Two Sojourners

Pardon my post-travel ridiculous timing, but below is a list of where we went and what we did.  Well, I guess it makes sense to write this down after the fact.  We certainly didn’t know what it would look like before we embarked on January 6, 2011!

• Denver to Seoul, S. Korea (long layover) to Bangkok, Thailand, January 6-8, 2011
• Chiang Mai, Thailand:  helping with child care for a week, visiting different organizations that help young kids with AIDS and girls who were sold into child labor
• Railay Beach, Thailand:  enjoying the beach and water!
• In/Out of Bangkok a few times: and staying with new friend, Som, a wonderful and generous hostess
• Phnom Penh, Cambodia:  In His Steps Cambodia, helping with orphans, teaching kids, helping women who had been in the sex slave trade, helping the community – a wholistic  organization.  We taught, moved furniture, did what was needed
• Saigon, Vietnam:  just to go and check it out. 
• Hong Kong:  worked with Crossroads,  a big organization that is a clearing house for donations, packing up shipping containers-full and sending them to places in need
• China:  Chengdu, Kangding (Tibet), Xining – teaching English, visiting workers, painting, cleaning, you name it.
• Nepal:  Iris House orphanage – living there with the kids and Nepalese house parents.  Playing, teaching, planting seeds (literally), cooking, milking the cow and more
• Dubai, UAE:  transit place and the mall where we finally got to eat Taco Bell
• Oman:  visiting workers there, car camping and hiking, learning middle eastern culture, yard work, child care, painting, odd jobs
• Amman, Jordan: visiting people who worked at an olive wood workshop that benefitted handicapped Jordanian and Palestinians; child care; yard work; visiting the ancient city of Petra (in Wadi Musa)
• Turkey:  Antalya, Chirali, Istanbul, Ephesus, Cappadocia region – working at a Third Culture Kid’s camp on the Med coast, helping with follow-up, visiting ancient sites, staying with new friends
• Timisoara, Romania and Retezat National Park:  visiting our first country where we weren’t the minority; loving the mountain trip and the mellowness of Romania
• Budapest, Hungary:  went for one project but it got turned into something else.  A fantastic time of multi-national fellowship with the ever-awesome YWAM people.
• Vienna, Austria:  to visit dear friend from Colorado, Krishana, who serves with Greater European Mission there
• Prague, Czech Republic:  stayed in a free flat provided by an international church there; furniture moving, cleaning, helping with a building project, and again  great fellowship with multi-national folks. 
• Frankfurt, Germany:  more of a transit place to get to/from Holland and to South Africa.  Experiencing the true tourist ways via staying in a crowded, smokey hostel near the Bahnhoff (train station).  I like Frankfurt, though!
• Holland: to visit dear Diny, a Dutch widow who also worked at the camp in Turkey.  Her heart is to serve in Turkey.  Got to ride bikes the Dutch way, visit a true working windmill, and had the best one euro ice cream cone ever
• Cape Town, South Africa (RSA):  via Frankfurt – to meet up with dear friend Dan, and his sister Amy who lives there and serves –volunteers! – as a nurse for Living Hope ministries.  Made a garden in a township, helped with after school activities, fellowshipped greatly with Dan and Amy, served food to homeless.
• Welllington, South Africa:  north of Cape Town in the wine country!  Stayed at the Andrew Murray Centre and helped with the prison ministry.  Wonderful to go to prison and fellowship with our brothers in there!  And again, fantastic multi-national fellowship with the folks who serve the prison ministry of reconciliation
• Lusaka, Zambia:  to visit dear Mutinta, who serves with The Navigators.  I met Tints 14 years ago when first in Zambia.  We repainted the whole interior of her rental house!  Great fun and fellowship with Milimo, Mumbi, Yanang, and others.
• Musanze, Rwanda (all over Rwanda, really): worked with the Team Rwanda, the national bicycling team, coached by Jock Boyer and captained my Kimberly Coates, with our beloved Frenchman, Max, as mechanic.  The longest stay anywhere, at six weeks.  Cook, clean, teach English, lead in yoga/stretching, paint their house, hauling and logistics gals for the Tour of Rwanda (7 days on the road), a wonderful, unique time with wonderful, unique and beautiful people – Rwandans, American, Canadians, South Africans, Frenchmen, and a couple of Brits.
• Kampala, Uganda:  and also Queen Elizabeth National Park.   Stayed at a Navigator staff person’s home while they were away and blessed by Susan, a Ugandan Nav staff women.  Kampala is no Kigali (for it’s louder, dirtier, busier) and we were ready to get home.  Susan, Patience, and Teddy redeemed our time, as well as the generosity of staying in a nice home.  Our flights home left Kampala – mine on Dec 7^th; Jess’s on Dec 9^th.

