Ameriventures: Ten Days in Paradise

On a recent mid-October morning, as I lounged in one of the welded iron chairs hidden away behind the chapel at All Saints’ Episcopal School in Vicksburg, Mississippi and watched dry leaves skitter across the brick patio, I imagined I had a pretty good idea of Paradise. 8 weeks in Baton Rouge taught me many lessons, but perhaps one of the most important is how little materially we need to be truly happy. I met people whom I could only describe as fully alive - people who had lost or given nearly everything they had at any juncture in life, but kept their purpose and joy. The work they strove to complete each day, the prayers they offered, and the ceaseless efforts they made toward the happiness of others lit a fire in their eyes that a practical observer might say had no business being there.

I’m very happy to have participated in their stories for the relatively short time I worked with or for them in the concrete, asphalt, and cardboard world I like to call the Box Kingdom. It was in this surreal, artificially lit cavern that my team and I simultaneously changed ourselves and the world around us in what small way we could.

Delta 1 on one of our last days at the warehouse

We’re on campus in Vicksburg now for 10 days before redeploying for our next project. I was ecstatic to hear we were not going back to Baton Rouge but instead will be spending approximately two months in and around Rainelle, West Virginia, a small town that is also still feeling the effects of recent flooding. We’ll trade boxes for hammers and have a chance to help rebuild a community for the long haul. We are also very excited to be outdoors again and to be working in a close knit community nestled within West Virginian Appalachia. We complete briefings on each project we do, but we never really have a solid idea of what to expect. I’m sure it will be a different kind of education.

A key difference between the last round and the upcoming one is that the role of assistant team leader has rotated. I took on the job for the first round and though if given the chance I would absolutely make the choice to do it again, I am already happy to have handed it off. I’ve never held a leadership position before and was thrown abruptly into the fire with new people, in a new place, doing unfamiliar things. Through all those long, stressful days I realized strengths I never knew I had and weaknesses I didn’t want to acknowledge (over-stressing being one of them). I was not without failures, but overall I am thankful for the support of my team and a successful experience as ATL. Now there are others on the team with the ability and drive to do the same, so I am happy to go back to being just me.

Until next time!

-Dan