17!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Havana is now 17! One more year until she reaches that milestone adulthood birthday. And while she is in her last year of childhood, Havana still remains my baby girl, and she always will. I see the growth and maturity over the past year and yet there are times when I still see that sweet little girl ever present.

This past year has seen many changes in Havana's life. One of the biggest changes was her big sister and best friend going to college. The two of them are like Yin and Yang. They may argue at times and frustrate each other, but at the end of the day, they truly are the best of friends. Almost every day they would talk on the phone and FaceTime, checking in with each other about ideas and opinions. Havana is not always the most communicative about her feelings, but I know for sure she missed her sister terribly. Havana may have also enjoyed being the only child in the house but having big sister gone that was a big deal. Havana flew up twice this year to spend the weekend with her sister in her dorms and hanging out like a college student.

Havana started and completed her Junior year of High School, which is the hardest year of childhood academic education. Havana was pushed and challenged, and she came out triumphant. There were many learning curves and growing edges, but Havana's stubbornness can sometimes be her hidden force and she persevered and she had many good experiences including being her editor of the schools art magazine.

Havana and I returned to Uganda earlier this year. We also visited Rwanda, where we both had some powerful learning experiences. Havana is a great traveler and it's wonderful to see her heart and mind wide open in those settings that are so different from the ones we live in every day. She makes friends with adults and kids alike, and our sense of humor is always present. Havana remains a thoughtful and very sensitive human being with a very evolved soul. And at the same time, she is still that tender child who is still growing up and navigating this very uncertain world.

Havana has taken to Photography. Like her sister and her mother before her, Havana has an artistic eye when it comes to the lens. It's been a joy watching her take photographs and print them. I am not biased because I'm her mom. Baby girl has real talent.

Havana continues to show her talent in the kitchen from time to time. Not so much cooking but baking. She loves to bake things and she does it quite well.

Being in high school as a teenager is a challenging time and that was no different for Havana. Navigating amongst your peers, learning to settle into yourself is not easy task. That, along with all of the craziness of the world and social media, it's hard being a teenager these days. I witnessed Havana struggle in some of these areas but again she perseveres. She has a very sweet, supportive and creative set of friends. Not unlike herself, they live a tad outside the box. Creative, unique, artistic, honest. It relieves my mama's mind that Havana has the group of friends she does.

A very big milestone this year was Havana learning to drive, taking and passing her driving test. There were many bumps and delays along the way but now she is driving. Sort of. She has only driven once since she took the test several weeks ago but she get there. Don and I'd days of driving to/from school are done! Havana is on her own.

For her birthday this year, Havana thoughtfully organized and planned a birthday party for herself in Kennedy Grove. A place we have had many past birthdays. The parents were not invited. Which was okay. Havana is individuating and she needs that space to blossom and shine on her own. She doesn't need her hovering mom trying to step in and help. She did a fantastic job. I was just thankful Amara took photos for me to see the fun.

Seventeen starts today and I wish for Havana continued confidence in who she is, strength to overcome doubt, on-going joy and humor and a lot of love, from both self and others.

Happy Birthday to my Baby Girl.

 

Rwanda & Uganda 2026

 

Inside Hotel Rwanada

At the local market in Kisoro.

Mountain Gorilla Trekking; Havana got to see her primate cousins up close for the first time. It was a rough 2 hour trek but so worth the effort.

Basket shopping at a local women’s cooperative.

Havana with her Ugandan heart sister.

With Pearl, Perri and Kevin Hunter. Our Uganda family.

Uncle Emma, one of our guides and another heart family member. 

Jackfruit!

Nighttime Visitor

Landlord the wild elephant makes day visits too! The name given by locals says it all; this place is his!

Havana the cat whisperer made new friends at Ikorom Lodge.

At Murchison Falls, on the Nile river. This is the most powerful waterfall in the world. Here is Havana with Alice, her heart Auntie and Manuela, another heart sister. Traveling to Uganda we have made close relationships with a couple of families that have become family. Alice is also a social worker in Uganda and she has so many incredible things to teach us all.

