Rwanda 2013 week 2

Written April 6, 2013

It is Saturday afternoon as i write this and it has been a beautiful day. Although, if I tell you that, a downpour thunderstorm might start any moment because that is just how things seem to work here in the rainy season. [edit: after lunch I switched locations and there has since been consistent thunder in the distance and there was a heavy sprinkle as I walked over here]

It has been a relaxing day which I think is a good thing after a week at the clinic. The rest of the team gets here on Friday and I will meet them Saturday in Kigali. This upcoming week is still a little unknown. I will probably be spending time at the orphanage and helping my friend with the organization she started. It is called "His Imbaraga". it is a ministry to teach guys how to make products out of leather. I encourage you to find them through the pages I have liked on my Facebook.

Every day this past week I went to volunteer at a nearby clinic. I suppose "nearby" is relative. Sometimes I took the bus and other times I walked to where I met the other volunteer and our translator. It was a 40 minute walk to where we met and then another 30 minutes to the clinic.

There was surprising set up when we arrived. There was a building designated for maternity purposes. ALthough, it was a room for check ups, a room for those in labor, a room to actually give birth, and a room for mom and baby. The rooms were in that order. So after the last room they walked out the door and that was that.

There was another building that had a room for females, males, and children. It was "inpatient". Although it didn't seem to get used much.

We were in yet another building that had a couple of rooms to see patients. The waiting area was the area outside. The actual treatment that was provided was even more minimal and primitive than I expected. Basically we cleaned wounds with a vinegar/water mixture or just with water and put a new bandage on it. To anyone that is in the medical field, it was the strangest attempt at sterile procedure when it really wasn't possible.

It was still a very humbling experience. The patients were a variety of ages. Some simply had a s sore throat that wasn't healing, others had stitches that needed to come out, and yet others had unique issues. Some were unimaginably tough as their wound was cleaned. However, one kid that needed stitches out was not so tough. We had to stop half way and just let him calm down outside while we halped a few others. Then we tried to do a sneak attack to get the last few out. It didn't work so well, but in the end he was stitch free.

Some people would come but they wouldn't have the money (about the equivalent of 50 cents USD). Sowe would slip them some money so they could be seen and treated.

The walk to the clinic was a unique experience of its own. It was a gravel/dirt/rock "road" of sorts. But along both sides were homes of locals. It was so great to see the excitement of the kids as they saw us walk in and out each day. They seemed to think we were celebrities as they screamed and shouted at us twice each day. Some would come running arms stretched as far as they could be, tackle our legs, and run off after a satisfactory hug was given. Other children wanted a high five, and some were satisfied with a wave and a smile as we kept walking.

I spent the afternoons relaxing, visiting kids at the orphanage, or reading. Thursday afternoon I walked to the market and another store. It was an adventure and I am not just saying that because it was uphill to get there. I have decided that Ig et more stares being a solo white person than I do if I am traveling with a team.

All in all, it was a great week!!!

One more week is all I have to serve and love the country and people of Rwanda on my own schedule. on Friday the team arrives and I will be meeting them Saturday for lunch followed by our first clinic at an orphanage. However, this week will be the first week of memorials and meetings about the Genocide that forever changed this country in 1994. Rwandans will be required to go to memorials and meetings to remember, talk about, and learn from what happened. I too will be attending some to remember what happened.

Serving and Loving in Rwanda,
Katherine

Rwanda 2013 week 1

I recently returned from one month in Rwanda. I've decided to post the weekly email updates that I sent out during this time. The following was written on Sunday March 31. it is about the previous week (my first week in Rwanda).

"Saturday was kind of a slow day mostly due to rain but also due to the fact that I was tired and just wanted some time to chill for a bit. I spent some of this chill time in Matthew 10. This was eye opening and wonderful to read about. My Bible titles this chapter 'Instructions to the Disciples and Sheep Among Wolves'. I've actually decided to leave it at that. I encourage you to read it and spend some time there. I'm sure all of you will hear me share about the trip at some point (personally or in front of a group) so I'll share more details then.

