Our electricity may have been out all day, but I still had a great Thanksgiving will a few of my favorite people here in Rwanda. Here are a few pictures to show you what Thanksgiving looks like in Africa, and also to introduce you to a few of my friends here.
Vestine, or "Shami" as she likes to be called, joined the FH Staff about two months ago as the student life coordination assistant. Shami is one of the sweetest, most kind hearted people I've ever met. She has an incredible heart for God that she never hesitates to share with others. She has been quite a blessing to have around.
Nate, as you can probably tell, is not Rwandan. He is one of a few Americans on staff here in Rwanda. Nate runs a water project about an hour outside Kigali, and I have spent the last six weeks or so helping him do the accounting for his project. He has lived more places and experienced more by 24 than most people ever do, and is never short of stories. He also helps me keep my sarcastic sense of humor sharp - sarcasm is lost on Rwandans.
Aidah is our cook and housekeeper at the guesthouse here in Kigali. She is also one of the most entertaining people I have ever met. She has broken every stereotype I have ever had about African women. She yells constantly, loves dancing and beer, and shares her opinions on people without a second thought. She's also an amazing cook.
I hadn't really made Thanksgiving dinner before. I was pretty proud with my first ever attempt - especially considering the circumstances. I couldn't have done it without Aidah and our gas oven.
As you can see, even though I wasn't with my family, and things looked a little different than they usually do, it was a great Thankgiving. I have so much to be thankful for.
With a little over 3 weeks to go before I board a plane (well 4 planes..) bound for home, and as I'm watching a lot of my American friends here leave ahead of me to go back to the states, I'm starting to get a little more excited to come home. I am also starting to realize all the things I am going to miss here. With that in mind, I have compiled my top 10 lists of things I am excited for back at home and things I will miss in Rwanda. Enjoy.
Top 10 things I'll miss about Rwanda:
1. Being constantly surrounded by natural beauty - hills, volcanoes, blue skies, flowers, the list goes on and on.. 2. Being a part of and learning about a new culture and its history 3. Lots of downtime - my internship is my only real responsibility here and I don't remember the last time I had so few things to fill my day 4. Mornings out on the front porch - spending time with God in the mornings while looking out over the beauty of Rwanda has become one of my favorite things here 5. Weather - Rwanda's climate is about as close to perfect as it gets - a few hot days here and there, but most of the time it's mid 70's and rains for a couple hours everyday. Perfect. 6. Conversations - having the tough conversations about poverty, development, western involvement in Africa and other similar issues with Americans who are passionate about the same things I am but who have been here longer and know so much more than me. So much to think about. 7. The wonderful Rwandese and Ugandan people I have met - they are so warm despite all they have been through. .They are more than willing to share the best parts of their country with me as I explore and spend time here. 8. Traveling - I have gotten to see so much of Rwanda and even Uganda in the time I've been here 9. Walking everywhere - the built in exercise of living in Africa is great. Unfortunately the midwest winter weather will prevent me from carrying on this practice when I get home. 10. Being in Africa - I don't know exactly what role Africa will play in my future..but I know that I've loved my time here and that this place will always be a part of my life in some way...
Top 10 things I'm excited to return to:
1. My family & friends - I can't wait to be back with all the people who mean the most to me and to share life with them again! 2. Sunday mornings at my church 3. Ease of communication - being able to speak the same language as everyone around me 4. Spurs & Vikings games - and just the sporting world in general 5. Diet Pepsi 6. Whole grain bread - this stuff is hard to come by here 7. Christmas! I'm excited to get to celebrate the holiday without having to be around for most of the commercialized season 8. My cell phone - not having to rely on skype or facebook to talk to the people I love 9. My car - walking here is great, but it will be nice to be able to go where I want, even after dark. 10 More conversations - being able to process the last few months of my life with the wonderful people in my life who share my passion for Africa & social justice - I can't wait for their insight!
