SHOUT OUT!!!! To my IC fam… and you sis ☺

A HUGE shout out to everyone that I love who is in DC right now for Invisible Children’s Lobby Days!!! I LOVE YOU CLAIRE!!!! I love and miss you all terribly! Bethany, thank you for the call! it was the best 4am wake up call I have ever received. I was in the dark, under my mosquito net, with big crocodile tears running down my face as I am listening to all of your voices. Tears of excitement, envy that I am not there, because I miss you all, and hearing your voices Bethany, Wallis, Sis, Jo, Margie, Chris, Chad, and Jason made me remember all the amazing times and crazy times we all had over the past year and how much it physically hurts to be away from you all. Words cannot express how happy I am that we made it to Capital Hill! Even though I am sad to be missing it, I know that this is exactly where God wants me to be, and DC is where you all are meant to be, taking it by storm!

AND… HOLY CRAP I just got to watch the Rescue Aftermath Video… cried my eyes out in front of my whole house. No words… Just tears! God I miss you guys, ASSISTANTS I WISH YOU WERE WITH ME WHEN I WATCHED IT!
MUCH LOVE! I cant wait to see you all again!

First Rwandan Football Game!!!!

Last night we went to a Pro Rwandan Football Game. Rwanda vs. a team made up of All Stars from all over Africa. This was actually my first Football Game ever, I have never seen a soccer game in the states. It was a lot of fun! The stadium was full of loud, noisy fans and it was so much fun! It made me feel like I was back in the states watching a the Bears play or something… Rwanda won!

What is to come....

For the next week we are going to begin filming for the Remba videos. Remba is a mobile beauty academy for Kigali's beauty industry and business development for established and aspiring hair stylists. Over the next month Remba is holding competitions (American idol style) to select the top 8 who will be the leaders that will be Remba industry leaders for years to come. For training they will be partnered with 8 new aspiring stylists to teach them and develop leadership skills. For the next 5 Sundays women will be competing against each other, and the women who win, will win a scholarship and a spot to work for Remba. So starting tomorrow we will be going to film in hair salons all over Rwanda, interviewing stylist in preparation for the competition. We are filming not only for media purposes, but over all to show what the beauty industry is like here and that Rwanda is thriving with opportunities. Again, we have A LOT OF WORK TO DO!

THEN... in a week or so… we are going to UGANDA!!!!!!! AHH I am so excited to go back!

KEZA (Beautiful) Women June 12th

This past week was spent filming the women who make beads and the other products for KEZA for their promo video. These women are amazing individuals! We wanted to spend a few days just getting to know them before we began to film so that they, and we, would feel more comfortable in the days to come. From the get go, they were some of the most loving women I have ever met! They taught us how to roll beads, let us play with their children, laughed with us, and even though we didn’t speak the same language, in those moments it was as if it didn’t even matter because you could feel the love with out speaking.

Pictures by Seth-Mic-Sethster

Life in Rwanda June 10th to June 12th

After we arrived in Rwanda, we took a few days to settle into our house and get situated. Then we got straight to work having meetings about filming for KEZA and Remba and the other non-profits. Ricky began teaching me how to use the camera, techniques, Final Cut Pro, and then we went out and actually got some hands on practice. We spent a whole day riding around Kigali’s countryside on Boda-Boda’s capturing Rwanda’s beauty to use in the media.


This is the Fam Bam (The pose was Seth's idea... the tall one)

Boda-Boda
Kigali Sky

It was nice practice, for Ricky to teach me and then just let me loose with the camera. We met with our boss Jared to discuss this videos we will be making over the next few months. It was so exciting to hear what our plan is and that WE (Ricky, Seth, and I) get to be the people that make KEZA’s first pieces of media. These 2 guys are extremely talented and I am stoked to learn all I can from them. We have so much to do in such little time! I feel so blessed that God has given me this opportunity to learn film through experiencing it in a place I love, before I head off to film school.

OUR HOUSE!!!!! June 9th

Before I came to work here in Rwanda with KEZA, I thought that Ricky, Seth, and I would be traveling a lot and not have one location that we would call home… On the contrary, Rwanda is where we will be working the most, and traveling for little spurts of time to Uganda and Zambia. So we DO have a HOUSE! Rachel rachelinrwanda.blogspot.com, Amanda amandainrwanda.blogspot.com, Ricky africa.rickynorris.com, Seth sethmjohnson.blogspot.com, Erin peaceloveafrica-e-griff.blogspot.com are my roommates/Fam Bam!!! Check out their blogs! We are paying rent for this Beautiful house here in Kigali where the 6 of us are living now. People will be in and out of the house over the next year. It is absolutely adorable. We have a little garden, cute kitchen, living area, and the rooms are spacious as well… Take a look…



Enough Said...

We finally made it to Rwanda!!!

