Our Last Day

Friday Sept 21

Goofiness abounds at morning time

Our last day seemed to come all to quickly.  Goodbyes started early as Joseph was leaving that morning for an unexpected trip to Uganda. It was sad to see his cheery face go and the house seemed a bit quieter without him there.

Fiona and Philip looking good in their aloha wear. 

The sad feelings came the more I packed our bags. Thinking about the beautiful surroundings, all the friends and family we had seen, and the love that had filled our hearts, Rwanda would be be more then just missed.

Friends Forever!

As the shadows grew and evening approached some friends arrived and suspicious packages were quickly taken to the kitchen. Then a announcement was made and we went to the dining room to find this.....

A beautiful cake made just for us. This was such a special way to end the trip.

And once the cake was served, speeches were made by all siblings  There were more nice things spoken there then could be written down.

After snapping the last few shots, we heard the taxi pull up. We said goodbye to  the friends and thanked Angel once again.

Then Fiona and Joseph took us to the airport. I hugged them both and whispered a prayer to return there once again. Walking thru security I looked back one last time. They stood there smiling. My friends. My family.

 Always entwined 

Your heart and mine

Thrusday Sept 20-
That afternoon Fiona took us shopping and sightseeing. We went on motos from the office to meet her friend. As tempted as I was to pull my camera out and get some video I'm glad that I didn't. The rain started coming down and grew in intensity. We took shelter under the foyer of a building along with other stranded travelers. I did however snap this picture of another huddled group of people across the street right before the rain let up.

Moto's waiting out the passing rain

Not to be detained from our adventures Fiona's friend, Keita, found us there. We stood and waited for what Sarah and I thought to be a taxi. Up pulled a very nice car and we all jumped in. We soon found out that our driver was none other then Keita's older brother Douglas. This sibling duo had found out that we we're visiting and very sweetly wanted to take us around town. First, we hit up some stores for the long awaited SHOPPING! In search of specific things we were on a mission. The girls helped us in picking the stores that would have the things on our list. Douglas was the perfect chauffeur as he dropped us off and picked us up at each stop. He didn't say much about the stuff we placed in his trunk but his eyebrows did go up when he saw one particular package. A clear plastic bag full of painted sticks. I'm not sure if he ever got why we were so happy to find them, but they ended up looking great in a vase at Angels house.

The 'sticks'

Once we attained our gifts we headed out for sightseeing thru different parts of Kigali. They showed us pre-war and post-war buildings and how vastly different they were in condition and size. We drove by the presidents house which I didn't know was very near the De Mille Collines Hotel.  They also took us to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Not much had changed in appearances from my last time there, however it was still as heartbreaking to go thru. When we exited the building the storm had reached us. The rain blew in our faces as we walked by the mass graves. My mind reeled with all that had happened only a short 18 years ago. As we later found out both Keita and Douglas are survivors of that terrible tragedy. It is unthinkable for me to try to wrap my mind around what they went thru. God has truly touched their hearts and has worked a great miracle of restoration in them. As the evening closed around us we drove back to the house and bade our new friends goodbye.         

Girls Day

Thursday Sept 20-

Compassion Rwanda

Today was another big day, the three girls were going to meet us at the Compassion office for a day of fun. We quickly ate our breakfast and gathered the bags of gifts. Since the Compassion office was close to home we decided to take motos there.

Fiona's Office

This was quite fun to stretch our wings and fly solo. Loaded down with bags we hailed 2 motos and showed them the directions to the office. Donning our helmets we climbed on and sped down the street to our destination.  About five minutes into the trip my driver slowed down and then came to a stop. I looked around but didn't see any building that had the Compassion sign. Getting worried that we had been taken to the wrong place I looked over to see Sarah's taxi also coming to a stop. That's when I realized that the moto I was on had run out of gas. Fortunately for the driver, it ran out right in front of a gas station. We could hear the chuckles from fellow drivers as they watched us. It was a funny sight, white girls with many bags taking a moto? After refueling we headed off again and got to the office.

Mothers and babies that are helped thru Compassion's CSP Program

We arrived just in time for the morning devotions with all the staff. I could hear their voices singing as we walked down the stairs to join them. The staff shared praise reports and prayer requests. After the closing prayer we were invited to meet with the head directors of the office. We spoke with them briefly and they all thanked us for coming. I introduced Sarah to Eugene Bahire, another old friend of mine. He is the main person that sets up and handles all sponsor visit to Rwanda. We caught up briefly on each others life before he headed out to another sponsor visit.