Five weeks from today, assuming Skyteam doesn't change any of my flights, I will arrive back in the US. I'm not really sure at this point how I feel about coming back. I am feeling at home in Rwanda, gaining confidence in traveling the country, and building several good friendships. I will miss the people I have met, the beautiful weather, and quiet mornings on my front porch. I am also excited to come home. I can't wait to see my family and friends, and share my experiences. I am also anxious to be removed from the African context so that I can begin to process the things I've experienced here. There have been many emotional ups and downs, frustrations and joys that I cannot fully process while I am here. One of my favorite parts of this trip has been conversations I've had with other American and European development workers and volunteers who have been here much longer than I have. Their experiences and insights, both positive and negative, have given me a lot to consider in the way I view Western involvement in developing countries and my own future involvement.
Last weekend I visited Volcano National Park here in Rwanda. It was perhaps the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Here are a few pictures:
I think the best way to share my experience in northern Uganda is through pictures:
These huts are home to the women who participate in FH's New Life Centre in Kitgum. This program offers protection, counseling and education to vulnerable single mothers and their children. I stayed on the compound with these women for the three days I was in the area. There are currently 28 women enrolled in the program, half of whom were formerly abducted child soldiers. These women suffered from unimaginable emotional and physical trauma, but also exhibited hope and joy in their song and dance they often did on the compound.
Downtown Kitgum. This was my first time really spending time in an Africa village, although Kitgum is bigger than most village centers. There were a few shops that all seemed to sell the few same products that they were able to get ahold of.
One of my favorite things about northern Uganda was seeing the Acholi children out playing in their yards at dusk, no longer having to worry about being abducted by rebels. Innocence has returned to childhood for these kids. As we passed by they would run out to shake our hands and curtsy or yell "muno bye" to us from their homes. Muno is the Acholi word for white person and bye can mean hello or goodbye.
NGO's were everywhere you looked in Kitgum. This road to our compound shows signs for 4 different organizations whose offices were on this road.
Though war has been absent from this region for about three years, and people have now been allowed to move out of displacement camps, devastating poverty remains in northern Uganda. Despite this, there is a simple beauty in African skies and landscape as you also see here.
I feel so fortunate to have finally been given the opportunity to see the region and people God has given me such a passion for. This journey was one of emotional ups and downs, but as I saw the women at the Centre begin to smile and open up despite all they've been through, it gave me hope that northern Uganda can overcome the great devastation it has suffered for the last 25 years. It makes the last four years of volunteering for Invisible Children so worth it.
A little over 4 years ago I saw Invisible Children for the first time. I could never have known that night that God would use that documentary to change my life forever. Today, I bought a plane ticket to northern Uganda. I am going. Finally. I am going to see what I have only seen in pictures and films. I am going to meet the people whose children have been taken and whose lives have been forever altered by this terrible war. I am going to see the IDP camps they were forced to live in. I am going to see the situation that God has called me to be passionately committed to for the last 4 years. More importantly, I am going to see what God has done. I am going to see the New Life Center where girls who were once sex slaves in the LRA are now experiencing the healing power of the Gospel and hope through education, training and the opportunity for a new life. I am going to see, but I do not wish to simply see. I wish to be changed. I wish to wrestle through seeing the evil that man is capable of, and yet knowing that our God is still sovereign. I wish to be even the smallest spark of hope and love to these people who have suffered so much. I wish for them to know that though I have yet to meet them, I love them, and even more, God loves them.
I will be leaving early next Thursday morning on a 10 hour bus ride from Kigali to Kampala. I will spend Thursday night at the FH compound in Kampala and then early Friday morning I will fly from Kampala up north to Kitgum. I will be meeting Kate, another FH staff member, in Kitgum and we will be visiting the office there and also in Pader. Both Pader and Kitgum were home to large IDP camps during the war. We will be in the north through Sunday and then Monday morning I will fly back to Kampala and spend a few days there before heading back to Kigali.
