Give a little ...

...change a life.

As many of you know (ok, all 14 of you, just humour me here ...), I traveled to Rwanda several weeks ago, where my uncle and I were essentially carrying out "assessment mission", aka "checking out the scene to see if it's all good to go".

In short, we are working with a small, rural community in southern Rwanda, where they are hoping to be able to complete the secondary school - currently the only one in the area - which, today, goes only to the 9th grade. Unable to travel the long distances to reach the next closest secondary school and / or pay the tuition, most students today (many of whom are "genocide orphans") simply drop out of school.

So, we scoured the potential building site, spoke with local community leaders, local government leaders, Church leaders, teachers, students, parents, builders ... and we think we've got it all figured out - $530,000 USD, and we can have ten classrooms, a dining hall, a residence hall, restrooms, a computer lab, a library AND an assembly hall built ... given hundreds of kids - the future leaders of a truly inspiring country - a shot at a university education.

Now all we've got to figure out is just how to collect that much needed money.

We're thinking the "Obama strategy" might work. "If everyone gave just $1, it would only take ... " ok, perhaps I should be a bit more humble. Even adding in all my FB "friends" that I haven't talked to in nearly a decade, I still don't quite come close to reaching 530,000 friends. Hmm. Time for a new strategy ...

HUMBLY ASK FOR YOUR HELP. Perhaps if I spread the word to all of MY friends, who spread the word to all of THEIR friends, who then pass the word to all of THEIR friends ... we might just make it. Know of a foundation, a church, a community service club that might be interested in chipping in in some way or another? Please let me know!

We've put together a very simple website that tells a bit more about the project; please check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks a million.

www.futureleadersofrwanda.org

Master of the eyebrow raise

If I may be forgiven for saying so, the vast majority of Rwandans we met along the way were not your most outwardly cheery, openly friendly bunch. Curious, yes. Initially very serious, yes. Smiley, no.

It should be said that this heinously overgeneralized statement of observation does not, for the most part, include kids, who showed no fear, chasing us down the street screaming "MUSUNGU!! MUSUNGU!!" (White people, white people!), or "Bon joour!" or "Teacher!!" I have to give them credit for entirely cornering me between the brick walls of the church as well, until I finally figured out that I might be able to make my escape if I were sure to shake every single child's hand, greeting them individually (such are the importance of greetings in Rwanda ...)

But the adults, now that's another story. When I commented as much to our host, he responded only that many of them had "seen far too much suffering in their lives; it's all they can do now to put one foot in front of the other, let alone be especially friendly to every person they pass".

Not having been instructed in the propers of Rwandan greetings, however, I struggled painfully to observe those around us. Far more intricate than a simple, firm American right-handed handshake, Spanish two cheek kisses or even Swiss three cheek kisses, I thought I finally figured out that you have several options in Rwanda.

First, you have what I will somewhat insensitively call the "head banger". This involves: first knocking heads (not cheeks!) together on the right side, then left, then right again, followed by a good solid right hand slap-shake (imagine high-five captured mid-swing into handshake).

Or you could go with the "triple pat": Extend arms towards person to be greeted, pat three times just above elbows, then proceed into right hand slap-shake, as described above.

Or you could go quite simply with the right hand slap-shake, omitting all of the above described.

Problem was, there seemed to be some unwritten protocol to knowing when to use each method - and I never quite deciphered the code. But then, I had a moment of enlightenment.

Observing those around me, I discovered the eyebrow raise. No, it wasn't just a fleeting vision, I suddenly realized that the secret to getting the somber faces I met along the road to smile in greeting was all in the eyebrows. There is a technique to be had, for sure, requiring a quick eyebrow raise (including whole forehead, if possible), together with a slight head tip-back. I stood in the bathroom practising this technique for a bit, then took it to the streets.

As if by magic, people's eyebrows were greeting me back! A twinkle would appear in their eyes and, nine times out of ten, a friendly smile and hand wave (think the "how" sign/hand raise). If ever there were a break through in cultural barriers, this was it.

I, am Master of the Eyebrow Raise.

Only problem now is to get myself out of the habit of doing it around Geneva. Got an eyebrow raise back in return along the road to work this morning, but somehow it just wasn't quite the "right" kind of eyebrow raise I was looking for ...

At a loss for words

Actually, that's a complete and utter lie. I'm not at a loss for words at all regarding our trip to Rwanda; I'm buried under a mountain of them and don't know quite where to start.

I could start with the news articles that were coming out just days before our departure, with titles ranging from "Rwanda stirs deadly brew of trouble in Congo", to "At least 1,500 Rwandan troops enter Eastern Congo" or "Militias in Congo tied to Rwanda and government". Or with our encounter with a "brother" of a friend not but 12 hours after our arrival who happened to be a General in the Rwandan army who, when asked about the joint Congolese-Rwandan mission to oust the rebel militia in Congo, replied with great enthusiasm "Oh, yes! I just got back from supervising the troops all last night! It's only half hour from here by helicopter; the mission is going well". The next day, as we bounced along Rwandan back roads, we heard over a crackling radio that one of the Congolese rebel leaders "who once seemed untouchable" was arrested by the joint Congolese-Rwandan mission.

