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!