Safe drinking water is a major problem in Rwanda.

Everyone, regardless of age or infirmity, carries water. You see children eight years old carrying five- gallon yellow jerry cans to get water from a well. Water is life, and so many needlessly die from lack of safe drinking water.

The chance of me personally dying from this problem, or needing to carry five gallons of water for six kilometers, does not exist. We – myself and Adam Bacher, the photojournalist who has traveled here with me two weeks prior to prepare for the arrival of the Itafari Tour of Hope guests – can ask for amazi (water) in restaurants. And we can buy as much bottled water as necessary, because bottled water is so accessible and convenient in Rwanda.

These bottles, themselves, are yet another problem facing Rwanda. That is why Adam and I are filtering the majority of the water we drink rather than buying it in bottles.

Itafari has partnered with Crooked Trails for the 2007 Tour of Hope. Crooked Trails is a non-profit, community-based travel organization helping people broaden their understanding of the planet and its diverse cultures through education, community development, and responsible travel. It was Chris MacKay, founder of Crooked Trails, who suggested we filter our own water. What a foreign concept to this non- camper! But after serious discussion with her, I agreed.

The impact of plastic on Rwanda’s environment is devastating. The Rwandan government has banned the use of plastic bags in Rwanda. It is strongly suggested that you not bring them into the country (and by strongly I mean a sign at the airport politely suggests you bring no plastic bags into the country). But non-biodegradable water bottles are everywhere. They pollute the environment.

As a traveler, I could easily ignore the issues of pollution and poor water sources. Imagine going on a vacation to Florida, settling into your hotel, and a hurricane blows up the Gulf. You’re inconveniently moved to an elementary school shelter, your vacation is “ruined,” and you have a hassle getting out of the airport. Eventually you return home no worse for the wear, and certainly not needing to clean up from a disaster that was not yours. But if Florida had been your home, the aftermath for you would have been entirely different.

Similarly, it can be all too easy for travelers to Rwanda to experience an artificial sense that everything is fine in Rwanda…just a bit inconvenient.

The preconceived ideas we have as we travel or prepare to experience something new will change what the experience actually becomes. Novelist and philosopher Walker Percy described the phenomenon by which travelers measure their experience against expectations, finding, for instance, the Grand Canyon beautiful “by the degree to which the canyon conforms to the preformed complex.” No sightseer, he claims, will ever be able to really see the canyon in the way of the explorer who first discovered it because the experience has been co-opted and packaged. We compound our dissociation by signing up for tours, following the guides, and busily snapping photographs, and we struggle against a nagging sense that something is missing.

I understand that sense of something missing and I am diligent to remove the feeling through experiences that are not comfortable or expected by me. I cannot deny that I am a 50-year-old traveler who prefers the comfort of a hot shower to waking up in the middle of a jungle finding a large bug on me that I could never have imagined lived in this world. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. But my environment of Rwanda deserves a fresh set of eyes, expectations, and experiences. I can let go of the western way of thinking and become more in tune with my environment.

I can filter my water.

In a week, the visitors from Portland will arrive for the Tour of Hope. I cannot wait to show them – and you, through this blog – a Rwanda that will exceed their expectations and amaze them at the strength and character of a people who experience daily challenges that we do not know in America. They – and you, I hope – will be changed forever and better for this knowledge.

We are here to make a difference. Itafari is doing its part.

In Kigali, it’s easy to forget the seriousness of the water problem – and that the easy accessibility of bottled water is, in itself, a problem. But what we conveniently forget today will be tomorrow’s heartache. As a world, we conveniently looked the other way when a terrible genocide broke out 13 years ago. We are conveniently looking away in Darfur and the Sudan as another tragedy unfolds.

Stephan Rechtschaffen said it best: “We…anticipate what’s to come and ignore what’s actually here.”

Our coming to Rwanda is about making a different impact on this country. One that I would want if I were Rwandan. A “do NO harm” mentality…in fact, a “do GOOD” mentality.

  • Itafari is definitely doing good!
  • We’re going to break ground on the Kigali Parents Secondary (High School) on this trip.
  • We will buy more baskets from Gahaya Links to sell at our Pay It Forward fundraising events.
  • We will visit the 120 children whose lives have been changed through our child sponsorship program. We will distribute goats to child-headed households to change their lives and the other children for whom they care.
  • And we will meet with the loan recipients from the microloan programs we support.

As my dear friend Joy, founder of Gahaya Links, always says: “Can you imagine?”

Rwanda is a country determined to overcome the label of the genocide of 1994. The government and its people are forward thinking. The past is not forgotten, but they are intent on a new future – one that honors those who died more by action than by grief.

You can make a difference with two things: money and a right attitude. The best impact is made when the two work in concert. Consider giving to our programs. Look at Adam’s blog for incredible pictures capturing the stories and spirit of this land.

And continue to stay tuned to more stories of significance from which you can take personal wisdom and change your own life.

Murebeho (goodbye in Kinyarwanda) for now,
Vicky