Last Post

Quite a bit of time has gone by now – I’ve been back from Africa for almost 4 weeks now, and I have been wanting to write just one more post, to try to tie things up, bring my story to some sort of completion. I started writing this “last post” awhile back, but got distracted with other events in my life, and am just now returning to my task. I wanted to tell two more stories that I hadn’t shared – important ones, especially since they concerned the two groups that we originally went to Africa to visit (The BOMA Fund in Kenya and BeadForLife in Uganda). It seems like a huge slip-up on my part to not have discussed them at all, especially since those visits were so rich. But when I went back to the story I started and tried to pick up the thread, I realized that I’ve moved on from the telling of all the stories now, and that you probably have too. I felt like I’d do all this writing and no one would be interested anymore – too much time has passed, we’ve all got other things on our plates.

So I’m going to end instead by trying to put into words what I’ve gotten from this journey. I’ve been working on articulating it ever since I returned; it’s ephemeral and hard to pin down, but it goes something like this:

I’ve found a sense of generosity inside myself that has grown larger and kinder.

I learned deeply and truly that one person can indeed make a difference, and that we each have a responsibility to do so, in whatever way we’re called.

And I feel connected with the rest of the world in a way that I wasn’t before – it’s smaller now, and my heart understands that there is no difference between the human experience in middle-class America and the human experience in an African slum. The only differences are the circumstances and relative challenges; the longings and joys, connections and love are identical.

So that’s my take-away, and my strong wish is that these learnings continue to expand my being, and don’t fade away with the passing of time. And my other strong wish is that you’ve enjoyed coming along with me virtually, and that you’ve gained something for yourself too. Thank you for your interest in my journey – knowing you were reading these posts, and encouraging me to put my experiences into words, has deepened and grounded the events for me. So thank you for being there, cheering me on, and sharing this experience with me. It’s been awesome.

Images, finally

It's taken me quite some time to cull through the 2700+ images I brought back with me, and pull out ones that showed a bit of a storyline through the trips. I've narrowed it down as much as I can...feel free to stop whenever your eyes start to glaze over.

They are in two separate albums, one for Kenya, one for Uganda, with little captions for things that aren't totally obvious. You can view them as a slideshow by pushing a button above the images on the left. I'd suggest changing the timing of the slides to 5 seconds so you can both read the caption and look at the picture. (It's an option in the bar at the bottom once you start the slideshow.)

Let me know, please, if this isn't working. Otherwise, enjoy (I hope)!

Kenya:

http://picasaweb.google.com/110166153804188489963/PicsForBlogKenya?feat=directlink

Uganda:

http://picasaweb.google.com/110166153804188489963/PicsUganda?feat=directlink