Zambia, pros and cons
7 March 2011 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
3rdragonPros
-I could go to ZAMBIA. I don't have good words to describe how awesome the awesome parts are.
-This is sort of the computer-techie job I've been looking for here in the States. It's probably more the job I'm looking for than anything I'm likely to find here.
-I've been wanting to do something wild and a little bit crazy. I think going to Zambia for a year counts.
-This is a better time to do this than I'm ever likely to get in the rest of my life. There are student loans, yeah, but that's manageable, and there will always be something. There are fewer somethings right now, though. And it's not as if I'm doing anything else.
-There is internet. It's not totally isolated.
-If I'm lucky, in a year and a half the job market will be better. And I'll also have another year of work experience.
-Everyone I've talked to says that the land is gorgeous, the climate is excellent, and the people are very nice.
-I would not have to apply to the jobs I have sitting in a pile to apply to this week (but I would have to start seriously pursuing short-term employment).
Cons
-I would miss people. Although there would be internet, so I would still have a decent amount of contact. And it's not as if I see most of my friends face-to-face very often anyway. So I would talk to people some-less, because of time zones, and possibly the internet is not of sufficiently high quality to do as much phone-type communication as I usually do, but really, I already miss people. It might be kind of lonely, though, especially at first.
-It does not start until August, so I would be committing to probably not having a real job until August. There's no guarantee that I would find a job before August anyway. It might mean working as a waitress or something for four months.
-I'd have to change my payment plan on my student loans, because their loan assistance doesn't cover what I'm paying in a year. This might be vaguely annoying, but I don't think it would increase the overall amount that I'm paying on the loans by very much.
-I hate fundraising. (I'd need to convince my church community/whatever to donate about $4500 to MCC.) In good news, it's not that much money, most of it really would go to covering what they're spending on my loans, getting me there, etc, and my pastor was making very enthusiastic noises about how she would be happy to take a leadership role in making sure that this happens.
Things that are things
-My grandparents know about a zillion people who were in this part of Zambia -- several in this community. I talked with one guy who grew up there, which was good, even though he hadn't really been back in about 30 years, so he couldn't talk much to the current state of things.
-English is the official language. So I probably wouldn't learn a new language, but I would be able to communicate with relative ease. (There are 70- or 80-something different tribal languages in Zambia. The fellow I talked with said that he knew people who would've needed to speak five languages other than English, just to be able to talk to everyone who could walk to where they were in a day.)
-MCC says there are no shopping oportunities anywhere nearby, or 'entertainment options,' was I think the other term they used. The Mennonites say there's no shopping. Eh. I would rather have wireless internet than convenient shopping.
-I did talk to the woman in charge of the program, who says that it's often a homestay, but that they don't make that sort of arrangements until after they have a definite 'yes.'
-This is where I would be.
Possibly there are other things that I was intending to put on this list, but I don't remember what they were.
I think what it boils down to is: I don't have any good reasons not to go to Zambia. There are valid concerns on the Cons list -- but I don't know that any of them are good reasons not to go.
And do I really want to be able to say, in ten years, "I could have gone to Zambia, but I decided to stay home in Philadelphia and be unemployed/work some boring job instead?" No, I don't really want to.
So I guess I'm going to say yes.
Somehow this feels a much more momentous decision than picking which college I was going to, or going to Spain.
Edited to add: I just sent the email telling her that I'll go.
-I could go to ZAMBIA. I don't have good words to describe how awesome the awesome parts are.
-This is sort of the computer-techie job I've been looking for here in the States. It's probably more the job I'm looking for than anything I'm likely to find here.
-I've been wanting to do something wild and a little bit crazy. I think going to Zambia for a year counts.
-This is a better time to do this than I'm ever likely to get in the rest of my life. There are student loans, yeah, but that's manageable, and there will always be something. There are fewer somethings right now, though. And it's not as if I'm doing anything else.
-There is internet. It's not totally isolated.
-If I'm lucky, in a year and a half the job market will be better. And I'll also have another year of work experience.
-Everyone I've talked to says that the land is gorgeous, the climate is excellent, and the people are very nice.
-I would not have to apply to the jobs I have sitting in a pile to apply to this week (but I would have to start seriously pursuing short-term employment).
Cons
-I would miss people. Although there would be internet, so I would still have a decent amount of contact. And it's not as if I see most of my friends face-to-face very often anyway. So I would talk to people some-less, because of time zones, and possibly the internet is not of sufficiently high quality to do as much phone-type communication as I usually do, but really, I already miss people. It might be kind of lonely, though, especially at first.
-It does not start until August, so I would be committing to probably not having a real job until August. There's no guarantee that I would find a job before August anyway. It might mean working as a waitress or something for four months.
-I'd have to change my payment plan on my student loans, because their loan assistance doesn't cover what I'm paying in a year. This might be vaguely annoying, but I don't think it would increase the overall amount that I'm paying on the loans by very much.
-I hate fundraising. (I'd need to convince my church community/whatever to donate about $4500 to MCC.) In good news, it's not that much money, most of it really would go to covering what they're spending on my loans, getting me there, etc, and my pastor was making very enthusiastic noises about how she would be happy to take a leadership role in making sure that this happens.
Things that are things
-My grandparents know about a zillion people who were in this part of Zambia -- several in this community. I talked with one guy who grew up there, which was good, even though he hadn't really been back in about 30 years, so he couldn't talk much to the current state of things.
-English is the official language. So I probably wouldn't learn a new language, but I would be able to communicate with relative ease. (There are 70- or 80-something different tribal languages in Zambia. The fellow I talked with said that he knew people who would've needed to speak five languages other than English, just to be able to talk to everyone who could walk to where they were in a day.)
-MCC says there are no shopping oportunities anywhere nearby, or 'entertainment options,' was I think the other term they used. The Mennonites say there's no shopping. Eh. I would rather have wireless internet than convenient shopping.
-I did talk to the woman in charge of the program, who says that it's often a homestay, but that they don't make that sort of arrangements until after they have a definite 'yes.'
-This is where I would be.
Possibly there are other things that I was intending to put on this list, but I don't remember what they were.
I think what it boils down to is: I don't have any good reasons not to go to Zambia. There are valid concerns on the Cons list -- but I don't know that any of them are good reasons not to go.
And do I really want to be able to say, in ten years, "I could have gone to Zambia, but I decided to stay home in Philadelphia and be unemployed/work some boring job instead?" No, I don't really want to.
So I guess I'm going to say yes.
Somehow this feels a much more momentous decision than picking which college I was going to, or going to Spain.
Edited to add: I just sent the email telling her that I'll go.
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Date: 7 Mar 2011 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 Mar 2011 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 Mar 2011 10:45 pm (UTC)