05/14/04: The end of the beginning...
Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills is truly a ‘hidden’ jewel. There is so much raw beauty in this country. On our second to last day Chris and I had the opportunity to visit Rwanda’s Akagera National Park. Just as inspiring as Nyugwe Rainforest and the Volcano Park, yet completely different terrain. Savannah land! Full of animals and birds. Three hours of driving through the bush, we came across Giraffes, a crocodile, a blue bird, Egyptian Geese, Impala, waterbuck, monkeys, baboons, Zebra, a massive elephant and, which came to me as a huge surprise, my favorite bird, the most graceful and proud Fish Eagle. Throughout the day I would have these sudden pangs of sadness – we were leaving. I kept thinking of the students. We returned to Kigali in the evening and decided to visit FAWE to say goodbye one last time. While the “house barbeque” turned out to be a pretty sad goodbye, this surprise visit cheered everyone up. I explained again that this is really only the end of the beginning. Through our website, students will begin to collaborate on all kinds of exciting initiatives.
20 hours in transit at Kenya’s rather small international airport gave me quite some time to reflect over the last forty days. I honestly believe that Rwanda Alive was Global Nomads Group’s most thorough and rewarding program ever executed. Each time we implement a different program, we are able to take the experience gained from earlier programs, making the exchange that much better. I am so proud of the students from both Rwanda and the USA. The comments that all of you made to Brian, Chris and myself just reassures me that GNG is really on the right track.
A HUGE thanks and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you, including the view-only students whose questions reflected both thought and interest in the topics.
Looking a little ‘behind’ the scenes, a month and a half long project takes some serious coordinating. Without the support of so many different parties, this project would never have materialized. On behalf of GNG I would like to sincerely thank our corporate sponsors:
Polycom
IDSolutions
VSPAN
EMS Technologies
Being a non-profit we are obviously on extremely tight budgets and besides our corporate in-kind sponsors, I am most grateful to you, the individual donor. Without you or your families support, our Rwanda Alive project would never have taken off. You have touched the lives of every single student involved in our program – thank you.
If you are a student that was involved in Rwanda Alive, we depend on you guys to spread the “word” about what GNG does, ask those who you think may be interested in supporting us to do so.
I am currently in Mozambique, taking five days off visiting Mayur Modi, an old friend of mine whom I have not seen in about six years – more time for needed reflection. I passed through Johannesburg in South Africa and drove to Maputo in Mozambique with my friend. Before our departure, I paid my respects to Nelson Mandela, not in person but to a statue erected of him in Sandton… 
Really, what it boils down to is trying to make our world a better more peaceful place and the best way to do so is by communicating, understanding each others similarities, respecting each others differences. As Nelson Mandela said:
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
Many many thanks to all the students involved in Rwanda Alive – you guys are shaping the future of the world.
THANK YOU.
Posted by gng at May 14, 2004 06:18 PM
