Rwanda Trip-Natural Beauty

Chris and I were so fortunate to be able to meet up with my dad and stepmom in Rwanda. It was wonderful to be able to catch up with them in person for the first time in almost 2 years and it means the world to us that people are willing to take the time and spend the money to come all this way to visit us. Plus, they invited us to join them on their Rwandan nature adventure, which is something we couldn't have done on our own. I'm so happy we were able to experience with them some of Africa's most precious creatures and its stunning beauty. Some of the sights we saw in Rwanda can not be found anywhere else in the world. What a precious gift and a privileged to experience it!

Rwanda's countryside is stunning. Rolling hills into mountains, lush greenery (even in the dry season!), clean paved streets. Chris probably snapped 100 pictures just along the roads as we were driving.


The only downside to the beauty is that every square inch of the country is cultivated. As soon as a protected forest ends, the fields begin. If I didn't understand before, I definitely fully appreciate the need for preserved spaces.


I don't know how people worked these fields. They were so high up!


When we took a break from the twisty roads, this little guy came out to greet us.


Tea plantations spread out all over the countryside. The color is just spectacular.


Because we were so close to the boarder of the DRC, there were several refugee camps plopped right into the middle of this mountain beauty. A sad reminder of the conflicts nearby.

Our first outdoor adventure was chimp trekking in Nyungwe Forest in the south of the country. It was a steep climb into the jungle and then, using trackers, we followed the chimps to where they were eating breakfast. It was tough to follow them because they move fast and hide in the trees and on the ground. But we got some good views of them, still.


Big thanks go to the trackers who spend their whole days out in the forest following the movement of the apes.


Monkeys seemed to be watching us as much as we were watching them.


Tucking your socks into your pants is important if you don't want to get ants in the pants! Ultimate dorkiness transformation complete!


Relatives of the chimps.


We spotted this guy on the trail.


He didn't much like being followed, so he kept his back to us and ran away if we tried to get any closer.


Eventually he said, "Forget this!" and climbed away in the trees.


This little baby was making a lot of noise!

Later in the week we took our next hiking adventure to see the gorillas in Volcanoes National Park in the north-west of the country. We'd heard from many people that the hike is very difficult and it can take hours just to find the apes. Just like the chimps, you use trackers to find their location and once you find them you follow them through the forest. Because they don't stick to scenic trails, you could have to whack your way through the forest, which can be steep and slippery. Imagine our surprise, then, when the gorillas actually walked out of the forest into the surrounding fields to meet us! It all happened within the first 15 minutes of our hike. We didn't even make it into the woods!


This silverback walked out into the clearing and slapped the ground so hard right next to me, I could feel the ground shake. It about scared me half to death!


After the silverback announced his presence, the rest of the crew came out. There were 14 in this family, 2 silverbacks (1 dominant), several adolescents not yet of age, some mamas and 2 babies.


They were just out looking for some food.


The silverback leader.


One of the mamas.


So close!


Everybody wanted to take our picture with the gorillas behind us. I wasn't that thrilled to have my back to these huge creatures! You just hear them moving and breaking things behind you. Kinda nerve wracking!


Apparently, the inside of the tree is sweet.






This guy weighs about 260 kilos (almost 600 pounds)!




This little guy actually hit my foot, which scared me and I almost tripped on him!


Our guide, in the middle, was talking to and playing with the gorillas. He's the oldest guide and was once the porter for Dian Fossey. All he said about her was that she liked animals more than people, which was probably quite true.

Rwanda Trip- Kigali and the Genocide Memorials

Even though Rwanda is right next to Tanzania, we would have had to fly through Nairobi to get there. So since we were planning on being in Nairobi the week before my parents met us in Rwanda, we decided to head to Rwanda a few days early instead of flying back and forth from Mwanza to Nairobi. That gave us a few extra days to sight-see before my dad and Holly flew in to meet us in Kigali.

Kigali, and Rwanda in general, is much more developed than Tanzania. We enjoyed walking on sidewalks, eating in cafes, driving on paved roads, etc.


