It’s been a little over 3 years
since my last blog. To the folks that have been with me since the beginning,
you know the story. For those new to the blog, I’ll try to give a summary of
what the heck is going on with “Kevin Tackles South Africa”.
Rewind to February 2009: There I
was, getting laid off from my first job out of college at a record label. It
was a time when the U.S. economy was free falling and people left and right
were losing their jobs. I was floundering and frantically searching for new jobs
in the unforgiving entertainment industry. I paid for two round trip tickets to
L.A. for several interviews. I couched surfed at several friends’ apartments so
I could put myself in the best position possible to get a job. I came extremely
close to landing one at an entertainment publicity firm. In fact after one
phone interview, two separate in-person interviews and finally one of the
interviewers asking me if I had started looking at apartments in the area, I
once again fell short. They narrowed the search between me and one other
candidate and picked the other candidate. It was heart breaking, but to this
day, I still thank my lucky stars that I didn’t get that job. Not that LA is a
bad place, I’m just happy with where my life turned out.
Anyways,
during the time I was out in LA interviewing, a friend of mine shared his
experience going abroad in the Philippines. He spent 1-year doing a
humanitarian mission project that was sponsored through our church. It sounded
like a life-changing experience and after all of the frustration and
disappointment with the job search, I decided it was time to pursue something
different. In April 2009 the “Kevin Tackles South Africa” project was born.
When I say project, I mean, it was really a 24-year old guy pestering people
on-line, in-person and over the phone about how you should give him money to go
to South Africa ;). Come on people, I’m being sarcastic! While it was partially
that, it was so much more. It was for a good cause and something that I put my
heart and soul into. I still look at
those days and say to myself, “Kevin, if you were that motivated in every
aspect in your daily life, you would have probably done something awesome, like
single handedly saving the music industry”. Again, I joke because I’m truly
happy with what I’ve accomplished. It was just a special time and I invite you
to look at past blogs from www.kevintacklessouthafrica.blospot.com
to get an understanding of what it’s about.
For those who want the quick hit, I’ll give you the basic
gist. It was a 3-month volunteer program in which I fundraised almost $6,000.00
to work with a group of township musicians teaching them music, vocal technique
and promoted the group to get better performing opportunities. The group was
made-up of 18-28 year olds who performed song, dance and plays that informed
and entertained HIV/AIDS patients while they waited 4-6 hours to see doctors at
tiny and under-resourced health clinics in the townships of Cape Town. They
were seen like pop-stars in their communities and were beacons of hope for others
in Cape Town. Again, it was a breathtaking experience. The day I left Cape
Town, my group dedicated three songs to me in which lead me to tears. Seriously,
feel free to read more into it with any of my past posts.
In any case, the experience led me away from the music
industry to pursue work in international affairs. I ended up working for the
organization that sponsored my volunteer work, which sent me to Brazil (hence
the blog post about Salvador, Brazil). After a year with them I ended up
finding a job at Environmental Defense Fund and enrolling in grad school at The
New School’s Graduate Program of International Affairs. I was working for EDF
and taking graduate classes at night for 2 ½ years. It was a grueling process
that led to a lot of stress and few grey hairs, but I finally finished. In that
time, the New School presented an opportunity to work abroad through their
international field program. Knowing how much I appreciated my time in South
Africa, I decided to enroll in their program in Istanbul, Turkey. The
combination of support from my amazing organization EDF and the blood, sweat
and tears I put into getting to the end of Grad school, the Kevin Tackle South
Africa project transformed into “Kevin Tackles Istanbul”. It’s been a crazy
journey, but now I’m in Istanbul, Turkey for 2 months working with an International Human rights and Humanitarian Aid organization while pursuing
Turkish classes, policy lectures and exploring everything that makes this city
tick. In my next blog, I’ll detail my 1st week experience into the
city considered the gateway to the Middle-East. Until then, please feel free to
check out my old blog www.kevintacklessouthafrica.blogspot.com.
Thanks everyone!