Please pray for health and safety for me as I travel, as well as God's grace as I see and take in all that I will experience in northern Uganda. I anticipate it being a very emotionally draining experience. Please pray also that I would be able to be an encouragement to the FH staff working in northern Uganda, as well as the people there that I come into contact with.
I'll leave you with one of my favorite verses:
Micah 6:8 "He has shown you O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God."
For the past two weeks my parents have been periodically sending me links to aricles on the Des Moines Register's website by Perry Beeman, an environmental writer for the paper who also just arrived in Rwanda. For those of you who get the register, or visit the register's website, I'd invite you to follow his writings from Rwanda as well. This is his article from yesterday. It gave me chills to read it, both because of it's descriptions of the genocide memorials he visited, and because I quickly realized that out of hundreds of memorials in Rwanda, he visited the same two memorials I did.
Rwanda's genocide frozen in time at church memorials by PERRY BEEMAN pbeeman@dmreg.com
Kigali, Rwanda - Tuesday was my firstborn son's 26th birthday.
I spent it visiting spots in Rwanda where men and women and children of all ages were killed, some of them pregnant, simply because they were Tutsi. The ruling Hutu majority had issued the sickening order to "cut down the tall trees," a reference to many Tutsis' thin frames. Hutus wanted to end decades of conflict with Tutsis in an ethnic cleansing largely unrivaled outside of Nazi Germany.
I'm reporting in Rwanda through a fellowship with the International Reporting Project. I'm working on stories about the work Rwanda is doing to build an eco-friendly economy, 15 years after the genocide. Great Ape Trust of Iowa is heavily involved.
I've been here a couple of weeks, but this was my first chance to take in a genocide memorial.
There is a formal memorial in Kigali, the capital, which I also plan to see. But there are several other places, mostly churches, where the skulls, bones, and clothing of the Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed in the 1994 genocide are on display at the spot the people perished.
When I first saw the piles of clothes that were removed from 10,000 people killed in a Catholic church in Nyamata, southeast of Kigali, I thought I might wretch. I've seen gruesome things, and I had read plenty about the 1994 genocide before arriving in Rwanda, but nothing prepares one for this.
My second thought: How fortunate that my son, Scott, is alive and well and celebrating a birthday with his wonderful wife, Sheryl. How blessed I am to have another son, Joel, also alive and thriving. And a beautiful and loving wife, Jane, back home, safe. And my faithful dog, Carly. And my large, extended family. Events like this make you take stock. In a hurry.
Rwanda lost 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a few months in early 1994, when the Hutu majority launched a genocide after the plane carrying one of their own, President Juvénal Habyarimana, was shot down near the airport in Kigali.
You can watch "Sometimes in April" or "Hotel Rwanda," or read one of the many genocide books, but it's hard to imagine this event fully without seeing one of the rural churches where sanctuaries turned into mass graves.
Fresh from a couple of days of viewing some spectacular scenery and wildlife in Akagera National Park, I asked driver Jamada Muberuka about these church memorials. He offered to drive me to a couple.
First stop, Nyamata. The spot is quiet. Ribbons and flags of purple and white blow in the wind, the traditional colors used to mark observances of the genocide anniversaries. In 1990, Tutsis began moving here to escape threats elsewhere, said a memorial staffer, Martin Kalisa, through an interpreter. In 1992, two years before the genocide, 680 people were killed in this village, he said. Roadblocks ruled the day. The roaming Tutsis began dying of starvation. "There was no food. The soil was dry," Kalisa said. "Many starved."
Italian humanitarian Tonia Locatelli, who lived in a house next to the Catholic church, took to the international airwaves to tell the world of the starvation and suffering. "We must save these people. We must protect them," she pleaded. "It's the government itself which is doing this." It was 1992. On March 9, a soldier in a nearby tree shot Locatelli to death as she stood outside her home. She is buried outside the church.
In 1993, Tutsis were told that it was safe to return home, and they did. But as the war heated up and 1994 unfolded, they returned to the church, knowing they had survived there before. Kalisa isn't sure what day, but the Hutu forces showed up to find the church locked. They set off bombs that left holes in the concrete that are still there. They stormed in and killed 10,000 people hiding inside, with ponga knives (machetes), clubs and guns.
