Back Home Again

Sorry it has been so long since I've written! When I last wrote I was in Ethiopia on my way to Tulsa, Oklahoma. After 36 hours of travel and one missed flight I arrived in Tulsa at 7pm on a Friday night just in time for my first meeting! I was at the annual conference of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians. The conference went well, and it was so fun to see everyone! But at the end of the week I was exhausted...and ready to go home.

Bob surprised me by driving to Tulsa so I didn't have to fly another leg - we had more time together that way too! I had a week in Indianapolis, and got to visit with almost everyone, at least briefly. It was so wonderful to be back home again. Fred, Misty and Dave seemed very happy to see me - within 5 minutes of crawling into bed that first night they had all joined me! Bob said they NEVER do that when I'm not there! I wish I could bring them with me. At least Bob gets to come visit in January. Here's me, Bob and Fred.



The day I left Ruhengeri 2 of our farm partners, Pacifique and Emmacule, gave me gifts to bring back to my family. I was so touched! Here are Sara and Taylor with the gorilla key chain for Taylor and bird mobile for Sara.



Here's Bob and I with our gifts from Pacifique and Emmacule (I sent them these photos too because they wanted to see my family.)
And part of the family with baskets I brought back for everyone. They were made by a small women's co-op here in town.


During the week I gave a talk at Taylor's Fraternity, Lambda Chi, which was fun - one of his fraternity brothers came dressed as a gorilla! And I gave a talk at the zoo too. Strangely, I was pretty nervous about that talk. I think I really, really wanted it to be good, because the zoo has been so supportive of my work with MGVP. I was thinking about this as I entered the education building, and the first thing I saw was this GREAT cake!!!
Do you recognize me on the top of the cake??!! Even the gray hair!!! I saved her in our freezer at home - don't throw her out Bob! This cake was a gift from Jennifer Conour and her children. She a zoo member who, along with her son and daughter, sent wonderful packages to me here in Rwanda filled with much needed (and yummy!) items for MGVP.

I launched into my talk, and in the end I think it went well because I was talking about something in which I so totally believe. It was great fun to see everyone at the zoo! I just didn't have enough time. At the zoo or at home.

Before I knew it my 7 days had flown by and Bob was dropping me off at the airport for another grueling 34 hour travel stint. Minneapolis, London, Nairobi, Kigali, with varying hours worth of layovers in each airport - I lost track of days and time. In Nairobi I was utterly exhausted. The airport there is small, crowded and hot. Not to mention dark and confusing. As I sat waiting for my last flight, I wondered just what I was doing spending 2 years in Africa. It is hard work, hard to be away from family, hard financially, hard to travel. I slept at bit on that 40 minute flight (didn't sleep at all on the 8 hour flight from London to Nairobi, which likely affected my mood...). We landed in Kigali and I breezed through immigration because I have a resident visa. As I waited for my bags I could see Jean-Felix waiting for me - he smiled and waived, and I returned the gesture, genuinely happy to see him. Jean-Felix and I caught up on all the gorilla and human drama I'd missed during my 2 weeks away as we drove the 2 hours back to MGVP headquarters. The road from Kigali to Ruhengeri was so familiar to me. Everything was GREEN this trip - we are now fully into the rainy season and the crops had grown by leaps and bounds while I was away!!! Kids smiled and waived as we passed yelling "Boujour Mzungu!!" and I smiled and waived back. As we rounded the corner and I saw the MGVP sign, heard Chewy barking, and heard the creaking of the gate as Faustin opened it, and I felt myself relax. As I climbed out of the Land Cruiser Chewy smiled and wagged, I got hugs all around, I ate a wonderful Leon lunch. It felt good to be back home again in Ruhengeri - my home away from home.

I have to stay away from the wild gorillas for 2 weeks again, because I've been traveling, which means re-acclimation to the altitude and climbing - yikes! Since I got back Monday afternoon I've tried to catch up on emails. We went to Rumangabo in Congo on Wednesday to do a final inspection on the gorilla orphan facility there. We met with BBC at Park Headquarters here in Rwanda. They are doing a 3 part special on Mountain Gorillas and part of the story is MGVP. Should air next year. We met with ORTPN to talk about how to mitigate the risk of H1N1, which finally found its way to Rwanda. And I had beers at Muhubura. Life is good here in Rwanda!