My favourite photo

So after tagging a few friends with the 'Who am I' questionnaire, I soon found myself being tagged for another 'please post a part of your life' item.

Beck tagged me and asked for my favourite photo. I have so many 'favourites', but this one wins by a long shot.

Now I know you've all seen this photo, simply because you find it to the right of my blog, just before I do my little snapshot of who I am, and what my passions are.

But I haven't ever really shared the story behind it before.

This was taken in Rwanda back in 2008, in a tiny little village named Kayenzi perched on the side of a mountain.

Rwanda is a part of me. I can quite literally say that my first thought every morning and my last thought every night is about Rwanda and the people I met there. My whole life is directed right now towards getting back there in the near future. There are a lot of tears shed in private due to my longing to be back there. It sounds ridiculous, but Rwanda is my home and I will not rest until I am back there.

I never got to know this little girl's name, but I met her within an hour of being on the ground in Kayenzi. We arrived to a huge circle of little children all singing to us and welcoming us to their home. In her grubby little dress (probably the only 'Sunday' dress she owns) and with her cheeky little smile she made a beeline for me, grabbed my hand, and stole my heart forever.

She was such a shy little girl up until this photo. She just wanted to cuddle with me and rest her hand in mine.

But when Paul got his camera out - she was a star! She was in my arms as he came up to us and she just leant out with this massive grin and left me with a photo that summed up my whole journey in Rwanda.

This photo is my commitment to returning to Rwanda. Every time I look at it I pray over this child and make the thousandth promise to return and see her and play with her again.