For a Limited Time Only...

This weekend may be one of the most epic experiences of my 23.8104 years of existence, only exceeded by possibly "SD '05: Mission Make the Jenny Feel Loved," Jason Ballard's and my 48-hour long trip to South Dakota and back to see his then girlfriend (now wife); and being Kevin Duplechin's substitute flag runner for Bridge City vs Woodville my senior year of high school. The experience this weekend will offer breathtaking views of untamed nature, heart-stopping, man-making action, and an intimate mingling with the direct source of sustenance for millions of people on this continent. What will this apex of adventure, this jaw-dropping journey, this most eminent of egregious escapades, be? Why, none other than whitewater rafting the Nile River! That "world's longest river," which 4,000 years ago served graciously as baby Moses's cradle, and then eighty years later turned to blood as a display of the power of I AM and a stern warning to Pharaoh to let His people go; which, in 1858, British explorer John Hanning Speke erroneously dubbed Lake Victoria the source of; and which this weekend will play host to a dozen or so mzungus ("white person" in swahili) looking for a day of rushing adrenaline atop the rush of waters that was the life source of one of the greatest civilizations ever known to man. They say no one has ever beaten the Nile...but I tell you, my friends, this Saturday I will come as close as anyone ever has.

We'll be going to Uganda this weekend, a ten hour bus trip, to raft the river's Bujagali Falls, whose class 5 rapids will soon be the bottom of a reservoir, the result of an $800 million project underway to help solve Uganda's chronic power shortage by damming the Nile just below the falls. The situation bears slight resemblance to the Three Gorges Dam project in China on the Yangtze River that is apparently submerging one of the most incredible natural landscapes in the world, not to mention displacing over 1.3 million people and creating myriads of other environmental problems in its wake, or lack thereof. I don't know if the cons will outweigh the pros in situation in Uganda, where only 5% of the people have access to electricity, but it is at least worth mourning the loss of one of East Africa's great avenues for adventure and the only source of income for many rural poor people living in Uganda. At any rate, in 2011 the falls will be no more, which makes this weekend's experience even more valuable.

I'm going to be traveling up to Kampala tomorrow, a day before everyone else, to spend Friday visiting with Lindsay Branham, the FHI-DRC worker I hung out with a lot when I was in the Congo who is now on R&R in Uganda, and this community of refugees just outside the city that she has become very close to and spoke much of during our time together. I'm looking forward to this part of the trip as much as, if not more than, the Nile rafting. Seeing the faces and meeting some of the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven will be a tremendous experience for sure. So, if all goes as planed, or maybe more so if it doesn't, this weekend will be an adventure in many ways.

As far as everyday life in Rwanda is concerned, yesterday we got wireless internet at the Thor's house (where I'm staying) which was definitely a joyous moment, but it was poignantly countered by the departure of Seng, the patriarch of the Thor family, leaving his wife longing for his companionship and me longing for more testosterone. He'll be gone two and a half weeks to the US and Uganda for training. Last week and this week, the kids at Kigali International Community School (KICS), whose campus is connected to the FH office here, have been learning to play American football during P.E. class, and it has drawn quite a crowd of onlookers at times. It is very odd to see high school age kids learning how to play real football for the first time, and it has made me seem that much more the star athlete, as Seng and I played with them a couple of days last week.

I've been searching for a coffee press all over Kigali, and have yet to find one. I'm kicking myself for not bringing the one JBall got his groomsmen. It blows my mind that in a country whose economy is largely dependent on coffee, there is quite possibly not one non-electric coffee maker for sale. I refuse to believe it. I've seen them at the only legitimate coffee shop in Rwanda, Bourbon Coffee in Kigali, but they won't sell one to me for lack of supply. I'm still holding out hope, but it is quickly waining, and I fear I may be forced to drink Nescafe' instant stir-in coffee for the rest of my time here. That's all that is offered at the office, and I think I'm the only one who drinks it, much to the disgust of some of my coworkers (hardly any Rwandans drink coffee). And on the home front, there is not enough demand to necessitate an electric coffee-maker, so pretty much anywhere I go I'm on a coffee-loving island in a vast sea of indifference. I have had Rwandan coffee on a couple of occasions, mainly in Bourbon Coffe, and it is very nice. I'm not enough of a connaisseur to rank Rwanda's beans against the rest of the world's, but I can say definitively that if I was offered a choice between a fresh cup of Rwandan brew and a Fanta Citron, I would choose the coffee eight times out of ten, if that says anything, which it probably doesn't.