From Fear to Triumph to Hope

Back in February I wrote my first blog on the fear I associated with this project. I realize now, that while I was afraid I would fail at this project, I was more overwhelmed by the task we had before us. I had thought of the sheer amount of school supplies it would take to fill our 110 box goal as a class, and just didn’t know if we could do it. As the semester went on, the pressure of the goal did get to one of our classmates. In the end, he dropped the class and our goal was adjusted to 100 boxes. This still left us with 79,200 cubic inches of space to fill with school supplies. To put this in perspective, imagine a gallon of milk. 79,200 cubic inches fills about 343 gallons! That is ALOT of space. Even with this new, smaller goal, I was afraid we were going to fail and overwhelmed with the job we had to do.

I finished my portion of the goal last month. I had collected my ten boxes and was pleased with the results of my efforts. At that point, my fear of this project turned into triumph. I had met my goal, and with almost a month left, I had a feeling that my classmates would meet their goals too. Last week and today, we had two classes of pure chaos.

My last packed box. Over the semester I completely filled 12 boxes, and helped fill another 2 with odds and ends left over from my collection (Photo by: Shelby Register 2012).

We spent our time packing, taping, labeling, counting, filling out custom’s forms, and loading boxes into cars. Everyone kind of did his or her own thing, and I just thought it was amazing to look around and see such a flurry of activity. All for the children of Afghanistan.

Two of my classmates, filling boxes with supplies collected as a class (Photo by: Shelby Register 2012).

Last week we mailed 45 boxes, and today we are mailing 66 boxes. This brings us to 111 boxes of school supplies we have collected, with a few more boxes to pack on Thursday in a special class meeting. This means we did it! We smashed through our 100 box goal!

My friend Phoebe, with Professor Temple's car STUFFED with 68 boxes that will be mailed later today (Photo by: Shelby Register 2012).

111 boxes of triumph over our fear of this project. 111 boxes of hope for the children of Afghanistan. When I started this class I never realized the difference it would make. Through our class, I am making a difference in the lives of children more than 7000 miles away. I will never meet these children, but I know their education will benefit from the work I have done this semester. I, and my classmates, have provided enough school supplies for hundreds of students. While I cannot go to Afghanistan and change the poverty level, I can provide school supplies. I can provide access to education. I can provide hope.

And you can too.

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