Sunset over Lake Kivu

The road home in Kibuye.

Preparing to go...

There is a foot of snow on the ground here in Minnesota a week before Christmas, and already my thoughts and dreams have taken flight to Rwanda, where it is eternally springtime. I can feel the sun on my back and taste the dust from the red clay that is everywhere; hear the rhythms of speech and the everpresent music; and picture the endless parade of women carrying loads and babies, men standing and talking, children tending cattle or chasing balls. The swirl of color, the dark skin that looks so much more real than my own white one, the intensity of everything in a place where people live on a fine line between being and not, these are images that live in my heart and pull me back to this strange yet familiar place. I know that there is much work ahead, but also good friends awaiting my arrival, and I am eager to go.