In honor of Joe Chow, PCV - Tanzania

I feel compelled to share this email as a member of the big and beautiful family known as Peace Corps, specifically Peace Corps Tanzania. It was written by my friend and fellow PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer), Leiha:

I just came back to Moshi this afternoon, got off the bus and hugged a new friend goodbye, for now. Her name is Leah, nice name huh? She's a short term volunteer here in Moshi. Normally I wouldn't cross paths with short term vols in Moshi town but today we just so happened to have met on the bus this afternoon coming from Dar. We caught up with each other at the lunch/rest stop. While chit-chatting a bit she made a comment about how someone once told her, "Don't wait til you're 65 to start living the life you wanted to try out." That's when I told her of a friend of mine who lived his life with such an intensity that there was nothing left to do but stand back and admire him.

My friend Joe Chow passed away last Tuesday. A fellow Education PCV, he was on school break and while visiting another friend of ours, fell while descending from a rock climb in Mbinga, Tanzania. I myself have climbed this same rock. It's not an easy climb, but do-able. His death was an accident in every sense of the word, nothing could have been changed, it happened. The reality of this is still hard to swallow.

The past week, being in Dar for his memorial, has been a blur of emotion and everything else. We were supposed to meet up and raft the Nile after he completed his service this November, we even talked about attempting another marathon together. I have many wonderful memories with Joe throughout our 2 years here in Tanzania. When Leah shared that story with me today at lunch, I felt an obligation to tell her I knew someone that didn't wait.

Joe lived his life with such a crazy intensity, a complete signature of his personality, that I'm finding myself not so much mourning the loss of the rest of his life, but standing back in admiration for all he did while he was here, alive. Yes, I miss him. I don't know when the reality of his absence will really settle in, or if it ever will. But isn't it our obligation as friends to take those we lose with us in life?

I never thought that the last time I saw him, waving through the window of the bus, I wouldn't meet up with him again in our lifetime. We never truly know, do we? But that's just it. We all will pass on one day. I just hope that in the meantime, we all live our lives to the fullest, happiest, most enriched we can. Life is a beautiful blessing, a gift we share and enjoy together. I am blessed to have been enriched by Joe's friendship in my life.

Thanks for reading this.
Leiha (PCV in the Pare Mountains)