These are the places and some of the things we did and saw.  We saw and did much more, as you can imagine.  Also, many, many names were NOT mentioned, for I would need several pages to tell of the most wonderful, generous, kind, servant-hearted people with whom we stayed, with whom we worked, and hopefully, whom we served and blessed.  You people who live and serve in various countries know who you are.  The trip was really about you and the vision God has give each of you and you all as a community.  We are changed by knowing you.

Melanie – January 12, 2012 – Evergreen, Colorado, USA

It’s been 5 weeks.  It’s been hard to write, for it’s been hard to process the huge sojourn year of 2011.  That’s the honest truth.  How am I adjusting?  It depends on the day.  At first, I was mellow and chill, for I was excited to partake of America’s conveniences and comforts.  Who doesn’t like constant electricity, hot showers, and central heating? 

The honeymoon of being back ended after a couple of weeks.  Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad I’m home.  It’s beautiful to see my friends and family and beloved Colorado.  I like driving my little car again, and had better, because I’ve been splitting time between Colorado Springs and Evergreen, where I’m based at my parent’s home.  I’m still living out of bags!  At least I have a whole new (old) wardrobe to enjoy.  But there’s an intangible something that is making it hard to really settle, really adjust to being home.   What is it?

I can’t put behind me a whole year of living differently.  My lifestyle was different; my mode of living different.  There were few obligations, expectations, or appointments.  For the most part, the only way to get in touch with me was via email.  The pace of life was slower, even with all the plane, train, bus, and automobile segments of travel I had to do.  I could just sit.  And stare.  And think and dream, and yes, get bored sometimes.  Sometimes quite often.  My needs were simple.  I had only minimal clothing and equipment to use and haul.  Life was, for the most part, slow and simple.  That doesn’t mean it was inconsequential.  Far from it.

I am different. Believe me, I wish I could tell you how.  I just know I am.  Though I don’t directly experience the pace of the hectic American life, I sense it as an undercurrent in our country.  Yes, I was in other busy, busy countries, but I was not a citizen of any of them.  I could float along at my own pace there.  Here, I can’t, because my psyche is tuned to the American way.  I used to be that way!  I’m not anymore – at least haven’t gotten back into that mode – and it is unsettling.  I’m different in other ways, too, though I’m flabbergasted to try to describe how.  Quieter?  More observant?  Less consumeristic? Case in point, now that I have access to any of the foods and products I want (and often wish I had), I don’t really care to buy those things or eat the foods I thought I missed.  I am not enticed by the 150 different choices of cereal.

The year was big.  The stories I heard, the vision I witnessed, the redemption of people’s lives, of communities, the beauty of God’s big wide world – how can I put behind me such a big year?  I don’t even know how to think about all of it.  I don’t even know how to think about how I was in it.  Me being me, of course I wrote a journal, three journals, in fact.  It’s not as if I don’t have a witness to what I experienced and how I responded or initiated in it. And there’s Jessica as a witness to me and with me, as well.   it’s just that I can’t put it all together yet.  That sounds like a “no, duh” statement.  It will take a long time.  A long, long time.  No one has asked a lot of questions, so I haven’t been speaking or writing much about it.  I need to, for that will help me process.

It’s surreal:  The BEST word to describe what it’s like to be home.  The first words out of my mouth when finally seeing my parents and beloved friend Terrie at Denver International were, “Was I really gone for a year?.  It still feels that way.  Title Nine pursued me and gave me my old job back (Events Director, putting on our T9K running series).  I’m moving back to Colorado Springs soon .  Everything looks the same, feels the same…but I’m not the same.  How could I be after the year I just experienced and dreamed about for at least a year and a half prior to even leaving?  I think, because life feels so “normal” that I’m afraid of losing what I did, saw, and experienced in 2011.  How ironic.  I wrote about how “normal” it felt for me to be traveling and living as I did (see earlier posts).  Now, in “normal” life, I feel unsettled.  I don’t think I quite want to settle or adjust, for fear it would negate the sojourn year. 

I’m just saying it like it is.  There are no deep thoughts or conclusions in this post.  You’re simply getting a glimpse into the mind and heart of someone who did something not many people choose to do – and is ruined for life by it.  I mean that in a good way.

