Hotel Rwanda

And he's off!!

Doug departed for Rwanda five days ago to begin a month-long solo volunteer trip.  It's a country for which he has great affection; one where he's always hoped to spend more time with the people and to contribute in way that is meaningful on the ground. It's an opportunity that came up recently as a result of some professional changes that I wrote about back in September. 

Of course Abby, Reese, and I will miss him greatly, but we're also excited for Doug and the valuable ways in which he can share this experience our kids.

However, I'm not sure we thought it meant lounging by the pool with this amazing view!

We like to give him trouble, but Doug has worked tirelessly in the past few months to connect with various organizations and plug into existing aid and humanitarian projects.  The hotel pictured above is Hotel Rwanda, made famous in the mid-90's when the hotelier tried to hide and save fellow citizens in the hotel during the Rwandan Genocide when approximately 1 million people were killed during a 100-day period.  If you've never seen the 2004 movie depicting these events, it is well worth the watch.  Here's the link:  Hotel Rwanda.

Doug stayed at Hotel Rwanda for his first few days before finding a bedroom in a group house in the capital city of Kigali, which he will be his home base over the next few weeks.

We get a lot of questions about Ebola in this area of Africa, and certainly we are not cavalier about the risks. 

But, as you can see from this map, Rwanda is on the other side of the continent from West Africa, the area of acute outbreak.

Below are some photos from Doug's first trip to Rwanda about two years ago.  During the trip, Doug's team visited coffee farms that supply coffee to Starbucks and built a medical clinic in the village.

Bubbles.  Simple, but a real treat for these kids.

Doug visited during the 20th anniversary of the Genocide: