I arrived in DC in January 2006 from Romania, leaving behind a career, many colleagues with whom I had shared many years of hard work, projects, successes and some frustrations. I also left dozens of life-long friends. It was the first time I had left my home to live in a foreign country.
I spent the first three weeks arranging the stuff we brought from home in the apartment to make it comfortable to live in; reading a little, but most of the time resting. My excuse for not getting out of the house was that I was tired.
But I did go to the Spouse Orientation Program and heard so much information that instead of feeling better I was more confused than before. Over the next few weeks, I found the courage to go out, trying to discover the city; but I was being more of a tourist than a new resident.
And then, I realized I had nothing to do with all the spare time I had. I had no one to share my thoughts with or exchange opinions, and I was not able to find any friends. I missed my friends and the social life I had back in my home country. I started to doubt my ability to manage my life and felt really rather useless. It was then that I attended a “Welcome Coffee” meeting at the WBFN, and it crossed my mind that I was only one step away from depression.
I decided I needed to find something to do, and I went to the WBFN looking for something appealing. There I met a very friendly and interesting person who suggested that I join her at the “Book Project” where she was President at the time. It turned out to be the best day since I arrived in DC.
When I went into the large packing room in the J Building I saw about eight people obviously from different countries, all smiling, talking and working among lots of books. All of them approached me introducing themselves, explaining what they were doing, asking about me; too many questions, too much information, but such nice people. Of course, that first day I understood very little and was unable to remember the names, but, miraculously I felt I belonged there.
Then came lunchtime and we went to the cafeteria to buy lunch and returned to the office to eat together. During lunch we had a hodge-podge of conversations discussing anything and everything; it was the first time since my arrival that I had a real conversation with somebody other than my husband. And all of them understood my English, which was not so good.
The first day ended very quickly, and I promised to come back the next day. When I arrived home I called my husband to tell him that I had found my place, I had found something to do and somewhere to go everyday. This was also good news for him, because he had seen that I had not been very happy from the time we moved to Washington.
Since that day, I have been going every week to the Book Project. I quickly understood the purpose of the Book Project, where the books were coming from, what needed to be done and easily learned why and how to sort, stamp, deposit and pack the books. From the beginning, I liked the fact that at the Book Project there is purposeful activity, a target to reach, a reason for everything and anybody can do something useful.
The goal of the Book Project is to send donated books to developing countries to help children with their education. My new found volunteering job gave me an unexpectedly wonderful reward. Many times since I began working there, I’ve joked about the fact that I worked for 35 years in my home country, sometimes feeling that I was not fairly paid for the work I did. In joining the Book Project I have not only found valuable friends, but I have discovered work with rewards even more satisfying than any payment I received before. In all honesty, I am now not so sure that everything I accomplished in all the years I worked before was as useful as giving some children a chance to learn. The happy faces of many unknown children reading the books I send to them is the greatest reward I can imagine.
by Doina Olievschi