But such stories - for as true as they may be - seem to represent only what the outside world wants to see of Rwanda. As one Rwandan newspaper journalist wrote when one famous celebrity decided to give birth in Namibia: "Like me, you must be wondering why Namibia and not Rwanda, for instance? Let us consider the facts. Namibia is a hopeless banana republic famous mainly for its empty spaces and large Kalahari Desert and backward bushmen, right? On the other hand, Rwanda is a beautiful, lush, evergreen country with flowing hills and valleys, which is known for, mmm ... er, so sorry to break this to you, but Rwanda is famous for just one thing, genocide".

That the country and its people have been deeply scarred by the horrific events of the past is undisputable (over dinner just hours after our arrival, our generous host - a priest - confides: "I know this sounds a little pagan, but sometimes I pray that God would just kill everyone over the age of 15 so we could start all over again without embedded ideologies"), but Rwanda - and the Rwandans - deserve a reputation much greater than that of a violent past - they deserve media attention that more accurately depicts both the country and the people as a phoenix bird, rising from the ashes of the past in a most awe-inspiring way.

I could start with my sheer amazement of seeing a country so alive - nothing of sitting around, lacking of things to do. Nothing of street side beggars asking for a coin or two (you'll see more of those in uber-riche Geneva than Rwanda). The country is alive with people working, building, walking, transporting, studying ... Rwanda's not waiting around for anyone to pick her up and carry her forward; she's doing that for herself.

I could start with the national highways, which are perfectly paved, perfectly painted and with perfect, wide shoulders - as good or better than any you'll see in the States.

I could start with the stunningly lush green hills that look too surreal to be real; the fields of banana and corn plantations; the hills that are so alive with people walking, biking, running from one destination to the next that it looks like a nest of busy human ants.

I could start with the "szzwweeerrrpping" sound of the generator shutting off for the day: only 2 percent of the country has any electricity at all.

I could start with the sweeping changes taking place: policies banning plastic bags, encouraging families to limit themselves to three children, setting the minimum age to marry at 21, making English the official language by 2010.

I could start with the "surreal-ity" of stepping off the plane with only one hour time difference and being in a whole 'nother world. When going to/from Asia or the Americas, somehow it feels a tad more "acceptable" for their to be such striking differences - after all, you're half a world away. But Africa to Europe? It's like walking through the threshold of a doorway ... but not quite understanding how a single step could have possibly brought you to such a different place.

But this does not describe the people, the drive, the resolution for the future, which, unspoken as it may be, is as powerful, and as unique as that found anywhere in the world.

And so, at a loss for words, I leave you for the moment with PHOTOS and a request to disregard - if but for a moment - the international news stories "representing" Rwanda, trusting that, before long, the words finally will come.

Definitions of the moment

RWANDA [proper noun, roo-wan-dah]: Land of a Thousand Hills; often associated with savage genocide; one of Africa's most densely populated countries; hides some of the best inland beaches in Africa; one of the "smallest, tidiest, most promising countries on the continent"; "darling of the aid world, praised for strong, uncorrupted leadership and the strides it has made in fighting AIDS and poverty"; unimaginable beauty; home to some of the best roads in Eastern Africa; as of yesterday, *officially* "loaning" at least 1,500 troops to Congo "in an effort to oust Hutu rebels who participated in the genocide".

ALANNA [proper noun, uh-lay-nah]: Excited; nervous; anxious; thrilled; nauseous (possibly related to ...); under the influence of malaria pills; uncertain; trusting; prepared as I'll ever be; full of questions; lacking answers; curious ... needing to go pack.

Left to tell

“We all ask ourselves what we would do if faced with the kind of terror and loss that Immaculée Ilibagiza faced during the genocide in her country. Would we allow fear and desperation to fill us with hatred or despair? And should we survive, would our spirit be poisoned, or would we be able to rise from the ashes still encouraged to fulfill our purpose in life, still able to give and receive love? In the tradition of Viktor Frankl and Anne Frank, Immaculée is living proof that human beings can not only withstand evil, but can also find courage in crisis, and faith in the most hopeless of situations. She gives us the strength to find wisdom and grace during our own challenging times.”

-Elizabeth Lesser, co-founder of the Omega Institute, and author of Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

I have to admit, it's been a long time since I've picked up a book that I couldn't put down ... one of those books that you read from cover to cover in one sitting ... one of those books where everyone asks you if you are all right the next day because you look so exhausted from a night of reading rather than sleep.

And quite frankly, I feel a bit guilty when I say that the can't-put-it down book that has most recently "done it to me" is one of cold blooded killings, mass murder and suffering so intense even the tremendous passion with which the author has described it leaves the notion of such pain beyond my fathoming. It's a survivor's account of the Rwandan Holocaust - a survivor who others looked upon with disbelief not only because she managed to survive hidden away in a minuscule bathroom for three months - teaching herself English while she was at it, but because she learned to forgive the unforgivable.

But with a title like Left to tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, it's also a story of tremendous courage ... and faith. I wish I could find now the point where she talked about positive thinking and prayer, how, in a sense, she sees the two as being nearly in the same. As one reviewer has written, "this is a book that defies adequate description" ... one that "reminds us that with faith, miracles will always appear: and that forgiveness is the key to freedom". In short, it's well worth the read!