So today is a milestone. After a year and a half with Glimmer I am wrapping up my final day in the office and heading into the field for a two month adventure. This opportunity for me to connect to the heart and soul of our organizational mission has been long awaited and much anticipated.
In my former work in Ghana I was accustomed to being immersed in continual direct collaboration and engagement with communities. Each day was a new opportunity to meet people, see life, experience culture and soak up my surroundings. When I joined he Glimmer team I knew this level of interaction would be significantly different in my new professional environment. I have spent this season really cultivating relationships within our Austin office and building rapport with our Addis office. It has given me a greater sense of who we are and what we do. I feel fully prepared and incredibly excited to embark on this extended field visit.
Most of my days here in the office are spent working through spreadsheets, emails and other forms of documentation. I have spent so much time reading about the communities where we work, seeing photos of the project construction and trying to get a sense for the people who created such a fire and passion inside our founder that she was inspired to create Glimmer as a way to serve them.
This journey for me is about brining all of this "data and content" into focus and clarity. It's about the shake of a hand and the smile of familiar stranger. It's about walking in the steps of the women and seeing through the eyes of the children. It's about weaving the fibers of life and love and community and family in Ethiopia with the strands I that make up my own being. It's about experiential understanding and authentic connection. It's about receiving energy and soul fuel from this vehicle called "career". It's about me. It's about them. It's about us. It's togetherness.
I embark on this trip with an open heart and eager mind to be emotionally moved but also with purpose and clarity necessary for my professional requirements. The nexus of these experiences is where I will receive affirmation in being a community social worker.
Let the new season begin. It is an Adventure in Hope
Til I land on Her soil,
Tim
In my former work in Ghana I was accustomed to being immersed in continual direct collaboration and engagement with communities. Each day was a new opportunity to meet people, see life, experience culture and soak up my surroundings. When I joined he Glimmer team I knew this level of interaction would be significantly different in my new professional environment. I have spent this season really cultivating relationships within our Austin office and building rapport with our Addis office. It has given me a greater sense of who we are and what we do. I feel fully prepared and incredibly excited to embark on this extended field visit.
Most of my days here in the office are spent working through spreadsheets, emails and other forms of documentation. I have spent so much time reading about the communities where we work, seeing photos of the project construction and trying to get a sense for the people who created such a fire and passion inside our founder that she was inspired to create Glimmer as a way to serve them.
This journey for me is about brining all of this "data and content" into focus and clarity. It's about the shake of a hand and the smile of familiar stranger. It's about walking in the steps of the women and seeing through the eyes of the children. It's about weaving the fibers of life and love and community and family in Ethiopia with the strands I that make up my own being. It's about experiential understanding and authentic connection. It's about receiving energy and soul fuel from this vehicle called "career". It's about me. It's about them. It's about us. It's togetherness.
I embark on this trip with an open heart and eager mind to be emotionally moved but also with purpose and clarity necessary for my professional requirements. The nexus of these experiences is where I will receive affirmation in being a community social worker.
Let the new season begin. It is an Adventure in Hope
Til I land on Her soil,
Tim
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