Russia: Home away from Home.

 

mud-volcanoesI am interested in this interaction between the place we are in and the development of our minds. The interplay of space and mind creates place when I think about my sense of place, it’s hard for me to pin it down.

Let’s start with my hometown. I was born and raised in Agbor Delta state Nigeria. I’ve never wished I were from any where else. People wish they hailed from somewhere else because they’re unhappy with their current place, or their past. They imagine a life that began in a distant metropolis, with a different house on a different street, because wherever they are leaves them unfulfilled.

I remain attached to my hometown, “because it has made me who I am”. However, I find that my sense of place expands far beyond my home in Delta state. Upon examining the settings and situations that comfort me, I find that my sense of place connects intrinsically with my memory.

Whether the facilitator’s ‘place’ is a stage, a group room, a retreat, a gym, a maze or a canvas we use place as a lot more than a setting to create the right ambience for our work. Place can act as healer and as guide as the emerging soul begins the tasks of creating their own world and acting in it. Heron sees these processes as essential activities of the creative psychic states and it is familiar territory for Development.

One of my most vivid childhood memories is a trip to Russia with my mother. I remember sitting in my car seat and gazing out the rear window in amusement of Russians great shaped towers, the maiden tower located in the south east part of icheri sheher; this unique monument of Azerbaijan. A place that was seriously damaged by Russian Naval bombardment in the 18 century and the Moscow night light.

As a ten-year old, in my head Russia was a place to behold. Sometimes the memories of “our earliest life experiences” are “a sensation as sweet as seeing ourselves in our dreams. These memories are ones we could not have formed ourselves in our dreams and quite possibly did not occur. Yet they are often the strongest and most lasting.

If I shukhov toweRhave the opportunity to travel to Russia again, I will look up at those towers and say welcome home. As I said earlier, there are some places in my hometown where I don’t feel any sense of place at all the value of local communities for older people’s quality of life is widely recognized how friends and community affected our trip we had friends of close proximity, a view that was often expressed in terms of the quality of friendship with different ethnic groups.

Where I stayed for the trip I see so many people passing my way, you know and they say ‘Hello, hello’, that’s fine ‘Good morning, nice weather’ or ‘It’s not very nice’, and that’s it. I would like to go and visit them but they want to be on their own, like, maybe due to cultural reasons. So, this is the reason why I want to live within the Community.

Connecting to my sense of place from my trip to Russia as a child, which resided in my imagination, allowed me to chase away some of my doubt and pain, and ultimately helped me reclaim my sense of self.This sense of identity is perhaps what makes one’s sense of place so important. Foregoing a sense of place was more important than accepting an identity I didn’t want to. I remembered the towering monuments, the streets that always appear dry, the taste of a pie and the interesting people around i felt a sense of longing, as if I have left a part of myself there.

moscow-night nlightThe definition of my sense of place, it’s much more than a city tower bell or dot on a map. My “place” is place is in my memory, neither is it limited to a geographic location. It resides in the sight of those historic places and towers in a parallel universe like Russia just like a boy playing at the bank of a sea-shore.

About the Author: I am Matthew Monyem a 21year old simple, gentle, loving, passionate and intelligent young man who loves the beautiful things of life. Find me on Facebook.

 

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