Downtown Kigali


 Club sandwich!


A common mode of transport. They were MUCH more cautious drivers than in TZ.


Though, there are still parts of the city that resemble Tanzania.

During the week we were in Rwanda, Chris and I visited 3 different genocide memorial sites, as well as the Kigali Memorial Center. There's no way for me to adequately capture the feeling of visiting these places. It's unspeakable the brutality that humans can commit against fellow humans. Yet we continue to do it, time and time again, even to this day. I commend the Rwandans for the work they seem to have done and continue to do to promote peaceful conflict resolution and healing from the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis, and for their work to remember the atrocity and commemorate those who were victims.

If you're squeamish and don't want to look at pictures of the genocide memorials or hear the atrocious stories of what happened, then skip this post and I'll do another one later with the more uplifting part of the trip. However, I feel like it's important to tell the stories so that more people know the truth of what happened here. Also because the international community did very little to help prevent, mitigate and respond to the genocide against the Tutsis, I feel we have a special responsibility to know more.


This church in Ntarama was the site of the murder of approximately 5000 people, including children.


This is the main church. The holes in the walls were from where grenade were thrown.


The clothes and personal belongings of the people who were killed here are still housed inside the church. It's obvious that people did not know they were going to be killed because they brought food and other personal items to sustain them for a long period of time.


Shelves of skulls can be seen inside this doorway of the church.

In the back of the compound at this site there is another smaller building that was once used as the children's classroom. Inside there is a wall with dried blood on it where children were taken by the feet and their heads were smashed into the wall to kill them. Horrible.


Chris and I also visited a church in Nyamata, however, we didn't take any pictures here. Approximately 2,500 people died in the compound of that church, a large number of them women, who were also raped. The alter still has blood on it and there are holes all over the ceiling and walls where bullets were unloaded to kill those inside the building.

Later in our trip, Dad, Holly, Chris and I visited Murambi Memorial Site, which was a vocational school under construction at the time of the genocide. An astonishing 27,000 people were murdered here. This site is situated in a beautiful valley surrounded by hills. It's quiet and serene but also a perfect trap for people who could be viewed by the hills that surround the school on all sides. This site also serves as a reminder of how the Catholic Church played a horrible role in contributing to the genocide. A local bishop and the mayor encouraged people to come to this school and told the people they would be safe. Unfortunately, it was just a trick to get them to one concentrated place so they could be killed more easily.


There are 24 rooms full of mummified bodies. We only go through 2 or 3 rooms before we had had enough.


The bodies were thrown into mass graves and there was some sort of reaction that caused them to be preserved.

*
Our guide was a survivor himself, having lost both his parents and all his siblings but one brother. According to the guide, French soldiers built mass graves for the bodies here, covered them up and then played volleyball on top to cover up the grave. Again, horrible.

The Kigali Genocide Memorial is a very well done and touching museum that details the build up to and events that happened during the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994 as well as commemorates those who were lost.




Since we were there during the 90 days of remembrance (the 3 months where the genocide was taking place), the torch was lit in the courtyard.


The mass graves outside are surrounded by very pretty gardens. The graves had a lot of flower baskets on them, which had been placed by people visiting to pay their respects.


At each site we went to there were always groups of people from churches or various businesses who had come to visit and pay their respects. This church group stood by the mass grave and sang songs and hymnals. It was very moving.

Just like in all the memorial sites, we couldn't take pictures inside the buildings. But the museum was really well done and I think they did a good job of giving the details and documenting what happened.

Rwanda is more than just a country where atrocious things happened and soon I'll be writing a post about the beauty of the country and its animals. But, again, it's important that we understand what happened here and work to prevent future (and stop current) atrocities.


*Random side note, if you know us well, you might find it odd that dad's wearing what is obviously Chris's AmeriCorps sweatshirt (Yes, he still wears it!). For 5 days dad and Holly's luggage was delayed getting to Rwanda on their way from the US, so we had to help them out by lending them some of our clothes. They were troopers through the whole thing!

