Ahhh . . . the joys of internet in Africa! I was waxing eloquent yadah yadah yadah . . . and lost all of it through disconnection . . . I would guess I had been working at getting signed on, etc., for about an hour, then lost it all . . . Oy vay. One has to just toss it off to character building. Thus I may cut my character building a bit short this time around.
Enough to say that today the team went in several different directions. One into town to buy supplies for the trek out to the Gosagi Village of Children Heads of Households (now a buzz word), that is so prevalent here in Rwanda. There may be more than 150,000 households that are headed up by children. Their families were lost during the genocide. It is incomprehensible. We’re looking forward to our time there where we’ll hang with them a good part of the day. Part of our objective will be to see how they live, what they live on, where they get water, visit their homes, etc, and try and gather as much information (conversationally–not linearly as we Westerners would be prone to do), and give to our friend Kelly Bean, who is working with a potential donor in the States.
The other group headed out to Nyamata, about 40 minutes away, and visited a coop there of perpetrators and victims working on a project together in order to continue to foster reconciliation. People are working beside those who either did or were complicit in the killing of their own family. These people are beyond brave and beyond courageous as they attempt to live rather than die. It will rock your world to see it. Their project is soap making right now, so watch out friends and family as we bought a lot of soap! You might just be receiving it some of it.
The team is doing great. Getting more comfortable every day . . . working well together.
Take care . . . Talk to you soon.
Leigh–on behalf of the team
