Monday 9:30pm (Rwanda time); 1:30pm CST

Today (Monday) was the final day of what I’m calling phase 2.  In phase 1 (orientation) we got to know the World Vision staff & volunteers, the other team members that were going to different places, and information about World Vision’s organization and HIV & AIDS as well as things like cultural sensitivity, etc.  All of this while allowing us a chance to adjust to the time change and the new culture.  Phase 2 (ADP visit) was all about getting into the Area Development Program (ADP) and getting to meet the local World Vision staff & volunteers, community leaders & pastors, and the residents while seeing first hand the community needs, strategies & programs of World Vision, and building relationships will the people of Kivuruga.  Tomorrow begins Phase 3 (Decompression) as we will fly out early (7:30am; leave hotel by 5:30am) to go to Nairobi, Kenya and then another flight to the Masaai Mara (google it!).  This is one of the premiere wild game parks in the world and it borders the Serengeti.  We will spend a couple of days there having meetings, sharing experiences, and enjoying the beauty of Africa.

Today was a very emotional day.  We first went to a 7th Day Adventist church where they are doing phenomenal work with those who are the most needy in their community.  We saw the sewing machines that had been donated to them; some of them work manually, but for the electric one they are believing God will provide them with resources to get a solar panel to operate it.  The sewing machine was on display right before us and looked upon as a tremendous asset to this community – once operating, they feel it will help transform them economically.  In addition to sewing, the Adventists run two other programs: training for construction work and a literacy program.  These folks are heroes.  Once again we were greeted at that church with hundreds of kids laughing and trying to touch us, groups of people singing & dancing, and leaders pouring out their hearts in gratitude for our visit.  It was so humbling and totally undeserved.

Our next stop was to be a quick stop back at the World Vision ADP building for a spot of tea.  This ended up being longer than suspected as we had to say good-bye to some close friends.  Although we would see the ADP Coordinator (Jean Baptiste) and interpreter/WV National Staff person (Jean Paul) later in the day, we had to say goodbye to people like Silas, Nathan, William, Vivienne, Peter, Adeline, Geoffe, and so many others who served us & welcomed us & helped us understand our opportunities in Kivuruga.  As a sign of their gratitude to us, we were each presented with a woven hat made in Rwanda so “that you will never remember the people of Rwanda.”  We told them thank you, but the people of Rwanda are in our hearts and we don’t need a hat to remind us (OK, more tears… ugh).

We then continued on to return once again to the Anglican Church we had been to each of the past couple of days.  This time, the primary group gathered was an association formed as a support group for those impacted by or living with HIV or AIDS.  There volunteer lady, a gal named Jean, was incredibly impressive – she also leads the association for healing & reconciliation.  Sitting next to her was a young gal (perhaps 12) named Nadine who is living with HIV.  Around them were many individuals (young & old, male & female) who either lost a spouse to AIDS or are living with HIV or AIDS.  To hear the conviction in their hearts and the hope in their words was powerful (I can barely keep it together writing this… OK, now I’m not).  This is the same emotion that overwhelmed me the other night talking to Tracy – waves just come out of the blue.  I don’t know exactly how, but I will never be the same again (I hope).  After the program I was able to find both Jean and Nadine, give them big hugs, and tell them (through our interpreter) that they are heroes of mine.  I did the same thing for Jean Baptiste, the pastor of this Anglican church, who is doing so much for the most vulnerable in his community.  I little told him that he is my hero. 

So, with that long, emotional goodbye, we jumped in our van and headed out of Kivuruga toward the capital city of Kigali, where we would spend the night so we could be closer to the airport for our early morning flight.  During the 2.5 hour van ride, the driver of Homer & Bob’s van (Oscar) invited us all over to his house in Kigali to meet his family and share in a drink.  When we got to Kigali, we unloaded our stuff, and then Oscar drove us to his house just about 5-10 minutes from our hotel.  Oscar and his family live in a poor neighborhood; we parked once we went as far as we could and then we walked the beaten dirt path to his house.  Mostof the houses had brick walls around them with holes drilled into the top of the walls and broken glass stuck into the holes for the security system.  Next to Oscar’s house (they rent) someone was builing a new one so they were making the bricks.  As we were walking there, Oscar’s wife was walking down the path so we met her and walked there all together.  After we got to their house, they woke up their sleeping children (who were being watched by the house girl) so we could meet them.  They opened some peanuts for us to share and provided some passion fruit juice for us.  We chatted for a while and shared a great time of pure, authentic fellowship even through the language barrier. 

When we left Oscar’s house, we returned to the hotel and met up with some of the New York group.  After catching up for a while, we went with them to the “formal” meeting at 6:30pm which included an amazing dinner (partly amazing because I hadn’t eaten all day!).  We all had a chance to briefly describe what we were feeling, how the trip went, etc…. it was crazy to think that could be done in a couple of minutes… at the end of the day, most of us shared something with the comment that we were just beginning to sort it out and it may take months to do so (if ever).  Most agree that this will somehow radically change something in their life (either externally or internally or both).  After dinner, it was time to say goodbye to the two people which had come to mean the most to me (and I think most of us): Jean Paul (the WV National Rwandan staff member & interpreter) & Jean Baptiste (Kivuruga ADP Manager).  This was tough… the bond formed in about 3 1/2 days was irrefutable.  We were able to get a picture with them and us four, which I’m sure will be a treasured memory for us.

So, with that, it was about 9:00pm and time to head back to the hotel (another full day!).  I figured I better blog now because someone mentioned there is no internet at Masaai Mara.  If that is the case, you may not hear again from me until the 12th or 13th.  Hopefully I will have some option, but it’s highly likely I will not.  Thank you so much for the encouraging responses on this blog and on Facebook; I’ve tried to read them when I can but really don’t have time to respond.  I’m looking forward to reviewing them all when we get home.  We’ll also have a few thousand pictures to figure out what to do with and a ton of audio files. 

It’s time I bid adieu…. hope to yap at ya soon, otherwise you should assume we are having a great time at the Mara and allowing the experiences of the past week or so to sink in and settle where they need to settle.