It's hard to believe I'm writing from a comfortable couch, in Minneapolis, drenched in morning sunlight from Minnesota sun. I just finished eating greek yogurt with raspberries, which were two things definitely unavailable throughout my last year of life. I am ever so grateful to have these months at home to connect with those I love on this side of the Atlantic.
My thought process this morning... "Okay, so if I want to post a blog, it will take at least 30 minutes to upload photos, so I'll start the upload, go for a run, grab coffee, and come back home to post." Well, the upload of the below photos literally took.... 10 seconds for each photo. Internet speeds are like lightning here. Its crazy.
So, without a run under my belt, I will update you on my last few days in Rwanda!
The day before my flight back home, I headed up to Musanze for a quick visit to see the kids at New Hope and help Chantal with a few projects. One of those projects was taking pictures while her architect and builders started measuring the building site for the new homes. A month or two back, all of the kids from New Hope moved to Musanze from Kigali, which although being a huge change for me, is just awesome for the ministry. Here is a picture of the new land. It is nestled under towering volcanoes, with plenty of space to grow food and keep animals. On this land, in about 9 months, will be a beautiful new building to house all 30 (or close to it) children at New Hope. The vision and plans for this property are well laid. I am excited to be a part of the process.
This is the architect looking at the plans, eyeing what should be roped off for the building site.
And here is a builder cutting planks to build a fence for the building site. Aren't the colors in this landscape just incredible?
I also got the chance to visit the pre-school started by the Anglican Mother's Union in Musanze. Here are the kids in their new, tie-clad uniforms. So cute. Its really hard to get a picture of a bunch of 3, 4, and 5 year olds looking at you (and gasp - even smiling), however!
Here is Desami identifying letters. The teachers in this school are just wonderful. I got to meet them a few months back and talk with them about planning out their instructional day, but seeing them in action was just so great.
After this wonderful day, I bussed back to Kigali to see friends, do some last minute packing and organizing, and found myself on a plane bound for Brussels. Who I didn't expect to see was one of my very good and dear friends, Marta, on the plane. We enjoyed the 30-minute flight to Kampala, sitting side by side, catching up. She then got off the plane in Kampala, where she is doing educational research for the next month. It was such a welcome surprise! Here we are, in all our traveling glory:
Now, I guess its time for that run and some coffee. :)
