And so ended my two years in Rwanda.
It's strange to think that an entire two years can be squished into 453 posts, but there you have it.
As I was going through and editing the posts, it struck me just how many good nights out we had, how strong our friendships were, and also that I sounded more rankled about things than I actually remember feeling at the time. I think that's because blogging is such a therapeutic pastime, and you tend to let it all out as your main means of communication with friends and family back home.
My time with VSO provided some of the most extreme highs and lows of my life, and essentially we managed to pull off the first Dictionary of Rwandan Sign Language, which is just about to go into its second edition. That's quite an achievement, and now means that Deaf people in Rwanda have access to signing with their television news.
The friends I made in Rwanda remain some of the closest I've ever had. Cathryn lives in London, and we make an annual trip to Belgium to see Lies & Kassim, who now have twins and a three-year-old. We cut off Lies' dreadlocks in 2012 for the Kinamba Project.
Martine & Ruaíri got married in April 2013 and have since moved to Laos. I'm off to visit them next month. If you'd like to keep up to date with my adventures, you can follow my other blog: Nataraja's Foot. [Also, my first month back in the UK.]
