April 19: Learning the secret to happiness

I must say the team has done well this past two weeks. We have cold showers each day - something we have all come to appreciate - but honestly when we arrived most of us were grossed out by the conditions. Several toilets don't work - one leaks onto the floor! Our lodgings are functional but nothing to write home about but we have come to appreciate a safe bed to sleep in after a hard days work. But we chose this experience for a reason.

Eating rice and noodles, tempeh, fish or fried chicken - we realize that we are lucky compared to a big chunk of the population but if we are honest we are used to better.

So, here we sit. We expect better. But to see life from the vantage point we have gotten over the past few weeks is incredible. We live privileged lives in North America! To a person we have had our own moments of deep insight. We have become more grateful for our own situation in life.

But, we are taught by the people we meet - over and over again - that the secret to a happy life is not the physical surroundings we live in. We often feel lonely in North America but people here have a smile on their face - they know that life is not an individual sport - human connections give life meaning!

Funny how we learn things from two weeks of cold showers!

Nick Foster
Softchoice Employee and DWC Team Leader
Bali, April 2012