The clothes those people wore that day are stacked on the pews throughout the sanctuary. The altar stands clean and unblemished. Underground are the remains of 40,000 people, including many killed in the surrounding area. Above ground, the burial area is marked by a peaceful white tile with blue-tile crosses on top.
In one underground area is a display that includes the coffin of a pregnant woman who was raped, then stabbed to death. "This way, she is alone with her baby," Kalisa said.
Also on display are identification cards - left over from a system installed by Belgians that fanned the Tutsi and Hutu tensions - and jewelry. Rows of skulls, some missing pieces on top, are in a lit display surrounded by white tile.
We took steps down to an underground vault where neat rows of skulls and stacks of arm and leg bones were stacked on shelves. "Let us get out of here," said driver Jamada Muberuka. "Every time I come here, I get ..." He couldn't finish the sentence. "Those were tough times."
The tensions between Hutus and Tutsis went back decades, with several large outbreaks of violence from 1959 on. After 1990, tensions turned into rebel forces looking to throw the Hutus out of power. On July 4, 1994, current President Paul Kagame and his rebel forces took control and started building what they hoped would be a coalition government serving Rwandans, not Hutus and Tutsis. Much of the fighting shifted westward to the Democratic Republic of Congo next door, but Rwanda has kept peace.
We left this memorial and drove past the government-issue houses of genocide victims on our way to a second memorial, at Ntarama. The holes in the brick walls that were blown open with grenades are still there. The forces killed 5,000 here. The victims' clothes line the walls and hang from the rafters. The pongas and clubs used to kill those in the church are on display toward the front of the church, where a message, roughly translated, read, "If you had known about me and about yourself, you would not have killed me." It is a message still ringing with the disbelief that a human, a neighbor, a fellow villager, would kill another.
"People thought they would be safe here," driver Jamada said. "In our culture, our belief is that no one can do something wrong in a church."
The "wrong" here included storming into the kitchen-turned-mass-bedroom in a back building and setting mattresses on fire. The room still has cupboards and clothing scattered around.
A concrete wall sports an incomplete list of the dead. On this day, a breeze blew through, and the wide valley and hills presented a serene setting for such a disturbing place.
"It will not happen again," Jamada said. "Even those who were involved are regretting it."
It's an event that has consumed many people's vision of this country and its warm, friendly people. It's a beautiful, safe place with a lot to offer and, 15 years on, a growing economy and a sound government. Read the other items in my blog to get an idea of what this country is like now, with recovery well under way.
You might want to tell your family members something first. I'll go first: "I love you!"
This week was one of transition. Thursday morning 12 of the 15 Go ed students left for Uganda, and the remaining students left today for Giterama, about an hour outside of Kigali. Aryn and I are now the only ones living in our house. This will be quite an adjustment but I am looking forward to it. It will give me a chance to know Aryn better, as well as forcing me to to take more initiative in getting to know people at church and at the office better.
This week Aryn's new assistant also began work with FH. Her name is Vestine and she is truly a blessing to both of us. Her sweet spirit and incredible dependence on God are such an encouragement. I am so glad that I am getting a chance to spend a couple months working with her while I'm here. I will be helping Aryn to train her on simple accounting procedures and microsoft excel.
Rainy season is finally here. It has teased us for the last couple weeks but it is now consistently raining everyday. I enjoy the rain thus far, even though I have already gotten caught walking in it twice.
Even from Africa I am trying my best to follow the sports world. Glad to see the Hawkeyes, Cyclones and Vikings all doing pretty well! and only 3 weeks until the Spurs season starts!
Please pray for continued health for myself and the Go ed students. We had one student tested for parasites and one tested for malaria this week and both came back negative, but they are not feeling well nonetheless. Aryn has also been feeling sick and is going to the doctor tomorrow.
Thank you all for your continued support! I miss you all!
