Home

August 14, 2012 - Tacoma, WA

I was recently interviewed for a friend's documentary on the theme of "home." I told her that I consider my home to be the Pacific Northwest. I've lived here most of my life and is it the place where I can find many of the people who are dearest to me. It's also a beautiful corner of the earth. Each time I venture out, I love being welcomed home by the trees, mountains and ocean. However, while my travels have my realize my attachment to this particular place, they have also expanded my idea of home. My two longest journies of the past years have both been homecomings, in some sense.

My journey to Cameroon two and a half years ago was motivated by a desire to see and experience the place where I had lived as a baby. I made my pilgrimmage to the village of Meiganga, where I embraced people who knew me before I could crawl. "We knew you would come back someday," they told me. There, I was amazed and deeply moved to be welcomed home to a place that I couldn't remember.

My journey to Norway last fall brought me back even further, to the roots of my great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers. To be honest, I had never felt a particularly strong connection to the land of my ancestors before going there. I went to Norway to study peace-building, and found a home along the way. Throughout the four months that I spent in Norway, I was welcomed warmly and frequently into the homes of many relatives, many of whom I had never met. One distant cousin led me down a trail made by my great-great-grandfather, speculating that I may be the first of his direct descendants to set foot on it in close to a century. Literally walking on the soil of my ancestors and forming relationships with my Norwegian family, our shared history became suddenly meaningful to me.

Now, I am on the verge of moving to a new place that is completely foreign to me, in a country where I do not yet speak the language. The only person I know is the one who will be joining me a month into this adventure. While this move is intimidating in many ways, my experiences in Cameroon and Norway make me confident that I can feel at home in Seville. I look forward to discovering how my roots and my definition of home will expand during this year in Spain.