About Me:

To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting. - E.E. Cummings

I'm so glad to have the pleasure of welcoming you to my blog!  So who am I? Well, I'm a 22-year old Brooklyn native, currently in my final year of college at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. I'm a psychologist by training, but a humanitarian by nature, and pursuing a career in public/ international health.

Now that we've put me in a box, let's take me out again! I LOVE poetry and writing, you can find some of my poems and poetic thoughts in the Inspired section of my blog. I find that the greatest joys in life come from our varied forms of expression. I also LOVE to travel, I love the feeling of of being in transition, always searching for something new to discover and learn (so I'm kind of a nerd because learning is definitely my passion). I'm a dreamer, or even better dream-catcher. I believe that anything worth having is worth working for, and I work hard for it all.

SO! Meet my (other) passion:

 SAM is a 21-year-old Mechanical Engineering student, currently residing in Durban, Kwazulu-Natal Province of South Africa. His real name is Sifiso, but honestly I had a hard time admitting to my friends that I liked a guy as much as I like him. So using his actual name, made me feel like my feelings were uncomfortably real... THUS, my right hand Chelsea came up with the acronym S.A.M. = South African Man. As far as I know he doesn't have a problem being called SAM, so even though I now have a whole BLOG dedicated to my feelings for him and our relationship.... he still goes by SAM :P !

How we met?

Me and my host family!

I traveled to South Africa for a semester from August to December of 2013 to study community health and public policy with the School for International Training  program. While I was there I lived with an AMAZING family in Cato Manor, KZN which neighbors another little hood called Chesterville. WELL! SAM lived in Chesterville and my house was right on the edge of Cato, but we had still never met.

Me and Nina at our final dinner

However, one of my dear friends, Nina (who was on the program with me) had the opportunity of living with a strapping young man named Kwenza whose best friend was...... you guessed it! SAM! So through a series of interactions that I think I touched on in my first blog post, me and SAM ended up in the same place, at the same time and .... magic!

I have loved many things in life, including my experiences in Africa (Kenya & S.A.); but I have never been gifted in embracing my emotions. This blog is a testament to my vulnerability, my strength, and my wholehearted love for someone that means the world to me, but is practically a world apart. I'm growing through this process of waiting, and fighting, and praying for another moment/day/chance to .... make good on the age-old promise that love conquers all. Let it be true, because at 22 my life is an adventure that I can no longer wish to conquer alone.

Valley of 1000 hills!

I Hope you've learned a little bit about me and Sifiso. It means a lot to me that you're here and supporting my effort to see him again. We'd love to see you as a part of our hopefully ever-after story; if you can we hope that you will please consider donating even just $5 to our compaign at gofundme.com/goingthedistance. I can guarantee that your contribution will be well documented as not just a support of me and my love, but as also a chance to prove that enduring & everlasting love still exists in the world. Anywhere in the world.