Rwanda: Days 11-14

Saturday: Woke up not feeling great. Threw up, ate some not-so-cooked eggs, threw up again, and then felt fine :) After debating for awhile we opted to do a 1/2 day safari instead of full day which means we didnt' get to see the elephants. But we did get to see the most beautiful giraffes, some hippos (submersed in water - but still sooo cool), warthogs (Pumbaaaaa!), water buffalos, a baby croc, tons of different birds, some monkeys, baboons, and explosive horse flies in our van (poor Ellie)! It is hard to express how cool this day was in words so here are some photos:

Sunday: Our second amazing church service at New Life Bible Church in Kigali. I have been so blessed by our time spent with the people of ANLM and NLBC. It is powerful to just spend time among them, engulfed in their culture.

After church we went to another genocide memorial that was in Kigali. It was more historical/informative but still incredibly powerful and heartbreaking.

Monday: I can't believe we only have two days left! I am getting so sad at the thought of leaving!

Today we spent the morning with the Dream Boys; street children in a sort of "pre-sponsorship"program set up to help bridge the gap between life on the streets and full sponsorship. Marie, a girl from Portland is living in Kigali for a year so she can be the "teacher" for these boys. She just arrived this week and we were able to observe and attempt to help her get the program up and running. Marie is an amazing girl and I have a lot of respect and admiration for her! She is living out my dream :)

Tuesday: Today we spent the entire day at the orphanage in Kayonza painting one of the girls homes. This house was in desperate need of our tender love and care.

Wednesday:

Today was the third day of class for the Dream Boys. Their homework from yesterday was to come up with a list of words that started with the letter "A" and choose one to say in a sentence. Many of them were a little confused and they came up with a list like the following: "a boat, a ball, a dog..." etc. One little boy made the following note before he was able to get started on his list:

"ay tek you Jesus a rave you Jesis" Translation: "I thank you Jesus. I love you Jesus."

These boys are absolutely precious and many of their faces will forever be burned into my mind.

This is our last day here in Rwanda. We board the plane at 6 something this evening. It breaks my heart to think of leaving all of these wonderful new friends we have made. I will surely be leaving many pieces of my heart behind.

Kageyo: Day 10

Today was our first day of clinic in Kageyo. We started the day a little on the tired side. We stayed at Akagera National Park last night so we would have a shorter drive to Kageyo and would be able to get started as early as possible. It was not the most restful sleep as the beds were rock solid (as opposed to the amazing mattresses at the Guest House in Kigali!) and we were surrounded by a game park filled with wildlife we could hardly imagine. We were awoken bright and early by the baboons who took over the park during the genocide and refused to leave when it was reopened.

They followed us and took anything they liked. We were warned by my sister (who had been there before) that we should not leave any clothing to dry on the balcony and to make sure to always leave our doors locked because the baboons would take anything and everything they wanted. One of them stole Scott's cup of coffee on his way back from his room, and another chased Ellie all the way from her room to the main lodge. Amy D and I strategically tried to avoid them and finally started to run without looking back when we heard them on the roof above us. Talk about an adrenaline rush! The baboons were crazy, the beds were hard, and the meals were slow but the shower was hot and the view was beautiful.

It turned out that staying at Akagera did not save us much time on our drive because our bus ended up getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere on our way there. We stopped in a tiny village and people rushed out with all kinds of tools, ready and willing to help us fix it.

About an hour later the vans carrying our interpreters drove through the village and stopped to see what was going on. We swapped out the doctors for the interpreters so they could get a head start on setting up the clinic and hopefully seeing patients. Before long we were all back on the road and ready to see patients.

The clinic in Kageyo was much slower and relaxed than our time in Kayonza. We saw fewer than 100 patients and were able to "get to know" many of them on a more personal level.

It was much warmer this day and we did not take a break for lunch so by the end of the day we were all warn out. Half of our team returned to the Guest House on this night and the rest of us returned to Akagera for one more night so we could do a safari the next day. 

