The house where I will live while in Rwanda: A view from the outside; friends having their first meal in the house I will share with my soon-to-be roommate, Crystal; and the view from the front porch. Looks pretty great. Looks like home! (sorry that the photos are low resolution - I just grabbed them from my roommates online photo album!)I've come to know that the word "home" is a very flexible one. I started to realize this one time while in Alberta visiting my family. Someone asked me when I was returning to BC. I answered with something like, "I fly home on..." and realized that, though I'd come "home" to visit family, I would also be returning "home" to BC when I left.
This new, flexible concept of home has become a reality for me as I've set up my life in the Lower Mainland for the past eight years while at the same time maintaining a connection with my home in Alberta, and it is expanding even more as I prepare to leave for Rwanda.
As I write this, I am sitting in my parents' home — the house I grew up in. It is home in a very real sense. I have eighteen years of memories here. People I love live close by. I feel comfortable, loved, taken care of. I'm home here.
At the same time, I feel tinges of homesickness for Vancouver. I have my own space and life there. I go to school there. I know the bus system, and how to find my way around. My church is there. My friends are there. I feel at home there.
And, as I think about leaving for Rwanda in a couple of days, I look forward to setting up a home there too. I've seen photos of the house I will live in. There are people there that I know and love, and people who I will come to know and love. By the time I return to Canada in August, I will have found a home in Rwanda as well.
I used to feel a little bit guilty about my flexible concept of home — like the feeling of home-ness in BC somehow diminished the home-ness of Alberta. But now I think I'm beginning to appreciate the flexibility of "home." What a wonderful thing to know that home doesn't have to depend on your physical surroundings. I'm blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life, in so many different places, that I can have two, or three (or maybe even more!) places to call home!
FUNDING UPDATE
I have only just over $4000 left to raise - Thanks so much for all your support!
If you are interested in partnering with me financially, please visit youthunlimited.com for online giving, or contact me for more information.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE ONLINE
Prayer Points
- The transition to my new home and work in Kigali
- The Greater Vancouver YFC staff as they plan and prepare for their trip to Rwanda in July
- The remainder of my fund raising goal
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If you want to help send me to Rwanda,
PLEASE CLICK HERE.
