Gisenyi Finalle

Bite (bee-t-a)  or hello from Kigali, Rwanda.

Let me start by saying thanks to everyone who is following this and I hope I don`t disappoint!

We started out our last day in Gisenyi quite early, out of the hotel by 7:30am after a nice breaky, drove to the mayors office and met with his very nice very good english speaking assistant mayor, who was very interested in our ideas and stories about our trip and our country.

The meeting didn`t last too long and before we knew it we were back at the Right to Play Gisenyi office for another meeting with the whole group (from left-right back row then left-rigt front row) Yves (RTP Coach and main headquarter manager), Roz G (extreme world champion skiier), president of CN (Coaches Network), Stephanie Buryk (RTP representative from Toronto), secretary CN, president CGN (Community Group Network), Vice president CGN, financial expert & coach Right to Play Gisenyi, Rwanda, (bottom row) secretary CN, vice president CN, Helen Upperton (bobsled olympic slver medalist), 2 women from the Female participation sector of CN.

All of these people were so wonderful in explaining and outlining everything to us, it was so interesting to hear exactly what groups like the CN and CGN do for these kids, its inspiring to hear about all the effort they are putting in to make life for these families as happy and fun and educational/healthy as possible!

With some extra time before heading off to a rural school, we had a photo session with each of us and the partners with Right to Play, having a good talk trying to explain how to jump a horse, drive a bobsled and do flips on ski's 30 feet in the air, safe to say Rwandese do not understand the art of SNOW or horses very much since they really have neither.

Our day progressed quicker then we figured so on the way to find our wandering reporter friend who was already tagging along and being a pain in our ass, we decided to go look around the beautiful Gisenyi. I found this particular walkway just opposite the Mayors office, on the left was a volleyball court, on the right a soccer field, both public, both in use although my photos of the kids playing turned out fuzzy and disoriented so they were deleted so I hope amazing canopy made by African native trees will suffice.

Not only were the sites amazing and though I would love to post ever single picture I have, I really do not have that much patience or time and I'm sure with the descriptions or even just the photos alone it would be incredibly ridiculous, so for now these are some of the most interesting ones. Helen especially loved the women of Rwanda and how everything they needed to carry was placed in a basket, bucket or bag and then balanced on they're heads, she was so excited in fact that when she struggled to get photos of these women they would come out awful! So I took a few and this is my best result so far I believe. We are determined to try this ourselves but have not met the right ladies to jump out of the RTP 4x4 and take a basket off their head!

As our trip continued we arrived at a few very interesting places in history, one of which was the home of legendary Jane Goodall. For those who are thinking "who the hell is Jane Goodall!?!" you'd know her better by the crazy monkey lady, Jane fell inlove with chimpanzies in the 1960's when she travelled to Africa for research, she founded her research institute in 1977, Jane lived in Gisenyi, Rwanda for most of her life where she wrote many books and articles for famous magazines like National Geographics.

We didn't go in (obviously) but we did manage to stop just outside the gate and get a few photos of the vines that now encase her home where she once lived. (the photos are not loading so use your imagination).

The second turn around I should say was at the border of Rwanda and the Congo, we had taken a few photos and noticed some angry motorbike taxi's when a border police guard came to the window and yelled at us for using our cameras saying we weren't allowed to take photos of the border... but by that time we already had a few each and so we gladly turned around and left...quickly. Just a brief note, the border between Rwanda and the Congo's history revolves around alot of murder and devistating loss of life, but when you think of that what do you imagine? Because this is what it looks like ---->

Those motorbikes are in RWANDA... that house is in CONGO... and this is where a masacre happened... unbelievable? We thought so.

After that fun trip to the crazy monkey ladies house and the Rwandan/Congo border we embarked on a mission up into rural country outside of Gisenyi to visit 2 schools. The first one we went to was built on a mountain in a very rural part of the country where the roads, if you could call them that were beaten and broken and barely roads at all, it was like going 4x4 without the mud everywhere. I wish I had got the entrance to the school (which was surrounded in a rock wall to keep the kids from wandering too much), because it was a hill, just a little one but the truck in 4 wheel drive, pedal to the floor barely made it up, I though it was fun, my friends apparently didn't agree! haha.

Anyways, we had come to this school to meet with the teachers, principal and coaches to get an idea of how a school functions more efficiently with the support of Right to Play.

The first thing we saw when we came in was amazing... 3 large water tanks on each 3 of the classe room buildings, all marked with RTP logos, that brought fresh drinking and washing water to the children of 1059 students, 250 of which lived in an orphanage up the road 1km.

