We are sitting in the Kigali Airport hoping to leave around 10PM local time to Brussels. It is still up in the air where we will be landing or going from there. We will keep everyone posted as quickly as we can.
Team Rwanda
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Off to CFC
Greetings again from Rwanda!
We have arrived in Rwanagama safely and have starting interacting with the students and serving.
Yesterday we set up all the donated clothes in an unused classroom and arranged for each student (approx 150 students in all) to come and choose a shirt for themselves. T-shirts were for boys and we had feminine shirts for girls. The children are very obedient. They each came in and selected their shirt and thanked us as they quietly left. Not one child begged for more, and when they got to their classroom, they were so excited for their gently used new shirt.
Later in the day we set up tables and interviewed each child for updated information for their sponsor. The children are very curious about America. They all have come from the street. They are happy here and are so thankful to have their basic needs met, such as food, shelter and clothing. So many of them are committed to Christ and you can see the joy of God in their eyes. They are so happy, yet they have nothing. The interviews revealed they long to hear from their sponsors. Getting a letter from their sponsor could be the highlight of their whole season. Most of them don’t have parents, which were killed in the genocide, and have siblings, if any, scattered across the country. They desire so much to have a family, and to have a mother and father and live a family life. There is this sense of longing…longing for something they hope for…a family and parents. The children are very affectionate, and when I talked with them, they gather around me, touching me, putting their arms around me, hugging me and playing with my hair. They need so much love.
Today we helped organize the library. There were about nine of us that worked for 3 hours getting books donated to the school to be ready to be put on the shelf for the children to read. The books were donated through the Peace Corps. This afternoon we will continue our interviewing of the students.
Every afternoon we have a downpour and teaching has to stop because it’s raining so hard on the metal roof, no one can hear or talk. So we just sit and smile at each other while we wait for the rain cloud to pass over! Right now as I write, there is thunder rumbling in the distance. We usually get a big downpour in the afternoon. Mornings are blue sky, sunny and hot (+90 F).
Tonight our team is going out for dinner in town. Our hotel has been feeding us all our meals so far.
Friday we will be going to an orphanage to visit more orphans in need of love.
On a personal note, today is my birthday. Kat and Steve, bless their hearts, took me into town (we walked) and bought me lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch, we took a “bicycle taxi” ride back to our hotel. It was a great adventure and so much fun!
Thank all of you who are praying for us and have donated in some fashion towards our mission. All items are needed desperately to support the children in their learning. Rwanda needs these children to learn and grow so they can make their country strong again. Please continue to pray for us for safety of travel and that God continues to work in us. Blessings to all of you.
Mary Williams
Team Member
PS Oh! Almost forgot to mention the US Ambassador to Rwanda just happened to show up at school today. He said very nice things about the mission of the school, thanking us personally. We all got to meet him and shake his hand.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Greetings to all from Rwanda!
We arrived safely, made all our connections smoothly and all flights were on time. We arrived in Kigali at 7:00 pm which was perfect timing since we were all exhausted from 20 hours in flight. We are staying at AEE (African Evangelical Enterprises) in Kigali who had dinner waiting for us when we arrived (just one example of their great hospitality here). Typical food is potatoes, pasta, beef with sauce and steamed vegetables. Breakfasts are usually dry cereal with milk, GREAT coffee, bananas, pineapple, crepes and eggs. We are eating well!
And we are playing hard!
Our first morning, we were up at 6:30 AM for a trekke up to Byumba to a boarding school. Byumba is located in northern Rwanda, near the Uganda border. It took approx 2 hours by car through beautiful, steep hills that wound around the landscape dotted with patchworks of farming fields and terraced gardens that were obviously created by hand. We were met at the school by Joseph Nyamutera and Christine who represented Mercy Ministries...a healing and reconciliation program in Rwanda. Our team was given the task to work side by side with some of the students painting tables, walls, and window shutters of the dining hall at the school. We were given a tour of the school which included observing thier livestock of several cows and pigs. It is considered a great value to have these animals because they generate revenue for the school and the students take care of them, creating self esteem for the students. They served us lunch in a classroom with other students and a few governmental officials of the area which consisted of the same menu stated above. We thought we were all done, but the Headmaster called an assembly gathering to show appreciation towards the volunteers of the day's project, which included issuing certificates to each of us for our work. The children sang accapella for us, which was beautiful and the finale was ALL the students singing and dancing for us, inviting some of us that were comfortable to dance, to join them. When we had finished, dust was floating in the air from all our feet pounding the floor!
