a picture is worth a thousand words...

 ...but being there is so much better.

I'm back from Rwanda - and this photo (that's me in the left corner!) does not do justice to the beauty of the Rwandan countryside.  We traveled due south of Kigali to visit a refugee camp newly set up in the poorest district in Rwanda.  The camp is set in the hills--but as I learned from my 3-hour drive, much of Rwanda is hills!

I'll write more about the camp experience another time.  For now, imagine with me the valley that you can't see in this picture.  In some areas, they were cropping rice in the valleys; in other areas all kinds of vegetables (cabbages, kale, peas, beans, etc.); banana trees/groves were in some areas; and in some, coffee.  We saw a whole shade-grown coffee cooperative in action on our way, but we were moving too fast for me to take a picture.  The land in the valleys was so verdant and green.  Too bad this photo is so blurry and grey!