Kageyo: Day 9

The next day we made the three hour drive from the mission house in Kigali to the rural village of Kageyo. I was blown away by how large the village was. It covered an entire hillside. In my mind I heard “rural African village 3 hours from the capital city” and I pictured…well, probably what you’re picturing. But don’t be fooled. This is a “village” of appr 10,000 people.

The minute I stepped off the bus outside of the church in Kageyo I was greeted by sweet Noah. He is the town charmer.

We spent that morning with some of the sponsored children. We served them and their families lunch, delivered gifts, and played games with them. Dressed in their best, they played music and danced their traditional dances for us. We were blessed and encouraged by how welcoming these little ones were toward us. Their kindness was humbling.

In the afternoon we organized a meeting with the elders of the community to learn about their needs and offer our knowledge. The ladies in our group met with the women and the men with the men. We wanted to speak to the women about water safety, personal hygiene, and wound care. The men spoke of water filtration, agriculture, and maintenance for the wells.

Our meetings were in one of the classrooms at the school and when we walked in the women were already there waiting for us. In the beginning they were spread around the room casually visiting with one another. When we were seated with them and ready to begin they suddenly stood up and all moved to one side of the room. We were very confused and it was far too formal so we had our interpreter explain to them that we wanted to sit among them as friends rather than speak across separation.

Once we were all situated back together as one, we were ready to get down to business. We began by simply asking them to tell us what they needed, what was working/what was not, and what we could do. Once we had an idea of their concerns and their methods of doing things we shared some ideas with them and collectively came up with solutions and possible new ways to do things. There are two major issues facing this village; a need for agriculture(a way to provide food for this community in the midst of the jungle) and a need for clean water. Nearly all of the children have swollen bellies from drinking water with parasites in it.

There were 6 wells in Kageyo and while we were there only one of them was working. Within 1 week of our time in Kageyo the elders had arranged a “committee” to be responsible for caring for the wells and several of our team members took on the challenge of networking nonprofits to find what needed to be done to repair/replace the existing wells and what it would take to get a filtration system in place. I can tell you within the last few weeks, we are now partnering ANLM with an organization called Water Missions to build new wells. You can read all about that here.

After our meeting with the women we gave them all a 6 month supply of homemade Pedialyte (a powder drink mix). And got some great photos of them leaving carrying the containers (McDonalds donated hundreds of their oatmeal containers!) on their heads.

 

 

I personally was so touched by our time with these women. When we were wrapping things up they took turns standing and expressing their gratitude and appreciation for us. One of the women, her name was Lucy, stood up to say thank you after a few others and in the midst of her words I found my name. She called me out specifically and said thank you. I cannot adequately convey how much that meant to me. I sat there speechless with tears running down my face.  I could not understand her finding favor in me. All I had done was introduce myself, give her a hug, and sit next to her for our meeting. That was literally the extent of our interaction. That was all it took for this woman to feel significant, valued, and blessed. It broke my heart that these women were thanking us because we “took the time to come all the way to Africa just to come to their village”; they couldn’t believe we cared about them. In an average month there are probably at least four teams (rough estimate) that travel to Kageyo to meet the children. Every team should be working in the community when they visit Kageyo; doing more than visiting the sponsored children.

This was one of the two most moving, emotional and powerful parts of the trip (the other being our time with the dream boys).

Kayonza: Days 7 & 8

After a whirlwind week of travel, preparation and time adjusting to life in a new place we were ready to take on our first clinic.

We headed out to Kayonza, a village about 30 minutes East of Kigali, bright and early Tuesday morning. When we arrived, there were already many people waiting and we hit the ground running. That first day was a lot of trial and error as far as organization goes, but we learned quickly and fell into a successful rhythm. We were able to pray with every single patient and minister to their spirits while also caring for their physical needs. We treated more than 100 men, women, and children that first day. One of the hardest parts for us as Americans were the babies. We saw so many sick babies in Kayonza that we were unable to treat for various reasons.

We tried to have many of them transferred to the hospital or to have them admitted to the clinic we were working at but every single time it was a fight. Most of them had malaria and several of our team members were reduced to tears as we sent the mother away knowing that her infant was probably going to die.

