Back from the Heart of Africa

We have been back for two weeks now and it’s crazy to think about how much this trip has changed my life and changed the way I look at my everyday life. I miss those ladies beyond belief. I miss Rwanda so much more than words can express. And I am anxiously waiting for the next opportunity to go back! (nope, no plans as of right now…but I can’t imagine myself not going back in the future)

I’m pretty sure it is impossible for me to get this trip and my new friends out of my mind. I don’t think I have gone even an hour without thinking about them or telling someone another story from our trip. Leaving Africa and those ladies was one of the hardest things I have done in all my life. I am not much of an emotional person. Actually, I am not emotional at all…just ask Sam. But leaving on our last day I couldn’t help but get emotional. Leaving those ladies behind and knowing that I wouldn’t be getting up the next morning to work with them and see all their beautiful smiling faces was the most overwhelming feeling. I wish that I could take MJC with me to Africa and spend the rest of my life working with those women and work for MJC (no joke, that would be a dream come true!) but for now I am here in Fort Wayne working for the most amazing company in the world.

Like I said, this trip was life changing. Many of you told me that it would be and, and while I took your word for it, I didn’t know that it would change it as much as it has. Being home has shown me just how easy we have life in America. How much I take the things I have for granted. How I could also cut back on just a few of the luxuries in life to give back a small amount of what I earn and still make a difference. Just about everyone that I have talked to that has travel to Africa has agreed with me, that after seeing how they live and then returning to the US you feel guilty and see how much we actually have. After seeing what little they have and how happy they remain is what shocked me the most. I have never been surrounded by such happy, joyful, and loving people in all my life! These women have been through SO much and have experience things I can’t even imagine and are still so happy and have so much hope. We have everything compared to what they have and I still get up in the morning with a bad attitude or in a bad mood because something small irritated me when these women’s problems blow my tiny problems out of the water and they have the best attitudes in the world!

(On a litter note, at the end of our trip the three of us got to go bowling at the new bowling ally that had just opened up down the road from our hotel. It was definitely the most memorable bowling experience of my life. How often do you get to say that you went bowling in Africa? )

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So, to wrap things up…I never want to forget this trip and all the changes it has brought to my life. I surprisingly don’t want the guilt to fade, I am happy to have these feelings and I am excited to see what other changes this trip brings to my life. We have been home for two weeks but I am still processing and collecting my thoughts from this trip.

Thanks for reading more about my experience and hope it hasn’t been too boring!

-Kiara