my two room house in Barranco Village, the remote Garifuna Belizean community in Belize. The 5 years I spent in the Japan Exchange and Teaching program in Japan flew by almost as fast as the four years that I spent living and working in the Afro-Ecuadorian city of Esmeraldas. The one month that I spent living with an amazing Nepalese family felt as comfortable as growing up in my childhood home in Massachusetts. Each of the communities that I have lived in have become my home because that is where my heart is. Although the delicious dishes, scents, rich languages and distinct traditions have varied from community to community, my definition of home has not. Home is the place where I can be my most authentic self. It offers a sense of comfort in a space I have chosen as a place of security. It is familiarity formed by personally designing my space with objects that offer stability in my independence. Home is the place where people know me, love me and still remain curious about me as I too explore experiences that continuously shape my knowledge of the world around me and my personal growth. Home is the love and happiness I need to surround myself with when worldly experiences test my patience, question my values, challenge my morals and try to redefine the essence of my character.
My mind like my heart plays a key role in how I define myself and shape myself to fit into my home environment. When I immerse fully into the culture that I am living in, my attire often changes, I use different words and expressions and sometimes my accent is altered. However, the beauty throughout these changes is that my core foundation remains unchanged. The respect and love I have for people I meet and myself remains that same. The drive that I have to create long lasting friendships continues to grow. The peace that I find in my faith is my rock. The hunger to step out of my comfort zones and expand my knowledge by trying new things first hand has always run through my veins with my blood. The hardships and sacrifices that my ancestors and parents faced for me to live with the blessings that surround me has humbled me. The thirst to assist others as we develop effective, dynamic and fun educational spaces, materials and lessons for eager learners of all ages, learning styles and diverse backgrounds remains strong. My purpose to grow beyond the societies standards that define the African-American woman who I am today remains powerful.
In our lives, we may occupy spaces that we call home for short or long periods of time. When we move in as a newborn, a young child or an adult, we see our home through our hearts and minds. We create our homes based on our prior knowledge while welcoming in new information that brings us closer to pursuing and reaching our personal aspirations to simply be in a place of familiarity. In my eyes, home is where I find happiness, comfort, security and authenticity that promotes reaching towards my highest levels of spiritual, intellectual and personal growth.
