the commotion of change....

At some point or another in life I think we all come to realize that change is not something that ever stops. Sometimes its you in the thick of it... and other times it swirls around you. I feel like that right now-- standing at the edge of my yard, watching change roll in like weather from across the valley. Starting to feel the smack of raindrops on my cheeks. I know things will be fine. I know no feeling is final. But tonight I am sad for the changes.

I realized something else tonight. I bought a new song on iTunes (a loud, angsty song to feed my mood...) and for some reason it didn't fully download. It plays for about a minute, but then skips to another song driving me BANANAS. I kept replaying it, hoping it would magically work, but was just getting increasingly frustrated. About the third time, it flipped to an old Neil Diamond song. Sure- go ahead and laugh, but I was born and raised on that rich new york voice and quirky lyrics, and I love them. "Lost... On a painted sky... Where the clouds are hung... for a poets eye... You may find him. If you may find him.... BE. As a page that aches for a word... which speaks on a theme that is timeless... And the one God will make for your day." It was like finding something rock solid. something absolutely known. A hook to hang all that change on, and keep going.

So a cup of tea. A digestive biscuit (A Robinson's number one coping mechanism), the weird and wonderful voice of Neil Diamond to give me some assurance, and a painted sky.

Triathlon...

The last three weeks I felt like I was running a triathlon... go go going from one big thing right into the next without a break or the chance to catch my breath. I somehow find I have arrived on the other side of it all (a feat which seemed impossible several weeks ago)- rather exhausted mentally and emotionally, physically sore, and not quite sure what to do with myself, but man, it was a GOOD run!

Leg 1: Rwanda (April 19-28) Leading a group of 32 students/staff through 9 days in Rwanda.

Leg 2: Debrief (April 29-May 2) Four days in Entebbe, debriefing the semester with the students and preparing them for reentry to life in the US. Of course there was the incorporation of color and circles to aid in the process!

Leg 3: Mt. Elgon (May 3- 10) I participated in a Spiritual Disciplines class with Mark this semester. The culmination of the class was a hike up Mt. Elgon. Fourteen thousand feet, baby! HOOOOWEE. Hard work, but it was utterly spectacular. 

More on each of these grand adventures later, perhaps one by one as life settles down a little bit around here.

Grandpa MacDowell

April 23^rd, 2012

I am in Rwanda right now, on the shores of Lake Kivu just south of Gisenyi. Across the water lies Congo. So much of my history and being grows out of Congo.

Tonight dad tells me (via txt) that they’ve moved grandpa home from the Convalescent Center, that they are giving him two weeks. It feels like a profound and sacred thing somehow. To me. To be here. To be close to the land to which my grandparents—all of them— dedicated their lives and their work. I feel extremely far away somehow and yet very close.

There is a big storm out over the lake tonight. The usually quiet shore is tonight loud with the crashing of waves. Thunder. And the strobe of lightening. Making me feel very earthly, temporal, and yet very much alive and a part of it all.

How strangely sad to think of one of the pillars of my life and history coming to an end. But how good to imagine Grandpa getting up out of the river on the other side—like the good king Caspian… young. Tall. Strong. In the fullness of his being. I imagine uncle Ham being the first there among the crowds, waiting, to grasp his hand and pull him up out of the waters into a booming hug. I long for this, even as my heart hurts to think of death and separation.

There is a tree here at this place, an incredible old tree close to the waters edge. Today after long hours, I lay under its great umbrella of crisscrossing branches. And I thought of its age and stability and strength. I imagined its roots, sustained by the waters of the lake and this peaceful and perfect place in which it lives. I thought too, of the turmoil through which it has lived. Colonialism. Independence. Genocide. Healing and restoration. All the while growing as only trees can, into the fullness of their beings.

I am grateful tonight. Grateful for my roots. Grateful for my grandparents. My family. For those I met today. And for these sacred moments of life. 

Grandpa died peacefully at home on April 24th surrounded by the love and warmth of Grandma, Mom, Dad and Auntie Annie at 95.

What a gift.

A day off...

I'm up too early with too much on my mind these days, but I do enjoy catching the sun rising and the glow of a fresh new day.

I spent the better part of my day running around Kampala and enjoyed stopping mid-way for a coffee break at mishmash. Resting, regrouping and rehydrating mid-way through is necessary for a productive day of errands. (And it was!!) (Productive that is.)

