It’s been 2 weeks since I came back from Vietnam. The first week I finished my taxes, met with my friends and organized my belongings scattered among several locations. I finally met Nancie and we discussed the need for volunteers in Vietnam to keep our OLPC pilots alive. After what I experienced in Vietnam I realized that I can’t really do what I used to do: places I lived, my work, places I shopped, events I attended… Many things didn’t make sense anymore… I realized that I see everything in a different light. I don’t need to live in Back Bay with a view of the beautiful park and tall buildings anymore, my job didn’t mean much, as I never understood what I was doing it for and to whose benefit. It always kind of felt meaningless, even though well paid… I was able to afford a lot and yet I felt miserable and depressed (Adam had no clue why I was blogging up the storm back in December, but that was what I felt inside) as I knew my life was not fulfilling. According to Robin Sharma, one of the principles to true happiness is to do what you feel passionate about. Perhaps, somewhere in the hills of Sapa, Vietnam, I finally realized that happiness is not about getting a better something, but feeling helpful and needed and doing work for other people’s goodness. As a result of this realization I said Adieu to my work and decided to do what I really want to do - to be an advocate for volunteering services.
I looked up volunteering organizations in Boston and found BostonCares. It went through their orientation and signed up for several events. In one week I taught math to adults who are studying to get their GED in Roxbury, I packed and distributed food to those in need at the Red Cross Food Pantry…. I visited Braille publishing house and learned about press for the blind. I met a lot of people who volunteer regularly. Some of them are doing AmeriCorp program. As I learned more and more, I sensed we all have this feeling to help others subconsciously, but sometimes opportunities are not easy to find. I decided to start my volunteering organization that would match good volunteers to good projects around the world. There is no need to answer Roger’s question, as we all know the answer to: “Isn’t it great to do something you love to do?”
I couldn’t translate as they used English characters to write in Vietnamese, because Vietnamese characters still don’t work on the XOs properly. I sent more pictures to them and asked to write more, and to run software updates on their XOs.
