I am back from Rwanda with a few stories to share.

Here are some pictures for you.

Yvette, one of the dancers in the Rwandan Children’s Choir
The choir will be touring the USA and Canada starting July, 2009

The boys and girls of the Asante Children’s Choir
See them in action in the USA and Canada later this year

Asante Children’s Choir in their traditional dance regalia

The white horse is cruising at 38,000 above sea level. The wind is blowing outside but the inside is as calm as a slumbering cat. Passengers of all colors and sizes are minding their own business. Some are reading newspapers. Others reminiscent the good they are leaving behind. “Tighten your seat belts,” the captain announces like our lives depend on them.  We are landing.  Not in the Hudson River I hope. God bless the heroes. Twenty-four hours of flying from San Francisco to Nairobi through London has come to a non-nostalgic end. Or is it just beginning.

As we form a single file line out of the Boeing 777 behemoth, a child starts to cry. The usual, you know. Children.

Down the hallway something strange kisses my face. It’s warm, humid and as think as darkness.  So funny how fast I forget Africa owns 51% of the world’s sunshine and leaves the rest of the world to share the other 49%. Yes the heavy and wet kiss is the African sunshine, I realize.  The African heat that is ever present through thick and thin. I think Africa should be called the Sunshine continent, much like the sunshine state. I hear the sunshine state is actually and most likely less shiny than the gloomiest part of Africa.

Nairobi Kenya is not your Africa of the movies.  It is nothing close to the movie Madagascar Two where lions and elephants rule the highways and byways. Nairobi is robust.  With lounges, five start hotels and drinking joints modeled after the best of Europe, Nairobi is in no lack of aristocrats and the budding upper class of any rising city.

Down the street, a thin black model is galloping a sizzling glass of Coca-Cola. The soft drink giant owns half of Africa’s thirst business. Its tall million-dollar highway advertising billboards can be seen from as far way as 20 nautical miles.  Add to that Christian Dior, L’Oreal, and a few other brands and you have yourself a mini London. You can even spot one Kenyan taking a sip at the best of Europe’s martini.  It’s a different world out here.

Until you leave the airport and get kissed by reality. But I will not go into that. I have to catch a flight to Kigali now.

A $20 lottery ticket? Quite fair. I can actually afford it. But what I can’t afford though is the chances. Considering the number of people throwing $20 bills in that chanting basket, I am more likely to strike gold at Wall Street’s failing market than at this European belle. The thrill of winning a lottery though lures me thither. And at $20 I could as well be on my way to cruising in this blue horse.

The last time I bought a lottery ticket I was 8. My Uncle Temoteo (Timothy) talked me into it.  After twelve hours of listening and watching the winning numbers get picked out of the gigantic metal container, I lost. I have never bought a lottery ticket again. And certainly not this time.

But let’s say I bought the ticket and won the lottery this time. What would I do with a brandy new Roller won in England and waiting to be driven on the streets of Portland Oregon? First of all, the thing is right-hand drive, and I think they make them Right allover the Old Empire. Secondly, what would a guy working with orphans in Africa be doing in a brandy new sizzling babe? These and many others are the questions that drive me away from the blue- sewed racer.  A few steps further from this baute, I spot a familiar huge green-and-white sign. I grab a Chai Tea Latte plus a bottle of spring water for 4 GBP and still have 17 to spend on luxuries for orphans in Rwanda.

I am a winner-loser at this game. And a disciplined traveler too. Except for the sugar.

I have this new bull’s eye and I am so happy about it. A friend of mine helped me pick it out. Actually my brother in-law. He is a great photographer. Some times I think he was taking mental pictures in his mother’s womb.

A Nikon D60 is better than anything I have ever used. I call it the bull’s eye. I got a good deal on a 200mm lens which makes objects travel distances to come into your view. I am hoping that this time I can catch an eagle preying on a brown rat in broad daylight. I am very much looking forward to capturing all the details I have missed on my previous trips to Rwanda.

In about 6 hours I will be getting on highway 26E on my way to Portland Airport. I can’t say I dread the trip. But I am not excited about the flying time. Thirty-two hours to be exact.

Getting on the plane to San Francisco is no brainer. It is the San Francisco-London leg that draws the air out of me. Not so much for its draining length as for the faces in the plane. We are talking a spectrum of God’s creation. Black, yellow, red, and white. I love international flights.

London to Nairobi? Not so. The variety reduces to a predominant white with scattered black here and there. And the food changes too. From United’s I-never-know-what-they-will-serve to some sensation of African cuisine on Kenya Airways. And by African cuisine I mean lots and lots of curry. If you are not into curry there is always something for you. As for me I am curry all the way to the last bone.

I am looking forward to updating you with some pictures from my bull’s eye, come Saturday. Yes it is true; I leave Thursday and arrive Saturday.

Amon

I am heading to Rwanda next week March 26th. I will be covering stories of the kids in the children’s choir. I will also be taking lots of pictures and videos for promoting the choir.

I will be updating you as I go.

Thanks

Amon

Rwanda has overcome incredible challenges to be where it is today. Now 24 children are traveling the world telling this story.The Rwandan Children’s choir is made up 24 very talented children ages 9-12 . Most of the children in the choir are orphans. Some come from homes devastated by HIV/AIDS.

The choir presentations are a great source of healing and encouragement for the children. The children perform in churches, schools, and other public places raising awareness about the issues that Rwanda has faced and how it is working towards bringing unity, healing, and prosperity after the 1994 genocide that claimed more than one million people.

Follow me in the next few days as I cover the individual stories of the 24 choir children in Rwanda.