Delightful Overnight in Doha

On Sunday, July 8th, we arrived safe and sound in Doha, Qatar (a small country east of Saudi Arabia) after a 16-hour flight. We made our way to the beautiful Oryx Airport Hotel - a hidden gem in the main airport terminal, which is a busy international hub, with people converging from all over the world. (Fun Fact: It’s officially ranked the fourth best airport in the world!)

For example, the concierges at the hotel reception were from Kenya, Bangladesh, and India. Almost everyone who works for the airline and at the airport is from a different country.

After checking into our rooms, we went straight to... (wait for it)... the pool! Yup, you read that correctly - this airport has a pool... and spa... and jacuzzi... aka the perfect recipe for a 12-hour layover - and all without having to leave the airport!

We swam and stretched our muscles in the cool water, soothed our achy backs in the jacuzzi, grabbed a light dinner, and tucked ourselves in for the night, praying for sleep to find us quickly.

Most of us clocked in a solid 5 hours of sleep before our California-set internal body clocks woke us up around 3am. Our morning flight didn’t leave until 8am, so in the meantime a few travelers revisited the spa area, some explored the bustling terminal shops and cafés, while others took advantage of being horizontal in bed for a few more hours.

Around 6:30am, we gathered together and headed to the gate to catch our 8-hour flight to Rwanda. Grace and Naima met us there, having just flown in from Oakland - making us a group of 15!

We’re meeting such interesting people on their way to East Africa, including a group of lovely people from Oxford who are heading to Uganda to work with the Batwa (Pygmies).

When we land in Rwanda, Justin and the Rwanda Team will be there waiting to embrace us and take us to our hotel in Kigali. We’ll meet up with our 16th and 17th travelers, Sydney and Danna, along the way!

More soon...

With love,

Your Rwanda Travelers

THOUGHTS FROM LEESBETH:

"And off we go. Moving through thin air for 16 hours half way around the world on our way to connect in friendship and wonder with other women of a background so different than our own. People who never met, connected through the umbilical cord of gratitude, compassion, and meaning. We have carried each other in our hearts like the unseen child growing in a womb - loving, sight unseen, by the power of curiosity, imagination and shared humanity. Soon we will look each other in the eyes, dance together on this earth and celebrate the friendships that were meant to be. Each dancer to be touched by lives that needed touching for each of us to be a little bit more whole. 

Thirteen travelers on their way with loaded suitcases of water filters, computers, health care supplies, etc. all following this one woman with a vision, talent to lead, organize and inspire. A woman with the magician's hand of effortless grace and gentle power, who so naturally manifests a brilliant reality: a group of casual dancers casually collecting riches over time, with class fees and donations, for the people of Rwanda who can use a little hand to join the standards of dignity and relative security that can make us all feel human again. 

Yay, Janet Reineck and partner in crime Genevieve Feiner, for showing us all how easy it is to just do it."