(Pictures are mostly by other people – my camera was stolen last
month)
Hello my dears! Apologies for the long absence. My life has
been full of too many transitions of late to document properly, but things are
slowing down at last.
At the end of our program we went to the beautiful lake
Kivu, hidden in rolling green mountains. It was a fabulous adventure of
swimming in the clear water, and took a boat to a mysterious island full of
cows and 5 million bats, which we climbed to the top of.
High on the mountain-island
Making new friends everywhere.
The cloud of Bats we hiked through!
Bats closer up
Now that my study abroad program is over I have moved to a
new house for the summer, where I am staying with Kevin and Lizzie, two
students from my program who are also staying through the summer. It has been a
week of goodbyes at our house, as people have lingered in our house after the
program and before their flights to America. We have had between 5 and 7 people
in our tiny three-bedroom house, and we have big family breakfasts and dinners
together every day. But by Friday everyone but the three of us will be gone,
and it will be time to settle in to the summer for real!
Our house is in
the same complex as a brilliant artist’s studio called Ivuka! It is a jumble of
bright colors and sculptures and paintings, which overflows into our bright
orange house. There are dance practices outside our house every few days, and
our concrete ‘yard’ overflows with the half-wild children who play in
the streets by our house and come to play soccer with us and tie knots in my
hair and snuggle.
In front of the painting in our living room
The art studio across from us
Our house is the orange one!
The art studio
I will spend my summer here in Kigali, and leave in late
July for Europe and then home. I am doing research on forced repatriation of
Rwandan refugees from neighboring Uganda. It’s a project I am very excited
about, and I hope it will serve as a basis from my senior project. It will be a
good summer!
Playing with the babies -- Perfect and Bonett