Follow all of my Rwanda Journal posts here. While my body is officially back home in Fresno, California today, my heart and mind remain torn between this place and the green hills of Rwanda, half a world away. Over the next few weeks, I will continue to share my reactions to the experience I’ve enjoyed as a Catholic Relief Services Egan Fellow. Today though, I wanted to share with you the final installment of the last few days in Rwanda.... Read more
Follow all of my Rwanda Journal posts here. First of all, please accept my apologies for the abbreviated post yesterday. While the hotel we stayed in — the Centre Saint Andre owned by the Diocese of Kabgayi in the Muhanga district was beautiful, the Internet connectivity (and the hot water — as my photos will prove) leaves much to be desired. It’s probably just as well… I’ve been averaging about five hours of sleep per night here in Rwanda, so... Read more
Follow all of my Rwanda Journal posts here. Mass, Our Lady of Wisdom, Diocese of Butare This day started with an early wake up call — we were off to Mass bright and early at Our Lady of the Miracles, the Cathedral in the Diocese of Butare. As a gift to our group, our celebrant Father Jean Baptiste Kazinda said Mass in English. We were joined by the amazing “Good News Choir” with young people who had come from St.... Read more
Follow all of my Rwanda Journal posts here. Today’s journal entry is going to be exceptionally short. While the day was filled with amazing memories, I am operating on three hours sleep (too much Rwandan coffee yesterday!) and less than ideal working conditions. My “office” tonight has me perched on the edge of the bathtub in my hotel room, the only place I can muster up even a one bar of internet connection. If your first reaction is, “Ewwww, yuck!”... Read more
Follow all of my Rwanda Journal posts here. The more time I spend in Rwanda, the more I see it as an amazing place of both contradictions and of consistencies. Permit me to ponder this for a few moments before I recap today’s amazing highlights. First: contradictions. This came to my mind today when a friend commented on one of my earlier blog posts with his impression that my photos contradicted his perceptions of Rwanda as a “third world” country.... Read more
Follow all of my Rwanda Journal posts here. Greetings from Kigali, the capital city of the country of Rwanda and our first destination after a very long day of travel. Praise be to God, our flights were completely uneventful. After a four hour layover in Ethiopia, I hit “the wall” — the lack of sleep kicked in. I vaguely remember snapping a photo out the window when we were briefly on the ground in Uganda, but I can’t find that... Read more
Follow all of my Rwanda Journal posts here. As I write this, I’m sitting in Terminal 1 at Addis Ababa Airport in Ethiopia, waiting for our connecting flight to Kigali, Rwanda. Try as I might, I can’t truly get a fix on the time. My computer clock says 10:12 pm, which tells me that for my husband Greg at home in California it’s still Saturday night. Hopefully he’s happily celebrating a Fighting Irish football victory over USC. For my friends... Read more
Follow all of my Rwanda Journal posts here. Today started bright and early with a wake up call that roused me from a short but delicious sleep. Our hotel — the Days Inn Baltimore Inner Harbor — is only a few short blocks from the Catholic Relief Services headquarters. You can’t imagine my excitement when we came up to the CRS building. I have been waiting for this opportunity for such a long time, but even more importantly I work... Read more
Follow all of my Rwanda Journal posts here. Today was a full day of travel. And I’m only really just getting started. My alarm went off at 3:30 am Pacific time in Seattle… sufficient time for a shower, a quick kiss for my sleepy husband Greg (we said a proper goodbye last night) and a dash to the airport. Interestingly, my towncar driver Alex was a very friendly 26 year old from Ethiopia who spent the twenty minute drive to... Read more
The News.va Instagram account has quickly become one of my favorites to follow. I’m not sure who’s behind the camera, but they have quite and eye. A recent great example was this shot of Pope Benedict receiving the statue of Our Lady of Fatima: Wow! So I was perusing the Vatican account and took note of something interesting. As of this writing, the account has 11,826 followers. It is actually following ten other Instagrammers. Who? Here they are: Archdiocese of Washington... Read more
Lisa Hendey
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