Empty but Full: Experiences While Teaching in Eastern Africa

In the grand scheme of things, the time that I spent in Tanzania was insignificant. I have lived through two hundred and fifty two months in my life. And of those, only two of them were spent in Africa. I have experienced many things in my short life as a twenty one year old, however, the experiences that I went through in Tanzania are the ones that I seem to think about the most. This time in my life, these experiences, have almost seemed to overwrite many of my old memories. They are all that I can think about. They are all that I can write about. They are all that I can dream about.
For this creative project, I have decided to highlight two memories from my time in Tanzania. I have titled it Empty but Full: Experiences While Teaching In Eastern Africa. These memories are the ones that I think about the most. They are the ones that I think about unconsciously. Everything that I do reminds me of them. I often attempt to repress these memories. I try to think of the happier times while I was over there. However, no matter what I do, what I try to distract myself with, they always seem to bubble to the surface. These are not happy memories. They do not make me smile and they often make me cry to to think about. Even though I had a tough time writing these, I feel that these are moments that people should know about. Moments that people can learn from. This is why I have decided to write about these memories. These stories are raw and they do not pull any punches. They are exactly what I witnessed and exactly what I was feeling those dark moments. When I close my eyes at night, my mind often goes back to that vibrant green jungle where I became a changed man.