On March 22, 2013 I started a journey to Rwanda. It would be my fourth trip to this beautiful country that has stolen a large part of my heart. I knew from the beginning this trip would be so different and yet just as mind blowing as the first three. From the start, it was different simply because I was going without any companions. (None that I knew anyway; there were plenty of people in the airports and on the planes.)
Admittedly, I am a people watcher. I love to sit and watch, wonder, and ponder the possible stories of each traveler. How long have they been traveling? Where did they start? Where are they going? Personal? Business? Pleasure? First time on a plane? Seasoned traveler? Missing their family? Going to a new place? Oh how I would love to stand at a common place and just take a survey for the sake of pure human curiosity!! However, I don't think that would be socially acceptable these days. Sometimes I get lucky and I get to find out the answers to some of these questions.
When I was waiting for the very first flight out of Nashville, a wonderful lady and I had a pleasant chat. Here I was, fresh from first world living (and still in it) and my journey was less than two hours long. I was delighted to meet a new person. I never learned her name. But I learned that she has a son and (I think) 3 other kids. Her son is 13 years old. He went to Washington D.C. for a week long conference for school. He traveled there all by himself as he was the only student from his school to be selected. It was also his first time to fly. It was his first time to be away from home, away from friends, away from family, and most importantly away from his mom. I do believe he survived the week quite nicely and it was harder on his mom. She mentioned how the texts slowly decreased over the week as he made new friends. She was waiting for him to return at the same gate that I was waiting to leave. I love the irony that at any given moment so many people sigh in relief that their journey has ended and so many others are filled with joy as they begin their journey.
This lady was so thrilled and could not contain her excitement to see her son again. She showed me his picture on her phone and told me stories about him. She was glowing with the joy that she would soon hold her oldest son in her arms and once again her family would be complete. Then the moment came. The plane had landed and just needed to taxi to the gate. The door to the jet bridge opened. We kept talking but her concentration was shifting to the slow stream of people entering the terminal in front of us. Then there he was. He was back! I recognized him from the photos. He looked quite respectable as he was traveling in a suit. She politely left our conversation and went to embrace her son with open arms. He very willingly returned the embrace and had a matching smile of peace to be home again and with his mom.
Fast forward through an average flight and I was in D.C. waiting to get my bags in baggage claim. I overheard a group of businessmen recapping the week and saying their goodbyes. One guy told the others how his son had turned 16 a few days earlier and successfully earned his license. This was a Friday and his son had respectfully asked permission to use the car for the evening. The permission was granted with a few restrictions to include he was not allowed to have passengers. The gentleman telling the story starts to get this fatherly grin on his face, not the proud grin. The mother/wife was also out and about this evening and had driven by the son and witnessed passengers in the car. A newly licensed 16 year old on his first Friday with the car has been caught redhanded and he doesn't even know it, but he will soon. Due to the wonderful technology of cell phones, the father was privy to this information. I predict he enjoyed some disobedience in his younger days because he almost seemed happy to be able to going home to fulfill his fatherly role of discipline as if the circle of life was being completed. He was enjoying the time to share with his colleagues how his first job when he returned home would be to take away the ever coveted license of his son.
It is moments like these that I can't help but think of the list of things that are first world problems. What do we wear to work? How much is fuel going to cost now? Yard work, traffic, weather, drama, need new clothes, technological devices are breaking...the list could go on and on. However, this time I realized it is the other way around. Moments like these ARE third world problems. Mothers should be sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to be reunited with their eldest son. Fathers should have the role of disciplining their sons to teach them responsibility amongst many other values in life. Instead, I was heading to a country with countless orphanages. I was heading to a country where babies are found on the side of the road. I was heading to a country where there is an orphanage of over 500 children.
Moments like these.....I wonder who will greet these kids with a joyful smile and embracing arms.
Moments like these....I wonder who will discipline these kids out of love to teach them values.
Moments like these....I wonder who love these kids.
Admittedly, I am a people watcher. I love to sit and watch, wonder, and ponder the possible stories of each traveler. How long have they been traveling? Where did they start? Where are they going? Personal? Business? Pleasure? First time on a plane? Seasoned traveler? Missing their family? Going to a new place? Oh how I would love to stand at a common place and just take a survey for the sake of pure human curiosity!! However, I don't think that would be socially acceptable these days. Sometimes I get lucky and I get to find out the answers to some of these questions.
When I was waiting for the very first flight out of Nashville, a wonderful lady and I had a pleasant chat. Here I was, fresh from first world living (and still in it) and my journey was less than two hours long. I was delighted to meet a new person. I never learned her name. But I learned that she has a son and (I think) 3 other kids. Her son is 13 years old. He went to Washington D.C. for a week long conference for school. He traveled there all by himself as he was the only student from his school to be selected. It was also his first time to fly. It was his first time to be away from home, away from friends, away from family, and most importantly away from his mom. I do believe he survived the week quite nicely and it was harder on his mom. She mentioned how the texts slowly decreased over the week as he made new friends. She was waiting for him to return at the same gate that I was waiting to leave. I love the irony that at any given moment so many people sigh in relief that their journey has ended and so many others are filled with joy as they begin their journey.
This lady was so thrilled and could not contain her excitement to see her son again. She showed me his picture on her phone and told me stories about him. She was glowing with the joy that she would soon hold her oldest son in her arms and once again her family would be complete. Then the moment came. The plane had landed and just needed to taxi to the gate. The door to the jet bridge opened. We kept talking but her concentration was shifting to the slow stream of people entering the terminal in front of us. Then there he was. He was back! I recognized him from the photos. He looked quite respectable as he was traveling in a suit. She politely left our conversation and went to embrace her son with open arms. He very willingly returned the embrace and had a matching smile of peace to be home again and with his mom.
Fast forward through an average flight and I was in D.C. waiting to get my bags in baggage claim. I overheard a group of businessmen recapping the week and saying their goodbyes. One guy told the others how his son had turned 16 a few days earlier and successfully earned his license. This was a Friday and his son had respectfully asked permission to use the car for the evening. The permission was granted with a few restrictions to include he was not allowed to have passengers. The gentleman telling the story starts to get this fatherly grin on his face, not the proud grin. The mother/wife was also out and about this evening and had driven by the son and witnessed passengers in the car. A newly licensed 16 year old on his first Friday with the car has been caught redhanded and he doesn't even know it, but he will soon. Due to the wonderful technology of cell phones, the father was privy to this information. I predict he enjoyed some disobedience in his younger days because he almost seemed happy to be able to going home to fulfill his fatherly role of discipline as if the circle of life was being completed. He was enjoying the time to share with his colleagues how his first job when he returned home would be to take away the ever coveted license of his son.
It is moments like these that I can't help but think of the list of things that are first world problems. What do we wear to work? How much is fuel going to cost now? Yard work, traffic, weather, drama, need new clothes, technological devices are breaking...the list could go on and on. However, this time I realized it is the other way around. Moments like these ARE third world problems. Mothers should be sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to be reunited with their eldest son. Fathers should have the role of disciplining their sons to teach them responsibility amongst many other values in life. Instead, I was heading to a country with countless orphanages. I was heading to a country where babies are found on the side of the road. I was heading to a country where there is an orphanage of over 500 children.
Moments like these.....I wonder who will greet these kids with a joyful smile and embracing arms.
Moments like these....I wonder who will discipline these kids out of love to teach them values.
Moments like these....I wonder who love these kids.