Melanie – January 12, 2012 – Evergreen, Colorado, USA

T.S. Eliot's Magi experienced a little reverse culture shock upon return from their journey.  Like them, I identify with the strangeness of the journey, and the momentus impact of truth on a life.  And unlike them, I am not alone, but have community with which to celebrate.  Here's to each Magi journey and all it brings.  Merry Christmas, indeed. 

Jess

McCloud, Ca

T.S. Eliot

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times when we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities dirty and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wineskins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

With two days on my own in Kampala, I have some good thinking time.  In just a few days, I will experience something like a time travel scene out of Back to The Future.  Thursday in a bustling, hot, dirty African city and Saturday in quiet, clean, cold, snowy, Colorado of the western world.  I am SO looking forward to being with the friends I haven’t seen for a year (or two), but I’m anticipating the questions that are to come:

1)      So, how was it?

2)      Which was your favorite country?

3)      What is the craziest thing you ate?

Alright guys.  Let me just line this out for you now:

1)      So, how was it?

How many hours do we have?  It was amazing, frustrating, inspiring, discouraging, basically any word that you can think of ending with –ing.  (But, here are some of my favorites:  eye-opening, healing, exhausting, deeply fulfilling, humbling, exciting and liberating).  I can only wonder what most imagine:  a year-long vacation where you travel from one exotic location to another, sampling cultures like on a fine cheese and wine tour.  Yes, it was just like that, only the budget tour…the one where you volunteer for the set-up, cleanup, serving, public relations and marketing.             

I know we posted a lot of beautiful scenery pictures, but the reality is that was only half of what we saw.  It is a challenge to take pictures of a dirty, smelly, nasty and ravished creation.  If there is one thing I could do differently, it would be this:  trying harder to capture the lack of beauty in places.  Sometimes it’s is too heartbreaking and feels like exploitation.  Ultimately, I can only hope that our writing about these things makes up the balance.    

2)      Which country was your favorite?

Which one do you like the most is about as fair as asking which of your children you love the most.   The culture of a nation is like a collective personality.  If you really have an affinity for peoples of the world- perhaps you could liken people groups to your own children.  There are qualities about each one that you delight in and that make you swell with pride.  But, there are also those ways that they are that push your very last button, leaving you a ragged wreck, and wondering whose great idea this was in the first place.  Right.  I don’t have kids, but it seems there would be some similar relational comparisons.  Turkey and South Africa would be my golden children.  I just don't understand Uganda or Vietnam- we got off on the wrong foot and never had time to set things right. Cambodia and Rwanda would hold the place close to my heart filled with tenderness and hope. 

3)      What is the craziest thing you ate?

Prepare to be disappointed:  Pickled Herring in the Netherlands.  It was delicious, head and all.  That, and it was sure to be parasite and disease-free.  Walked right by the fried beetles in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  There are few things worse than being nauseous and doubled over the porcelain throne in a developing land.  Worse, the symptoms are the same for nearly every possible disease.  Nausea, vomiting, fever and diarrhea are pretty much the baseline…..not a very comforting thought!   For an adventurous eater, (who tried cow heart in Bolivia years ago) I didn’t mess around this year.   I washed every piece of fruit in filtered water, didn’t use the tap to rinse my tooth brush.  And, we prayed a lot.  Only two colds and a 24 hour flu.  

So....this year was all that, and so much more.  See you in a few days! 

Jess

Kampala, Uganda

I hope you read my previous post about Rwanda and what we've been doing here.  I'm writing this at Jock and Kim's house, my last night in Musanze. Tomorrow, we leave early to go to Kigali to sort out our last day in Rwanda before catching the plane to Uganda.  I'm glad to be here one more night to enjoy Jock and Kim (and Jock's famous pasta sauce) and to be in this quiet, beautiful area of Rwanda.  And I'm sad to leave.

I didn't think I would say that.  There were times during these last 6 weeks that I was so d.o.n.e.  I am weary after 11 months of travel and helping.  I had a couple of melt-downs.  I punched a door the other day.  I hyperventilated with anger and frustration at times.  But those times can be counted on one a few fingers and the times of enjoyment of people and creation are countless. My experience here was at times yo-yo.  I got SO tired of being stared at and called a mzungu and being asked for money (see “Mzungu Protocol” post) but I love the beauty of this place and the Rwandans I did get to know.  These guys, the bicycling team, are exceptional men.  They ride hard and with heart and they are thankful.  No big head ego's here. They know they have it good with Jock and Kim at the helm, and a slew of volunteers ready to get them out on the road so that they can do their best.  I will miss these guys, but if I'm lucky, a few of them will be at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this summer.  Who knows?  Some of us on the support crew this week are already talking about a reunion helping the Tour of Rwanda next year.