My big undertaking of the weekend was downloading the new David Crowder CD off itunes. A simple enough sounding task turned into a 5 hour project with our internet connection. It was definitely worth it. Sometimes it just makes me laugh a little that I'm living in Africa but we still spend our evenings online and watching movies.
This week the study abroad students were gone doing a research project about an hour out of Kigali. It was nice to have the house to myself for a few days. Wednesday night our part time cook Shakira took me to the market and then taught me how to make some traditional African dishes. It was great to learn how to make some things and even better to get to spend some time with Shakira. Shakira came over to cook on Thursday again and Friday the students got back. I was very ready for them to come back by that point. This Thursday the students will leave for good to go on to Uganda. I will definitely miss having them around.
Today myself and three other girls were walking into town for lunch after church, which is quite a walk. Suddenly an American woman in a pickup stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride somewhere. She asked us if we were from FH, we said yes, and she explained that she and her husband currently have a staff member from FH living at their house. Her husband is the president of World Relief in Rwanda. I felt immediately that it was no accident that I had crossed paths with this woman. I felt like she was someone I could really connect with, and I am excited to pursue that relationship. Especially with the students leaving, it is going to be important for me to get to know people around the city. It is exciting to see God open doors for this to happen.
This past weekend was great. They were the first days since I've been here that I really had nothing in particular that I needed to be at or get done. Saturday morning I slept in (does 7:30 count as sleeping in?) and then went to a market down the road that sells mostly food products and fabrics. One great thing about Kigali is that it's really easy to find inexpensive fabric and then find a seamstress who can make you whatever you want out of the fabric - skirts, purses, computer bags, etc - also inexpensively. It was my first time at this market and I was a little too overwhelmed by colors and patterns to actually buy any fabric, but it was fun to look around and see the possibilities. Saturday afternoon was spent reading and hanging out with the students at the house. Sunday morning I went with Aryn to the large Anglican church in Kigali that she attends. It offers an English speaking service that attracts many American and UK citizens who are in Kigali. As I stood there during worship I was overwhelmed with the realization of how much I had missed corporate worship over the last couple weeks. It was so refreshing to be in the presence of God with other believers that way again. After church my friend Rachel and I went downtown to a coffee shop/restaurant called Bourbon to eat lunch and read. This Kigali based chain has actually recently reached the states and it has a very Western feel. While it feels like cheating the African experience to visit Bourbon too often, It's a nice break once in a while. We also visted a craft co-op downtown that features a lot of beautiful African jewelry and souvenirs for really cheap. I'm sure I will make several more trips there while I'm here. I also had today off thanks to a Rwandan public holiday. This morning I continued my shopping spree and went with several girls to Amahoro, a Christian organization that employs women who might not otherwise have income to sew all kids of bags, clothing, bed spreads and other items which they sell in a shop on the premesis. These women are incredibly talented and had alot of beautiful things. After lunch today, all the students along with Aryn and Kate left for Giterama, a small town about an hour outside of Kigali, where they will be for the rest of the week. The empty house made for a nice quiet ending to a relaxing weekend. I am excited for another week of learning about the city and the people of Rwanda. My prayer is that as I go through this week I will also feel a strong sense of God's purpose and direction. Often times short term trips like this can feel very self-centered. I get to learn so much and I am working for an organization that does so much for the Kingdom but how much can I contribute in such a short time? I know that God has a specific reason for my coming here and I want to feel that reason and purpose even as I go through my work in the office here and interact with the people I come into contact with.
I am starting to feel much more at home in Kigali. Yesterday things seemed to just start to "click". I am learning to speak english in a way that is more understandable for my Rwandan co-workers - no contractions and just generally speaking slower and enunciating. I also feel much more comfortable navigating the city. I walk to and from work when it's nice and I've been trying to take advantage of that since rainy season will be here soon and I will have to take public transport most of the time.
