The in-and-out-ernet

It's making me realize how tied to the internet I really am.

A broken (but fixable) water tank on KHA's current land holding.
No WiFi up here, but Boneza just got electricity!

My smartphone doesn't beep, vibrate, or provide me the satisfaction of clearing the little red dots next to the app icons.  I have to sit at a hotel restaurant and act like a guest when I ask "Can I please have the WiFi network password?"  And then when the my devices don't connect to the internet I have to try to explain that the router needs to be refreshed.  They often don't know what I'm talking about because I'm not sure of the word for "router" in Kinyarwanda, so I ask to see the "box for internet" and I will refresh it.  Then, when my devices connect upon return from regions that don't even know about the internet, my phone floods with notifications, and emails that require my attention.  I will spend hours reconnecting with the outside world...checking soccer scores, posting blogs, replying to emails, and satisfying my unease through this 13.3" window.

The view from outside Volcanos National Park in the North.

A typical breakfast:
Passion fruit, pineapple, Japanese plumb and banana.

I suppose it is good for me to be in places where I simply can't engage with the culture in which I'm comfortable?

Tea plantations high up on the Congo-Nile Divide road
(like the Continental Divide in Colorado).

During the past couple of days we have been in Boneza and Musanze following rough, roads through small villages, past tea plantations and volcanos.  We have punctured our gas tank, eaten like (healthy) vegans, and really begun to hear the needs of the poorest of the poor.  Greg and John tracked gorillas and hit the jackpot in the rainforest--seeing three silverbacks, including the dominant male.  While they did that, I toured another Technical/Vocational Training school.

A visit to one of ARM's new pre-schools.
76 kids in one tiny classroom.

I've been driving in Kigali and across country now for a few days and have not hit a single person.  Roads here are not just for cars, and although people give the right of way to cars everywhere, they also have an unhealthy level of trust that these vehicles will not collide with them while passing petroleum trucks on a blind curve (no joke).  And how far people walk!  Everywhere, people walking.  In the dark, for miles and miles, for water, to market, to home, or just because there is nothing else to do.  I think if the air pollution wasn't so bad and the water cleaner, these would be the healthiest people in the world with how much exercise they get and the organic diet they consume.

Greg and John before tracking the Gorillas.

Greg left today after what seemed to be a wonderful and eye-opening experience.  As a business leader in Northern Colorado, his perspective on Kivu Hills Academy, micro-finance, and the effect of small-businesses in alleviating poverty, was invaluable.  We shared many good times in the last week and I wish he could have stayed longer.

Secondary students (S4 Level = Sophomores) studying for the national exams.

Kids cooking lunch...wishing they were at school.

John and I now enter the most intense part of the trip now as we head back into "the bush" (aka. "no internet") next week for sustained and focused attention on the needs of Boneza, the evaluation of schools in the area, assessing the potential land and resources available, and putting together a timeline for the school's development.  Please pray that God would help us meet the right people, ask the right questions, and say the right things.  That He would be Builder and that we would count the costs well.  I'm excited to be a part of the opportunity to bring opportunity to this community and I thank you all for your support as well.  We are all in this together!

Local pastors sharing with us the needs of the community.

The center of Boneza sector (ish).
The top of the hill is a possible site for KHA