The End.

 Howdy from Texas, y’all.

Well, I’m back. I’ll be the first to admit that I thought I might not make it – on several occasions. But, here I am. I actually arrived home on the 1^st of August, about two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been insanely busy at home; I had many naps to take, a lot of food to eat, Olympics to watch¹, and a lot of nothing to do.

There is no caption which is worthy of this picture.
Just know this: that container is now empty.

The Last Days

After my previous post, Richard and I only had a few days of work left. We used these days to wrap up our secondary projects and say goodbye to the friends we had made.

At Kibilizi, we reorganized Vincent’s workshop. The project was a success; I’ve included some before/after pictures. Basically, we got rid of some junk, reorganized the room, hung up Vincent’s board of keys, installed a lightbulb, and installed an outlet. It was a fairly simple task, but one that will hopefully improve Vincent’s work long-term.

 Before

Did we turn that chair upside down to make the room
look messier? What? No hablo ingles.

Andrew, this reminded me of your room.

After

oooooooooh. ahhhhhhhhh.

Look at that key board. And those upright chairs.
This was basically Extreme Makeover: BMET Edition.

At Kabutare, our project was a little more interesting. Richard and I hired a carpenter to craft a new shelf and desk for John’s office. That’s it – I lied about the interesting part. Our secondary projects were pretty simple because we spent most of our time working on equipment.

Actually, I don’t have any pictures of them. The carpenter was late finishing his work, and we had to leave before the project was completed. That being said, John was able to pick up the finished furniture himself, and EWH was able to cover the expenses. Instead of furniture, here are some pictures of some great people:

Maybe you'll need to zoom in, but never will
you see a facial expression as intense as Gatete's.

Me, Vincent, and Richard
Yeah, maybe I needed to use one more button.

Me, Jean Pierre, and Richard
I think it's an unspoken law that Rwandans
 do not smile in photographs.

Richard, John, and Me
Not Kabutare John, the administrator
 John - we only met like 20.

Me, John, and Richard
The Kabutare BMET John.

The Conference

We spent our last weekend in Kigali. Each EWH partnership gave a presentation over their work for the past month, and we all got to meet EWH’s CEO. After the presentations, we all had exit interviews with either Leslie (the CEO) or Jet (a representative from Johnson & Johnson)².

Lots of emotions and sadness followed; the next thing we did was leave³.

Me and Jeff
I miss the beard :[

Megan, Me, Gaby, Peter, Sav, and Jeff
We are the squad-est of squads. Sorry for
making you look less tall than you usually do, Megan.

The whole EWH group
Y'all rock.

Final Thoughts

Yeah, this is a short blog post. Sorry – I’m typing this on a flight to Oregon.

This was an incredible trip. Explaining my experience in Rwanda has already proved nearly impossible since I’ve been back. I truly believe that I could spend another two months talking about my time abroad. I learned unexplainable lessons from the people, culture, and my work.

Work ethic. I butchered my explanation of this in my conference presentation, so this is my attempt at redemption. Rwandans are hungry for improvement and success. Rwanda is one of the fastest developing countries in Africa, and it is very apparent. From hospital directors to gate guards, everyone is striving for a better life. They work tirelessly at their respective jobs, their vision set intently on a better world just over the horizon. Rwandans are not complacent – a word which I believe unfortunately describes many Americans. We expect what we are given, and we don’t work for more. Many of us live comfortable lives, and we’re content with settling. It’s true that Rwanda has examples to follow, while America is on the forefront of development. However, let’s not use that as an excuse. Everything can always be better; everyone can always be better. Let’s hunger for improvement again. There’s no reason for every person not to make the world a better place.

Don’t take things for granted⁴. Believe it or not, things can be worse. I don’t pretend to have witnessed the darkest part of the developing world – I certainly did not. But, the truth is, Rwandans have a lot less than us. Less opportunities, less possessions. And guess what? They’re some of the happiest, kindest people I’ve met in my life. My OTGC, Maddy, shared with me a lesson she learned: negative experiences are nothing but great teachers. Next time you want to complain – don’t. Learn something instead. Positivity goes a long way, and simply taking a second, relaxing, and appreciating life can get you through many of your daily struggles. Trust in the Lord, appreciate what you’ve been given, love people, and just be positive.

Talk to me guys, I want to hear from y’all. I’m back in America now, so I’m sure I can make time to meet up with you. I’d love to hear about your summers, too. Call, text, Facebook, tweet, smoke signal, Morse code⁵ – I don’t care!

To my friends who I met on this trip: thank you for existing⁶. Seriously, this trip would not have been what it was without the incredible people. I definitely feel like I made lifelong friends on this trip, and I look forward to hearing what great things you guys go on to do with your lives.

To everyone: thank you so much for reading my blog. Y’all’s support has been greater than I could have ever hoped for, and it’s something I could not have done without.

Water you up to in America, Bryan?
Left: Aaron (my bro), me, Phil and Donna (April's parents),
April (sister-in-law), my mom and dad.

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2)

-Bryan

¹ Alex Morgan, call me.

² Just saying, I’m looking for a job for next summer…

³ I want to go ahead and apologize to everyone I said goodbye to. I suck at goodbyes. Just picture me saying goodbye to you in a way which is not terribly awkward.

⁴ I tried to think of a more cliché way to word this lesson, but alas, here we are.

⁵ Don’t.

⁶ A poet, I am not.