Friday, April 9, 2010

Social Work

Well faithful readers (all two of you), your unfaithful blogger is back. For a minute. I am going to try to be concise, so don’t expect to be entertained from this blog post- just updated.

Last year my church started the process of sending a team of missionaries to Latin America. Starting the process simply means we started looking for people to talk about partnering with. As I talked with our pastor of missions and tried to help with the search, my desires to be sent back on the mission field grew again. I started to look at my life and evaluate how I was preparing for the mission field. Maybe I should go back to school? Social work?

At a party that summer I spoke with a man who has lots of connections in the non profit world. He mentioned human trafficking – a topic that highly interests and saddens me. Modern day slavery that is underground and huge- so much bigger than most people realize. I picked his brain and my interest and hatred for the injustice grew. After that conversation I talked to my cousin who shares my feelings about the topic and also knows a lot. I started looking up organizations involved in addressing the issue, and trying to figure out how I could help- or if I should help. I learned something quickly. They need lawyers and social workers. Hmmm…

I still do not know what my role should be in the fight against human trafficking, except education. I hope to start blogging about it. Or at least pointing to other bloggers who know more than I do.

From that point on, though, I felt as if I was being swept along in a river that would lead me to a masters of social work. In a mechanical way, still not sure if I really wanted to go back to school, I went through the motions. Everything just started falling into place. I took the GRE, applied to UNC’s program, and was accepted. I felt emotionally behind my decisions last week when I sent in the tuition deposit! At the same time I have so much peace about it and I see God’s hand in every step. I am starting to get excited about the classes, what I will learn and how it will help me to care for people around me better.


Thats it. The 3 year plan of Mara's life. haha. God, my loving heavenly father knows how it will really go. Glory to Him!

1 comment:

LewLeaf said...

Hi Masai,

I got your email about going to Chile so then I was routed here. I AM SO HAPPY for you social work sounds so much like you and it just feels right to me, for you! I know you don't really like the "schoolwork" part of school but because you are doing what you want to do and it makes sense you'll have fun! So glad to hear it.

--The Old Roomie