Team Rwanda

Burundi Day

The crickets are chirping in Kinyarwanda; the moon hangs kaddy wompus; the radio is blaring in some unrecognizable language; a foreign bug is creeping across my computer screen; the night is very quiet such that any noise carries. I suppose if I breathe heavy, the neighbors might hear–nah. They’d have to hear me over the radio next door. Everyone’s up around 5 a.m., so 8:30 feels like 10:30 p.m., so most the team has headed to bed. It’s actually 10 p.m. and once again, Kelly Bean and myself are still up. I’m allergic to sleep in Rwanda, but it doesn’t seem to matter, except around 3 p.m. in the afternoon. But a quick bounce in the car on a well rutted road, snaps me back to life.

Today was Burundi Day, where our friends from Burundi traveled all day on the bus yesterday just to be with us. We’ve heard lots of heart wrenching stories. We’ve laughed alot, dance the jig with them, prayed with them and them with us, exchanged lots of hugs. I love the African dance trot! Problem is they look so good at it and we just look like Muzungu’s (white folk) making a mess of their jig. But we get good mileage off it–lots of laughter. Seriously, I could move to Africa just to learn to dance! ha ha . . . dance their way, that is.

The team is amazing. They dive right in to engaging with the Burundians, the Rwandans, and any other Muzungu around. They are like sponges to learn and absorb everything around them. Becca is the team pet. The Rwandans love a young high school doll that she is, and enjoy teasing her all the time. She’s handling it very well. Susan is the team —no, not just the team, anyone who will let her–be the Mamma–gathering her little chicks whenever possible. It’s been fun to see her be herself and enjoying every minute of it. Lisa is loving seeing Becca just get alot-o-laughs and seeing her mature in the process. They are both loving it. Heidi and myself so appreciate seeing the people we met last time and making new friends. The culture goes in deeper another notch. Heidi is a great traveler.

So, all for now. We are two days away from going to Akagera Park excursion . . . We probably won’t have any FB connections there . . . don’t know . . . but will check in tomorrow, then we are off to Akagera on Wed. We’ll be back on Saturday.

Okay . . . All for now . . .
Much love from the Rwanda Team . . .

Child Head of Household

There is a buzz word out in the non-profits regarding what they call Child Head of Household. It denotes children leading their own household due to no parents as a result of war, genocide, AIDS, etc. It’s not uncommon in Rwanda . . . Our host, Steven, came to Rwanda soon after the genocide and began taking these kinds of kids into his own home, and continues to do so unto this day. He also has adopted a number of households that were already children without parents and making a meager existence. We visited these homes yesterday and today.

Heidi wrote this piece: In Gasogi we visited the households led by children. When we first arrived they treated us to an amazing demonstration of native dance and even invited us to join in. Afterwards we tromped the dusty paths to two of their homes. As we walked between the banana trees, I couldn’t help but think of terrified Tutsis hiding in these very bushes while the Hutus were hunting for them. It touched my heart to then see the deteriorating clay huts where 12 boys (10-17 yrs old) were scraping out a living. These boys had become family and were doing their best to care for one another. Some of them are able to go to school but not all. I ask myself “Why am I here?” How can I make sense of what I’m seeing when I return to a world full of conveniences and comforts? All I can do is tell these people’s story. So for now, I’m doing my best to drink it all in and let it touch my heart.
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Now our friends from Burundi have arrived for a couple of days. We’ll be spending time with them and hearing their stories. As some may know, we had to re-direct our trip from Burundi due to political unrest, and came to Rwanda, as we already had relationships here. So, we brought a few of those friends to visit with us here. We are calling it our Burundi days.

More on that later . . .

Everyone take care,

Leigh

The Joys of Internet in Africa

Ahhh . . . the joys of internet in Africa! I was waxing eloquent yadah yadah yadah . . . and lost all of it through disconnection . . . I would guess I had been working at getting signed on, etc. for about an hour, then lost it all . . . Oy vay. One has to just toss it off to character building. Thus I may cut my character building a bit short this time around.

