I cried when I walked home to pack on Saturday, Sunday in Montreal was too blissful to believe was real, and when I woke up under a mosquito net in Kigali this morning, it was hard to imagine why I would ever be hesitant about going. Had one night staying with friends in Nairobi, preparing for Rwanda, and when I left their house at the crack of dawn yesterday morning, I felt everything was going to be okay. Also, there are some incredible people here that I am excited about seeing more of after visiting washing stations around the country, and by sunset tonight I’ll be swimming in Lake Kivu. Even being far away from the sea, there are ways to “get your fix” as my friends explained last night.
Hate me now? How about this distraction - I need doable recipes for next weekend, where I’ll be back in Nairobi and I’m sure I’ll want to cook. Also, I have unintentionally started lying about my age, rounding up. Every year it happens around this time, my birthday is in May and…hold on: I like getting older. It somehow gives me leverage, and I enjoy all the things I know now I had no idea about ten years ago. My life is not ordinary and has included some heartbreaks that won’t be fixed, but somehow, I feel chosen to have such a healthy dose of it. Strong people don’t just happen.
