The kids at Hyakagunga Project (RW-144)
Watching the world go by in Savier's bus
Our first family visit. Jeremy is the one in white.
Wave to the camera!!!! (This is just some of the neighborhood kids)
I was very excited and yet nervous about our first day at a project. As we drove up we could hear the kids jubilantly singing songs they had prepared for us. Siting in the bus waiting for it to park I felt a tingle go down my spine. THESE were the kids we came for!! After escorting us to a freshly painted blue room (we could practical smell the lead in the paint) we were introduced to the staff. Come to find out it was the projects first visit from Muzungas (white people). Splitting us up into 3 groups we toured the rooms. We all were very intrigued at the way they had things set up. The last room (actually building) was the church. They had speakers and a electric piano (put to the max on volume) hooked up to a generator. Everyone was singing and clapping to the beat. The pianist, obviously new at the job or had no formal training, was playing with all his soul. We all danced and hummed along with our dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. After another introduction to the children. They took us back to the the blue room. There they had prepared for us a snack. For them I'm sure it was quite an expenditure. There was bananas, lilikoi, tree tomatoes, apples and carbonated beverages. Before getting into the buses we stopped to give out more stickers and gum to the kids. Then we were taken back into Kigali for lunch (as if we hadn't eaten enough already). After a scrumptious lunch at the Novatel we headed back to the same area for home visits. The couple we visited had been married for 20yrs and had 6 kids. Jeremy was the one that is Compassion sponsored. We were taken in their house to sit and talk. After praying for them we went outside. They had a water pump right out their back door (a major luxury) that Compassion had helped to bring in. Also 3 goats that Jeremy's sponsor had sent. I got a sneak peek at the kitchen. The mother didn't really show us around. But hey what if 10 foreigners came by your house, what would you do? While we were there the neighborhood all came out to gawk at us. Some of us crossed the street to say hi to this elderly couple standing outside their home. Their smiles were enough to communicate their joy to our small gesture. Shouting and waving, the kids all ran after the bus when we left. At dinner Savier (one of our bus drivers) came and ate with us. We were communicating to him through French, the only language that seemed to work. He told us that he had just taken Rick Warren around on a tour. Also at dinner, Eugene shared his testimony. He parents had been exiled to Uganda where he was born. After the war, he came back to live in Rwanda. He is 32 and got married in Jan. 08. His wife Joy was expecting while we were there. (After we got back from Africa we were pleased to hear that Baby Grace had arrived, I'll show pictures of them later).
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