A teacher's packing list

I'm getting ready to get on a plane in just two days to fly quite literally half way around the world to teach theatre as a means of facing the oppression of living with HIV/AIDS in Malawi and to film a documentary about this work.

Here are some of the things I'm dragging with me from the United States:

• a couple of shirts - not sure why I'd need more than two or three. I'll wash them in the sink... or in the lake.
• 2 long skirts - it's not culturally appropriate to show your knees in Malawi.
• 1 pair of hiking shoes
• some socks
• 1 pair of sandals
• 2 bottles of insect repellant - to keep away mosquitoes
• medication to prevent malaria - for when the insect repellant doesn't work
• a head lamp - for when the power goes out and we need light
• a new composition book and 2 pens - for writing reflections on the process
• my curriculum and months of extensive notes - to keep myself grounded 
• hopes and dreams for social change - to keep myself inspired
• an open heart - to keep myself prepared to learn more than I can ever hope to teach

This last one is perhaps most important. When setting out on a journey like this it's important to orient yourself as much as a learner as a teacher. It takes humility. It takes courage. It takes honesty.