As April approaches, as spring is making itself known in tiny baby steps here in Carolina, as Lent is into it's fourth week, I have taken the huge step of booking my flight to Nairobi. Actually, it is thanks to my friend and travel companion, Mae, that we have reached this landmark in our travel planning, since she's had a travel agent friend watching air fares for us..huge fluctuations over the past month, but thankfully, her diligence has paid off for us- and now we are committed to leaving on July 3rd.
Friends await...places both familiar and strange...new experiences
and people, sights and sounds and smells. Back to a continent which has grasped my heart in a way I simply cannot explain...can only experience. Each time I think of Beatrice and Eunice and the other grandmothers in Kibera, my throat thickens with emotion and my eyes fill with tears. I miss them, these wonderful women who became part of my life last summer. I miss them, and can hardly wait to see them again...to share in their lives for just a little while.
How can I explain the hospitality of the people in Kenya and Rwanda? How can I begin to explain their courage, their spirit, their energy, their determination? Among the poorest of the world's poor, they nevertheless share unstintingly with visitors and family alike. In fact, their incredible, grace-filled welcome to those of us visiting puts Amerians to shame, the widow's mite is enacted again and again as these poverty-sticken women offer of their meagre store to their guests...to us! Can you begin to understand what draws me back? What holds my heart? Can you begin to understand why I am in love with the people of East Africa? Can you begin to understand why I am returning?
