So why the dramatic blog name...

What is a kairos?

According to Wikipedia, Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment. The ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos and kairos. While the former refers to chronological or sequential time, the latter signifies a time in between, a moment of undetermined period of time in which something special happens. What the special something is depends on who is using the word. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative nature.

Basically, kairos is a period of time in which something significant happens or like Tillich (a philosopher and theologian) says, "a historical moment into which eternity erupts, transforming the world into a new state of being."

I like that image of eternity erupting, an upheaval of everything as we know it in one instance... and we all know what that is like, when something alters our path in life...

Anyway, I got the term kairos from the name of the organization that I will be interning with this summer in Uganda. The organization is called the Kairos Charity Community Development Organization and they provide holistic health care to the internally displaced population in Northern Uganda. Holistic services that provide physical, mental, spiritual, and economic well-being. I think their core value system is fantastic, and I am eager to see how their programs reflect this way of thinking. I think the title of their organization is also reflective of what they are trying to do, which is transform the way we think about health (moving away from disease focused diagnosis to a holistic paradigm of prevention and treatment). With this core set of values and their mission to provide these services to the Acholi (indegenious community) who have been victims of the ongoing violence in Uganda, they are also trying to heal the community.

Learning about the meaning of the word kairos was, incidentally, a kairos moment of perfect personal timing. A few weeks ago, I was having some reservations about leaving this summer to go abroad as this will be my third summer away from home. It is a strange feeling for me to want to be stationary, to build roots, since I've been consistently eager to travel and restless since I can remember. But I felt compelled to travel this summer... maybe for a combination of reasons... to take advantage of this time, since I might not have time to travel after I graduate for a long while... for space and clarity from the city and other personal things... and because, like all the other times I've gone abroad, I have felt called to go abroad regardless of reservations. I know the work I wish to do in this world is not just about serving the international community, it's about serving humanity by connecting all my experiences of different peoples, cultures, struggles in a way that allows me to do my work better -- with greater compassion.

This trip feels pivotal for me in many ways, professionally and personally. Not only have I been easing into a new chapter in my life, I feel like I am building the foundation to the work I wish to do in the world regarding social justice, gender based-violence, and international development. I just did not expect to get to Africa so soon in my life, and the fact that this opportunity has presented itself, I feel is significant also. (This is for Christine: What better place to connect to the Source, but in the land where man began?)