I feel a little bit like Piglet and a lot like a broken record when I say, “Oh dear, oh dear.” I’m constantly apologizing for not updating my blog, but this four month break is definitely ridiculous. No report on my trip to the D.R., let alone the last half of my internship. If any of you happen to still be reading this, you are truly amazing and faithful—more so that I am!
Currently, I’m back in Pittsburgh for my last semester before I graduate in May. I’m also working part time for HOPE remotely, and after graduation I’ll be transitioning back to Lancaster to work there full time. Many things to be thankful for! It is such a relief to have a job, not to mention continuing with an organization I love. In terms of this blog, I’m less certain about its future. Since its purpose was to document my internship, and that internship is now over, I don’t know whether to continue—especially since I didn’t write much to begin with. I’m also not sure how blog worthy grad school will be. I’ll let you know…in less than four months.
For now, I want to thank those of you who were praying for my trip to the Dominican Republic. It turned out to be a wonderful trip, although I have to admit that I was uncertain at first. I don’t tend to adjust to new situations well, and so the fact that the trip was only three days was difficult for me. It is a good way for people who only have limited time to be exposed to microfinance first-hand, but I found that there were an overwhelming number of things to take in over such a short time. Fortunately, there were small things that hit me along the way that were invaluable.
For example, getting to the places where HOPE’s clients live. We jolted and shuddered our way along, 14 of us squeezed into a van for hours—and we were traveling in luxury. We had air conditioning for the hot, sticky journey. We had room to move and didn’t have strangers sitting in our laps. I had written about clients who used their loans to buy more products at a time from the city to take back and sell to their communities, allowing them to make fewer trips, but I hadn’t pictured just how much time, money, and effort that saved. I also hadn’t realized how valuable it was that HOPE loan officers go to the clients. Traveling that road, it made much more sense.
There are many more things to report from my trip, so I might end up writing more retroactively. In the meantime, like many of you, I've had neighboring Haiti on my mind with the recent earthquake. As I hear story after heartbreaking story, I find that I want to do something more active than praying. I have to remind myself that in this situation, prayer is one of the most active ways I can respond. Because HOPE works in Haiti, I've been hearing regular updates, including a list of prayer requests from staff in the field that I found helpful. There’s also an opportunity to give to an emergency fund to help both immediately and long-term—because it looks like the road to recovery is going to be long and difficult.
Thanks again for sticking with me! I'd love to hear from you as well, and definitely let me know if you have any questions about anything or want to hear more.
