Return home and final thoughts

In movies, final scenes are sometimes set up by occurrences earlier in the film to make things come full circle.

On Saturday, on the drive from Gisenyi back to Kigali, we passed the small area of grass (to call it a park would be an exaggeration) where, on the way to Gisenyi we saw the boys playing on Thursday. On Saturday, there was a group of boys playing with the soccer ball we dropped off to replace the makeshift one they were trying to play with on Thursday.

As much fun as this trip was (and it was!), we also need to remember that Rwanda is a country of great needs. We hope that we helped a little bit of difference with our trip and will continue to make efforts as we enjoy the luxuries we take for granted here.

Some final thoughts:

1. The trip home was murder! It took us 43 hours (two more than expected due to missing our connection in Detroit due to a delay in the flight from D.C.). Seven airports. No leg room. Lousy movies (sorry, Kevin, that film stunk!). But it was worth it.

2. Great group of people to travel with!

3. People-to-People does an outstanding job making plans and then changing them on the run. Gaby and Melissa were wonderful.

4. What an interesting country! Physically beautiful, it is very small with few natural resources and in a pretty dangerous part of the world. It has a troubled past. But, we were thrilled with the efforts being made to put those troubles behind them and move forward. The genocide museums were moving, the people incredibly friendly and the many people, from the orphanage, to the law schools, to the Millennium project and more are truly inspiring.

What a great trip!