We stepped into our meeting already feeling awesome to have the logo on our shirts as it was on those 3 purified water tanks, we walked into a room of 6 coaches, 9 teachers, the principal, the 4 of us, Massamba our guide, Yves a RTP Gisenyi member and our translator, a few other RTP reps and some parents and children that are presidents of some groups at the school.

The meeting was quick, starting with introductions and then a brief explaination of what each section of the school does. When it came to question time and Helen, Roz and Steph got they're questions through I stood up and asked; "In Canada, we see music as being very important to learning and having fun which as you know is what Right to Play is about, I was wondering if your school has any clubs or programs that use music to inspire or help build creativity or let creativity out of the children here?" I got a responce that the children do it themselves! There is no class or program the kids organize and sing and dance and clap and are awesome! We even got a deminstration from a student who was pretty good for a 14 yr old R&B/Rap artist ;)

We didn't have time to stay and play with te 700 + students with our busy schedule but we had time to get mobbed on our way to-waiting-from the bathroom which was ... unpleasant to say the extreme least about it, a real African experience as Roz put it after the fact.

So we jumped in the truck and headed farther into rural Rwanda to another school where we were going to have an activity session with some of the students.

Its funny some things you see in Africa and think... wow... that is truly beautiful or amazing. One thing that stuck out to me was 2 boys, not much older then 12 riding they're bikes.... which sounds normal enough, but these bikes were special.

The 2 boys stopped to see us pass like many of the younger children did and when we realized what they were on we were all very impressed and extremely amazed at the creativity and impressive work of these kids imaginations!

Moving on since I just realized how much I am gabbing, the towns we passed through some full, some empty, all had the looming intimidation factor since everyone here in Africa stares at us... It is slightly funny because the children, mostly younger (2-5 yrs) were yelling at us words we obviously didn't understand "MASUNGU MASUNGU!" "MASUNGU GUCHUPA!~!" (ma-zoon-ga & ga-cho-pa), masunga meaning white people and guchupa meaning something along the lines of audience, we are now know as the Masunga ladies in Gisenyi!

We had alot of children follow us through they're villages and to the next school, by the time the kids had come out to see us andstarted activities the crowd was overwhelmingly large! With a student body of 1200 + kids, plus the kids from the villages and they're families including mothers and some grandparents, it was a huge spectical to have 4 white women in they're sites we were told. We played games for a while then concluded the evenings fun with a friendly basketball game, unfortunatley the team of Steph, Roz, Helen, Yves and myself was... quite bad! we went down 2-0 and at that point I opted out for camera duty since I could barely lift my arm after running around bouncing it all over the place.

We tied it but for kids who had only been playing for 7 months... ever... in they're whole lives, they were pretty freaking good!!! This site was a Right to Play contribution to the school, including water tanks and new refurbished buildings they created this large concrete slab for the kids to play on and they put basketball nets on it aswell so the girls and boys teams could play!

After the game we got in a circle for Roz and Helen to make a speech about sports motivation in life, and within 15 minutes our little circle had turned into a mass of children who had pushed through to hear or see or be near the "masungas" we knew it was time to go when Helen reached out and grabbed me to hold herself up from faling on the children who were now so many in mass that we were being bombarded and pushed over, it was unsafe and some kids were getting squished so we quickly made way, hand in hand to the truck and the mass of kids followed as you can see there were quite high numbers around the court, imagine that around you!!

Unfortunatley my videos aren't uploading from my IPhone correctly and the photos of us inside the mass of kids are on Steph's camera which I have yet to get off her, so it will be here eventually I'm sure.

We got in the truck and made our way home in silence, waving to a few people every now and then and smiling at a few yells of "MASUNGA!!" along the way. We were/are very drained it is alot of stuff to cram in everyday here and alot of travel (the ride home was 3 + hours), and alot of kids that not only take your energy out of you with the activities and fending for you footing in the mass', but the overwhelming sites of beauty that Gisenyi has to offer but mostly the perfectly content poverty that these people live in with no running water no hydro, they just sleep, eat and farm, thats all.

*interesting fact: to this day the Tutsie and Hutu still excist, mainly Hutu who are farmers on the land (90% of population are Hutu) and the Tutsie farm meat. But still live alongside one another.*

The late return prompted a wonderful "brouchette" dinner in fish, pork and beef aswell as a few extras (brouchette is a Rwandan specialty and DELICIOUS! just really skewers with meat on them but seasoned and amazing).

