Birthday

Hello everyone i know i am the worst keeping up with these blogs. Life always seems to get in the way. So what has happend so far in my life. I finally graduated from college. Yay! My years of hard work paid off i was able to graduate early and today is my birthday!  So here i am a 22 year college graduate wondering what am i going to do with my life. I've though a lot of what should i do. My imagination has gone wild thinking about the next steps in my life. I don't really know what to do with my life i have so much knowledge and yet i have no idea what to do with it. I've tried applying to jobs in the field that i studied and i don't seem to have any luck but i do not complain because i am lucky to be here in this life. I think i have done a pretty good job in the short time that i've been in this world. I've managed to change the lives of a few people and i am happy to be where i am right now. Right now, i am working with the Boston Public Schools and hopefully interning for Corporate Accountability. For the first time in many years, i am just living life a day at a time. Something that i learned from my years at Wheelock is that there is no such thing as failure. So on my birthday i say to myself good job girl you're one year older and one step closer to achieving all your dreams and any other crazy thing that you want to achieve. Tengan buen dia amigos!

I am African!

As I lay here in bed I cannot believe everything that I have learned. I lay here and reflect. I have obtained so much wisdom from everyone around. I have learned that I am African. I have African brothers that protect me and will not let me fall and give me some great advice about life. I've learned about the atrocities that slaves went through. I've walked through the dungeons and smelled and seen the horrors that slaves experienced. I stood in the female dungeon and heard the cries for help and felt the fear that these women went through. I've learned that although whipped and chained their determination and strength could not be stripped from them. Now that I know, I cannot keep my voice oppressed. Now that I know, its my responsibility to tell you the truth. No one can stop me because I too am African and my ancestors do not want revenge but justice.

The view of the top of the Cape Coast Castle where slaves were
shipped to be sold.

The Truth About Africa

Sorry that I have not written in a very long time. I need to get much better about keeping my blog updated but sometimes life gets to me. Sometimes I am so busy with things that seem to matter so much that I forget to stop and relax. I forget to reflect on life. Right now as I write this blog, I am sitting in Cape Coast, Ghana. I have been here for almost 2 weeks. I am miles and miles away from home and yet I feel at peace. I feel harmony sitting by the beach as mama water's waves gently yet majestically crash the rocks and shore. I came to Africa with a mission to teach children to tell their stories. Media corrupts the thoughts of many Americans representing certain races as less than. My goal here in Ghana was to make sure that the real story of Africa is told. Stories that reflect beautiful culture and hardworking smart individuals. I sit on the shore and watch Ghanaian fisherman stay up all day and all night fishing to make a living. I see children getting feed by strangers. No child here is going hungry no person here is dying. There is life, there is beauty, and yes there is also poverty. But Africans are powerful. The children we taught showed me that anything is possible if you work hard. These children have the power to change the world and they are eager to learn, that is the truth about Africa!

Balance

I have always known what I wanted. I have always been this perfect girl that tries her best to never mess up and make others happy.  My life has revolved around making my parents proud that I forgot about me. I don't know if any of you young adults out there have ever felt like this before.  Like your life is crumbling down right before your eyes and you just don't care because you realized you want to do what makes you happy. All my life I have been afraid of getting hurt by others when all this time I should have been worried about myself. I put up a wall to myself. I was the one who hurt myself by being so afraid and uptight about living life. My advice to everyone out there is to be careful with yourself because you can be your biggest obstacle to happiness. You can't be perfect and you can't know all the answers to life. You just need to trust that those around you won't let you fall when you feel like you are unbalanced. Trust that you will be alright. You will feel pain at first, you will cry and yell, and eventually you will feel this numbness but you will be okay. You will be balanced again.

BACK: New Orleans Reflection

Here is a short video blog about my second time in New Orleans and

what I learned.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=731342823564900&set=vb.100000675685967&type=2&theater&notif_t=like

Bubble!

        My parents have always been over protective of me. So overprotective that going out was almost impossible. Now, that I am 21 my parents are starting to realize that I am growing up but still they worry about letting me out to clubs. They always lecture me about how "this is how bad things happen." They are the traditional hispanic parents.  Asking my parents to go out with my friends becomes a three weeks in advance thing. I know sounds awful. I have to prepare them in advance which is a pain in the ass.  I have to go up to my dad and say " Hey Papi, would it be ok, do you think, can I pleeeease go out." Until, he gets so annoyed by me that he finally agrees and says yes.  This past Friday was the first day that I actually got to go out beyond my curfew. Yes! I have a curfew. I know again awful. Yes you might be thinking to yourselves whoa Jacky aren't you an adult. The answer is yes but my parents have rules that I have learned to follow. It is because I follow those rules that I have their trust. I guess what I am trying to get at is that yes parents can be a pain in your ass and yes parents sometimes are strict like mine (if they could keep me in a bubble i am sure they would) but at the end of the day they do it because they love you. So if they trust you enough to let you go out and have fun prove to them that you are responsible and that you don't need to be in a bubble.

Little Girl. Big World.

So I decided that I wanted to change my blogs name to Little Girl. Big world. Why because I realized that I m growing up in a world that is bigger than me. My blog isn't about just volunteer service anymore but about my journey, my life struggles, and my life's inspiration as well as dreams. I will talk about anything and everything.   I hope that you guys take something away from my blogs and if you ever want to know something send me a message. I might be little but i sure have had a heck of a life so far.