Nature at Home

This morning I got a little visitor in the kitchen.

He was about the size of the nail on my pinky finger. Still scared the heck out of me at first because I didn't know what it was.


He was just hanging out on our grocery totebag.

Also, for the first time our little alien-looking orchids are blooming. They're just about to bust it out with some flowers. So excited!


It was kinda hard to capture the spidery offshoots for the flowers. But if you look close, you'll see the buds there.


I don't know what these are called, but maybe it's tiger something.

Lunches with Friends

For the past two Sundays I've been fortunate to be invited into the homes of two different families for lunch. Hospitality plays an important role in Tanzanian culture and I think us Americans could learn a lot from their generosity and willingness to open their doors. Well, at least I can, because on the weekends I have the tendency to want to shut out the world and hide out in my home to rest for the upcoming week!

Last week Chris and I went to the house of a fellow parishioner in our church. Her name is also Katie; she's a petite, quiet, pretty woman with 3 cute little girls. Two of the girls are twins*, both about 6 years old, and the littlest is almost 3. We have seen them at church every week and the girls have become quite fans of ours, coming up after each Mass to greet us and hold our hands. Their mom has been asking us for weeks to come to their home, so we were glad to finally be able to accept the invitation. No visit to someone's home is complete without food, so on the way to the family's home from church we stopped for the mom picked up the staples. Up, up, up we climbed the hills and rocks to their 2-room house. When we arrived we met Katie's husband, who chatted with us while the mom cooked the meal outside on the porch. At one point I went outside to use the outhouse and on the way back I found the twins beckoning me to sit with them in a cool spot under a tree at the corner of the house. They truly knew the best place to sit! Not only was it much cooler there, but it also had a great view of the surrounding hills and the main road down the hill. We had such a lovely lunch of fish, ugali** and veggies. I look forward to the girls coming to the house sometime so we can teach them some of our American boardgames.

Yesterday I went to the house of a coworker who has been promising me for weeks to teach me how to make a traditional Tanzanian dish of spinach and ground peanuts. Mama Hamisi*** is the office assistant at my work, which means that she cooks lunches and chai, cleans the office, makes photocopies and does other office-related tasks. She makes some of the best spinach of anyone I've tasted and I always make a big fuss about it to her. For months she's been telling me she'll teach me to cook it if I want to come to her house one weekend. Because I'm such a homebody I've been kind of reluctant to trudge out to her house on a Saturday or Sunday. Last week she asked me again, shewing away my assertions that she might not want me over to cook during Ramadan since she's Muslim and is fasting during the month. She assured me it'd be no problem and she'd be happy to show me. So after church yesterday I drove over to her house. After introducing me to her 3 teenage daughters and 1 adult daughter (She has 8 children total and at least these 5 all live together. Again 2 of these daughters were twins), we walked down the street to the sokoni (market) to buy the necessary ingredients. Then for the next hour or so we sat in her 2-room house while she patiently taught this American girl to prepare 2 different greens dishes and ugali. Tanzanians cook on the floor and on 1-burner stoves, which are usually powered by charcoal, though Mama Hamisi's was gas-powered. I'm proud to say that I survived the experience with no cuts or burns, despite not using a cutting board or hot pads! When the food was ready I sat and ate the meal together with her daughters. It was such a wonderful experience and I felt so welcome. When we were done Mama Hamisi even sent home a little "doggy bag" for Chris to taste my culinary success.

I'm so appreciative of the people here who are so generous of what they have to give. They teach me valuable lessons about generosity of spirit and I hope I can truly embrace this openness.


*In Tanzania twins are called "Doto" and "Kulwa," regardless of whether they are boys are girls. They will have their birth names, but the oldest will be called Kulwa and the youngest Doto.

**Ugali is a staple food here and most people eat only this each day. It is a thick, stiff paste made of a corn flower and water.

***Women in Tanzania go by their kids or grand kid's name.

Court Case Resolved?

