Like many new graduates, I left university full of hope for the future but with no real idea of what I wanted to do. My degree, with honors, in English literature had not really prepared me for anything practical. I knew I wanted to make a difference in the world somehow, but I had no idea how to do that. That’s when I learned about the Lighthouse Project.
和许多应届毕业生一样，我离开大学时对未来充满希望，但对自己想做什么却没有真正的想法。我获得的英国文学荣誉学位并没有真正让我做好任何实际的准备。我知道我想以某种方式改变世界，但我不知道该怎么做。这时我了解到了灯塔项目。
I started my journey as a Lighthouse Project volunteer by reading as much as I could about the experiences of previous volunteers. I knew it would be a lot of hard work, and that I would be away from my family and friends for a very long time. In short, I did not take my decision to apply for the Lighthouse Project lightly. Neither did my family.
我以灯塔项目志愿者的身份开始了我的旅程，尽可能多地了解以前志愿者的经历。我知道这将是一项艰巨的工作，而且我会离开家人和朋友很长一段时间。简而言之，我对申请灯塔项目的决定很慎重。我的家人也一样。
Eventually, however, I won the support of my family, and I sent in all the paperwork needed for the application. After countless interviews and presentations, I managed to stand out among the candidates and survive the test alone. Several months later, I finally received a call asking me to report for the duty. I would be going to a small village near Abuja, Nigeria. Where? What? Nigeria? I had no idea. But I was about to find out.
然而，最终，我赢得了家人的支持，并递交了申请所需的所有文件。经过无数次面试和演讲后，我成功地在候选人中脱颖而出，唯一一个通过了测试。几个月后，我终于接到一个电话，要求我去报到。我要去尼日利亚阿布贾附近的一个小村庄。哪里？什么？尼日利亚？我一点也不了解，但我马上就要知道了。
After completing my training, I was sent to the village that was small and desperately in need of proper accommodation. Though the local villagers were poor, they offered their homes, hearts, and food as if I were their own family. I was asked to lead a small team of local people in building a new schoolhouse. For the next year or so, I taught in that same schoolhouse. But I sometimes think I learned more from my students than they did from me.
完成培训后，我被送到了一个小村庄，那里没有合适的住宿。尽管当地村民很穷，但他们提供了他们的房子、爱心和食物，就好像我是他们自己的家人一样。我被要求带领一支当地人的小团队建造一所新校舍。接下来的一年左右，我在这所学校教书。但我有时觉得我从学生那里学到的比他们从我身上学到的更多。
Sometime during that period, I realized that all those things that had seemed so strange or unusual to me no longer did, though I did not get anywhere with the local language, and returned to the United States a different man. The Lighthouse Project had changed my life forever.
在那段时间的某个时候，我意识到，所有那些对我来说很奇怪或不寻常的事情都已经习以为常了，尽管我在学习当地语言方面毫无进展，但返回美国时我成了一个完全不同的人。灯塔项目永远地改变了我的生活。
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