My passport was pure - never stamped. I am on my first trip out of the country, not including Canada and Mexico. My destination: Rwanda. Yes, Africa. Many minor moments of anxiety along the way, but none worth documenting. What I know on day one is that nothing is familiar. I also know that I have a heart full of gratitude. I am incredibly grateful for a few things: first of all, soap! I don't think many around here use it (ugh). I am grateful for hot water (to which is not readily available). I am grateful for drinking water, diet coke, and ice! I am grateful for electrical outlets that WORK with my blowdryer (nope, don't have um here-yikes! getting a converter). And I am grateful for not having to apply insect repellent twice a day as lotion. More importantly, I am grateful that I never have suffered such traumatic loss of family. EVERY Rwandan here lost a spouse, a child, a mother, a brother, and in most cases, lost MANY during the genocide, which, would have been about 2/3s of the way through only fifteen years ago today. If I had been here exactly 15 years ago this town would have been COVERED in blood. I still cannot comprehend it and am sure it will only feel more complicated as we head out today to visit an orphanage.
The lovely Willa Shalit, with whom I am traveling with, is a gentle force in Rwanda. The people love her and know of her good works. The orphanage we are visiting today was assisted in creation by her hands, and prior to beginning her company, Fair Winds Trading. It was about 6 years ago that she was visiting Rwanda. She met two men, both of whom survived the genocide by playing dead under a pile of bodies. These two men met while working at a hotel and both had vowed that they would do something for others if God spared their lives. In walked Willa. She was inspired by their courage and assisted in raising the money to build the orphanage to which I will visit today. This was done on her own, at the will of her heart, and not with any other organization (I will visit another orphanage later this week). One of the men is now married, and recently had a baby, to which he lovingly named, Shalit, in her honor.