Well, that's an optimistic title for this blog post because our court case isn't quite resolved yet. But we were able to close a major chapter yesterday, just 1 day after our 1 year anniversary of the robbery. We gave our sworn testimony to the court! The short story is that it went well, they were respectful to us, we didn't have to surrender our returned items to the court and WE'RE DONE with our part!

However, there's a longer story here somewhere in this mess and I'm not even sure what that story is. As we sat at the courthouse for hours again yesterday, our 12th appearance as my husband kept reminding me, my mind couldn't help going over and over the details and our experiences from the past year. I wouldn't say we're intricately familiar with the Tanzanian court system, but by gum we're definitely more experienced and aware than we were 1 year ago.  I've got nothing to compare it to, really, because I've never been personally involved in a court case in the states. But I've helped victims of crime both in the US and in Tanzania and all throughout this process I kept thinking about them, about the girl who is being raised to believe that her opinion and voice don't count, about the woman who has been beaten and raped and humiliated for months and years on end, about the widow whose in-laws have taken her rightful property and inheritance leaving her penniless and alone. As a person with (real or perceived) money, education, power and prestige, how much better equipped am I to navigate this crazy system? And how much less able are they? In America we are led to believe that victims will be protected and that justice will be done but I know from these women's experiences and from the stories of countless others that that's not always the case. In Tanzania they don't even make that promise. It's openly acknowledged that the system is corrupt and broken. I know how frustrated and dis-empowered I have felt every time I had to take off work, drag myself down to the courthouse, wait to be acknowledged, and told to come back another day.

However, despite all of my frustrations with the court system over the past year, I will say that when we finally testified yesterday I felt respected, I felt like the accused was respected and I felt like the courts wanted to get a conviction. (The kid who is accused of committing our robbery has been sitting in prison for a year. I'd feel bad about this wondering if they got the wrong guy, except for the fact that he admitted doing it, he gave details of the inside of our house and of how he asked neighborhood kids where the white people lived. When (if?) he is finally sentenced, his served time will be subtracted from the total sentence and I think that's fair.) I was not expecting to feel so satisfied with our court experience and I certainly didn't really expect to get a conviction because I know for a fact that petty thieves in our town are working in collaboration with the police and military, that they pay off the police and judges to avoid prosecution and that they usually see very little, if any, jail time*. Yet, throughout our case I've seen a number of times when the court and the police have clearly been wanting to move forward with the case so they can get a conviction and get this kid off the street. A few months ago after appearing at the courthouse so many times, Chris and I asked the investigator if the police would drop the case so we could just move on and not worry about coming back again. He was very upset that we would want to do this and pleaded with us to continue in our efforts. He wanted a conviction, he said. And when the accused tried to ask me triangulating questions during the proceedings** or when he got saucy, the judge put him in his place, saying they'd seen him many times in the court, he knows how court proceedings are handled and his efforts to get his own way were thwarted.

It's made me wonder why they were so bent on justice this time***. The cynic in me wonders if this kid got too big for his britches. Maybe he wasn't collaborating with police or maybe he was giving them a hard time, maybe he crossed another criminal who is more snugly in the polices' pockets and they want him off the streets. Or maybe he'd been caught for another more serious crime in the past and the court didn't have enough evidence to convict him then, but now there's a stronger claim. Certainly there has to be a rational explanation!, I think, and it's scary how my mind can't be content with just having faith in the system and the desires of those in it to seek and carry out justice.

I guess I'll never know the real reason why things unfolded the way that have. And maybe I don't want or need to know. So what I can say is this, there is a system of justice here and in our case (depending on the final outcome, of course) we've seen justice done and its been relatively fair to the accused and the accusing. It make me happy. But on the other hand, it took a lot of help from friends, time, patience, education, flexibility and advocacy. So I still can't help but feel bad for those people people going through a similar process who don't have these "luxuries" in order to see their case through. How can we as a community help them to see justice done?



*I have a friend who is also going through the court system and she has seen first-hand how they work in collaboration. She, a victim, was treated like the accused when she was given the opportunity to testify before court.

