Ruminations...

This trip to East Africa has been very different from last year's journey. For one thing, I am missing my family so much more, perhaps because of the trip's longer duration, but also, I think, because I am appreciating them more and more in light of what I've been seeing and experiencing. I am so thankful for the health and well-being of my grandchildren...so thankful that they are well-fed and housed and healthy...so thankful that they can all go to school and be educated without their parents having to worry about "school fees". My heart overflows with gratitude for the many ways in which our lives are continually being enriched by the arts- by music, by drama, by the simple act of the children being able to draw pictures which decorate my refrigerator door.

But in the midst of this terrible food crisis here in the Horn of Africa, with drought causing famine throughout Kenya and neighboring Somalia, with refugees flooding into Kenya from the north and pushing into Uganda on the west, I am also deeply frustrated with the governments which should have, could have, anticipated this and did nothing. The newspapers here are filled with editorials and letters excoriating the various government ministers- and the president- for living lives of luxury while people in all parts of the country are struggling just to stay alive. And I find myself very conflicted...wanting those in dire need to be helped and yet realizing that much, oh, so much of this problem has been caused by the very government which was elected by the people but which has failed dramatically to improve the lot of the common person. (Of course, in light of what's happening in the U.S. right now, perhaps our government isn't so very different...hm-m-m.)

After last year's trip, I thought I would like to return to East Africa to live for a period of time, perhaps a year, but that is no longer an idea I am considering.
Instead, I will work from where I am to do all I can for the Nyanya Toto Pre-school, and for my Rwandan "family". I will stay in touch with all of the wonderful people with whom I've connected on this trip and do what I can to promote beneficial connections for them.  And I will pray daily for guidance, strength, wisdom, and discernment, that I may use my talents and resources in the best ways possible, to do the most good, both home and away. Perhaps that is the very best that I can do...perhaps...