My personal experience was with several female students, about the age of 12-14. I offered to help them with thier wash, which they were scrubbing in a bucket in the backyard. They found this offer hilarious and invited to show me their sleeping dormitory. It was about 2000 sf concrete building with bunk beds tightly lined up. They showed me what was special to them...stuffed animals and dolls. We took pictures of each other, and the dolls. They asked lots of questions about America. After the assembly, one of the girls named Jen, called my name out. She had this look on her face of longing. It was crowded and noisy as everyone was exiting. All I could do was stroke her head, look in her eyes and tell her God loves her and will take care of. She has no family to back her up. No parents that she can "go home" to. Once they receive thier graduation certificate, they are on their own. This broke my heart which had just been gloriously charmed by their dancing and singing.
As children of God, we are spiritually connected to all these people here. It is not us in America, and "them" in Africa. We are all under one God. We are brothers and sisters under God. We have a responsibility to take care and love these people. Even though we have different cultural experiences, ethnicity does not get in the way of love.
Speaking for the group, thank you for your support. We see God at work here. They are paving roads, laying down fiberoptics and building schools. Please feel confident that your prayers and support are working.
In God’s love,
Mary Williams
Team Member
And we are playing hard!
Our first morning, we were up at 6:30 AM for a trekke up to Byumba to a boarding school. Byumba is located in northern Rwanda, near the Uganda border. It took approx 2 hours by car through beautiful, steep hills that wound around the landscape dotted with patchworks of farming fields and terraced gardens that were obviously created by hand. We were met at the school by Joseph Nyamutera and Christine who represented Mercy Ministries...a healing and reconciliation program in Rwanda. Our team was given the task to work side by side with some of the students painting tables, walls, and window shutters of the dining hall at the school. We were given a tour of the school which included observing thier livestock of several cows and pigs. It is considered a great value to have these animals because they generate revenue for the school and the students take care of them, creating self esteem for the students. They served us lunch in a classroom with other students and a few governmental officials of the area which consisted of the same menu stated above. We thought we were all done, but the Headmaster called an assembly gathering to show appreciation towards the volunteers of the day's project, which included issuing certificates to each of us for our work. The children sang accapella for us, which was beautiful and the finale was ALL the students singing and dancing for us, inviting some of us that were comfortable to dance, to join them. When we had finished, dust was floating in the air from all our feet pounding the floor!
My personal experience was with several female students, about the age of 12-14. I offered to help them with thier wash, which they were scrubbing in a bucket in the backyard. They found this offer hilarious and invited to show me their sleeping dormitory. It was about 2000 sf concrete building with bunk beds tightly lined up. They showed me what was special to them...stuffed animals and dolls. We took pictures of each other, and the dolls. They asked lots of questions about America. After the assembly, one of the girls named Jen, called my name out. She had this look on her face of longing. It was crowded and noisy as everyone was exiting. All I could do was stroke her head, look in her eyes and tell her God loves her and will take care of. She has no family to back her up. No parents that she can "go home" to. Once they receive thier graduation certificate, they are on their own. This broke my heart which had just been gloriously charmed by their dancing and singing.
As children of God, we are spiritually connected to all these people here. It is not us in America, and "them" in Africa. We are all under one God. We are brothers and sisters under God. We have a responsibility to take care and love these people. Even though we have different cultural experiences, ethnicity does not get in the way of love.
Speaking for the group, thank you for your support. We see God at work here. They are paving roads, laying down fiberoptics and building schools. Please feel confident that your prayers and support are working.
In God’s love,
Mary Williams
Team Member