On April 1, 2011 shortly after concluding my very first training as the Atlas Corps Fellow serving in Atlas Corps as the training manager, I quickly headed to One Lounge DuPont Circle where I became engrossed in an interesting conversation with some African Americans on my American experience. This conversation was probably triggered by my conspicuous dressing (meant for the training), I had a proudly African attire on in a happy hour bar on a Friday evening. Just a mere looking around confirms I wasn’t appropriately dressed for that location.
“....and where are you from?” someone asked, “Nigeria I answered”, this response started a thrilling 3 hours stint chat on what my American experience has been, and ultimately the million dollar question “so what is your plan after the Fellowship?” “I will go back home” I said. These guys were probably stunned with the confidence wrapped around those words, and out of a disturbing curiosity they asked, “Why do you want to go back to Africa?”, “Why shouldn’t I” I answered. To further buttress my response, I stressed, “Isn’t the Unites State is just 1 country of out of about 200” why should I die in 1!
And for every other day I live here in the US, the Great Society speech by Lyndon B. Johnson, re-echoes:
“We have the power to shape the civilization that we want. But we need your will, your labour, your hearts, if we are to build that kind of society. Those who came to this land sought to build more than just a new country. They sought a new world.”
In these words I have found faith and fortitude to match forward towards that civilization I seek. Like the infamous Death Strip of the Berlin Wall, many have encountered their deaths at this very boundary I now see behind me. And now that I’ve gone beyond the border, what do I do?
I am taking with me new building blocks;
I am igniting ripples of hope for the aspiring;
I am realizing the prophesies of many; shaping out the civilization deeply lodged in their hearts.
This is what my description of the Atlas Corps Fellowship is – “a cross border experience where civilizations are hatched”. Through this experience I have come to uncover the genius of every great civilization:
The United States of America isn’t what we necessarily think of it as outside of its borders, Americans for centuries have been successfully aligning their vision for the country with global reality. Americans have been shaping the civilizations they want.
Even the Atlas Corps Fellowship isn’t different, for the past 5 years, the program has been conforming the world’s experience to its intended vision; Atlas Corps has been reshaping the conventional practice of international service; creating a new a whole new civilization within the development sphere.
Now that I am in this great country and a member of the incredible Atlas Corps team – I now have the power to shape a whole new civilization.