The Tour ended yesterday with an unexpected burst of excitement:  one of the newest and youngest riders on the B team (there were two Rwandan teams) decided to go for it and lead out with 10K's to go.  And this is after a tough 120K's already.  He went all the way and won the stage, collapsing at the end.  A Rwandan got the first stage win of the Tour, in front of the home crowd in the capital city!  I am proud of our riders, of their effort and team work to make this Tour one of the best for the Rwandans.  The A Team - Team Karisimbi - won team category in the Tour.  Once they got the lead, they held on to the end.  A few of our guys had podium finishes, and Nathan was 4th overall in the GC.  Not bad for a group of guys who started to ride/race only a few years ago. 

The days started at 5:30am and didn’t end until 12 hours later…and then some. They went quickly.  Some of the accommodations were downright janky.  We rarely had hot water for showers.  Sometimes the water didn’t even come out of the tap.  It was worse when the water and gunk from the drain actually came back up and spread over the shower floor.  The meals consisted of 4 starches and one vegetable, but overall, things weren’t that bad AND it was all worth it.  What a blessing to work with dedicated, selfless people like Jock and Kim and Max (the French mechanic).  What a gift to be able to meet folks from other parts of the world who do the same thing.  It’s small pay and big hours for these folks. 

In the end, Team Type1, an American team whose riders who have type 1 diabetes and who have given a lot of help to Rwandans with this condition, won the overall 1^st and 2^nd places.  It was very odd to hear the “Star Spangled Banner” in Rwanda, when they played the American national anthem for the winner.  Yep, as I stood there with hand over heart, I got veklempt.  I love my country and I am thankful to live there.  Nevertheless, I was pulling for our boys – the Rwandans – all the way.  I wanted them to beat my countrymen! 

That’s all.  I am off to Uganda on Tuesday and then the count-down begins.  A week from this Tuesday I will begin my journey home.  It’s hard for me to grasp that fact.  Jessica and I already have been talking about transition, anticipating some hard bits of returning to American culture – and having jobs!  The big issue for me is that I will probably get restless quickly, secretly plotting my next overseas journey.  I shouldn’t be projecting.  I need to get home first and sort out “normal” life again.  I don’t think it will ever be normal for me, for it’s rarely been so. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 Melanie - November 27, 2011     Musanze, Rwanda

It’s hard to believe I’ve been in this beautiful country for 4 ½ weeks – with 10 days more to go.  I get up at 6am (the ibis squawk louder than the roosters crow), sit on the front porch, and marvel every day at the abundance and variety of birds in my own front yard.  I see the lush, green surroundings, the neatly trimmed and artfully landscaped lawns and medians.  Maybe it’s just this area I’m in, but Rwanda is indeed a gorgeous place.  I am in Musanze, formerly known as Rhuengeri, surrounded by volcanoes and where the gorilla sanctuaries are located. Though it’s rainy season, it still get quite warm during the day.  Truth be told, going back to a dry, cold, barren Colorado winter does not sound appealing.

The days have flown because I’ve been busy, volunteering for Team Rwanda, the national cycling team.  Jess posted a link in her last blog to the article by Philip Gourevitch, which came out in the July “The New Yorker” magazine.  If you read this, you will know how this team got started and what it’s all about.  Sport can and does transform lives.  It does bring pride and even healing to a country, especially one such as this, racked by genocide over 17 years ago.  Do you know what happened in this country the size of Maryland?  One sect (tribe) of the citizenry was incited to wipe out the other main sect.  In about 100 days, over 800,000 adults and children were killed, mostly by machete hacking.  The world stood by, doing almost nothing until afterwards.  When international aid finally arrived, more harm than good was done.  I’m not being dramatic or political by these statements.  Read for yourself:  Philip Gourevitch’s astounding book, “we wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families”, and Lt. General Romeo Dallaire’s “Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda”.