Seeing Eugene again

Fiona had some time so she showed us around the office so starting at the top floor we worked our way thru the offices meeting the different people that all make Compassion smoothly work. They are the stepping stones that allow kids and sponsors to have the best experience.

Discussing what's for lunch

First meeting

We had just made an end of the tour when we heard that an older sponsor child had arrived early. This I knew was Claudine. Walking up the stairs I saw her sitting by the reception desk. A smile was spread across her face and we embraced. Her smile was more beautiful then I had imagined.

We sat and talked and drank tea that Fiona had brought for us. I heard people coming up the stairs and saw Francoise. I looked over at Sarah and said "She's yours!" It was a sweet moment, watching as my sister wrapped her arms around her girl. They were both beaming. Sitting across from me, I watched as the joy danced in their eye's. More tea was brought as our number continued to grow. 

Then I looked back to the stair case and saw Joseline coming around the corner. She had grown up from the little nine year old that I had last seen and had budded unto a pretty young woman. We hugged and held hands, looking at each other. 

The Girls!

Another chair was brought so that we could all be together. Francoise entertained us with a Sunday school song and dance. But by then our group of 9 had crowded the reception area so we gathered everything up and moved to a bigger room downstairs. Here we sat in a semi circle and exchanged gifts. Proudly, Joseline handed me pretty gift bag and I opened it up to find the most cute giraffe statue.

Claudine had also brought me a gift and handed it to me. Taking the package from the bag I openned the wrap to find a wall hanging. Using different colors of bark they had made a mama and baby gorilla. I loved that it symbolized where she was from. The gorillas will remind me of the cold mountain region in Ruhengeri that she lives.

 Aside from meeting their sponsor I think the next big thing for a child is the ability to give something back to the sponsor. At it's roots, giving is a form of self-sacrifice and love. I could see an empowerment grow as these girls gifted their sponsor with these treasures. Totally saturated with their love I hugged them both.  

Looking at some family photo's

Then with all the gifts opened we went out for a little fresh air. I was invited to jump rope with both the girls. I was never very good at 'jumping in' but I surprised myself by doing it very well.  

 Then when jumping got boring we moved on to tossing the ball. I tried hard to pass the ball like they did. Unfortunately I never got the knack of passing it with out holding it for a few seconds.

Francoise's social worker, Joesline's social worker, Francoise, Sarah, Joseline, me, Claudine.
Claudine's social worker not pictured 

It was quite warm when we stopped playing. After taking some group shots we prepared for lunch. Compassion's office is strategically placed next to a restaurant so it was a quick walk over. Buffet style, we lined up and filled out plates with all different kinds of food.   

Ready to eat

 Being that everyone at the table was a girl [with the exception of John our translator] the table was overtaken by giggles during different points of our meal. We proved that even though there was language barriers somethings are instinctively understood by girls. Once the lunch was completed we went back to the office to say goodbye.  

Time to say goodbye

 Joseline and her social worker were the first to leave. Waving to them as they walked away I pushed back the tears welling in my eyes. 

Claudine, Sarah, Francoise

Francoise was the next to leave. After taking the last photo's she and her social worker waved and walked to their bus. Claudine was the last and was waiting for her social worker to come back from running some errands in town. We were ready to leave so I hugged her one last time and walked away.

                You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” Amy Carmichael 

Seeing Elie

Tuesday Sept 18

John picked us up and we drove about 30 mins to Gahanga. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to see how much Elie had grown. As we neared the town I started to recognize the scenery. We turned right, down a dirt road and I was practically jittery with excitement. Pulling up at the school everything was as I remembered. The children started to gather as the car drove thru. Their smiling faces and waving hands welcomed us. We walked to the office and into one of the rooms. I saw him and smiled. He looked up with a beaming face and we hugged.  



Since I had already been to this project they skipped all the formalities of showing us around the office. We walked into the adjoining room and sat down. I found it funny that this was the exact room that we had shared our first conversation together. All the introductions were made by the project workers and pastor. Then Elie and I started talking. He knew some words and was able to ask me some questions in English. His voice, I noted, was a lot deeper than before. 

We talked for a bit and then left to go meet the family. I was anxious to finally meet his grandma Costasie as she has been a foundational piece to Elie’s life. He was living with his grandparents a while before I started sponsoring him. He had told me that his grandma always went to church with him. Since his grandfather’s passing 3 yrs ago I knew that he would be a great help to her. Seeing her was a joy. 