As I was looking out the window in the vehicle I had to catch my breath... The lights were like stars thrown over the mountain sides, so beautiful.

Note to readers: write on your bucket list - "See the stary hills of Kigali, Rwanda, Africa!"

Murakoze (thank you) everybody!

Until tomorrow, have a great night!

Cheers from beautiful Kigali!

~a.grange~

Gisenyi Paradis

Hello agai, sorry again for the mishap last night, topping that last blog off with all that happened today was quite confusing and so it was cut short, sorry! Hope you liked it anyways.

Hello from Gisenyi day 2, I wish I could say that I was up and ready to bounce out of bed today like I did yesterday morning but that would be a complete and total lie... I'll start by explaining that last night, I did not sleep to save my life, I closed my eyes at 1:30am but am quite sure I didn't coast off to sleep till late morning, so safe to say morning (7am) came very wearily. With a quick breakfast and a quick packing of the bag we headed off to a meeting at the Right to Play office in Gisenyi were the people and especially Eve taught us some great stuff and treated us like family.

After a good family photo and quick explaination we found ourselves learning the "inspirational motivers" as Eve our guide and one of the head honchoes at the Right to Play office in Gisenyi, which consisted of some french and some italian sayings built up into a song and dance. Unfortunately my dumb internet access won't let me upload them so I will try tomorro when we return to Kigali.

My 7 minute video of Steph, Helen and Roz dancing to the story game which went so very wrong (haha) including a challenge between "quality" and "karate" for a confused Helen Upperton.

After the funny stuff was over we all moved on to the meeting with the assistant to a contributing organization for children, creating a place for them to come and play and learn and be apart of something, much like Right to Play. A Mr. Nouvelle I believe, he really only spoke french and so we needed Eve and Massamba to translate and that didn't go too well, since I was already completely dead tired from little to no sleep last night, I had already nodded off a few times in Eve's 30 page powerpoint, 2 hours presentation, so listening to french then english for an hour was very hard and took alot of energy just to stay awake and listen.

Other then the long speeches and conversations in languages I really couldn't understand anything, we were quite busy it seemed until we hit Paradis!

Paradis was a little restaurant built into a cove on the rocks looking out over the water at a few islands, all the fishing boats and all the native homes and people, bathing in the waters, swiming for fun, kids playing, women and children gathering water to make food and drink. It was one of the most beautiful place I've ever been, so peaceful and amazing. We had the privilege to eat with the team of Right to Play Gisenyi on the sand of the cove, as well as got to look at some very pretty wild life, beautiful flowers, wonderful company, and little fish... ya the whole thing. Something called Samoosa, a type of small fish hat they cook up and you just eat the whole thing, head, tail and all, they were fine not terrible fish but bad texture... and they were looking at me... CREEPY!

Along side that we also had Tailapia that was fantastic as well as very woderful chips and a few other African dishes.

After our lunch in Paradis we headed off to a scouts center or something like an after school program for these kids to keep them out of trouble!

We arrived to play games and immediately all 4 of us went in opposite directions and jumped into the circle to start playing the games, it was warm ups first in which the kids taught us how to run when the coach said something and to attack when it said another, after that we played "share the ball" you had someone in the middle of the circle and passed a tennis ball around the outside until the person in the middle said "STOP!" and the person with the ball had to pass it along and then stand up and answer a question about HIV or AIDS, which was very informative! Then if your answer was right you went in the middle and got to say "STOP!".

After this the children showed us a surprise display of arrcobatics, flips, climbs, bends, etc, it was incredible, these children are so talented and so special they could be something so big they don't even know, its just a game to them but they know that they are proud and feel good doing it and that is all that matters, that the smiles stay on te faces of these kids.

We were ready to leave, all the games were done and we thought our time was over there, then they started singing... and dancing and hanging out and just being so awesome, everyone joined in and it was so beautiful they're songs and they took us all into they're dances and danced us all the way to the car doors! it was hilarious and awesome and amazing and when we finally got into the car and drove away it was sad to leave all the wonderful kids! we met and made so many new friends! The kids are just s amazing!

The night came very fast, once we got to the hotel we had about an hour and a half we went to the beach for dinner and dancing but once we found out we would be eating the same food we did for lunch we lft and went to a n ice restaurant just down the street from our hotel and we had a lovely dinner, although some talk about politics came up and Eve got a little over excited which led us into a 30 minute conversation about african and american and canadian and any other places politics and governments... woohoo... take me to bed. So I am laying in bed ready to sleep but I wanted to get this done!

