Woman Ambae:
A Tale of Peace Corps in the South Pacific

In a year's time it seems I've lost contact, for one reason or another, with many back home, but in the same capacity have developed a number of friendships with those that have chosen to remain an integral part of my life that much more and gained what has become my Peace Corps family on top of that; this family of sorts has also grown and evolved with time, with the ordinary ebb and flow of every day life and an extraordinarily unique experience that has forged many bonds in the same regard. We've lost many along the way for nearly every reason imaginable, one more of which will be departing from us this day. A toast was made in this respect last night, originally from A. E. Housman's Shropshire Lad and more recently from the film "Out of Africa" that strikes me as particularly fitting for this occasion, as well as for the sentiments stirring around my brain as of late regarding the mark of a year's absence from family and friends back home-

With rue my heart is laden
For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipped maiden
And many a lightfoot lad.

By brooks too broad for leaping
The lightfoot boys are laid;
The rose-lipped girls are sleeping
In fields where roses fade

To those that come into our lives for any amount of time, from the briefest encounter to the oldest of friends, to those that come into our lives and change it for the better; to those that shake us awake and leave us in awe of the complexities of life, the ever-changing nature of the human spirit and the way in which our friendships shape who we become.