Havana and I returned to the motherland in January of this year. This year we took our guests to Rwanda in addition to Uganda. The journey that we embarked upon this year included Mountain Gorilla trekking and visiting the Genocide Museum in Rwanda.  While I was looking forward that Havana would get to experience these magnificent cousins of ours, it was also important for her to learn about humanity, even in its darkest moments.

This was my fourth time in to this part of the world and Havana's second. Unfortunately, big sis was back in Eugene, starting the second half of her first year as a freshman at University of Oregon. It was just Havana and I traveling across the planet to the Pearl of Africa this time around and Amara was sorely missed by us and our Ugandan family.

We started the trip with two nights in Rwanda. Although technically, since we got there in the middle of the night, maybe we should say one and a half nights! Havana was a fantastic traveler. And after 20 hours plus, she had then proceeded to sleep for an additional 15.

Our time in Rwanda included visiting the genocide museum. It just so happened that in Havana's history classes, she was currently studying genocide as well as East Africa. Her teacher assigned her the country of Uganda, which allowed her to really dig deep and do a video presentation for class. Learning about genocide and then seeing up close in the museum, as well as hearing from our guides, who are survivors of the Rwanda genocide, are two very different experiences. We were able to talk and process as a group during our continuing education sessions and Havana contributed in ways that were very powerful and wise. I was very proud of her and how she was able to approach and digest this very deep, dark and powerful experience. I am sure it also planted seeds that will grow as she moves forward in the world about humanity.

The group drove 4 hours East and then crossed the border into Uganda on foot. 23 of us in total! Havana connected with the other adults on the trip and as well the other children who were on our journey. There was Manuela, aged, 11 and her brother, Mucho 14, both native Ugandans. We also had an American boy named Jack who was 9 years old. It was sweet to have a handful of children from different cultures, connecting and traveling together as we sojourned across 900 miles.

Havana was a trooper doing the mountain gorilla trekking. And when I say trekking, I really mean bushwhacking. Up and down hills with no paths, thick bushes with thorns and spongy, leafy forest floors that can leave you up to your knees in foliage. But the end result, seeing the gorilla, first in the trees and then moving around to the flatlands was something that words cannot justly describe.  Magical and mystic, heartwarming, frightening annd exciting. All this and so much more. We spent two hours trekking through the bush, and Havana was a trooper throughout the entire experience.

For the remainder of our journey, we experienced Queen Elizabeth Nation Park for game drives and the magical boat cruise on the Kazinga channel. There were so many hippos you couldn't keep track. Havana had gone last year and so I thought it was sweet that she was able to return to a place that she held fond memories. We saw herds of elephant in the park. Dozens and dozens of mama elephants, baby elephants and all ages in between. We spotted a lion sleeping in the tree and we saw many other magnificent creatures including the endangered black hog.

We made stops at the equator and when we left the park we had made a stop at the Rubin’s women's basket cooperative on our way to Fort Portal. Havana had to be my assistant to carry them all to the car! She picked out baskets for her teachers at school to bring them back as gifts of appreciation for them.

In Fort Portal, we able to see family friends for lunch and meet with a local family who taught us about coffee roasting. Fort Portal is very familiar, having spent many days there during each of my visits. We took the opportunity of being in a small city to do some shopping. Delicious homemade popcorn, mangoes, Coke zero, souvenirs were all on the list for our time in Fort Portal.

Havana connected with some of the people on the trip and so when would break up into small groups, she was able to connect deeply with both the adults and the children. And on several occasions, the kids who had homework to do made little study groups and got to work.

Unfortunately, this year Havana and I did not do the chimpanzee trekking. While the group was able to do it, Havana and I gave up our seats so other of our guests have this profound experience. There were some late registrations, and we weren’t able to secure all the permits. We did try to do the chimpanzee trekking in another area but that did not pan out. I have long taught the girls that everything happens for a reason. And the day that we stayed back while the group went on their chimp adventure, Havana did a lot of homework, connected with the other children playing games and that was equally as important and meaningful . I opted to do some work and take a long needed nap.It’s hard to be on all the time guiding a group of others. I had had the experience in the past so I didn’t feel like I was missing out too much.

