As post script to our association with Project Independence and the women in Rwanda I thought it would be interesting to share a message I received from my friend (Pan Haskins) who recently traveled to several areas of Africa.  About Rwanda she wrote:

Christine and I said farewell to the other five and went on to Rwanda. We were each immensely impressed with Rwanda, with the people, the land, and of course, the gorilla; I will dwell a little more on it than I have about the other countries. The people of Rwanda are resolute in their determination to move past the genocide and their efforts are inspirational. People talked to us of leaving their differences behind, including those of Tutsi and Hutu, race and sex, and seeing their commonality, not differences. This included our driver/guide (who was with us through the whole trip); his father and sister were killed in the genocide. The Kigali Genocide Memorial devoted about half of it's space to their Genocide and the other half to the other genocide of the last century. Very powerful. The country has 27 genocide memorials, in villages everywhere, to help them never forget. Also, they devote the last Saturday of the month to cleaning the country in the morning, and having discussions in the afternoon about the genocide and how to bridge differences. They also have a system of repatriating repentant "genocidaires" to the community and a tribunal system of trying and imprisoning the non repentant ones. It's an amazing model. And the country is having to work really long and hard to regain the ground that was lost with the genocide.

Rwanda is called the land of a thousand hills, and it truly is. It's very fertile and green, and people have planted those hills from top to bottom with crops. We saw colorfully dressed folks walking everywhere, almost always carrying something: women carrying their tools and supplies for the fields (often on their heads), and women and men and children carrying water, crops, groceries and building materials. They were on the roads and on every pathway leading into the hills. We saw very few private vehicles. Men often use bicycles for transporting huge loads, mostly walking those loaded bikes up and down incredible hills. And the people were warm and kind, friendly and good humored; they are truly amazing and beautiful. There is much more to Rwanda, with beautiful lakes, other wildlife and countryside. We met a couple that was staying in Rwanda for the full two weeks of their vacation and we each were able to imagine doing that in an instant.

And then, of course, there were the gorilla. Being in their presence was extraordinary. On the first day of trekking to see them, the gorilla kept moving uphill, and we kept following them. It took three hours to get to the gorilla, the third hour being straight uphill, with the guides hacking our way through the jungle with machetes; there was no path, and we ended up on top of the forest, on top of the vines (often more than earth), with the gorilla. The trek took a total of seven hours and had exhausted and thrilled me.

She took some amazing photos that can be viewed at

http://picasaweb.google.com/PanHaskins/Africa

When I was writing to my Rwandan "sisters", Odette and Clementine I didn't really feel that I was doing much for them, but when I read Pan's impressions of the women there I truly felt some sort of connection.  Perhaps our words of encouragement did help those women find the courage and determination to make changes in their lives.

from Shirlee Paoli