On Thursday we fly to Spain and then Rwanda for six weeks all together, and I decided to start up the blog again. Today in Vermont we have a real winter. Finally. Endless snow, every tree holding some on its trunk and branches. You have to cover all of you to walk out the door and that inimitable crunch of boots in the deepness. It’s beautiful. But it’s hard not to think about all the suffering in the world. Ukraine. Turkey. Syria. This Sunday on 60 Minutes I watched how a thirty-two year-old woman from Afghanistan, Shabana Basij-Rasikh (who went to Middlebury), the founder of SOLA, a school for Afghan girls, was able to get 256 girls and teachers out of the country before it fell into the dark cave of Taliban men. She has reignited her school in Rwanda. We will be in Rwanda for a month doing service and volunteering and learning, and we’ll visit SOLA. I can never imagine being as good a person as Shaban Basij-Rasiks, but I’m able to use a pen and paper and my fingers; I will breathe in her words in Rwanda and bring back something here to share.

As usual, Ben and I are lean packers, only a carry-on; so I am in the process of getting stuff out and then taking away half of that. Books are tricky. I’m not a Kindle reader. I just came back from The Norwich Bookstore with three paperbacks (see photo below), recommended highly by Andi, a friend who works there.

We have two round trip flights: Boston/Barcelona and Barcelona/Kigali. We’re in Barcelona for four days (Airbnb in the cool, recommended area of Gracia); the only thing we have planned there is a soccer game, of course, and exploring. Then we head to Rwanda for a month—lots of stuff to do and learn there. This will be our sixth visit. Ben is about to be the chair of the board of an organization we were first introduced to in 2015, Agahosa Shalom Youth Village. We’ll be with the Nobles student trip for two weeks and with friends and just exploring and being of any help we can as we learn and grow. Then back to Barcelona and a seven-day hike in Catalonia. Then home.

One more thing, a shameless plug: my new book, Now These Three Remain is out there and ready to be bought at either my publisher, the amazing Lily Poetry Review Books, or on Amazon. I will be having readings when I return, the Lily Zoom launch at 2:00 pm on Sunday, April 23^rd (also Shakespeare’s alleged birthday :).

Thanks for following us along another journey.

Be safe out there.

xoxo,

Sarah