Back at the Beginning.

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It's been a few days and many miles since I have last updated my travels. I am now back in Nairobi after a grueling bus ride all the way from Kigali to Nairobi via Kampala. The two day bus ride passed surprisingly fast, but nearly 48 hours on dirty road and rocks can certainly take a lot out of you. It was impossible to read or write during the journey as my hands and entire body were bouncing up and down constantly. So, I mostly stared out the window at African landscape; the villages filled with people and mud huts.

This weekend I spent my time just catching up on sleep and rest. Some much needed R and R.

In more exciting news, yesterday I started volunteering at the New Life Home. The founders of the orphanage and long time volunteers have done a wonderful job of carrying for new born babies and infants that have been abandoned in hospitals or brought to the home by the police. Most of the time the mothers of these children simply do not have the means to take care of the babies, however, many babies found to be infected with HIV or thought to have contracted the disease from their mothers are abandoned. At New Life these children are given ARV medication and as their slogan goes "a second chance at life". I have to say that yesterday could have been one of my favorite thus far in Africa. I spent the first half of the day with the 1 year olds, hanging out, learning names and providing stability for those eager to start walking. After lunch and nap time I went and found the 3-6month olds. I played with a full head of curly hair named Hunter until I obviously wasn't interesting enough and he dosed off to sleep. I found New Life's open volunteer policy quite inviting. Who ever wants to volunteer to help with the children can simply walk in, sign up, put on an apron and go to work. There were a lot of other volunteers from Nairobi, South Africa, Ireland and Holland.

It struck me today that I have only been in Africa for 3 weeks, but I have seen so much and been so many places that all of this seems a little surreal. Kenya - Tanzania - Rwanda - DRC - Uganda and now back in Kenya. I still have a little over three weeks to explore the region and can't imagine how I will feel when I have to return to the US.

Watching an African travel program on TV last night, the host of the show quoted a Zulu proverb that says, "To travel is to see." I decided that that is my new motto on this trip. With each destination I continue to learn more and gain new perspectives and insights. This trip is changing the the way I look at situations, altering the way I see and allowing me to have a more holistic view of the world.

*There is a lot of information about my last week in Rwanda that I have not written about yet. I'll be updating and editing this week.

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