Unfortunately my photos didn't load and I don't have time or energy to wait for them so I'm sorry but there is only the one photo tonight but I promise there will be muh more tomorrow as I am charging my phone since I forgot to last night and it died today.

Just a note...

Do me a favor. Stop what your doing and think about your life... forget about all your friends and family and possessions, just stand... and ask yourself "What do I want?"  What comes to mind?

Now try again, clear your mind. Now ask yourself "What do I need?". What comes to mind?

would it be strange to hear someone say nothing... that right now they needed and asked for nothing, would you believe them?

Being here in Africa, in Rwanda of all countries on this continent I've learned that I don't NEED anything... that I may want things now and then but my want for my love and my family is just something that needs time to come. I will be home to my love within a few days, I will see my family soon aswell, so those WANTS aren't that at all, they are really just ideas that will happen with time.

I don't NEED anything, I have everything I want and need, I have a family that I love and that loves me, I have a wonderful job and beautiful, amazing horses, I have friends that I charish and adventures I'll never forget, I have a wonderful family of my own and my love for Mike to top it all off.

I NEED nothing... but it is not because I have everything in the world, its because I am around people that have nothing, or that have lost everything. Think, what would it be like to move to a country after your father is murdered and 7 months later have your 5 older siblngs murdered alongside your mother and friends from a disgusting war... Or to loose your siblings, mother, father and be left with nothing, but still work everyday, still wake up and get on with your day. I wish I was as strong as these people... they amaze me with their courage towards life and their strength to move on, to be something and to live the life they need to live and leave past in the past.

I wish I was this strong.

People say that someone who has gone through something like that can never survive it, well I have met the people that do... I have shook they're hands and greeted them with hellos and hugged them goodbye and all the while I could barely contain how much strength they showed.

So next time you think you need something, or you want something that is really unnessessary, when you whine about anything... think of these people.

Next time you loose someone, think of they're strength and learn from it, learn to wake up in the morning and go on with life.

No matter how hard your past might be, it is always and will always remain the past, it can never come back and replay in your future. So for these people, for those who live through hell and come out stronger and braver and wiser, go on... and leave past to be past. And leave memories to be memories.

Cheers from Gisenyi, Rwanda. Africa

~a.grange~

Hey guys, I wrote this last night and the internet wet out so I couldn't get it posted so instead here it is now.

Sorry!

Hello from Gisenyi. Our first day in Africa was a success, lots on our schedule and ofcourse it all was finished on time. My day started with the noise from my alarm clock at 6:30am, giving me time to get up, get dressed, suntan lotion on, pack my little bag I'd carry with me all day and still get to have breakfast before we had to leave for a meeting at the Right to Play office at 8:30am.

                                                                    First Rwandan morning outside our first hotel in Kigali, Rwanda

Our day we all knew would be packed full of things to start our trip, but exactly how much toll it would take on us was a whole other story.

The day began at the Right to Play office in Kigali, Rwanda, there the whole team sat and we all introduced ourselves and what we do to be apart of Right to Play; Helen Upperton - Olympic gold medalist, Roz G - World champion extreme skiier, Stephanie Buryk - representative from Right to Play Toronto, Ontario and myself introduced as Ariel Grange - Sponsor and owner/groom to horses and specifically an olympic horse who won silver in the Bejing olympics.

Once we meet the Right to Play team of Kigali the presentation started where they took us through most of they're goals, mainly to get the Ministry of Education's help to put the Right to Play organized sport and learning together into all the school programs in Rwanda, as well as to teach the children about they're rights and protection as well as protect the children and give them places to go after school, holidays and weekends that will be safe for they're needs.

After some delicious Samboosa's (a meat pastry) and some cold bottled water and tea, we took a quick photo and packed up our things. The people at the Right to Play office in Kigali were so welcoming, and I do wish them much luck and thanks so very much for treating us like they're own.

After our amazing trip through the goals of the organization we packed up and headed off the a school 15 minutes up town where we were welcomed by smiling faces and waves. We were there to see the Right to Play programs in the schools so the 4 of us broke into 2 teams and with a translator each (even though the kids spoke some english the coaches spoke the native language) we joined 2 classes in they're activities on the school yard. Helen and Roz joined a P2 class (grade 2) in a singing and dancing game, while Stephanie and I joined a P6 class (grade 6), it was amazing how welcoming everyone was, the children and they're coach who was amazingly talented with the kids.