What’s it like now?  Peaceful, rebuilt, beautiful, controlled.  I am completely safe here, as are all the citizens.  President Kagame (formerly General during the civil war) makes sure the citizens are united as one Rwanda.  Is there healing?  There certainly is imposed unity.  Apparently, people don’t talk about the past but rather focus on the present and future.  The guys on the team are a good example of this.  They come from a variety of backgrounds and have suffered a variety of losses.  They don’t talk about these things.  They live together during the training camps, teasing and laughing with each other.  They are like brothers and are good friends, now suffering hard workouts together. 

It’s a joy to be with these young Rwandan men.  They ride their bikes to Musanze on Monday (from up to 100 miles away) and train until they ride home on Friday.  Petty – the wonderful cook – prepares meals with a plentitude of fresh produce from the garden or grown locally.  I’ve had the healthiest diet while in Rwanda.  Who knew?  Part of it is lack of access to junk food and sweets.  Helpful.  Jess and I are here to help with daily tasks but mostly to focus on leading yoga/stretching and to teach English.  While Jock and the team were in Eritrea for the Continental  Championships, we, along with Kim, once again painted the whole interior of a house.  On Sunday, the Tour of Rwanda starts.  There will be about 8 African teams and 4 from other areas.  Team Type 1 from the USA will be here.  Jess and I will be supporting the guys with logistics, meals, equipment, etc.  I’ll be driving a big Land Cruiser around Rwanda – stick shift!  I hope my foot reaches the clutch pedal.  There will be 7 stages, finishing up in Kigali on next Saturday.  Liken this tour to a very mini Tour de France.  Very mini.  However, there will be multitudes of Rwandans lining the roads.  Guaranteed.

What Jock Boyer started here five years ago is special.  This team has given many young men (and a few women) the chance to change their lives and communities.  Team Rwanda brings pride to their country. The shining start is Adrian, who will compete in mountain biking in the Olympics next summer.  But even if these guys don’t achieve the same as Adrian, they still earn more than being farmers, as many Rwandans are.  More than that, being on this bike team helps them dream.  They can see potential for their lives they didn’t think possible.  When Jock Boyer eventually leaves, he will have trained up Kiki and Obed to be the leaders and coaches.  Who knew that Kiki, a street kid for 5 years before miraculously being reunited with his parents, would one day be a professional cycling team rider and coach?  That he would go to America, travel the US and Africa, see the world?  Sport can change lives.  Why do we love the Olympics so much?  We love the stories of how these athletes overcame odds, dedicate themselves, have suffered and have willed themselves to be the best.  We love when our own country’s team/individual wins – it brings pride and joy to us all. 

Team Rwanda does this for a beautiful little country that has seen more darkness and evil than any country should ever bare.  Thanks Jock, Kim, and all those who make this team of men-who-have-become-brothers what it is – and what it is becoming.

Melanie -  Musanze, Rwanda          November 18, 2011

Team Rwanda

This is the final month of the trip, and in exactly 4 weeks, we finally come home.  What an incredible period of time this has been.  I know that as we unpack it all, we will start to realize exactly how much we have seen and heard since January 6^th. 

For 6 weeks, we are in Rwanda, volunteering with Team Rwanda (Rwanda’s National Cycling Team).  Each week at training camp, there are anywhere from 10-18 Rwandan cyclists.  Our days are full of cooking, picking veggies from the garden, teaching English, leading stretching, and this week…. painting the coach’s house!  Good stuff.  The team coach is Jock Boyer, the first American cyclist to finish the Tour de France.  I am blessed to finish our long journey this way, and to participate in something familiar- bicycle racing!  Here are some pictures from throughout the day:

Kigali, Rwanda.  Rwandan National Champtionships

Some of the boys before the race

Jess and Zulu, our trusty guard dog companion

60 meal a day in the team house kitchen!

Views just outside Musanze, Rwanda

What I love most is that we get to invest in the lives of neat people.  (I guess I could say that about nearly all of the folks we’ve worked with so far this year, but…it happens in new and different ways every time).  I am encouraged by this well-run team.  Their focus is not limited to winning races, but includes honesty, responsibility, and some critical thinking.  Lying about something small is as fatal to your career as not showing up.  These men and women have the opportunity, not only to have a career, but to become well-respected and much-needed leaders in their communities.   

To fully understand the enormity of such a shift in values, it’s important to know the social context and history of all that has taken place here (1994 genocide, war, and reconciliation).  Phillip Gourevitch wrote an excellent article in the New Yorker on the cycling team and Rwanda, which you must read if you want to know more.  http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/07/11/110711fa_fact_gourevitch  I also just finished his book “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda”.  Excellent read.

Jessica

Musanze, Rwanda