Redefining Home

A few months ago, I wrote about my life in boxes and questioned where home was for me. My conclusion, somewhat, was that "my home has to be wherever I am."

I am retracting this conclusion for another...who says you only have to have one home? 

In that post, I examined the three options I felt I had to call home - LA, London, and Haiti. At the time, none felt like home - I think because I was looking at the "typical" definition of a home. According to my favourite dictionary.com, the first definition for home is "the usual residence of a person," which was how I was defining what home is. 

But if you look further down the list, home can also be defined as an idiom: "in a situation familiar to one; at ease." Now this definition is more relevant to the life of an expat, and the life of a traveler. We have many places that we are at ease; many locations in which we are familiar; loved ones in these homes that make it such.

In this case, then I have more than one place to call home, more than one situation with which I am familiar. Three at this point in life, although I am sure this number will increase. 

And it is with excitement and anticipation that I am able to share that I am leaving one home to return to the second via the third. 

In more clear terms, I am leaving Los Angeles to return to Haiti. I have been offered a position with a British organisation, and therefore will be returning to London for 2 weeks of orientation (27 Nov - 8 Dec), before heading to my beloved Port-au-Prince (9 Dec).

According to my dad, I live my life atypically - by this point, he expects nothing less. So then, it is only expected that my home is not according to the typical definition. To these "familiar situations" then, I will be glad to be welcomed home, not once but twice. 

LA, a la prochaine

Bon Retour, Haiti

I never thought I would be so excited...

to be HOME!!!

*stolen online

Los Angeles - this is what I plan on enjoying while I am here:

• Mom and Dad
• Friends
• Skyping with friends from a similar time-zone
• Time to reflect
• Blueberries and Bananas for breakfast (currently in the mouth)
• Target
• Forever 21
• Victoria's Secret
• Hiking in the Hills
• Mexican Food
• In 'n Out
• Watching trashy TV while working...
• Weighing myself (actually am... as I have not weighed myself in 16 months!!!)

A short, but sweet visit. Wow, am I glad to be here...

Life in Boxes

Upon my arrival to the UK, I was excited and nervous and just so happy to be "home". Until I filled out the customs form. At that point, I was struck with a fact. When the customs form asked me what my country of residence was, I realised that at that point I was "homeless". None of the normal options for a home fit. Let me consider them:


1) Haiti: You see, as I did not have a signed contract in Haiti, I had to pack as if I was leaving. So I brought everything with me. As I was not confirmed to return, I could not consider Haiti to be my home, even though once my contract is signed, then it can be. However, because of this uncertainty, Haiti could not be considered my home.

2) London: London was my home once. And I still consider it a place I love. However, I do not live there any more, even though I have friends to call family and a house to call home. According to my visa, which allowed me to live and work in London before, I am no longer eligible for that. While there are visa options that I can pursue, at this point, calling London home is not an option. 

3) Los Angeles: While LA will always be a 'home' because my parents live there, I have no desire to have the city be my permanent abode. So, even though my 'permanent address' is there, I do not feel right calling it my home, since I do not live there, have not been there in over a year and will not be living there in any sort of long-term capacity in the near future (or perhaps ever). 

For me, my home has to be wherever I am. I know I will never be 'homeless' but when I actually had to think about what my country of residence was (I ended up putting the US), I realised how compartmentalised the life of an expat aid worker can be. 


Life exists in 2 places for us. Where we are physically and then everywhere else. Relationships develop in the country we are working with, dramas happen, stress exists, fun and friendship takes place. But then there are all the relationships that existed before we moved that need cultivating, stories that will be with us forever, skype dates that need to take place. 


One of the things I have realised through all this is that what exists in one "box" should not become the be all and end all of life. Responses will end, job contracts will finish, people will move. But its the relationships that are kept up-to-date that will be the saving grace through all this.


I have been particularly terrible at cultivating my friendships outside of wherever I am physically. This is something I know I need to work on, and is something that I hope I will change over the coming weeks once I return to Haiti. The life of an expat does consist of boxes - and I need to make sure that all of my boxes are full :)

Community Exegesis

A few weeks ago, I organised a volunteer day with World Vision. The morning was filled with sorting, moving boxes, packing and unpacking items, organising and in general getting somewhat sweaty and dirty. And we all loved it because it got us out of the office and away from our computers for the day.

The Afternoon was spent in an area of Los Angeles called MacArthur Park, which is located just west of downtown LA. They call it "In the Shadows of the Skyscrapers." This is the area WV chose to get involved in and create an Urban Development Programme. We all headed out here to get a tour of the area, to engage with the community and to become skilled in doing a community exegesis.

Prior to this experience, getting involved in anything with the term exegesis in it returned me to my college theology course, reminding me of spending hours over a specific chapter of the Bible, writing down what specifically happened in each individual verse and what that meant, both to the verse and to the chapter as a whole. I did not really enjoy it. It was tedious, detailed, and did not bring me to some sort of deeper faith.

A Community Exegesis is something that is similar in theory, but very different in how you do it. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. So I would like to spread the knowledge we picked up, so that people can experience communities all over. Due to not wanting to make this blog a novel, I will likely leave the exegesis of MacArther Park to my next post.

The purpose of a community exegesis is to get to know a particular neighbourhood more in depthly. From this exercise you should be able to tell the history of that community, who lived there, who lives there now, and most interestingly where the community is headed.

1) First of all, you cannot do this exercise from a car or from your home. You must be out in and amongst the community - wear good walking shoes.

2) Work on your observation skills. Look very closely at:

- The People: Who lives there? What do they look like? What language do they speak? Where does it appear they are from? Be specific. Noticing that there are a lot of Spanish speakers and then assuming that they all come from Mexico is not good exegeting. And it is stereotyping - Refrain from stereotyping.

- The Buildings: What type are they? Are they all cookie cutter or do they each have their own distinct pieces? How far apart are they? What about from the street? Are there green areas in and around them? If they are apartment buildings, do they have balconies and do those balconies have personalisations or decorations on them?

- The Shops: What type of shops can be found in the community? Are they mostly chain stores? Do they cater to those who have excess or lack of incomes? Do they have an ethnic speciality? Do they offer deals towards one ethnicity over another?

- The Restaurants: Similar questions. What genre of food can be found in that community? Note any types of restaurants that seem out of place (such as a Vietnamese restaurant in a sea of Mexican food). If there are, consider if it is really out of place or just an additional piece to its history? Are there mostly chain restuarants or more mom & pop places? Are there high-end eateries available? What foods and types of foods are readily available to the community? Do they sell food only in sanctioned stores and restaurants or is some available just off the street as well?

- The "Art": Is there graffiti around? What does that graffiti look like? Is it indicative of a gang(s)? Do you see a symbol repetitive enough to be a 'signature'? Or is it graffiti art - a sanctioned mural created by the community? What does this indicate? Note - a community's morals and future are usually heavily depicted in this type of 'street art'.

3) After you have coallated all this information, look at the overwhelming themes. You should have a clear picture of who lives there, as well as their social class, ethnicity, and general age demographic. Finding their history and their future will take a bit more analysis and processing. Enjoy this.

If you have time, talk with some people living in the community. If you do not understand something, ask. Obviously, this is the easiest way to exegete a community. And you will probably meet some really awesome people if you do.