As I sit at my desk at 5:00 am trying to ease back into my own time zone and make use of the fact that I’ve been awake for 3 hours now, my mind keeps going over the last couple of weeks.   I can’t concentrate on clearing out the 943 emails waiting for me or trying to create a list of priorities.    All I keep thinking about is the truly amazing experiences I have had in Uganda and Rwanda.

I have travelled a fair bit over the years but it never ceases to amaze me how beautiful and interconnected we are as humans.   Regardless of how far apart we live.

The current political environment in my part of the world is charged with bigotry, isolationism and paranoia.    I really wish that some of the political leaders, and pundits, for that matter, would escape their bubbles for a while and actually see and experience other cultures in other parts of the world.   I mean really see.  Not press conferences or meet and greets, but just sit and chat with people in different communities in different parts of the world.   It really serves to underscore the fact that we all strive for the same things, we all have similar challenges.  The details may be different but the goals are generally the same.    We are all connected and should celebrate our diversity rather than use it as a weapon.

I cannot say enough about the beauty of the landscape, the culture, the wildlife and especially of the people I have seen and met with in Uganda and Rwanda.    If anyone has any doubts about taking a trip off the beaten path to this part of the world, rest assured your fears are misplaced.    There are a number of challenges facing the people and policies in these countries, but I have rarely been welcomed with such open arms.