Lena and Alden you will be missed.

 On December 22^nd I was informed that two volunteers from my training group Lena Jenison and Alden Landis were killed tragically in a car accident here in Mozambique.  Along with their deaths, three other volunteers were injured but are doing well.  The accident occurred in the Gaza province in the southern part of Mozambique, and not many details about the direct accident have been given.   For the past 10 weeks I had been getting to know these girls all throughout training and when we left to go to our sites I was certain that I would have the next two years to get to know them better.   Lena and Alden were both amazing people, full of the enthusiasm, energy and life.

  My favorite memory of Lena was when I took a bus ride back from Maputo with her on our way to Namaacha and the only thing we did the whole time was joke around and laugh about a whole slew of random jokes that we were making, we were laughing and poking fun at each other the whole hour and a half ride.  I will miss the funny faces she always used to make, and the way she used to make sarcastic remarks about everything to get a few laughs from the people around her.  We always used to talk about going to Peru together after our service, because she had already been and loved it and it has been a place I have always wanted to visit.  When I finally get to Peru some day, I will have fond memories of the times I had with her.

Alden was a beautiful woman who was quick to laugh and smile at any joke.  My favorite memory of her was when I surprised tickled her one day while we were all at the bar for a few drinks and she promptly jumped out of her chair, shrieked and then promptly turned around and ran into a pole. We were both laughed at that for a good 15 minutes.   Alden and I shared a love of running.  I always enjoyed the times that her and I spent chatting about the Marathons we’ve run or the random exercises we used to do.  The world was a better place with her in it, and I am sad that her time came so early.

Overall, the holiday season has passed well for the rest of the volunteers and I, we gave each other presents, shared a whole bunch of meals together, had quite a few laughs and rang in the New Year.  However through we all have kept a positive attitude over the past few weeks there has been a distinctive shadow that has been hanging over our heads.   These two girls were very special, and my heart goes out to their families and friends who are having such a rough time with this loss.  

Lena and Alden you will be missed.