In Closing

When I was a child, my world was smaller. My family, my friends, and the things that mattered to me felt contained and readily accessible. 

It's not that simple anymore. People I love are now spread across the world, and a few have even moved on past this world. All the pieces of my heart can never be collected and put together all at once in the same place ever again while I am here on this earth.  

Yet, as the current of time brings loss and separation, it also brings reunions, beginnings, accomplishments, victories, revelations, friendships, ideas, and life.

Collin and I have had such a wonderful time here in Kwale this past month. This place and some of the people here have become so much a part of our heart. We will miss Terry, Paul, and their son David so much.  Without them here making a difference day by day, we wouldn't be able to have a hand in any of these projects. My life is so much richer because of them. 

During those moments when I wonder what difference my life is making, I often reflect on the things that are happening here in Kwale. The children who get two meals a day at Pamoja, the infants who are being cared for while their mothers finish school, the women who make soap, the carpentry class, the sewing class, the micro-finance group. I feel so thankful and honored that I have been able to play a small part in helping and supporting these projects.

Collin and I have considered moving here at some point in our life. We know that the timing has to be right, though. We feel that our involvement from the U.S. has made a bigger impact than if we would have lived here for the past few years. This is partly because we are connected to a church of people who have remained committed to supporting the programs and projects here in Digoland. One of our major hesitations about moving here is that we don't want people to forget Digoland. Or us. I don't want to become those people that show up every ten years and nobody knows who they are or what they are really doing, anyway. I don't have anyone specific in mind, but you know...those people who eventually just become a "pray for Collin and Lindsay" prayer card buried somewhere underneath pictures and to-do lists on your refrigerator. 

Anyway, all this to say, today we had to say goodbye to Terry, Paul, and Dave. It is sad to leave them for another year at least. I treasured our time here so much this month. It went very quickly for us because we packed as much as we could into these three weeks in Kwale. 

It was a really great day with our friends. We discussed some business: future directions we'd like to try to take with some of the projects, the financial breakdown of each of the major projects in which we are involved, and the long-term and short-term goals of the projects. Then we went out for a fabulous Italian dinner and had a lot of fun spending our last evening together. 

Tomorrow we will pack our bags, return our motorbike, and tie up all other loose ends here. Our shuttle to the airport will be arriving at 6:00 am on Monday to take us to the airport. We look forward to seeing our friends and family at home. 

We thank all of you loyal blog readers! It was energizing to know that so many of you were following along with what was going on here over the past few weeks. We truly appreciate all of your support.

Although we are wrapping up this blog for now, we know that we will return home and what has been done here is just a beginning. We invite anyone who would like to be involved on any level to contact us. There is tremendous opportunity to make an impact here.