At Home in Rwanda

So its been a while since I posted and I wish I could blame a poor internet connection or lack of power, but except for a few minor and temporary outages, we have been very fortunate with our housing locations.  

After wrapping up my first term of classes in Uganda a week ago Friday, I was off to Practicum on Sunday, which just so happens to be in Kigali, Rwanda.  For those of you who may not be aware, Practicum is a period of about 3.5 weeks where are team is split up to work throughout Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia working on various projects consisting of everything from research, to agro-forestry, to media communications and working in schools.  For my Practicum project, I am in Kigali (the capital of Rwanda) working in the Kigali International Community School, a position I am very excited for.

Rwanda, pronounced over here as 'randa or rwanda (ironically enough as it is spelt), versus the American version of Ru-wanda or Ra-wanda.  A small landlocked country that is home to over 10 million people, Rwanda reportedly hosts the densest population on the continent of Africa.  Perhaps most known in history for the Genocide in 1994, Rwanda is so much more than a series of tragic events.  Surveying the land and driving around this past week, I am more apt to think of Rwanda in regards to its title as "Land of a Thousand Hills."  

Waking up each morning I get the joy of looking out across a valley spotted with homes and winding red clay-dirt roads.  Breath taking skyscapes fill the vastness of space more often than not and I find myself continually marveling at the beauty of it all.  Quiet, slower and more orderly than life in Kampala, Kigali has brought some much needed peace that was previously allusive.  Enjoying each place as it is, I have found the adjust to our new home in Kigali rather painless.  While I don't know if it is ever a place I could live long term, it is somewhere I could see myself coming back to.