**Apparently in Tanzanian courts the accused has a right to question the witnesses. Weird and frustrating when this punk a$$ kid looks you in the eyes and tries to say that we lied in our statements to the police!

***Also, this is a clear reversal of how the case started. When the kid took the stand in a preliminary hearing he completely denied all allegations and the judge (a different one) tried to say that the police coerced a statement out of the kid.

Kenya Pictures

Even though Chris and I are back to work this week, I'm still catching up on our pictures from our trip. Maybe being delayed in posting is helping me stay connected to vacation and making me feel like I'm still there? Yeah, maybe not.

As usual, I've posted my pictures on Flickr, but for now here's a sampling.

We had such a great time in Paris that we were so sad to leave. Chris decided to take one last taste of real French chocolate before we were back in Africa.


What a maroon.

The primary reason we went to Nairobi was for our doctor's checkups. The medical care in Kenya is worlds above Tanzania and we were really happy with the services we got.


In typical Chris-Reid-fashion, he had to make the doctor's visits really count. Don't worry, he was just in for a medical test and everything checked out okay.

Despite all the medical tests, we did get in some fun stuff.


Most importantly, we got to see a 3D movie! Our first movie theater experience since coming here*.


One day Chris and I went to the Botanical Gardens and we saw this big tree.


Even though we live only a few borders away, Mwanza has no Ethiopian food. We got our eat on, man!


Continuing our experience of seeing skulls in all of the countries we visited.


SNAKES! At Nairobi National Museum.


This guy didn't care...


...but this guy sure did!

Funny side note about Kenya:


Good to know.

*Nairobi traffic is so bad that on the way home from the movie we sat in 2 hours of traffic. It took longer to get home than the actual run time of the movie we saw!

Paris Pictures

Our much anticipated trip to Paris has come and gone in a flash. It was such a wonderful week and there is so much to talk about. But as I already said, Erica did a really nice recap so I think I'll spare a lot of the details here.

This was both my and Chris's first trip to France, Chris's first real substantial time in Europe even. I wouldn't have put France on the top of my list for "must-see places." No offense, it's just that I guess I'm more drawn to "exotic*" and France never seemed that way to me. So I was pleasantly surprised 100-fold! Both Chris and I absolutely fell in love with Paris and we kept repeating over and over again to each other, "I could live here." "We could live here." I guess anything would feel luxurious and special after spending 18 months in a developing country, but really, y'all. Paris is amazing. You should check it out. And if you can, try to see it with amazing friends and family. That totally made the trip extra, extra fun and special.


Henri`, the neighborhood kitty says, "Le meow."


The gardens at Versailles were a beautiful place to sit and rest.


Dorks in a park.


The Arc de Triomphe


Family times.


They got hitched!


Creeeeeepy.


We got giddy.


Just another day in Paris. Ho hum.

I put up a selection of our shots of Flickr. But really, if you want to see good pictures, just skip right over to Erica's blog.

*HELLO! I live in Africa. That's an understatement.

Cat Advice?

So, I think we broke our kitten. I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with him, but it seems to be neurological. About a week ago in the middle of the night he knocked over a whole jar of sunflower oil that spilled all over the floor. That may be purely circumstantial. Chris cleaned it up, bathed the cat a few times, we moved on. But ever since then he's had trouble walking, jumping and holding his head up. It was really bad at first, he couldn't even jump up to or down from a chair without falling, literally, on his head, which only made things worse. We made sure he got lots of sleep and we kept him locked up so he couldn't jump onto anything and after a few days he seemed to get better. I mean, not better-better, but improved better. For the better part of the week he's been able to jump up and down without falling over and he's not been as wobbly as before. He eats and goes to the bathroom in the litter box, but his personality is still not quite there. He doesn't play or do kitten-like things, nor does he respond to stimuli. For example if you wave your hand in front of his face or snap, he doesn't move. But he can see because he'll follow you around the room. He's sleeping a lot and when he does, he always buries his head. He is singly focused on being in someone's lap and will meow if you don't sit down.

