Dear Editor,
You know that feeling you get when you’ve been rooted in one place for a very long time? Yes, that great need for an escape. That was me!
I yearned for a life outside of my humble abode, I yearned to see the world and all its grandeur, I yearned for freedom. I’d have given almost anything to experience what many did, pictures and movies just couldn’t suffice to quench my hunger and thirst for the unknown.
Then one day, opportunity knocked on my door, and I grabbed at it without hesitation. It was time I packed my bag and journey to the other side of the globe; China, for two whole years. It was at that moment that the excitement mixed with anxiety, and an ounce of doubt. What was I thinking? Was I really going to move all the way to a strange land? And leave all that was familiar and dear to me for not one, but two years?
Settling in proved even harder than I thought it would have been. Not only was I a foreigner to the land but also the language, and we all know, communication breathes community, and I lacked both. I experienced culture shock, followed by a deep longing, not for the unknown, but home.
The land of many waters grew even dearer to me. I daily dreamed of its’ luscious land and the people that inhabited it alike. My mouth watered for the vast array of delicacies that my taste buds had unanimously agreed, were undisputedly the best. I had to settle for phone calls and text messages from the ones I wanted to embrace; just having them beside me would have made everything okay. But it wasn’t! Guyana birthed me, and like a suckling babe pulled from her mother’s breasts, I cried.
It took a lengthy time before I began the adjustment process. Learning common phases proved quite handy in getting around. Friendships subsequently formed with persons I discovered were in the same boat as me, for despite being from different nations, we were all struggling to survive in the unknown, aliens alike. It was then that I surfaced from under water, it was then that I began to breathe.
Though I still long for the day when I can return to your bosom again, I shall channel my focus to the task that lies before me. I shall work assiduously and do my best, so that when I finally return, it wouldn’t be with an empty hand. My sacrifice will be given worth and I shall make you proud. Yes Guyana, I shall make you proud!
Yours faithfully,
Tiffany M. Griffith
