Hello all! After 40 hours of travel, including an unexpected extra four hours in Washington Dulles airport, I arrived home on Saturday night, to windchills around -20 degrees Centigrade. Not quite the "Warm" welcome home I was expecting! However, the opportunity to reunite with my extended family on Sunday afternoon over an early Christmas dinner was a welcome treat, and Laura had a chance to meet some of my relatives for the first time.
This week we are wrapping up the proofing and editing of a funding request to USAID, which, when couple with the request to the Canadian CIDA, will enable Food for the Hungry and World Relief to help 36,000 war victims in Congo return to their homes and restart their lives. Please pray that this funding is approved, and we can get the projects, which include supporting farmers, small business, and women and children, started as soon as possible. The big concern is that planting season is early in the new year, and without needed tools and seeds to plant, many Congolese families will face famine through the next year. The immediate response to these needs can have long term effects for the whole region.
I am also shifting gears and preparing for the return to classes (in the nar future, perhaps?) if the strike is resolved. This trip has given me a lot of "food for thought", so I hope to channel these ideas into research papers. The cold winter weather, with 15 cm. of fresh snow last night, is sufficient encouragement to stay inside and do school work! I have posted new photos to my Picasa site, so please feel free to peruse!
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