Ten years ago this past week, I experienced one of the greatest trips of my life. The company I worked for at the time supported Plan International and we had helped raise money to build a new school in the Gatsibo district of the country. A group of employees were selected to go visit the school site, which was under construction, and learn more about the country and the projects supported by Plan. Being chosen for this trip is one of the bright spots of my tenure with that organization. It was an amazing trip, and I think about it often, particularly this time of year. We kept a blog for the trip if you want to read more from me and my travel buddies.
Prior to my trip, the only thing I really knew about Rwanda was the 1994 genocide. When I people I was going on this trip, they always asked me if I thought it was safe or a good idea to travel to a place that had experienced something so horrific. I thought Matt, one of my friends on the trip, captured this perfectly in his post about visiting two genocide memorial sites. It's a hard history to discuss, but the work the Rwandan people did following the events of 1994 show how a people can rebuild and reconcile. It's way more complex than what I just wrote, which I guess is life.
Today's piece is inspired by a description often used for Rwanda: the land of a thousand hills. None of my photos quite captured the image, but you get the idea.
Details:
Stitches: satin stitch
Thread palette:
- Hills: SS 403, 010, DMC 610, 469 (3 strands)
- Sun and sky: SS 305, DMC 3840 (3 strands)
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