riwaq

for the past seven or eight years, i've pretty much known what i've wanted to do in terms of college/career, minus a tangent here or there (engineering and music). a strong desire to create unique environments for inhabitation coupled with concerns for THE environment come together well in sustainable design (and hopefully will do so in my upcoming architecture/environmental studies combined senior thesis). but another vision, of ministry of community building, previously seemed to be a different life-direction possibility has recently begun to meld in my mind with the first into what you might say is a calling.

that may sound confusing (in which case i apologise), but it comes down to this: an organization in Palestine does almost exactly what i want to do, and in the place and among the people i'd like to do it. i discovered the website of Riwaq a little over a year ago. i immediately contacted them and tried to make plans for last summer that fell through. now that "i'm in" for this trip, i'll be joining them for a few hours a week (more if i don't raise the money for the birzeit program) as a volunteer, primarily working on site surveys.

if any of this sounds remotely interesting to you (it gives me chills! haha), visit their website.