In late 2009 I took a job on a military camp in the Horn of Africa. The initial experience was humbling; cot for a bed, no personal internet access, communal showers and toilets, hot sun on fair skin.
The work was good, and fulfilling. The host nation was and remains one of the poorest on Earth. I was away from America for a full year and I felt out of place upon my return home.
Locals earned less than a dollar a day burning trash (animal bodies, tires, medical waste). Cab fare to the city center was so cheap it seemed free (how do these guys pay for gas anyway)?
I left Africa with a new understanding of needs vs. wants but everything I thought I would apply to this new life back in the States was quickly erased by the overwhelming consumerism that is America.
To feel normal again I had to plug back in and ultimately accept that I was not capable of re-writing my principles. A regretful ending to a mind-expanding year offshore.
SEÑOR - The Blog 