Riding for Rwanda Day 1
HEART OF HOLLAND RIDE - DAY ONE - June 22, 2024
LOST IN TRANSLATION
It has been an interesting journey to get to this day of the Ride for Rwanda initiative that Marlene and I launched out on June 1st. We have been planning these next 8 days as a unique, special and somewhat redemptive cycling event (given the circumstances of our PEI Ride for Hope 2022). We planned. We prayed. We trained. We did our homework. We saved our shekels. We bought our tickets. We flew to Paris (on the day a strike notice was issued by our airline). We landed. We discovered our hotel booked online was in one of the 3 most dangerous neighbourhoods in the city. But hey, that’s ok! I have spent the last couple of decades of my life in some of the most dangerous (but wonderful) neighbourhoods on the planet. The Eiffel Tower seemed a long way from Rue Bervic. We caught the train the next morning to Amsterdam. What an amazingly joyful welcome awaited us in this tourist friendly, arms wide open city. We had some hours so we walked. We walked some more. And we walked even more. Since we arrived 30 hours ago we have each logged 31.2km.
On one of our walks, we scoured out where our barge would be awaiting our arrival. We found her. She was everything we hoped she would be. A lovely, refurbished working barge complete with 10 cabins enough for 22 guests and the crew. Her name is Sarah.
It seemed everything was just like we had planned.
Here’s what we hadn't planned for: all the guests aboard are from Germany, like German speaking Germany. Fortunately, most of the crew have some English and we are using google translate to not hold the rest of the group back but…. what can we say except some things simply get lost in translation.
Check out what google had to say about safety instructions. Not going to lie we have had more than a few belly laughs trying to figure out the instructions of the day —>
I am keenly aware of the fact that I am not a linguist. I am also reminded of Ray’s reminder to me when I use to spend a lot of my life in the global south that translating was not my gift.
That said, our fellow guests are scrambling to try and make sure we feel part of the group and they are downloading translation apps.
We planned and we prayed but what we know tonight is that the Lord is the one who directs our steps.
So tomorrow morning we will pull out of the harbour with our German fellow riders and Dutch, Polish & German staff and we will set out to ride through the Heart of Holland. As we close day one our hearts are full already, we have no idea how this is all going to work but we will trust the one who is in the details.
It reminds both Marlene and I that this type of unknown is what the Rwandan families, young people and children must often feel like.
We may be lost in translation, but we are surrounded by love.
Love is the reason we are Riding for Rwanda.
Love for The Wellspring Foundation for Education
Love for UMOJA Rwanda
Thank you for loving, for believing and for coming along for the journey.