It is heartbreaking that death is such a commonplace event for the people who live in rural areas of Rwanda. I ache for the grief they battle on a day-to-day basis.

The second day in Kayonza was different on so many levels. We were much more organized and had a better flow which was a huge blessing because when we arrived there were hundreds more people – apparently those first hundred went home and told all their neighbors about us!

This was one of the 4 lines and they never really got any shorter as people kept coming.

This day was one of the warmer days and I got a hint of a sunburn. We moved much more quickly and treated more than 350 patients.

The most memorable clinic moment for me was just as we were closing up after this second day in Kayonza. I was in the men’s exam room helping them pack up when one of our interpreters brought in an elderly man begging for help. Behind him followed a small boy, about the size of a six-year-old, who’s left leg was visibly larger than his right.

The doctor in the room said something about remembering the man from earlier and was sorry he hadn’t gotten to him. He decided to drain the fluid from the boys leg and prepared to give him a shot of lidocaine because it was going to be a painful ordeal. He warned the boy (who was sitting on his dad’s lap, his leg on a folding chair – no hospital beds for the poor in Rwanda) that it would sting a little and as soon as the boy saw the needle he started screaming.  The doctor tried to give him the shot but as soon as he poked him the boy jerked his leg and pulled the needle out. It took 7 of us to hold him down just to get the lidocaine in him. He screamed through the entire procedure even though he could not feel anything. It took everything in me not to break down and cry for this child. It effected everyone in the room and those outside who could hear his screams but did not know what was happening behind the door.  It was sweet to see that boy afterwards, walking all bandaged up and calm with a piece of candy in his mouth (although I’m pretty sure we never did manage to squeeze a smile out of him)!

Kigali: Days 4-6

Saturday: Today we spent the morning packing medicine and were pleasantly surprised that when we finished by lunch time! After lunch we went to the market. One word – Crazy. There were so many people it was hard to move and the smells were overwhelmingly strong..both good and bad. Every booth was competing for our attention. I quickly learned the art of bartering although I must admit the first few items I bought, I paid entirely too much money for. It was hard to balance my desire to support their business with my logical mind knowing the value of the items.

That has been a running theme of the trip so far. I am humbled by the vast poverty here. So many times we have been sitting in the van and had people come up to the windows begging. Women with babies strapped to their backs; children with torn and filthy clothing; an elderly woman…you name it. And yet in the midst of mud huts and dirt roads are these massively huge [yes I know I just made that up] mansions. It is hard to understand the contrast between the poorest of the poor and the wealthy. Right next door to each other. The land is beautiful, the people are dressed in their finest, and there are smiles on many faces.

Sunday: There is nothing that can compare to the feeling you get when you are standing in a church worshiping with strangers in a world so unfamiliar and yet you feel so at home. I’m not sure I will ever attend a service that powerful back home.

After church we went to the Nyamata Genocide Memorial. That will be a post all in its own another time.

Monday: Today we left early to spend the morning with the “street kids” {homeless children in Kigali} at the Dream Center.

All of the children are boys as there is a separate program for girls. It was so hard to see how dirty and tattered they were. Half of them were barefoot and the other half had broken shoes. Most of them had fungus on their heads and swollen bellies from drinking parasite infested water. These boys need so much and yet they are so incredibly joyful and kind. It is humbling and convicting just to spend time with them and hold them.  All they want is to feel loved and significant. Many of them have never been hugged. They are fascinated by our skin and our hair. They are perfectly content to just be near you and hear you speak to them even when they can’t understand you. There are three requirements for a boy to be in the street kid program: they must be registered, they must have a haircut and a bath. As soon as I walked through the fence boys swarmed towards me. I sat with many of them and just loved on them. I cannot count how many of them asked me to be their sponsor. It made me so sad to tell them all I could do was pray for them. They put too much of their faith in us rather than God. This will also be another post. It was powerful to end our time there with worship. It was so cool to see them all jumping and dancing in praise.