This is a post which should have made it up earlier, I apologize for it being out-of-sequence. In the last volunteer group there was a volunteer Meg who is a Pi Beta Phi at Loyola College in Los Angelos. As a proud Pi Beta Phi alumnae from Florida State (and current Alumni Advisory Council member at Duke’s PiPhi chapter) I instantly gravitated to Meg and we bonded instantly.
This story may sound cheesy or even contrived but it’s absolutely true… when the frightening incident with the man with the knife happened I found myself back at the CCS house trying to keep everyone calm. Meg had only been in Tanzania for three days (I’d been here about 3 weeks) and we’d only met the day before and discovered we were sisters in Pi Beta Phi. Across the yard I spotted Meg and unconsciously we just turned to each other – no words needed, just hugging and crying and trying to make sense of this tragic situation. We must have stood there hugging for 10 minutes but I was filled with a sense of relief, like we had been friends for years and years.
Its one of the things that’s hard to explain about sorority life – it gets its negative connotations but there is a real bond that translates even in Africa. Two total strangers that share this sense of sisterhood and I know I will remain in touch with Meg even though she has already headed back to the United States (her program was only 3 weeks whereas mine is 12). I doubt I did justice to show how much this situation meant to me but it absolutely did. The picture above is us on her last night – the symbol of PiPhi is an angel so I am the angel and she is the halo.
To all my sisters in Pi Beta Phi…. TTF. I miss and love you all.
This story may sound cheesy or even contrived but it’s absolutely true… when the frightening incident with the man with the knife happened I found myself back at the CCS house trying to keep everyone calm. Meg had only been in Tanzania for three days (I’d been here about 3 weeks) and we’d only met the day before and discovered we were sisters in Pi Beta Phi. Across the yard I spotted Meg and unconsciously we just turned to each other – no words needed, just hugging and crying and trying to make sense of this tragic situation. We must have stood there hugging for 10 minutes but I was filled with a sense of relief, like we had been friends for years and years.
Its one of the things that’s hard to explain about sorority life – it gets its negative connotations but there is a real bond that translates even in Africa. Two total strangers that share this sense of sisterhood and I know I will remain in touch with Meg even though she has already headed back to the United States (her program was only 3 weeks whereas mine is 12). I doubt I did justice to show how much this situation meant to me but it absolutely did. The picture above is us on her last night – the symbol of PiPhi is an angel so I am the angel and she is the halo.
To all my sisters in Pi Beta Phi…. TTF. I miss and love you all.
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