Today I took the morning off from work and Aryn, the sort of "house mom" for the study abroad students and the only full time resident of the compound I live at, took me downtown to get me oriented to that area. We visited a fairly modern shopping center with a very modern grocery store. We also went through a craft co-op, and even stopped in the actual hotel from Hotel Rwanda. There is no indication inside or outside of the hotel that it was indeed where that event took place. I think they think it would be bad for business. It was hard at first here not to be consumed with dwelling on this country's past. The genocide was all I knew about the country before coming and going to memorials right away just reinforced that. I had a real sense of uneasiness and fear about being here the first few days, but now that I am getting to know the current culture, it is so encouraging to see how far they have come and where they are now. Aryn and Kate advised me to avoid watching any documentaries or reading too much about the genocide while I am here.
This week I met a girl named Breanne who is also interning at a nonprofit here in Kigali. She is a senior at Wheaton, not far from Trinity. It was great to meet her and trade Chicago familiarities. I am hoping that I will be able to hang out with her more often and get a little America fix.
I am also very excited to share with all of you that my trip has been full funded! Thanks so much to all of you who contributed! God is so faithful to continually provide what I need!
This weekend all of the FH Go ed students, staff and myself went to Kibuye, Rwanda, a small tourist town on Lake Kivu, near the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
This area of the country is incredibly beautiful. We drove through three hours of mountains and Lake Kivu itself is well above sea level. The hotel itself was slightly questionable, and my roommate Rachel and I got moved to a different room after the toilet started leaking in ours and flooded our bathroom. Our shower then did the same thing to our second room's bathroom.
The weekend was a time for myself and the students to relax while staff members spent time placing students in month long practicum assignments for October. Lake Kivu has a large methane bubble underneath it, which make swimming dangerous in some places, but also makes it impossible for fish and other animals to survive, making swimming in the safe spots much more enjoyable.
Saturday we went hiking on "Bat Island". This island lived up to its name! About 5 minutes into the hike we began to hear the shrieking of bats and approached a tree that contained literally thousands of them. Our Rwandan guides began clapping and even throwing rocks into the tree which sent thousands of bats flying into the air over us. After surviving that encounter, we trekked the rest of the way up the huge hill of Bad Island, and enjoyed the view from the top. Through the fog we could see the outline of the mountains of the Congo. Throughout the hike we were puzzled to find cow droppings along our path, even up towards the top. I am still not exactly sure how they manage to climb the rocky hill, but swam to the island as well!
I also did a lot of reading. I am working through a book called A Thousand Hills, which is an autobiography of current Rwandan president and former rebel army leader Paul Kagame, and also a broader overview of the history of Rwanda. I am realizing that to be most effective here, I must understand the history of Rwanda, the genocide and how it has effected the people even today. I am hoping this book will help me do that.
The thing that has struck me most in my first few days in Rwanda is seeing evidence of the reality of conflicts that I have only read about. Not only were the genocide memorials incredible evidence of the horrific events of Rwanda, but as we drew closer to Kibuye we saw a convoy of UN peacekeeping vehicles headed to the Congo. These conflicts are very real as well.
A few specific prayer requests:
Some of you may have heard about recent riots in Kampala, Uganda. While this is far from us, the Go ed students are supposed to be heading to Kampala in 2 weeks, and a couple of our staff members this week. Please prayer that these riots will be resolved and that the FH members in Kampala will be safe.
When the Go ed students leave in two weeks, I will be alone with one other staff member and a housekeeper living on the compound. All of you know me well enough to know that I am very much a people person, and I am somewhat concerned about the amount of time I may be spending by myself in the evenings. Please pray that I will be comfortable with this time, and use it to rely on God as my foremost companion and best friend in a way I have never had the opportunity to before.
Thank you for all of your continued support! and for enduring through this abnormally long post. I love you all!
