My mom's update

Since I've been really bad about it, my mom has taken it into her own hands to write a post. I'm sorry I'm a really bad blogger, part of it is thee is not very good internet, part of it is there's too much going on. But I think my mom sums up for the most part how I feel and I'll just have to tell you about the crazy adventures another time. So here are my mom's thoughts:

"So much has been happening over the past days that it seems like years since we combated
mosquitoes in Kigali. We have been to the Source of the Nile and back and are in a nice hotel,
Auberge Bob Sejour, with a spectacular view of Kigali. The adventure continues, as today we will
visit HOPE association where many children who head households acquire vocational skills from a small, local group of inspiring folks.

The south was inspiring – also exhausting, striking, educational, hard to encompass in words.

We have been having a great trip and it has been quite productive. We set out to find heroes and
we have met many -- children like Emmanuel who have emerged from Child labor to excel in
school, children like Nimere and Efuru who head households by working and providing for younger siblings to go to school, and so many other adult heroes – Gilbert, Evelyn, Jean-Yves. Some stories truly pierce the heart.

After the trek to the Source of the Nile involved three flat tires in one day due to roads and possible overnight on side of the road with trees crashing during thunder and lightning we have been somewhat too consumed with filming more and more kids, rain forest, and tea plantations.

We did make it to the Source of the Nile with the help of a Guide and two Rangers! It involved a trek through a canopy of rainforest with orchids and mushrooms and oversized trees and worms to a serene place where we reflected and soaked in beauty.

Yesterday, our visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial, one of many in Rwanda, opened up new
avenues of thought and emotions. One is challenged to display the kind of dignity that Rwandans portray after losing so many souls in a few months.

The spirit of the population here is so willing to forgive, or at least learn how to forgive, and try very hard to forgive. And they have a lot to be angry about , not just neighbors killing one another as part of a hate-inspired planned and orchestrated genocide but also being forgotten by the world, and they cope with energetic hope. Lessons to learn here for us all."