We began by watching the kids interact with the coaches, each coach for these children are employed by the school but are taught by Right to Play teachers on how to communicate, how to take the games you play with the kids and turn them into life lessons. We played a game called "chimpanze race" we were told to bend over and grab the back of our ankles and you had to run about 30 feet and then turn a cone and run back in this akward position, the kids were great at it and listened so well to split them into 6 groups (Stephanie in group 5 and me in group 6) and we raced eachother in this strange position 2 times until my kids won!

We had such a great time with those kids and they taughtus alot about what the kids are like here, they were great listeners and such good kids and fun and appreciative of us showing up and playing games with them which were oh so much fun.

Once we were done playing games, a man came out of a classroom and started to beat on a large drum, I asked the coach and our translater what that was for and they told me it was to tell the younger kids (primary) that they're finished for the day then they tried to shoo us to the main building where we were going to meet with the head master/principal, we couldn't understand why we had to go so quickly, until the kids saw us.... I've never seen that many kids rush that fast to see us, they were all very young and wanted to touch our skin, hand shakes, high fives, they would hold your hand, we couldn't go anywhere without them jumping all over us and fighting to get a photo taken or touch our skin or wave or shake our hands, it is by far only something you can understand after you have been there and experienced it first hand.

Our meeting with the principal/head master went very well, he was very nice and interested in finding out how much we liked all his kids and was very proud to hear that we thought they were some of the best listeners we've ever seen, which was not an exaggeration.

We stayed for a bit but eventually packed up and headed off to a quick lunch before going to meet the minister of Education, with a quick meeting with a man that seemed more interested in getting out of his office rather then talking to us, we headed back to Right to Play head quarters, where we got to sit for 10 minutes, then got in the truck and headed for Gisenyi, a long and beautiful ride.

The hills of Kigali and the rest of our path from Kigali to Gisenyi the hils wind through the mountains and as you look over the edge to the mountain sides below, we find the crops and houses on the small lips from top to bottom, then you realize that that fog you just hit is indeed a cloud... andthats when my igrane started...

But for now, its late and I'm tired and I'm going to sleep. New one tomorrow.

Cheers,

~a.grange~



First Impressions: Kigali, Rwanda

Mwiriwe! (Good Evening) from Kigali, Rwanda, yes we arrived in one piece although the last 25 minutes of our wonderful 8.5 hour plane ride sure didn't feel like we were going to come out in one piece.
After confusing line-ups at the Kigali International Airport (which is about the size of a McDonalds with 2 stories) our VISA's for the country and acceptance letter let us past security and with the keen eyes of colourful Helen Upperton catching the 2 bags with Canadian flags on them and one hockey bag (which belonged to guess who) we were out the gate and greeted by a large black man that acted as if we were reunited bestfriends! Also known as Fred our Right To Play volunteer representative driver for the week.
It is amazing that even climbing from an airbus onto the runways can give you such an overwhelming sence of how far you are from home, the trees are beautiful even in the darkness of night and the hilly torain serves for beautiful light shows covering the mountains, topped with largely lit hotels and office buildings overlooking the valleys. The people seem so nice, but once in the truck on the way to our hotel you could see the precausions that are taken in a country like this, even with the hospitality you may see everyday. The streets are guarded every kilometer or so by military men armed with AK's, everything is under lock and key it seems and even though the streets were alive with people on the communities down day (Sundays), the shops were still boarded up and there were looks over the shoulders for sure.

After a quick and bumpy ride to the hotel in which Helen enjoyed thoroughly due to a "motorcycle taxi" business, we unloaded and were taken to our respective rooms.
A very small hotel called "Inside Africa" where we are the only residents and the people are as accomidating as anything, offering us sealed water bottles and breakfast in the morning before we start a long day.


The hotel itself sits on the edge of a hill it seems, looking out over a valley caked with lights from the homes below that line the hill side.







The hotel overlooking the hills covered in lights in Kigali City, Rwanda





The 4 rooms we are in overlooking the hillside







Beautiful rooms with hand crafter African art and a much needed bug net.

It is amazing how simple it is to fall into a feeling of individuality when you travel so far away, maybe it is because this is the first trip I have taken where I really am alone, by myself, no family memebers, because realistically I am travelling with 1 aquaintance and 2 strangers, so I guess in a way that is un-nerving in a sence.

On the planes out here it seemed that the closer and closer we got to Africa, the more and more I wanted to be home, the more I missed home and my horses and my pets and Mike, etc. But maybe its the fear that comes with a trip like this, knowing anything could happen anytime gives an illusion like there is a chance (no matter how 0.00000002% a chance) that you could not go home, which thanks to movies and books makes it seem so much worse then it is.