Ricky, Seth, Rachel, and I spent the last week in Uganda waiting for Rachel’s bags to come in. Day after day they still hadn’t arrived… Finally after a week in Kampala, they arrived. We get the bags at 8pm June 8th and headed out on our 10 hour bus ride to Rwanda at 1am June 9th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY WALLIS AND DES!!! I didn’t forget ☺ ). The trip was very long and squished but worth it! Around 4am the sun began to rise, and along with it came the beautiful silhouettes of the mountains, hillsides, landscape, the endless greenery, and all around beauty of Rwanda! As we came around a corner of a mountain, I saw one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen… It was a see of clouds! After coming from around the mountain side, the sky opened up into these deep deep valley’s where we should have been able to look down and see the ground and trees, but all you could see was clouds and the tips of green mountains sticking out of the mist. This went on for miles and miles until the sun fully rose and the fog began to dissipate. All there was for miles was hills and more hills and villages were women were all up and down the hills collecting food and working the land. You could spot the women a mile away because of their beautiful bright clothing. We hit the boarder at around 7am, went through customs and bag checks and proceeded to Kigali. Another 3 hours… And we made it, then we headed to our house… PHOTO BY SETH-MIC-SETHSTER

Finally in Africa!

After 3 continents, 35 hours in the air, 6 layovers, WAY too much airplane food, getting lost in half of the airports, and five hours of sleep… I am finally in Africa! I was so nervous about all the layovers, security checks, and any other thing that could go wrong, but everything was so smooth!

My first stop was Minneapolis, MN. Only an hour flight from Chicago, so I’m not really sure why I had to stop there… but what ever. I called people, said my goodbyes, had a happy meal from McDonalds that I definitely shouldn’t have eaten, and then I embarked on a 9 hour flight to London. The flight to London was really smooth. I watched He’s Just Not That Into You and Taken (Thanks for the recommendation sis ;) ) and tried to sleep.

So I laid over in London for 5 hours, walking around, hanging out, and every one there was SO nice! I was nervous about going to London because I have these amazing friends, and one time they went to London and got kicked out and sent back to the US all in the same night… if you want details, find Johannes Oberman on facebook and ask. Be sensitive… its still kind of a touchy subject (Your welcome Jo, Love you). Every one in London was incredibly nice, customs was a breeze, and was on my way to Amsterdam, another 1 hour flight.

Amsterdam was like one big flash back; I laid over in Amsterdam when I went to Uganda with Invisible Children last September. I walked past all these places that I went with my friends, and it made me miss them a lot!

I love and miss you, Team Sicky Nar Nar: Jo, Crystal, Lauren B, Lauren G, Blazzzor, Daniel, Durty Kurty, Jenny, Lace Dog, and Jared!!!!!

From Amsterdam I had another LONG flight! 8 hours to Kenya. I left from Amsterdam at 9:00pm June 3rd, I woke up at 4am on the plane to the most incredible African sunrise. It was the most amazing welcome I could have asked for. As the sun rose, I saw all the colors of the rainbow come with it. Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple filled the dark sky as the sun peaked behind Mt. Kenya. I stepped off of the plane to the warm breeze of Africa! I still can’t believe I am actually here! From there, I was on my one-hour plane ride to Uganda, my last plane stop.




BETHANY… I blew Kenya a kiss for you! She says come home soon ☺!

I am now in Uganda, round 2. I arrived at around 9:40am June 4th and It is absolutely beautiful! Drizzling rain, it is so green and smells fresh, monkeys running around the parking lot, it only seems right. I am now at a Hostel with Seth and Ricky (The Filmer and Photographer for KEZA ) waiting for Rachel to get here at 10pm. From there, we will get on a bus at around 1am tomorrow morning for a 10 hour bus ride to Kigali, Rwanda. I have gotten past the first struggle… getting here! And now I cant wait to see what God has in store for me for these next few months!

Keep us in your prayers and pray that Rachel Gets here safe!

Mom, Dad, Claire, Michael, I MISS YOU GUYS LIKE CRAZY! I am safe and will call you when I get to Rwanda! LOVE YOU! Africa says hello…

goodbye Chicago...hello Rwanda

Didn't sleep last night, drove to the airport at noon, and now I'm on my way. I wish I could say it was as simple as flying from the states to London to Rwanda, haha, oh no. For some reason I never take the easy way. I have 5 stops! I go from Chicago to a layover in Minneapolis to London to Amsterdam to Nairobi then I finally land in Uganda. I wait in Uganda for 12 hours for Rachel... But Seth and Ricky (KEZA's filmer ans photographer) are with me, thank God! Then finally, after a 2 day plane ride around the world, 12 hour wait in Kampala, Uganda we will proceed to embark on a 10 hour bus ride from Uganda to Rwanda... All in a days work, well more like 3. If that's just the first 3 days, I can't imagine what the rest of the 2 months and 28 days will look like. I wouldn't want it any other way! I am so wrapped up in these next 3 days that I can't even grasp what is about to happen in these next 3 months. I have NO idea what I have gotten myself into, and

I love it! I am extremely excited to see what stories and people God puts in front of me, and even more so, I am honored, blessed, and thankful that God is giving me the opportunity to share it with them with the world! 

I want to say Thank you to my sister for driving me around for a week to get everything done, thank you matt for helping me with travel stuff and calming my nerves. Thanks brother and mom and dad for my amazing new bag! Thank you to EVERYONE who has been supporting and praying for me. Finally thank you Rachel Burney for helping me make this happen and giving me this opportunity because I feel like I'm exactly where Im suppose to be! And thank you Jesus!

Stay posted, I'll let you know when I finally get there...