It's just days now till our departure. Although I can't speak to the feelings of my traveling companions, I am filled with apprehension and exhilaration in equal measure. I am embarking on an expedition into a world which I have no real knowledge; seemingly a journey into the great unknown. I have some inkling of what to expect, a brief idea of what lies before me. But there are many questions still bouncing around in my head.

As I sit here typing I am reminded of many great adventurers who braved the unknown in search of some greater meaning. Although these trails are well established, for myself and I'm sure most of my peers, they are strikingly new. We set off to make a difference in the lives of people we have not yet met, that we cannot communicate with easily, and have no great knowledge of. I do not know if we do this because of some greater sense of selflessness or in some capacity to enlighten our view of the world. For each member of our expedition I'm sure there is a different reason, none less or more worthy than another. But by the end of this trip I believe each and everyone of us will be irrevocably changed.

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that goes: “When the wind of change blows, some people build walls, others build windmills.” I believe we are building the windmill.