Today we visited two genocide memorials. This was something I had been dreading doing, but I also knew it was an important step to understanding the history and culture of Rwanda. This church, historically viewed as a place of "sanctuary", was the site of a 5,000 victim massacre during the genocide. We also visited another church that was the site of a 10,000 victim killing. The church was first attacked with grenades, as you can see from the hole in the wall, and then the people inside were attacked with guns, machetes, and other crud weapons. Walking into the church was a shocking experience. This memorial was not a sterilized plaque or stone statute, but the actual remains of the victims. You can see below the skulls of many of the unburied victims, and their clothing also hung around the church. Despite having seen Hotel Rwanda and having read books about the genocide, I was still hit with the reality that this horrific event actually occurred, and that neighbors, friends and co-workers were really capable of viciously destroying one another. While it is encouraging to see the way that the country has rebuilt itself since the genocide, it is clear that affects remain in the hearts of the people here. Sadness still filled the eyes of those who walked us through the memorials, and the country observes a week of mourning each year.
I live at the Food for the Hungry go Ed compound, which currently houses myself, a handful of staff members and 15 go Ed (study abroad) students. This is the smaller guesthouse where I live with one staff member and three students. This is my bedroom that I share right now with Kate, one of our staff members. She has her own bunk bed on the other side of the room. She is moving on to Kampala, Uganda in about 3 weeks so then I will have my own room.
This is the front porch outside the main house. I have been spending as much time out here as I can while the weather is nice and who wouldn't want to sit out here when the view is the picture below..
After 18 hours of flights and another 18 or so hours of layovers..I am FINALLY in Kigali! and all of my luggage made it with me, which is a big plus! It was a only 2 days traveling by myself but it was a good time to read, talk to a lot of interesting people from other parts of the world, and a clear reminder that even when I am alone, I am never really alone..
Currently I am sitting outside on the front porch of the large house where I am living with 15 Food for the Hungry study abroad students and two staff members. The view from the porch is breathtaking - the mountains in the distance and Kigali down the hill from where our house sits. I think I will be spending a lot of time sitting out here...
Tonight and tomorrow morning are for me to rest and unpack, and tomorrow afternoon we will be taking a trip to the Rwanda genocide memorial. I am glad to be doing this so early in my time here. It will be hard but I think it will give me a much clearer context as I try to understand the country.
thank you for all your prayers and continued support! I am so excited to begin my time here!
Tomorrow is the big day! I am packed and ready to go! I want to thank all my wonderful family and friends who have kept me calm and helped me get ready this week. I was actually able to relax this weekend and go to a friend's wedding thanks to all the help I had beforehand. I couldn't have done this without all of you!
My flight leaves Minneapolis at 9:25 tomorrow night, and I will arrive in Kigali at 4:15pm on Wednesday (about 6am Wed Iowa time). Please pray for safe travel, safe arrival of luggage and ease through customs.
I will be spending the first two days in Kigali settling in and getting acclimated to the city, and then traveling to another part of the country next weekend before starting my internship next Monday.
I am so thankful for the peace God has given me over the last few days, knowing that He goes before me and is preparing my path.
thanks again for all of your support! I love you all!
One week from today I will be boarding a plane bound for Rwanda (well, London, then Kenya, then finally Rwanda..). I feel a lot more peace than I thought I would at this point, and I'm getting more excited everyday. My pre-trip "to do" list is getting accomplished, and I started saying goodbye to family and friends with a wonderful trip to Chicago this past week.
I want to thank each and every one of you for the support you've shown me these last few weeks through your prayers, encouragement and financial contributions. I am so blessed to be surrounded by friends and family who are so invested in my life and in the work God is doing around the world.
It is my hope to use this blog as a way to share both prayer requests and testimonies to the work God is doing while I am in Rwanda. At this moment I am not sure how often I will be able to update this blog, but I am hoping that it will be feasible at least weekly.
Specific prayer requests right now are for ease in finishing up final preparations (visas, immunizations, plane tickets), and that I would be sensitive this week especially to how God would be preparing my heart and mind for this trip. Also be praying for those I will be working with when I get to Rwanda, both FH staff and individuals we will be ministering to.
thank you again for all your support! hopefully I'll get better at this whole blogging thing..