She was so happy and wanted us to sit next to her. The thing that touched my heart the most was when she said that she was so happy to finally see us, her granddaughters. She showed us how the house was deteriorating and that she had been concerned that it might fall on her. Recently she got a new house nearby and they had moved everything over to the new house.  They were going to start living there in the next couple of days.

Grandma Costasie telling us about the new house. 

Elie and I played ball for a bit outside while family and neighbors watched. I had brought a bag of rice for the family and presented it to Grandma Costasie. As the home visit neared the end I prayed for the family.

We then walked back to the school, but they weren't done with us yet. Bringing us back into the office, the staff offered us snacks and drinks. The pastor and other workers joined us and we talked for a while. Elie needed to return to school so we said our goodbyes and I watched him walk away.

Monday Sept 17

We went into the main part of the city to meet up with another one of my friends from Compassion, John. After enjoying another wonderful buffet we walked around. I was thrilled to find a Kinyarwandan Bible at a local bookstore and the clerk was intrigued why I'd want it. We also picked up some cds from local Christian artists. I wanted to show Sarah the hotel that we stayed at last time so we walked the short way there. The Des Mille Collines [or Hotel Rwanda as many of you might know it] had changed some since I'd been there. I pointed out to her different places on the grounds, like the covered porch where we had been surprised with pizza by the Compassion staff. While waiting for our ride home we figured out with John the dates and times for seeing our kids. Excited, we then headed back knowing that we'd see our kids very soon. 

In Rwanda, I'd say the main form of transportation is walking, however the next thing would be motos [motorcycles]. These bikes are driven by an array of men taking you to places within the city for about 500 Rwandan franc's [or $.80]. The majority of drivers wear a reflective yellow vest stating that they are the mass transit; other's are privately owned. The law states that all drivers must have a helmet for their passenger and all passengers must wear them. Some drivers got entrepreneurial and for an extra charge offer the ladies a hair cover before they don the helmet. We had been watching these bikes weave in and out of traffic without a hitch. Scooting past the line of stopped cars, they would all fight for the front at a red light. Green, and they'd be off, zooming this way and that. It only took us a little bit and we were both dying to take one. That night Fiona picked us up to meet with Philip at an Italian Restaurant. We were thrilled when she said we could take a moto. After hailing 3 guys, we climbed on and sped thru the dark night to the restaurant. 

The pizza's were amazing and according to the professional who's actually been to Italy, aka Sarah, this is how it's done. And obviously the word had gotten around about this place as seated in the table next to us was a group of older Italian men conversing in their native tongue.

Sunday Sept 16-

Sunday morning we got ready and went with Philip to Christian Life Assembly. Church was started when we got there and we could hear the voices raised in praise to the Lord. While we found a bench I spotted Fiona singing in the choir.  It was such a blessing to go half way around the world and find myself in a building filled with other believers. After the service was finished we took a tour of the property. Fiona and Philip filled us in on the history of receiving this plot. Story went that the church had tried to purchase a different plot but the government gave them this one. The government thought it was just a trash heap and was happy to have it off their hands. Well after a lot of work clearing the ground it was no trash heap. They have well-manicured grass and terraced different parts as they slope down. There are benches and even a water feature. I could see why Joseph and Angel had their church wedding and reception on the grounds. The funny ending to the story is that the government says this is one of the best pieces of property in Kigali!

Finishing lunch

We went back home and had lunch with everyone including Fifi, Joseph’s sister.  The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and talking. The guys left to finish some work and we girls went back to a worship concert at church. The opening band had just finished and Beauty for Ashes was getting ready to jam when we got seats in the front. The first song was sung by candle light and was very moving. 

After that the lights and sound was turned up. There some definite rock-n-roll going on! Fiona translated the words for us when they sang in Kinyarwandan. They projected the words of all the songs so we sang out as loud as we could. I even tried singing the catchy lyrics to the Kinyarwandan songs. There were kids dancing around and waving flags from different countries. We clapped and jumped to the beat. Half way thru they had us jump side to side, it was really a lot of fun! One song seemed to be a hit for everyone, so at the end of the performance they came back and sang it again. While walking in the parking lot I could hear a child singing the chorus to 'Supasta' [a song about how Jesus is our Superstar].