All I can really do for now is be careful and stay with my travelling buddies, but even sitting and talking to the girls in the coolness of the Kigali night air, I thought 'I could be home, with Mike and Mack and Maverick and be laughing and joking around in the safety of my own home with those that love me' instead of here... with strangers who talk alot about how awesome they are and how this trip isn't a big deal cause they've been like EVERYWHERE in world so I'm a little left out on the conversations. The first night jitters right? I'll snap out of it when the trip starts tomorrow.

But for now, I am going to take a t-3, crawl into a musqitoe netting bed, with my stuffed cow "lucky" (yes he came half way around the world, my own little taste of home) and wonder what the next week will bring, morning will rise beautiful and early, need some rest.

Love you all.

Cheers,

~a.grange~



Amsterdam --> Kigali

8.5 hours later we land in Amsterdam. Mum you were right, the duty free if you can call it just that is ridiculous, there is a mall in an airport... I apparently was the only one that thought that was loopy.


The flight here wasn't so bad, shoulder pain held off on anything other then 1 hour sleep which was interrupted by the lights on, apparently when they turned the lights off at 7pm Toronto time you're supposed to sleep till midnight and then get up and be ready to go for 6+ hours in Amsterdam, not bad, arrived at 2am Toronto time and continued onto a cold pizza slice and a soda for my "midnight" snack. Oh and mental note don't drink "Chocomel" thank you Stephanie for the guinea pig there!

Sitting drinking coffee with 2 gold medalists isn't a bad start to a day, although it is completely intimidating hearing all of there stories and normal life stuff... "ya i train and drive $500,000 bobsled and I drive the best Canadian bobsled in 7 years" and "I have $15,000 ski's and i train and have a major pump up song", steph is at ease and all I'm sitting here thinking is... I take care of horses.... 6 days a week, and i play volleyball and drink beer on Wednesday's? Haha, talk about a really exciting life huh?
They can have they're travel and million dollar gear i say, I got my HUD :)

10.5 hours to go to Kigali, Rwanda then bed.... Very good bed hopefully! Not positive I'll sleep on the plane but not worried about it too much, free movies, free booze and a comfy seat, good deal? I think so.

Till i land in Kigali, thats all for now. (aka - yes mum I'm fine still)

For those who are worried about me, love you very much and I'll have pictures up real soon I'm sure.


Cheers from Amsterdam international airport

~a.grange~

The day before

T-minus 20 hours or so till take off on our mission to Rwanda for a Right to Play charity behind the scenes. Unfortunately the jokes about the flight aswell as a few "important documents" warning me of some highly unlikely scenarios have become unhumorous to say the least from the standing point of a fear-flyer and a nervous/excited first time to Africa traveller.
Although the excitement for the trip is growing it is also bringing stress due to many reasons including one of my mum and I's horses being less then perfect which is not ideal, as well as being the worst packer I have ever known which means one thing is bound to be forgotten! Although I have written a list and checked it a hundred times I'm sure it isn't going to do much good in attempting to break my forgetful streak.
I have been told that this trip will "change my life" and even though I don't doubt that to a degree I think it will more change my view on life and my view on what is important in life. I might come back and find electronics not as needing as they once were,  find a better appreciation for the little things that cost nothing in life rather then the expensive ones or maybe I'll come back and cherise the people I have in my life more then ever (ie: family, friends, mum, dad, Mike, Wade, etc). No doubt the kids will touch my soul as I've heard has happened to many before me and will do to many after, the camp will be a sight to see I believe the families and the way they make the village work with so little will be amazing to be apart of.
The excitement sometimes is over shadowed by what it will feel like to really be in a place that has such a history like Rwanda, one of our first activities is to visit the Genocide museum which I am excited and nervous about, it will be so much to walk through those doors and just feel the power of something that happened so long ago that it will be extremely overwhelming.
But never the less it will be the trip of a lifetime, that is until the next trip, and the one after because I'm sure I will become addicted, no doubt about it and Papa Grange is certain he is joining me on the next one, we'll see how this one goes first shall we?

The packing will resume tonight and hopefully I'll be organized to do nothing tomorrow (ie: packing last minute, scrambling to find stuff) but visit my ponies one last time for the next week and a bit, cuddle with the pup, shower up and get to the airport ready for a 23 hour trip to Rwanda. Wish me luck?


~A.Grange~