Greetings Family and Friends!
I hope this letter finds you well. First and foremost I want to say THANK YOU! For the past 2 years, you have shown me an infinite amount of love, encouragement, faith and prayer. It is because of this support that I'm able to live out my dream in Africa. I cannot possibly express how thankful I am to have people like you in my life. It was about this time last year that I decided to make the move from northern Uganda to eastern Congo. It's been 9 months and I can tell you, without any hesitation or reservation, that it was the best decision of my life. When I look back at my life and try to pinpoint the defining moment, I suspect it will be the move to Congo. The job that brought me here was to assist a local company in starting a school for the children of their employees. I was, and still am, incredibly passionate about this project. However, in the manner of full disclosure, taking this particular job was a means to an end; a stepping stone of sorts.
I accepted the job because I knew I wanted to be in the North Kivu province of eastern Congo, and that's what was going to get me here. My ultimate goal is to be involved in the rehabilitation of war affected youth, namely trauma counseling training for child soldiers. In order to do so, I needed to be in an area where conflict is a current and on-going reality and children's life are being directly affected as a result --North Kivu is Exactly That.
I love Africa with the kind of mad passion I reserve for very few other things in my life; I would be happy doing almost anything here, even if it did nothing to further my career. Having said that, I still possess a fierce determination and drive to succeed, which necessitates forward movement in achieving my career goals. I moved to Africa in order to find a place where my love of Africa, my passion for children, and my career ambitions can coexist. 2 years and 2 countries later, it seems I have finally found just that...and I want to share it with you.
I knew almost immediately upon arriving in Congo that this was exactly where I belonged. If the people, culture, beauty, and presence of conflict didn't make it clear, the opportunities which have arisen in the past year certainly have. Very early on, I began volunteering at a refugee camp for children who had been orphaned as a result of the current conflict. Orphans of war are yet another subset of war affected youth and I have been incredibly fortunate to witness firsthand their experience. My connections at the refugee camp, along with a couple of evacuations, introduced me to the people from the organization World Vision. This is the portion of the story where all of those things I mentioned earlier come together in spectacular fashion --
World Vision is working in partnership with Johns Hopkins University and Eastern Congo Initiative on a research project which examines the most efficacious rehabilitation and reintegration process for child soldiers in the North Kivu area of eastern Congo. I know that sounds ridiculously complicated, and I promised to explain it more completely in a future blog post. Suffice it to say, if I were afforded the opportunity to design a research study of my own, it would be THIS. EXACT.ONE! I have been working as a part time volunteer on the data collection portion of this project for the past couples of months. However, with my other obligations, the time I have had to offer to the project has been far less than I would like. Then, last week, I received an offer from World Vision to work full-time on this research project next year! This particular research study combines my passions and interests in a way that I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams. I'm still trying to understand how a project so perfectly aligned with my career goals exists, much less how I stumbled onto it. But I've found that when fortune smiles, it's best not to ask questions; just to smile back and go with it.
Of course, there are always elements of our dreams which do not work out quite so perfectly, and this occasion is no exception. Due to a lack of funding, and the fact that I'm not fluent in either French or Swahili, World Vision is not able to offer me a salaried position. They are able to offer me a housing stipend, which will certainly help, but I will still require supplemental income for my other living expenses. I've been incredibly fortunate to have not had to seek outside financial support for the past 2 years. I do not relish the idea of asking for help now, but I can not do this alone. I am writing you to ask if you will please join me in this endeavor. I am in need of your support, either monetary or in thoughts and prayer, to make another year in Congo possible.
I am going to start another blog separate from this one which will allow me to offer more personal updates specific to my life in Congo, for those who wish to offer any type of support. This is where you can find information detailing my fundraising goal, yearly budget and how you can offer financial support. Due to the more personal nature of these updates, I will not be posting the blog publicly, but rather sending it via email. If you would like to receive this email and offer your support, please send me your email address (or via FaceBook to my personal email at bliss.gustafson@gmail.com) and I will add you to my update list! If you would like to donate now, you can click the 'Donate' button below to do so via PayPal (you do not need a Paypal account to donate this way!).
The thing about my life here in Congo is that emotional/social support is almost as necessary as financial support. Over the next year, as I journey further into the harsh reality surrounding the lives of child soldiers, I suspect this will become increasingly true. So if you aren't able to offer financial support, PLEASE know that any type of support is needed, welcomed and very much appreciated!
Again, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all the support thus far and for helping me to continue to pursue my dreams! I absolutely love to hear from folks back home and email is the best way to make that happen, so please do drop me a line bliss.gustafson@gmail.com!
All my love and happiness,
Bliss
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