I called our local vet but he's out of town until Wednesday. Though honestly, I doubt he'll have any idea what's wrong and will probably just give him shots of antibiotics. Any ideas from people out there? Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

Sad Goodbye

We were sad to say goodbye to these to knuckleheads today. It's been a great visit and we miss you already! Safari njema.

France Trip

I'm so behind on blogging and probably won't catch up in the next few days. So, in the meantime hop over to Erica's blog because she's got some great pictures and a pretty all-inclusive synopsis of our trip since we spent most of the time there with them. Heck, she's done such a good job of it I might not even write my own post.

Master chef

Helping my dad in he kitchen works just like this. I just stand around and watch as he does all the work. 

Vacation Continues

We're back in Mwanza. My parents met us in Rwanda last week for sight seeing and animal trekking. We got to see a bunch of gorillas and chimps, which was awesome. Our guests are in town until next week so I'll do a longer blog post then, but for now I've posted a few pictures in a set on Flickr.

Rwandan Liberation Day/US Independence Day

Today we commemorated Rwandan Liberation Day (which so happens to be the same day as the US's Independence Day) by paying a visit to another Genocide memorial. Words can't describe the sadness and horror that took place in these locations. Another reminder of the importance of dialogue, respect and tolerance. Here's to a long history of continued peace in America and Rwanda and all the countries in between. Happy 4th, y'all!

Travels update

We've just finished our absolutely fantastic vacation in Paris and are now in Nairobi for the week for some medical checkups. I have so much to write about and many pictures to share, but I'm on my iPhone, which makes it a little difficult to write good posts. Plus, my Flickr app is acting up so in having trouble posting pictures there too. 

Paris was more wonderful than I could've imagined. We got some great quality time with Chris's sister, Erica, and her husband, Fuzzy. We also saw in A TON of sites (the Louvre, the Arc de Triumph, Musee d' Orsey, the Eiffel Tower, cafes galore, Notre Dame, Saint Chepelle, the Concierge, boat trip on the Siene, Versailles). I may have forgotten some stuff in there because by the end I felt a little like a zombie and barely able to keep up. But it was all great! Paris is a beautiful, laid back and friendly city. I could absolutely see myself living there. The people are beautiful, the kids so cute and the dogs quirky. Loved it all!

 

On top of the Arc de Triumph

Now on to Nairobi. We've been here 1 1/2 days and have mostly spent our time in various doctors offices. We came here once before in our 2006 trip but this time around things are so different because of our experience in Tanzania for the past 1 1/2 years. I said to Chris today that if there was any doubt that Tanzania is in need if aid, just compare it to Nairobi. Granted, Nairobi is one of the largest cities in Africa, but still. There is such a major difference between here and there and u can't ever imagine Mwanza coming even close to this. It also makes me feel better about our struggles because I better understand why things are so hard there. Also, after catching a public bus today and trying (successfully!) to find a doctors office, I realized that I may just be prepared for almost anywhere. It was all such a breeze. 

Anyways, more thoughts and pictures soon. I'll leave you with this glorious shot of my husband as he was coming out of anesthesia after his endoscopy today. Ah, Reids and your weird ailments. 

Chris says, "Nairobi hospitals are really nice. And not only because I like these drugs."

Busy Weeks

The past few weeks have been flying by for two main reasons.

1) There's just a lot of stuff going on! It seems like the longer we're here, the more people we know and the more requests we get, the more visitors stop by, and the more busy our lives become. This is all a good thing, but it definitely makes things interesting and...well...busy.

2) We're leaving for vacation in less than a week!!* We've been planning for this vacation for almost a year and now it's right upon us. There's a lot to do in preparation for leaving for 3 weeks so our pace has picked up and I think it'll continue until we leave.

