It was the first Saturday of a new life in a city seven hours away from my montane homeland. “To whom should you go?” Those were the words I grasped from the endless song of a crow in my new place. My soul cried for a weekend filled with enough compassion as well as adventure.
How can I forget the first scene of the first day of my university life! A group of girls were standing with a perfect joyful smile under a colorful hut hanging the banner “Gavel.”
“What do you know about Gavel?” This was their question for me. I felt like something was going to start.
As what I craved was a meaningful adventure, I wanted to take a table topic on the very first day, and I ended as the Gavel legend of the day. But surprisingly, before my first step onto the stage, my stage fear went away. No wonder, as the room was filled with a comfortable and compassionate atmosphere every lucky beginner should encounter on their first day. I found it in Gavel.
That first step led me to take a table topic at each and every meeting thereafter, as every review encouraged me to try once more. I found every Gavel meeting as a room blended with love, knowledge and fun. I was rewarded as the Gavelier of the Month shortly after. I am always grateful for that room filled with people who listen without any judgement.
The diary, which had been stroked with everyday colors for a long time, got its chance to turn into an unimaginable page full of adventure on the day of Gavel hike. As much as that stormy day on Kabaragala Mountain made us slip, fall and tremble, we cared and loved each other more than any other day. We together held each other’s hands in the promise of not letting anyone fall. As well, I didn’t forget to laugh a lot at the scenes of the boys crying over leeches and falling to mud pits. That was another beautiful and unforgettable day marked for the love and care we all shared with each other as the Gavel family.
Just like there is a time for a beautiful ocean wave to go back after loving her beach, the day of final wave happened. That day my mouth failed to turn my mind to words, as I struggled to bear a farewell to the greatest maternal leadership I have ever seen, by the Immediate Past President Gavelier Nuhaa. The tremendous courage and care received from her throughout my Gavel journey is ever unforgettable, we all stared at the ocean and we were promised to rise again as another beautiful wave.
I found Gavel as a bubble of love filled with encounters with the most beautiful and amazing souls that I have ever met. Together, we learned that Gavel is a place capable of adding unimaginable colors to everyone who is searching for a home away from home!
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