The Land of a Thousand Hills

Oh dear, how long it’s been since I have posted! My second batch of classes are now drawing to a close and I’ve been on several trips! We went to Lake Kivu and—although I was bound to my bed the entire weekend—it was absolutely lovely. I only wish that I had been able to go water skiing and visit the islands and the bat caves! It sounds as though everyone had a fabulous time, though! Last Saturday, we went on safari. There are hardly words. It was phenomenal. Hippos, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, topi, impalas, water bucks, baboons…I’m sure there are more that I am forgetting. For most of the time, we rode atop our vehicles, so the view was lovely. At one point, a baboon jumped up on the roof of the vehicle ahead of us, but luckily no one was yet on the roofs at that point.

This past week was spent interviewing communities in a rural northern district as a pre-baseline survey. Not only was that portion so interesting, but we also stayed at a college in the middle of the boondocks. I must say, it was wonderful to be back in a college setting with people our age! We stayed in dorms with the students and even taught them a country line dance! I could’ve stayed there a few more days, for sure.

I’ve locked into a church here, All Nations Pentecostal Church, and I’m enjoying it so much. Their Bible study/ministry focus is very effective, and everyone is so welcoming! The service is in English, but there aren’t any other abazungu, so it’s great! It’s such an eye-opening experience to be able to worship together with people from a culture completely different than my own.

Now, the whole trip is drawing to a close. It’s difficult to fathom the fact that I’ll be back in WNY two weeks from tomorrow! Only two more projects remain and then debriefing in Kampala. I must say, I’m slightly dreading all of the upcoming travel, so I’m looking forward to a bit of respite and relaxation when I first get home. And I’ve requested that Mama make stew and dumplings… J

Cruising through Kigali...

The internship portion of the program is over now and it was certainly a perfect fit for me. I felt completely in my niche. There were so many differences in land distribution and production here. I won’t bore everyone with the details here, but if you are interested, I would love to discuss the particulars when I get home!

Kigali has been good to me: taking a free salsa lesson, doing African aerobics, hanging out with the National Tennis Team, and a million other things. I’m so content with life—starting to miss the fam more and more all of the time—but happy nonetheless.

This week was something of a transition week. We have been completing our term papers for practicum and had our first class on Monday. We (the girls) have moved into a convent down the road, which is fantastic. The cooking isn’t quite as good as at our first guesthouse, but other than that I am really enjoying having a bit more space. We also travelled for a few days, hiking for six hours in the Nyungwe Rainforest one day and discussing issues of development with students from the National University of Rwanda on another.

Tomorrow we actually begin class fulltime, which will be nice. I rather enjoy being a student…

Rwanda!!

Rwanda is treating us so well! I didn’t believe that I could enjoy a place as much as I had Uganda, but it certainly is possible! Here, at least, my French comes in handy, which is rather gratifying. I’m a week into my practicum now, an agricultural internship in agronomy. Our “base” is in Kigali and Mitch and Jenny are staying here while they help at an international school and Wes and I are in and out, traveling around to various districts to meet with the agronomes (agronomists). We are going to visit several sites and survey the land in order to choose the best location(s) for some commercial agriculturists who will be arriving soon. Although our resources for soil testing are extremely limited, it was great to get out into the field today and actually feel somewhat useful. We’ll be spending the rest of this week out in the rural areas and this weekend compiling our reports. Gosh, I love agronomy. Judge me as you wish! J

Funny story: This Sunday, we went to a church and met some people from South Korea who live in Rwanda. It turns out that the father had studied International Agriculture and Rural Development for his Master’s from Cornell and is now an agronomist. It is a flippin’ small world.

The other day, I had the most fantastic experience: riding a motorcycle on winding roads in the mountains of Rwanda, surrounded by patchwork hills. Breathtaking. Hands down the best landscape that I have ever seen.

We’ll be here in Kigali for eight more weeks, then another week in Kampala, then home. Almost half way already—crazy.

Loose Ends from Kampala

I have so much to share, so I'll start with the Babies' Home, which was incredible. There were about 40 children all under the age of 4. We visited a couple of times and played with them, fed them lunch, changed diapers and clothes, and put them down for a nap. I was quite impressed by the organization there. The children were for the most part well behaved and happy. Dwelling on the fact that they are orphans would only hinder our ability to actually be beneficial. They are children—precious and created in the image of God. That’s all that I needed to know. I hope to go back when we return to Kampala.

By the way, I'm in Kigali, Rwanda now. I've so much to catch up on from Uganda, though!

We went whitewater rafting on the Nile one weekend in Jinja, which was terrifying! Perhaps if I weren't such a poor swimmer, it would have been a bit different, but it was fabulous just the same. We all received royally painful sunburns that day!

One week in!

This week has been incredible! A few other girls and I have been going to Jordan House, an orphanage for children ages 4-18…56 children. As soon as we arrived, they swarmed us, welcoming us, hugging us, sharing their names and any other English that they knew. Three little girls took me on a tour of the complex, so proud of what they had. We played volleyball, learned Luganda, played games, and talked. The next time, I helped fetch water from the well. They expected me to hand it off part of the way up the hill, but I did not! You should have seen the looks I received on the way up the hill through the village the first time, let alone the second! Down at the well, one of the adult men was VERY surprised. He said (imagine the accent), “Hello Muzungu! How are you? Are you here to fetch water?” “Yes, I am.” “Truly?” (*chuckle, chuckle*) “Yee, sebo (yes, sir).” :D Forgive me for my bragging! I was simply proud to have defied the muzungu stereotype of being dainty and weak! I only wish that I could have carried it on my head. They say it is easier once you learn how and then I really would have stunned them! I've decided Jordan House will be my primary ministry while I am in Uganda. God is GOOD! "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." -Galatians 3:28

Testing the blog...

Leaving the states tomorrow!!