""So Long, So Far Away Is Africa"... " a Rwanda Travel Page by LBKesner

One of the joys of visiting Rwanda is the sight of all the beautiful women in their traditional clothing, and another one of the joys is the sight of young girls in school uniforms, a sign that they are receiving an education, once a privilege reserved just for boys.

In April of 2003, I attended the Southern Women in Public Service Conference held in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the headquarters of Heifer Project International are located. To raise awareness of the good work they do, HPI gave away a whopper of a final door prize: the HPI study tour of the winner's choice, and miraculously, my name was drawn--possibly because I was praying so hard, "Draw my name! Draw my name!" (As Alice Walker writes, "Ask and the universe responds!") Anyone in my English class knows that for a long time I had been "asking the universe" for a chance to visit Africa, so when my name was drawn, I immediately knew which of the HPI Project Locations I wanted to visit--Uganda and Rwanda! One of the highlights was having the honor of presenting a new Heifer beneficiary with her certificate. She, like other HPI participants, has gone through a year-long training to prepare for receiving and caring for her new cow. The milk from the cow adds to the family's wealth, improves nutrition in the family's diet, and through milk sales helps the family send children--boys and girls--to school.