Here are just a few pictures of what we've been up to:

Over the past few weeks it's become a common practice that every Saturday and Sunday at around 4PM the kids who live on the other side of house come over to visit. They will just sit there quietly without doing anything, so we decided to introduce them to Chris's favorite game, Connect 4. They love it! Games that involve critical thinking and strategy are rare here, so we hope we're adding some developmental value to their play time. But they enjoy it immensely so that's great too!


Regina challenges her brother Arnold while the eldest, Adipus, watches.

Last week we picked up the baton for another missioner who returned to the states for their vacation and Chris and I helped with a "project" that David and Caitlin have been working on. (I hate to call a little girl a "project." She's a human being, so I kinda flinch at writing that. But at the same time, it's an undertaking what they've been doing, namely to help her walk. So I'll use that word despite myself.) A month or so ago, Caitlin and David helped a little girl from David's school for disabled children to get a surgery that will hopefully fix her deformed legs. The surgery required followup one month after they put her braces on. Unfortunately, Caitlin and David had already planned a trip to the states for that time so Chris and I agreed to help her and her mom get to the hospital to see how the healing process is going and to see if it was time for her braces to come off.

This process is quite involved because Helena and her mother Happiness live up a very steep hill. After her first surgery, David and a friend fashioned a carrier that Helena could sit in, which would support her legs without moving them. Carrying her down the steep hill while she sits propped in the chair is the first of many challenges.


Her mom is a pro at this, I think.

The process at the hospital is the other hurdle. It requires a lot of patience and advocacy on behalf of our client. Helena's mom is getting good at understanding the system and I'm happy that she was a great advocate to her child (something that is counter cultural to some TZians, who tend to just take whatever they get, even if it's sub-par). Still, we spent a lot of time just waiting in one hall or another. Luckily, I had my iPhone so Helena had a good time playing the games and taking pictures, much to the surprise of the other clients who were sitting alongside us.


Helena's infectious smile.

The good news is that the Doc was happy with Helena's progress. The bones that were broken in the surgery to straighten her legs are showing signs of healing and he thinks she'll have no problem walking in the future. Her bones heal slowly so the braces will be left on another month or more in order to allow more time to heal. By that time the Rossers will be back from their vacation so they'll help her again in the next round.


The doctor checking out the braces.

Helena is a beautiful little girl and her story is inspiring. To read more about her and the help the Rossers have been providing her, check out their blog here.

*We're so so so excited to be meeting Chris's sister Erica and her husband Fuzzy in France so we can all attend the wedding of a long-time friend of Chris's. There's so much to look forward to and the trip will go by so fast (really, only a week?) that I'm trying to slow things down in my mind before I blink and miss it all. After France we'll spend a few days in Nairobi because the medical care there is so much better than here in TZ. There's nothing particularly wrong with us (finally!) but we think a mid-contract checkup is a good idea. Then, we're off to Rwanda to meet my dad and step-mom. We'll be tracking gorillas, monkeys, birds and other animals as well as seeing the sites before they (dad and Holly, not the animals) return with us back to Tanzania for a few weeks. This'll make our second set of visitors since we've arrived. Now that we've tested our tour-guiding skills on these guys, we're getting better at this. Who will be next to come?

I Swear I Will Post More Than Just Cat Pictures in the Coming Posts

I won't turn into a person who only posts cat pictures on her blog. But that guy is so cute and he's had a very active past few weeks.

Yesterday he experienced the trauma of being neutered, poor fellow. I thought it might be of interest to at least 1 or 2 people out there that they do the surgery (all vet care, actually) straight from the home. It's so great because we don't have to go anywhere! So the vets came over yesterday and straight up snipped that junk on the dining room table. Bros, we eat there! But it worked out, I guess.



Getting ready. The younger intern wore a McDonald's apron. So THAT'S the secret ingredient!


Wembley knew something was up.


 Doing the surgery.

The poor little guy was totally stoned all day and night yesterday. Today's he's been moving around and meowing again. I've been at the office all day so I've not been able to keep tabs on him, but Chris said that he's super cuddly and drooling. I think he'll make a full recovery.

And, we managed to eat dinner at that same table last night.