All About Susan

Change Me / My Story

Summer 2006 – It’s incredibly hard to encapsulate the past 22 + years into a small blurb. It’s impossible to share every single moment of my life with you because simply, that would take 22 years of your time. I guess all you have to know is that I’ve always been a dreamer, initiator, instigator….

I’ve always dreamt of going to Africa. To me, Africa was like a treasure chest waiting to be found and unlocked. Vacationing in Africa was always a far-fetched dream and the thought of working there had never crossed my mind. Two years ago during my 3^rd year of University, an acquaintance asked me what I wanted to do after convocation. I couldn’t give her a straight answer because I wanted to do so many things! I guess she had an inkling of my adventurous spirit, so she invited me to checkout internships sponsored by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Soon after, I realized the competition for the placements were fierce and eventually I had put aside my applications.

Winter 2006 – I still remember the day I was asked if I was going to attend Urbana 2006. It was obvious that not only did I feel like I wasn’t ready to attend a missions conference, but neither did those around me. A friend answered on my behalf, “Why are you even asking her?! Of course she’s not going!” It was that evident. The theme for Urbana was “You have a calling”. Did I even have one? Regardless of my feelings of inadequacy, I decided to go.

The idea of making t-shirts for everyone going to Urbana from our church came up. So, with the help of a couple of friends we designed an urban inspired t-shirt which represented our church, Urbana, and Canada. I decided to incorporate a bible verse within the design. Me, picking a bible verse to represent us?! God really challenged my faith and in the end, I chose Ephesians 4:1.

 

When we arrived at Urbana, we received our own conference bibles and handbooks. I couldn’t believe my eyes, but on both covers it read, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received”. Urbana, an international conference with 25000 attendess, had chosen the same verse too! Extremely freaky, but I knew at that moment God wanted me to be there. He had a calling for me.

Pastor Oscar, from Kenya, intrigued me with his sermon and seminar. I had plans for applying to an international government internship after my Hons.BA, but I didn’t know where. My random meeting with Pastor Oscar outside the bookstore placed Africa in my heart. After speaking with him and his wife, he offered his personal assistant’s contact and before we said our goodbyes he told me, “I will remember you”. God was speaking through Pastor Oscar to remind me that He never forgot about me. No one is forgotten and no one is left behind.

Urbana took my passion for Him to the next level. A conference can’t overhaul one’s life, but it can plant the seed. I can only imagine what God’s plans are for me.

Summer 2007 – So 8 months later, I’m packing my bags and accepting a CIDA internship to Ethiopia. Obviously, there’s a lot more twists and turns I could go into detail with the entire application and interview process, but I think I’ll leave that for a chat over coffee. I have a job description that the government gave me, but honestly I have no clue what’s going on. Even our trainer, Elinor, told us to just rip the description in half. Who knows, maybe I’m totally on a tangent here and missing “The Bigger Picture”. All I know is that this is a huge opportunity to peel away the stereotypes and my own ignorance. Westerners don’t need to SAVE Africa, we need to learn. I don’t want to be a bystander anymore. I don’t want to be just someone who donates money and look forward to a tax credit. I don’t want to believe or just trust what the media fills us with. I want to experience, see, feel the African Spirit for myself.

I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I’m about to embark on my biggest adventure to date! I’ll be 12000km away from home, 8000ft above sea level and sipping on a good cup of Ethiopian Coffee everyday for the next 7 months. Nothing I can’t handle right?