by emma | Aug 7, 2008 | Africa, Travel
I’ve spent the past couple of days in Gisenyi, on the shore of Lake Kivu, in north-western Rwanda. The drive up here from Kigali was one of the most beautiful, scenic drives I’ve ever taken in my life – watched the sunset against the backdrop of a volcanic mountain range.
I’m staying in this great place, Lake View Hotel. It’s not really busy during the week, most visitors come at the weekend, so I got a free upgrade of my room: I’m staying in a really nice ensuite double bedroom, and have my own lounge & kitchen… gotta love gifts like that! Check it out:
The hotel is also literally a stones-throw from the DR Congo border, about 100m away. I can see Goma clearly from my room.
The beach is about a 10 minute walk in the opposite direction. Trying to shift gears and have a few days R&R before the I travel back to Scotland on Sunday. I wandered around Gisenyi for a few hours today before settling down with a book (Eat Pray Love – which is fast becoming one of my favourite books) and a cup of coffee, overlooking the beach.
by emma | Aug 7, 2008 | Books
“I never see visions. I never have transcendent experiences-”
“You wanna see pretty colors? Or you wanna know the truth about yourself? What’s your intention?”
“He’s the master I need when I’m really struggling, because I can curse him and show him all my failures and flaws and all he does is laugh. Laugh and love me.”
Suffice to say this book is pretty much rocking my world right now.
by emma | Aug 6, 2008 | Africa, Travel
It was great to get to spend some time with Jessica Fairchild, and one of her friends Allison, on Friday evening. I’ve been following her blog & photography for a while now, and when I discovered we’d both be in Uganda at the same time, I thought it’d be cool to meet up! Jess is a great photographer, blogs here, and is interning with Invisible Children at the minute in Gulu, Uganda.
[Photo by Jess!]
Following dinner with Jess, I headed to the Wyclef Jean concert in Kampala with a few friends from the office. Unfortunately don’t have any half decent photos!! There were some fireworks going off as we arrived and lots of commotion by Zain, the company sponsoring the concert to mark their rebranding/relaunch in East Africa. DJ Benny D played for a while before Wyclef came on stage – in his kilt, no less – around midnight. It was actually a really fun night, glad I went!
Not a bad way to spend (what I thought was) my last full day in Uganda, eh?!
by emma | Aug 6, 2008 | Faith
Spark 08 kicks off on Saturday again in my home town of Ballymena. It is incredibly humbling to see so many people, young and old, from across the denominational boundaries, join together with the purpose of uniting, loving, being…
“The vision of Spark is that the church of Jesus Christ in Ballymena would together represent the characteristics of Jesus in their town: loving, compassionate, full of grace and mercy, kind, humble, forgiving and passionate.”
It was such a privilege to be a small part of this last year, and I still get a funny feeling seeing my photographs on the website…! I’m going to miss most of it this year, but if you’re about County Antrim, you should stop by and join in the celebrations. More info on the Spark website.
by emma | Aug 5, 2008 | Africa, Travel
Internet is less accesible for me here in Rwanda, but here’s a quick rundown:
Had dinner with blog friend, rad photographer, and current Invisible Children intern Jess Fairchild on Fri evening.
Went to the Wyclef Jean concert Fri night with some friends from the office.
Travelled to Rwanda via Mbarara, arriving Sunday; spent the night in the Hotel des Mille Collines – “Hotel Rwanda”.
Visited one of the genocide memorial sites at Gikongoro yesterday, and spent the night at a new friends place in Butare.
Hope to travel to Gisenyi tomorrow; for a few days R&R.
Longer details soon… once I figure out how to use a French keyboard easier!!
by emma | Jul 31, 2008 | Travel
If there’s one main thing I’ve been thinking about a lot while I’ve been in Uganda, it’d be the concept of “home”. For the first time in my life really (maybe second, I felt it marginally after my trip to the US in Feb/Mar), I feel pretty homesick… without even knowing what home means. I’ve been chatting with a few friends about it too.
Is there a people or a place to belong to? What does it mean to be grounded in a community?
Erwin McManus writes, “Home is ultimately not about a place to live but about the people with whom you are most fully alive. Home is about love, relationship, community, and belonging, and we are all searching for home.”
I’ve always been so independent and unattached, and in many respects I still am, though I am now in this strange place of wanting to feel at home somewhere, wanting to feel that I belong somewhere. There is this shift happening in my heart… where will it lead? Is it possible to have roots that go deep, without being resident in one place for sustained periods of time?
“… people write their addresses in pencil…”
Your shout: What does home mean to you?
by emma | Jul 30, 2008 | Africa, Photography, Travel
by emma | Jul 30, 2008 | Everything Else
by emma | Jul 29, 2008 | Africa, Photography, Travel
In my first week here, I spent some time at a primary school out in Jandira, called Source of Light Pri School, with the first Emmanuel church team. Had a lot of fun taking photographs of the kids and the team members interacting, playing with bubbles, generally just loving each other! I’m really chauffed with how these came out…
[PS: all my images so far are entirely unedited, due to some mishap about reinstalling my software blah blah blah… so edited images will be coming after I return to the UK… I hope!]
by emma | Jul 29, 2008 | Everything Else
After a great article in the Washington Post a few weeks back, titled “Churches Retool Mission Trips”, Andrew posted about the purpose of short term missions trips. Some great thoughts and some great questions from both the article and Andrews post. Check out Andrew’s post here for some thoughts on why we should continue doing ST mission trips, even if they don’t always make a lot of economic sense.
Recent Comments