I swear that sometimes I wake up here, next to beautiful Lake Bunyonyi in South Uganda, and for a second I actually believe I’m back home. The Golden State of California carries many of the same characteristics as the paradise I currently reside in. The weather here is never too hot, never too cold. Whenever it starts to feel too hot for my Nordic blood, a simple, gentle breeze comes to help me out. In the morning, I like to make myself some coffee, sit on our comfy couch looking out towards one of the best views of the lake, and enjoy a lifestyle and location I’m so truly thankful to have.
Something that often comes to my mind when I’m experiencing these moments of great gratitude and positivity, is that so far, my whole life has been pretty much in a classroom. I got out of high school last year! All of the hardcore veteran travelers that come through our hostel think it’s marvelous and distinctly different that right after that, I jump into the real world. I’m starting to realize just how crazy things can look back home after you’re out of high school, and now traveling the world. Our entire lives have been tests, exams, studying, and note taking. For many, it still is.
When I’m going for a walk, and a bunch of kids show up and start to follow me, and we all start dancing and marching to David Bowie, I realize just how unbelievably gorgeous it is that this is my first real year of living in the world. How thankful I am to be an individual who is truly proud of his first year of being out in the world. As an adult. As someone who sees things from a whole different side of the planet. As an American around tons of Germans, Austrians, Israelis, Australians, Brazilians, Brits, Indians, French, and many more, and seeing what the rest of the developed world thinks of my country.
I came to Gorilla Highlands, a non profit organization that is trying to promote and brand the area, to be a videographer. At the beginning of my time here I was just doing color correction, and some film editing here and some audio mixing there, when all of a sudden the horizons were greatly heightened. The man in charge is a Slovenian man named Miha, who wanted to know what other jobs or talents I could apply myself to. I started gardening. I don’t know how that happened. Whatever…now I grow food. That sort of sounds cool to me. Maybe it’ll grow on me.
I was a journalist back home in Oakland, and I had just won an NPR award on writing a piece about my father’s stroke for KQED. After the award, I felt much more confident and proactive when it came to expressing myself through writing. I told him about my work background, and immediately he had me writing stories of valued proportions.
All of a sudden, I wasn’t even really a videographer, which I didn’t mind. I’ll see gorillas later in my trip! They can wait! I was a journalist for Gorilla Highlands. I went to various places and people to interview and investigate stories, and bring out the fascination that would grow in tourists if they heard them. So many of the people I work with inspire and motivate me. We have these warm hearted volunteers, mostly from Uganda, working their asses off to make good pay and build a sustainable place for backpackers living on a budget. They don’t just help me find good stories and be translators, they built a kitchen just a year ago, now with a huge menu with an array of cuisines from all over. They learned this and now do it well. We have wi fi after a long period of being off the map, and our social media is growing rapidly (something I work on as well for the organization.)
I’m even the night watchmen now as well, since our “current” night watchmen is a 70 year old man named Tom who falls asleep around 10pm and you can hear his snoring from thirty feet away through a wall. I’m a good choice for the job – I’m a nocturnal guy in general, so I don’t mind. Gives me peace and quiet, and I can meditate and relax… just can’t fall asleep.
I’ve been trying fairly hard to get my friends to come out here and visit, but so far no luck. Our volunteering program here is so chill – very flexible. We could use artists to draw murals, so I invited my friend for that, one for cooking tips, one for film editing, and one just for filming in general. None of it has worked out.
The reason why? Money. Of course, I mean it isn’t some cheap budget to fly to a country over the ocean. What I cringe thinking about these days though is the way the West, America specifically, looks at traveling, and its catch for being pricey. This isn’t at all directed specifically towards my friends, because they are just out of high school trying to get or keep a job and make money, but more towards middle class Americans in general who lust for travel, but never do it. Americans throw their money at wireless data plans, high speed internet, really expensive clothes and furniture, an extra car, expensive music festivals and sport events, and then say traveling sounds beautiful, but it’s too expensive. Let’s take a step back, and think about this.
Travelling is an opportunity cost. If you want to see the Pyramids of Giza, the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, or the Golden Gate Bridge, you have to spend some money. The thing that gets overshadowed in this point, is that you have to SAVE some money. Take away something that has less value. So many people tell themselves that they just can’t afford it. Well, you only can’t afford it if you tell yourself there’s other things that have higher priority for your wallet.
I’ll tell anyone though, that some of the most meaningful, epic, fulfilling, and significant moments in my life so far have been through traveling. Not by getting that new tech gadget, not by getting a car finally, or renting a house, but rather taking a leap into the world, and being in a place where you actually can’t believe where you are. Those are the most magical moments for myself. Where I put myself in a place, and interact with it’s people, and learn from the culture and learn how to appreciate and find the beauty of it. Truly experience it, and realize that what you’re doing, is something that you can’t believe you’re getting the chance to do.
“There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path.” – Siddhartha Gautama