Global Encounters

“global encounters”…I remember the first time I heard about the program, I did not even give it a thought because I thought it did not appeal to me at all or wasn’t related to me. I was way above the participant age criteria and too young and under qualified to be a facilitator. In 2014, when I was finishing my bachelors, my lil one; my sister got selected and said I should try as a facilitator. I sent in an email but I was too late as the deadline had passed but I made up my mind that day that I will apply next year. Today as I write this article, I am humbled to say that I did make it this year as a senior staff member or as a Mwalimu for those who have attended Global Encounters. I want to share with all of you, although I know words will not do justice…I want to share about a family of mine that has members from 19 countries!!

When people cry at the time of departing regardless of their age or nationality, then I think you can rightly say that they have been touched by each other’s souls. It feels like yesterday when I was travelling from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa for the camp. I remember that first day when I arrived and met a co-member of the team, I felt nothing to be honest and had no idea of what to expect. Slowly the entire team gathered together and that first day of meeting everyone was really very weird for me as an introvert. I am transforming as an individual but being an introvert is something that is naturally in built and I can’t and should not try to erase it. My first real friend from the team is more like an elder brother who I have come to respect and adore as a person. His stories are the most hilarious ones and I will never forget one statement of his… ‘Live in the present moment’! I feel he has a lot of thoughts that he doesn’t really voice or you could say on a positive note, he only voices the ones he feels need to be voiced. He and I went to the airport to pick up the Tajik group of participants. I remember how we were eating pizza and having tea when we suddenly realized that they had come out and WE RAN!!

The camp began as I mentioned without me expecting anything except what the Lord had to offer. The first week was spent with the volunteer team and I began learning about the people I am going to work with for the next 4 weeks as a team. I must say that we were a very talented team where by each individual had something to contribute. There were different elements in the team like different colors; we made quite a beautiful collage together. I made a slideshow out of the pictures I took in the first week and presented it on the closing of that first week…I received appreciation for it and that made me emotional because I felt I contributed; that to me is one of the most special feelings because you know that you are of value to the team and not just a result of a poor selection.

Participants arrived a week later. I helped check in the participants who arrived in the last batch; to be honest I enjoyed being at the check-in. we slept late and then it was kind of an early morning still and the day began with orientation and the camp had begun. I remember seeing everyone involved in all the different activities and I thought to myself ‘this is it…GE is finally on’. There is a saying that “the time of our life which we love the most, enjoy the most is certainly the fastest time of our life whereby you blink and it’s gone”. I can say this for GE. I don’t even re-call where all the time went. We went for a safari during the camp. We drove almost a full day to Amboseli, which is a national park in Kenya and stayed there for two nights. The second night was a very emotional one and I will just say that it is a memory that will be special to each individual present around that camp fire.

We then went to Nairobi, visited AKDN work and flew back to Mombasa. That flight back to Mombasa is also a very special memory because we were almost 90 in the same plane and one of the cabin crew even announced that whoever is GE, please raise your hand. It was a hilarious flight as well (Shadan, a young brother from camp knows why!!) I remember going to the office the following week sorting departure tickets and the lady at the counter told me ‘you are the GE guy right?’ J

The week after Safari was very fast and there were times when time took a pause as well. It was of course VERY emotional as well. We celebrated Imamat day together with the entire community of Mombasa as well as participants of the second camp. I will not try to put that feeling in to words!!

The last day was crazy... Serena hotel Mombasa… I made a slideshow with the help of Asma and Shadan who sorted photos for me…just as the slideshow was ready, my laptop shut down and the work wasn’t saved so I had to do it again :/ but as my MD had earlier told me that ‘during GE, there is an invisible hand on top of the shoulder of each volunteer’, the slideshow got ready. It was almost 20 minutes with pictures and songs of GE Camp 1 2015. It wasn’t the best by any means but it was good enough I guess. That night, we sat signing each other’s ‘kikoys’ and t-shirts were distributed. There were hugs, talks, tears, music, silent eyes with the sorrow of departing yet a bit of happiness about going back to family, and lots more. The next day, every time the time came for a group to leave, there were tears. Even swimming on that last day could not cater for the grief the heart felt. I will never ever want to experience that silence in my life like at the dorm that night. I have felt it before as well but I honestly detest it. Insha’Allah, next GE, I will ensure to leave with a group of participants and not stay back.

I left the next day in the morning. I was so happy that my ‘bestie’ from camp, a co-Mwalimu had woken up to bid farewell. We sat and spoke for a while before I left for the airport. To be honest, I am so glad to have met her because she is a genuine person with whom I had serious talks, we laughed, we shared our stories and yes, she is one of the friends the camp has given me!!

The one thing that I wish to add here is the feeling of not going back to family. I was returning to Dar and not Kampala where my parents are. GE is such an emotional ride that after it, you need to go back to family and I did not do that. The feeling was of emptiness and nostalgia. I am hopeful that I get selected to be part of the camp again and Insha'Allah, I will go back to family before going back to 'normal' life. 

I want to conclude by saying this article by far doesn’t do justice to the camp because there is sooo much I haven’t spoken of. Being there, experiencing it is totally un-comparable to any piece of article describing it. There are so many moments like taking Farhan to the airport, teasing Shadow and Zara with women driving jokes, teasing IP about the balloon (Salman Khan), my conversations with Asma, being a roomie to Ndugu Sheroz and Rahim, the jokes with Shadan and Ndugu Sheroz (a particular one is but it was a puppy HAHA!) and many more, so many people I met who in their own rights are at a level and mean much to me that this article hasn’t spoken of but they are a part of it. I want to say that every single person I came across in the camp holds a special place and I will never be able to forget them and the time we spent together. My last statement will be one that people have heard a lot and sometimes it’s hard to believe but it is the truth…GE is the best thing that has happened to me. Someone asked me, would I do it again? My answer is the same as Khaled Hosseini said in his book, The Kite Runner...for you, a thousand times over!!!

Champ!