full circle

I don't know if I believe in fate, but too much has happened in my life for me to discount the idea that things happen serendipitously.

Yesterday I was told that the one reason I'm in my village, THE main reason they asked for a PCV, is because they wanted to empower women! The people who filled out the application wanted someone to come in and get the women involved.

In one sentence this Fijian man validated everything I have studied and based my adult life around. Everything I was ridiculed for in college, "women's studies? Bah! What are you going to do with that?" I, Amy Hirtzel, can help. Yes, I can. I have studied gender studies and women through almost every lens and scope (historically, psychologically, socially, sociologically, through literature and philosophy, through feminist theory and memoirs, through art and theatre, and in daily life through the relationships I've had). This opportunity gives me the chance to bring women into development! A passion that was sparked sophomore year in Julee's International Women's Issues class.

So to all of those who laughed in my face in college and for all those who thought that me joining Peace Corps was just me postponing my inevitable growing up, suck it. That's right--I wrote suck it. For the first time in my life, everything I've worked towards and believe in will finally be combined into something meaningful. I can hardly wait to get started.