Back home this afternoon... the monkeys are enjoying the guava tree again. I was trying to catch the mama monkey with her brand new out-utero baby wrapped around her middle, but she was refusing to still still long enough. I DID manage to catch this fellow mid-flight to the ground though. (I really wish I could hit pause and go and inspect the little things clinging to their moms. Are they just holding so tightly to tufts of fir with their hands and feet? How does it not fall off as its mom flings herself though the air, 50 feet up? When do they get too big for her front, and have to rotate to the back? I'm so intrigued and wish I could get a better view... and photo for that matter.)

I'm totally digging my friday off-- and the whole weekend still stretched ahead of me!

Random RHS

A smattering of random photos from a week on rural home stays in Serere with my co-workers Jones and Jordan and Margaret.

Coaster ride up!

Kate meeting her host grandmother:

Jones and Jordan ghosts:

Sunset through the school window:

6:42pm:

pretty little flowers:

An evening walk:

Scary chicken:

Crazy seeds:

Sodas with students and their host families:

Sunset on top of the hill:

After the rain:

Early morning walk:

Brilliant mango tree:

...blowing in the wind:

The bobsey twins and their host mama:

Home for the week:

Descending:

More visiting:

Random staff album cover gone wrong:

Sipi falls whisper:

Great week!

Some more Rwanda...

I always wonder, can I sum up a whole trip in just one picture, maybe two? Sadly, no. I can never decide, so I give up and post far more photos than necessary. This was my 5th trip to Rwanda since I moved to Uganda a year and a half ago, but this time we saw and did a whole host of new things...

My coworker Abby and I flew to Rwanda for a 5-day planning trip. (Seriously, what is this job I have?!) We had a fabulous time. We expertly navigated a good deal of planning for our upcoming trip with both old and new sites, visited some places just for fun, had endless good conversations and it was made all that much more enjoyable with plenty of coffee stops along the way.

(Some of) what we saw and did:

1. Ivuka Arts Gallery... VERY COOL. An artists cooperative/gallery space in Kigali.

2. Dinner with the Karyegesa's... Emmanuel is a former honors college student, now doing very cool micro-finance work in Rwanda, and his new wife, Julianna (also UCU graduate).
3. The fabric market. OH. MY. GOODNESS. Totally overwhelming, glorious colors, patterns, stacks and stacks of FABRIC. And this was just ONE shop! (Abby and I each came back with an extra bag loaded with fabric...)
4. Hillywood. Thats right folks. The land of a thousand hills.
5. Golden Crested Cranes at the Stipp Hotel in Gisenyi. (Where we revamped with a cup of coffee.)
5. Sunset over Lake Kivu- which lies between Rwanda and Congo.
6. Plants seen from the top.
7. Who says latrines can't be beautiful? They didn't necessarily smell as beautiful... but, what a lovely spot, hey?
8. Barefoot Artists project: The Rwanda Healing Garden. A memorial just outside of Gisenyi that has been beautified by community artist, Lily Yeh. What does it mean to have memorials? What is the difference between one showing the stark, horrific reality, and one that is beautifully and sensitively designed to offer solace and hope? (A conversation I'm excited to engage the students in when we come back in April.) Here I am with Jean Bosco, the community organizer who helped with the development and implementation of this project, and the woman who cares for this memorial.
9. A woman's sewing project in Gisenyi.
10. Another project with Lily Yeh. She held drawing/painting workshops with the children of this village, and then transposed their drawings onto the walls of their houses. The sum total a very exuberant effect: each house donning its paintings proudly. Whimsical, colorful, unselfconscious children's artwork, larger than life for everyone to enjoy...

11. A Batwa Pottery Project. Here a woman whips up a large coil pot with skill and ease.
12. The Virunga Mountains, which you drive by on the way to Gisenyi. This is Muhabura I believe. The Virungas are an extinct string of volcanos famous for their mountain gorillas. (Diane Fossey did her research here.)
13. Three of the mountains.
14. Coming back into Kigali... the late afternoon sunshine hitting the hills and the city just right.
15. Abby and I enjoying out last lunch at O Sole Luna restaurant. Yum.
Such a good trip. I'm throughly pumped (and planned!) for April when we will return with the students.

Oh, and PS- our returning flight was routed through Bujumbura, Burundi. I can now officially say I have been to all east african countries. WHOOT!