Culture Shock

You have no idea how much your loving responses and support has meant to me. To be very honest the transition has not been so easy.  I might be in my country of birth, but to me it all feels foreign.  I have been raised in such a different environment that I feel as though I have been in a bubble all these years, and that bubble has finally burst.  Consequently your emails have deeply touched me and been my fuel for strength.    With that said I am in no way implying that I am having a horrible time, or that I am not extremely happy about my decision. In the last 10 days I have had more time to put my life under a magnifying glass and examining myself, my realities and my actions.  In other words I have been delving within, observing and really paying attention to the world around me.  I have already experienced so much and it is just the beginning.

As you all know I have started working and I can’t begin to tell you how amazing it is to have the opportunity to work with these girls.  They are all between the age of 16 to 25 and from very poor families. They have decided to come to Omid-e-Mehr on their own to receive 3 years of education, training and physiological help .  As i get to know each girl more and more every day I realized what incredibly hard lives they have had, having to overcome obstacles that I can’t even begin to imagine.  Yet they are such strong and amazing girls, I truly feel that I am learning more from them than they are from me. 

 I have a weekly group therapy session with them called the "Thinking Room" where they have the opportunity to open up and discuss what’s on their mind, the perfect opportunity to truly tap into their way of thinking, culture and psyche.  In addition to that starting next month along with a psychology student working on her PHD and I will have 8 hour workshops 2 days a week 3 times a month.  

The workshops will be discussing women’s physical and psychological health  covering important topics that tend to be more taboo in this society.   As the workshops get going I will be evaluating their impact on the girls by monitoring the girls’ point of view and scope of thought pre and post each workshop.  

Needless to say I am extremely busy trying to get everything done, while personally adjusting to this new culture and society.