Morning Hike

We woke up early this morning while it was still dark and set out on a hike to the top of one of the mountains overlooking Mbingo.  The hike started out pitch black with trees lining both sides of the trail so we couldn’t see very far.  The higher we climbed, the mud of the trail turned into dark red clay and the trees turned into shrubs so we could see for miles and miles in each direction.  The sun peeked out of the cloud cover illuminating a distant mountain covered in fog.  We were on the top of a mountain with jutting rocks and the valley below had rolling hills studded with small villages.  I wondered what all these mountains and hills had witnessed – how many births and deaths; celebrations and bloodshed.  But despite all the inevitabilities of humanity, the progress and mistakes made generation after generation, the mountains remain, towering constantly over this small valley, and it reminds me that there’s something much bigger than myself in this place.