DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

To the students of the Bangladesh Group,

 Some years ago, I went to Guatemala and other parts of Central America to immerse myself in the Mayan culture.  I found myself at various times camping, living with a family, in my own apartment.  I also created a job for myself teaching English to hotel employees in Guatemala City and Antigua.  I kept a journal during the entire 6 months that I was there.

 Now as a fifty-something I have a treasure.  I have a window into what I was like as a twenty-something (you will forget).  I marvel at how at times I was very idealistic, completely naiive, and sometimes wise beyond my years.  My journal is a picture of my past - who I was at that tender age.  It also brings back vividly street scenes, the jungle at Tikal, the Mayan ruins, bus rides to strange places, swims in a lake and a dugout canoe, and simple meals in a campsite with the locals.  Though an artist, I am not, I kept sketches along with these descriptions.

 You may not appreciate it now, but writing in a journal will provide an important record of who you are (the values that you hold constant even as you age) and who you were when you were young.  Capture as much as you can about the environment, your thoughts, your impressions, and your daily routines.  It will be worth it.

 I will be thinking of all of you on your exciting adventure!  Travel safely.

Martha Reeves, faculty advisor

Tomorrow at precisely 11:20am, I depart for the experience of a lifetime; hopefully, a journey that will set me on a new course, or at least change me in wonderful, fascinating ways. I can only hope for such a good journey, but whatever it turns out to be, I know that I'll be more mature, more knowledgable, and more compassionate for a cause I know or care little about as I sit here now.

So, let me introduce you to me, Adam Nathan, on June 1st, 2008. I have two amazing parents. My father works in New York, loves to garden and fix up the house, and is rather quiet but full of emotion and wisdom. My mother is equally amazing, once a finance executive but now CEO of the full-time operation that is her family. She is brilliant, loving, and almost always correct. I'd like to think I take the best qualities from both, but I share those with my little brother of four years, Jordan, a hockey goalie extraordinaire who is contemplative, funny, and constantly thinking of those around him. In short, my family rocks, and I'm so lucky to have them.

I used to want to be a doctor, until I was five and realized I hated blood. Since then, I've been obsessed with architecture, and I have reems of drawings and floor plans to prove it. Despite my love for design in every form (you should see my homework from high school), I have since dreamt bigger, wanting to affect change on a larger playing field. My passions are all over the place: I love politics, the markets, different forms of media, education, environmental causes, and especially transportation, and I'd love to do something with all of them in my life. I want to make a difference someday, and I think "that day" is everyday--I never stop moving, and I always take on too much for my own good. I wouldn't want to live any other way.

At Duke, I've been very interested in international development, especially the values and concepts of community, unity, empowerment, and change. I've had many experiences, both in the field and the classroom learning about the theories and empirics of development. As such, I'm especially excited to travel to Bangladesh to work in microfinance, with an oustanding organization, BRAC, because it encapsulates all my interests and desires into one venture.

Microfinance is a very buzzy topic right now in development work--everyone wants a piece of it. I've read, both in and out of my studies, about the positives and negatives of microfinance theory, and I'm very excited to see how it works on the ground, and how much change it actually brings about.

I'm also thrilled to be recording such findings on video, as part of a documentary project for BRAC. I've never done documentary work before, but in all the places I've visited in Africa and South America, I always struggle to not forget the intimate and touching stories of the hundreds of people I have had the privelige to meet.

In Bangladesh, not only will I be living and observing a country and a place that I've never been to before, but I'll have a way to hold those memories with me, and give them to others too. I can't wait to take part.

Speaking of the country, my excitement also stems from the location itself. I know the axiom emphasizes the journey, but in this project's case, the journey is the destination. Bangladesh is a fascinating, mysterious place: the most dense country in the world, Bangladesh has quickly risen from being a place of total abject poverty in the 1970s to a rising industrial power today. With an agriculture and textile-dependent economy and an ineffective government, BRAC and its third-sector counterparts can take most of the credit for the progress achieved in the past half century. In almost no other place on Earth has such an incredible feat been accomplished. I'm so thrilled to be working with BRAC, a group of people that have achieved so much, and are still doing even more around the world.

Of course, I have been thinking and feeling about other things besides "ICANTWAITTOGOGETMEONAPLANENOW!!!!" As with any new experience of murky, vauge detail, I am incredibly apprehensive. I have no idea what the country will be like, what BRAC will be like, what my student counterparts will be like. I have no idea if I will be useful, or if the trip will be totally unproductive and frustrating. I have no idea if I will understand the people I'm working with, or if I will ever truly appreciate all that the destination and journey offers.

But such thoughts will hopefully only be that--just ridiculous worries that never come to fruition. In fact, I'm sure that the outcome will actually be quite the opposite, and I will work my hardest to make sure that my goal becomes a reality.

In the past two years, I haven't been at home more than ten days at a time, so this past month of literally doing nothing has been quite refreshing. I didn't even accomplish the meager goals I did set for myself, but I think it was good to have some time completely free of any commitments. Now, I'm ready for change; I'm ready to change.

I've been packing for the past few days, running through dozens of post-it note checklists. Now, my work is all in a big backpack, ready for the real work for begin. I am too.

So tomorrow, at 11:20am, I will get on a plane, ready, willing, and able for whatever the future holds. And at the end of the trip, I'll look back at this post and smile, because only then I'll know how much my journey into a new world was a destination of a new life for myself.

I can't wait to find out.

Best,

Adam