Veranda Reflection

Midori, Nancy, Portia, Brandon, Tina, Immaculee,

me, Cindy and Tim - All Inspi(red)

I’m sitting on the veranda where I have sat many times over the past two weeks. My American friends are all in their rooms. There are kids in the pool below. They are speaking Kinyrwanda but they are also speaking the lovely universal language of children. Laughing, chasing, screaming. Their happiness is so immediate. So complete. Reflecting on this day is hard. For one thing we will not all be together again. We have become a unit somehow. In so many ways we are all so very different, but have all come to love and respect each other despite our differences. After tomorrow we will never be together in the same room. Most of us will probably never see each other again. This bonding has been strange. Thrown together by chance, experiencing the reality and harshness and grace of this faraway place has brought us together in a way that nothing else ever could. Sitting here with a cold glass of water and the sounds of children and birds in this perfect temperature by myself surrounded by people speaking French, Swahili, Kinyrwanda and English. This is so unbelievable. So surreal. I could cry but I am not alone enough.