Enough to say that today the team went in several different directions. One into town to buy supplies for the trek out to the Gosagi Village of Children Heads of Households (now a buzz word), that is so prevalent here in Rwanda. There may be more than 150,000 households that are headed up by children. Their families were lost during the genocide. It is incomprehensible. We’re looking forward to our time there where we’ll hang with them a good part of the day. Part of our objective will be to see how they live, what they live on, where they get water, visit their homes, etc, and try and gather as much information (conversationally–not linearly as we Westerners would be prone to do), and give to our friend Kelly Bean, who is working with a potential donor in the States.

The other group headed out to Nyamata, about 40 minutes away, and visited a coop there of perpetrators and victims working on a project together in order to continue to foster reconciliation. People are working beside those who either did or were complicit in the killing of their own family. These people are beyond brave and beyond courageous as they attempt to live rather than die. It will rock your world to see it. Their project is soap making right now, so watch out friends and family as we bought a lot of soap! You might just be receiving it some of it.

The team is doing great. Getting more comfortable every day . . . working well together.

Take care . . . Talk to you soon.

Leigh–on behalf of the team

Colored in Contrast

Through the eyes and the pen of Lisa Wellington: Rwanda is stunning; not only in its peoples’ devastating stories but in their resilience. The people are gracious and tender toward us and each other. They remind me not only of what great horror we humans are capable of but also what abundant grace we can accept and extend.

I love being here with my daughter. Every day seems to bring moments of transformation and restoration for each member of our group and to those we meet along the way.
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(Leigh) The last several days have been spent at the Widow’s Co-op, New Destiny. We sit alongside them while they do their bead making, as well as participated ourselves. We made a lot of designs and they would try them, copy them–and we’d all laugh during the process of making beads. They have a sewing co-op they are trying to launch, so Heidi has been working up a sweat by to helping evaluate the machines, their work and their progress in sewing. They have 11 machines, but had 7 defective bobbins in the machines, thus rendering them unusable. We’ll be picking up some supplies today to help them to run more smoothly. They actually have done a really decent job in their work. It’s fun to be helpful in a small way.

We thoroughly enjoy spending time with the women, asking them questions, sharing a type of oatmeal gruel, smiling and laughing, joking, sitting with them. We get to watch Becca play with the kids, chase after them and see them run away, laugh, and come running back for more! It’s just great . . . just like kids all over the world.

All the time we play, talk, ask questions, and intermingle with the people, we are gathering information for the bigger picture on behalf of a partner organization that would like to launch them into self sustaining goals. Little by little we are helping to put together a more complete picture for them. The process of gathering info really takes 10 times more time than in the State. It is such a different culture and their way of living does not follow the more lineal thinking that we have. But we so value their way of life and find it very refreshing and something we can take with us.

All for now . . .

Still Day Three

Through Becca Wellington’s eyes: There have never been so many eyes looking at me at one time. At first I thought they didn’t want me to be here, then I came to realize they were they were looking because they were happy as well as surprised to see me. It’s hard for me to comprehend why they are so blessed for me to be here, because I feel like the blessed one.

Rwandan streets are filled with smiles, hand shakes, and hugs on every street corner. It makes me think Americans have it all wrong. Instead of checking your watch, making sure the person you are talking to isn’t wasting your time, we should enjoy the company, enjoy human connection. I believe the Rwandans have more to tech us than we think. I am keeping my eyes open, ears listening and feet moving to soak up this amazing culture as best I can, and when I return to the States, I will practice living my life as the Rwandans do, with arms to hold, ears to listen, and a heart open to love.
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Day Three - Team Rwanda

Team Rwanda has arrived safely and is into Day Three . . . ahh, the sights and sounds of Africa. Outside of the Internet Cafe in Kigali right now there is the call to prayer for the Muslims of the area. The streets are crowded with people coming and going either to work or market or wherever; kids in uniform heading home from school. Lots of big huge smiles from kids, high fives, “how are you?” in broken English. We try and answer in Kinyirwanda. We elicit laughter wherever we go. These are a beautiful people that we are looking forward to spending the next several weeks with.

More to come–Our internet connection is a mere 20 minute walk away–and our access to it is limited, so will try and update as much as possible, but may not be every day. We are loving our time here and anxious to share with you more of what it has been like.

Leigh