There are many places I call home. I grew up in Cincinnati, OH and so there are my deepest roots, in faith and life. Then I moved to New Haven, Connecticut when I entered Yale University in 2011. There I pursued a degree in environmental studies and through my studies, I developed a great love for the world, for botany, for music, for people and their stories. I sang in the Women’s Slavic Chorus and in St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum. I traveled and did thesis research in Madagascar. I played fiddle tunes and wrote in many libraries.
After college, home became Marshall, North Carolina where I helped set up a homestead with my mamma. It was there that I first began working as a teacher. Now, I am an elementary school teacher at German School Brooklyn, a dual-language school in New York. This year, I taught 4th grade and 5th/6th grade science. I learned a lot from my students, shared my interests with them and tried to give of myself in the way that so many of my teachers gave of themselves.
It is also here, in my new home in Brooklyn, New York, that I met Con-solatio. I felt as though I had discovered something I had been seeking for a long time, unknowingly and deep down. The life of compassion, of presence to which they are devoted has become close to my heart.
I am thrilled that in September 2019, I will be going on a mission to Dakar, Senegal for 14 months! I will be joining a community of 3 other volunteers and our ministry will be to share ourselves with the many kids in the neighborhood, with friends in prison and in the slums. I look forward to the people I will encounter there and the life of prayer I will have in my community.
I feel that I am about to embark on a mystery, one that will no doubt be full of many small miracles. Thank you for your sponsorship and look forward to sharing my new life with you!