Coming home

OK...now I'm just about an hour from CA...flying over Montana.

We got to the border of DRC & Rwanda about 2:30pm. It was hot sitting in our green park jeeps waiting for clearance to get out and walk to the Rwandan side of the border. Gave Eric, the Virunga driver I had gotten close to, the glass evil eye I had brought with me and some pictures from home. I hope to see him again. He is lovely.

Nothing moves quickly here. So, our border crossing was leisurely - superfluous baggage checks, questions about our various professions listed on our Rwandan entrance cards, conversations betweens all of the border guys instead of processing passports, etc. But, through we got and into cars for the 3 hour drive to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

I wrote about this a bit at the beginning of this journey, but the difference between Congo and Rwanda is staggering - beautiful, well-maintained roads, schools and health centers in every town and village along the way, clean. There is much less obvious, dire poverty here. It is also a beautiful country - tea farms, rolling hills and mountains, farms, small towns. We kept passing these "towers" of carrots just harvested. They are stacked in a woven kind of way in these white bags with metal stays sticking up that create a sort of cage/tower to hold the carrots, laid one layer one way and the next layer the opposite. Absolutely stunning.

Our driver was named Sam. He drives like a true African...well, a real Rwandan since they have real roads to drive on. He drives fast, breaks fast, passes on curves, ignores any sort of speed signs in towns, honks at anyone potentially in his way. My fellow passengers were not happy...quite scared for their lives actually. After driving in Morocco, it didn't phase me. Plus, I got super duper car sick the last hour of the drive as we wound our way up and over the twisty mountains road down into Kigali. Kigali was a shock - big city with about 1.5 million people. Same population of both Bukavu and Goma but those cities were built for 50,000. Quite a different feeling - it is cosmopolitan, clean, lively. Saw a big group of Chinese tourists and other "muzungus" (white people). That was a first since we landed in Burundi.

We reunited with the Mayo docs and Pat & Scott Mitchell and V-day staff at the airport. They had stayed in Bukavu when the rest of us went to Goma. Lovely to all be together again. It is deeply sad to leave Congo and it is sad to leave this group. We are a diverse group with a common love of Congo and commitment to human rights and justice. Feeling so connected to this group has been a lovely surprise and addition to this journey for me.

We got on the plane around 8:30pm. It was like a pajama party - everyone washing off the layer of dust, changing into comfy clothes and making up beds. We were a very tired group. Most people passed out after dinner (a couple before!) A handful of us stayed up (or tried to) the first leg to London in hopes of sleeping on the London-CA leg to help with jetlag. I was one of those. I watched two movies and slept about an hour. Then I went to sleep before take off from London and slept for about 3 hours. Not quite enough...but the adrenaline I feel from the trip and the excitement to see Matt and Lucas, I will be fine. No doubt I will sleep well tonight.

No guarantees that I won't greet you in French or try out some Swahili with you. I really got in that zone while I was in Congo. I am deeply committed coming home to studying French and Spanish simultaneously. Most of the Congolese we met speak 3-7 languages. It was inspiring to watch their ability to talk and connect with so many people. I want that. I long for that.

I will spend the morning and afternoon at Amy Rao's house in Palo Alto before heading to the San Jose airport for my 3:30pm flight home to Seattle. Amy, the mama and hostess to everyone, will not hear of any of us who have flights today hanging out at the airport. Seriously, she must be so sick of us! And yet, off to her lovely, welcoming home we go. No doubt her husband, Harry, is cooking for us as I write. Which, I have to say, will be lovely as he is an absolutely amazing cook! :)

Writing these blog posts has added so much to my Congo experience...sharing it all with you while it was happening. It was a gift to write and a gift to know you were reading it and in some small way were experiencing it with me. Thank you for your interest and support along every step of this journey. You all are invaluable to me.

Ok, off to spend the last minutes with my co-travelers before we all head our separate ways.

I love you. I look forward to being in touch this week.

Love, Joy & Justice...my (FIRST) trip to Congo signing off.

ME