There had been many times i felt i wanted to make the most of things i do in life, so at the age of 35yrs i am not married, i don’t have children and haven’t travelled to every place around the world and i was often being made to believe i was going life all the wrong way. I don’t believe i should have to be married with children to think that i have or am making it in this world, yet i was feeling really down about things and i couldn’t figure out why, even though i work really hard and look after my family and am enjoying things i want to do, it just didn’t feel like i was doing enough.
Last year in 2014 i just happened to have ended up working for a company where the majority of the team were married, they had children and were making me feel like i was missing out in life by not having any of that. It came to a point i felt i was being bullied and was really unhappy at work and hated driving into the office. For a very long time i had been dealing with depression and yet i had no idea that is what i was going through, i went through a really bad time, i was at my lowest and was so alone that i failed to see beyond the darkness of all the feelings and emotions i was suffered on my own. I wasn’t part of the mother, wife, girlfriend gang so something must be wrong with Saima, yet it didn’t occur to me that the reason i worried about other people’s feelings and the reason i kept myself single and made sure i always available for those that needed me most is because i had a purpose in life and i just couldn’t put my finger on it.
So the 3days during the end of Christmas and before the New year i was in the office on my own as everyone else had decided to work from home. It was a great time for me as i didn’t have to deal with the bullies i was surrounded by and those that would put me down and didn’t even think about whether or not it was nasty. I sat at my desk and just thought about what i had achieved in life and where i wanted it to go. Getting married and having children was not on the top of that list maybe because those that only have that in life to show for, tell me ‘its the right thing to do’. I starting browsing the internet and unknowingly i began to look for voluntary work in the UK. Not any particular type of voluntary work but i wanted to devote my weekends to helping those who needed it most. I knew it would be a few hours on a Saturday and Sunday and thinking about it got me more and more interested and i was really getting excited over the idea of doing voluntary work. I then stumbled across the site for Original Volunteers.
This site had many different articles about applying to do voluntary work abroad, i kept on reading through and going through the reviews and i became more and more interested. I then checked out the application forms and the costs for working abroad and the length of time expected to work in a other country. It offered from 1week right through to 3 or 6months, it was amazing and every part of me reading this and going through the pages of what to expect and what is expected of me, i just was so intrigued i contacted the company straight away.
So 7 months on from contacting the company to paying for my flights i have started out on what feels like the best decision i have ever made. Yes it has put my feelings into perspective and certainly made me look at things differently and more importantly for the better, how i used to feel and how what people would think of me being 35 and single, but at least i am financially stable and blessed to be given the opportunity to help those less fortunate, helping in conditions i just didn’t appreciate before and how challenging the time would be, i definitely feel like i am doing something that means the world to me and that i can be proud of.
No one can say to me you have to finish your education, find a good job, get married and have children, or just be married and have children to be able to say you have made something of yourself. What i have done is take the time to understand what i want and feels right for me, and i could not have chosen a better life for me, then to propose to dedicate 4weeks of my time each year, travelling all around the world on being there and helping those who truly deserve my time and energy most.
My time in Cusco Peru confirms my reasons for me taking the step and beginning my global journey as a philanthropist, a good samaritan and i hope you continue to follow my work.
Next stop – Tanzania
SaimasCharityTravels 