From our time in Kibble National Park chimp trekking, we made the long drive toward Murchison Falls. There we encountered giraffe and elephants, hyena, antelope and so much more. Havana and I opted to not do the Nile river cruise with the rest of the group, again we opted to rest and relax and catch up on things. We did visit the top of the falls, which was a Which was a first for Havana and I. That might've been the highlight of that part of the journey. The most powerful waterfalls in the world, were both breathtaking and refreshing. It was hot as heck in the park And getting drenched by the spray of the fall was a most welcome treat.

Another top highlight during our time in Murchison Falls NP occurred during the middle of the night. I was woken from a deep sleeping when I heard something outside of our room. It was so loud that I thought it was the staff doing landscape work. I got up to ask them why they were out in the middle of the night, making noise outside of our door, only to discover an elephant about 20 feet away eating from the tree. I woke up Havana so she could experience this most unbelievable moment. She was initially concerned for my safety. Me being me, I grabbed my phone and my camera and took a video and photos! I also had a profound eye to eye contact with the elephant. He was checking me out and I was checking him out. My Sole child was just delighted, with this unexpected surprise. These type of once in a lifetime experiences are things that I cherish, and I give thanks for from the bottom of my soul to witness them with one of my gems.

Not all of the trip was magical and mystical and enchanting however. There were long hot days. There were grumpy moments between myself  and Havana as well as well as a small few other guests. I had to navigate our large and for the most part everybody was exceptionally wonderful and still, we had our moments of challenge. Facing poverty, having to look in the mirror of our own entitlement, those were hard moments. I had to take a deep breath when facing other people's entitlement and embarrassing exchanges. And yet, this was all part of the process of a trip like this. I personally had to learn to not take things personal. I had to learn to walk away. And  in hindsight, I had to learn to notice when certain people have other things going on in their life that are impacting a group and how to cope with that. As someone who is guiding a group of people on a journey like this, there were many takeaways that I had. I didn't do the best at times. But I learned a lot. And I hope that Havana seeing memake these mistakes and  witness how I tried to learn from them taught her some important lessons about being human. It is when we are able to look at our own mirror and grow well as a parent that teaches and models for our children, how best to navigate this life.

The last two days of our trip included visiting the Ziwa rhino sanctuary on our way back to Entebbe. A long drive, a lot of heat, but also quite special. Seeing what the sanctuary is doing to help introduce these endangered species back into the wildlife is heartwarming. Being able to be so close to these enormous creatures is mind-boggling. Even though I have done this several times, it never gets old. The wonder of the creator and the universe and all of their vast creations, like rhinos and elephants and giraffe, never ceases to tickle my soul child.

Our last stop on Lake Victoria, we had some interesting experiences at our hotel. We encountered some racism from the hotel owner toward our drivers/guides and their families. At this point almost the entire group had bonded so deeply that the actions and words from the own caused quit the stir. It touching to see how our group reacted and protected each other around this blatant racism. But we had become like a family and family looks after their own. This is what traveling does. It brings people together, it connects our hearts, and it allows us to love each other deeply while breaking down walls and barriers. 

Havana and I left Uganda long before the sun rose. We spent three nights in Istanbul on our way home. We enjoyed our time but we realize that after having been there last year, we would like to do something different in the future. (Istanbul is the layover stop for going to East Africa.) We did take advantage of some of the shopping in Istanbul, getting our hair cut and enjoyed some good food.And while we did appreciate all the luxuries of a developed nation, it was hard to sit with some of the things that we left behind any South Africa..

As I wrap up this blog post, I am now in the midst of preparing for our next trip next January. There’s currently in a bowl outbreak in the Congo and we are hoping that that will not interfere with our plans. Even still no matter when we return, we know that we will be back and each trip is a different adventure with different people and new connections and new memories. I am beyond grateful that my life has unfolded in such a way that I’m able to experience such things and bring my two beautiful gems along with me on most of my journeys.