I was able to volunteer at a clinic this week and plan to continue to do so until the rest of the team arrives. Although, I won't go everyday, I'm excited about the time there and look forward to this opportunity. As much as I tried to prepare myself, it was definitely more primitive than I expected! There was a girl....maybe 8-10 years old with a sore on her shin that needed cleaned and a new bandage. As the other volunteer was doing this, I tried to hold the girl's hands and comfort her. I think that most people enjoy both the human contact and the ability to grip something when experiencing pain. However, this girl didn't seem to have experience with this concept. It was like she never had anyone hold her hand before. She let go of my hand and gripped the chair for dear life. So I tried to console her in another way. But it was still heartbreaking that she almost seemed incapable of receiving consolation while she was in this physical pain. I can only imagine how she deals with emotional pain.

God has very much instilled in me a desire to spread the word this week. I find this very odd because I've never thought of myself as the type to approach someone and share the Gospel. I'll serve and spread God's love in other ways but not in such a direct way that i feel He is pushing me towards.

It is so very hard to believe that I will be back in three weeks. I just feel like there isn't enough time. Not enough time to love kids that have not experienced love. Not enough time to spread Go's word. Not enough time to help at the clinic. Not enough time to accomplish what is upon my heart.

The last Saturday of the month is Umaganda. This is when people in the community come together to help each other and work on a project together. I participated in this and enjoyed it very much. I'm not sure if I helped more or if I just entertained the local kids as I tried to help. Either way, I had fun, and I know some kids laughed a LOT!!!!!

This has been quite the first week in Rwanda. I am very excited to see what the next three will bring!!! One thing this week has taught me is to take each day one at a time. SOme of that is culture, but I believe some of that is God teaching me to depend on Him for the daily matters and not just the big stuff.

Serving and learning in Rwanda,
Katherine"


Stay tuned....I have an overview of three more weeks to post
AND I'll be posting separate stories with photos as well

Moments Like These......

On March 22, 2013 I started a journey to Rwanda. It would be my fourth trip to this beautiful country that has stolen a large part of my heart. I knew from the beginning this trip would be so different and yet just as mind blowing as the first three. From the start, it was different simply because I was going without any companions. (None that I knew anyway; there were plenty of people in the airports and on the planes.)

Admittedly, I am a people watcher. I love to sit and watch, wonder, and ponder the possible stories of each traveler. How long have they been traveling? Where did they start? Where are they going? Personal? Business? Pleasure? First time on a plane? Seasoned traveler? Missing their family? Going to a new place? Oh how I would love to stand at a common place and just take a survey for the sake of pure human curiosity!! However, I don't think that would be socially acceptable these days. Sometimes I get lucky and I get to find out the answers to some of these questions.

When I was waiting for the very first flight out of Nashville, a wonderful lady and I had a pleasant chat.  Here I was, fresh from first world living (and still in it) and my journey was less than two hours long. I was delighted to meet a new person. I never learned her name. But I learned that she has a son and (I think) 3 other kids. Her son is 13 years old. He went to Washington D.C. for a week long conference for school. He traveled there all by himself as he was the only student from his school to be selected. It was also his first time to fly. It was his first time to be away from home, away from friends, away from family, and most importantly away from his mom. I do believe he survived the week quite nicely and it was harder on his mom. She mentioned how the texts slowly decreased over the week as he made new friends. She was waiting for him to return at the same gate that I was waiting to leave. I love the irony that at any given moment so many people sigh in relief that their journey has ended and so many others are filled with joy as they begin their journey.

This lady was so thrilled and could not contain her excitement to see her son again. She showed me his picture on her phone and told me stories about him. She was glowing with the joy that she would soon hold her oldest son in her arms and once again her family would be complete. Then the moment came. The plane had landed and just needed to taxi to the gate. The door to the jet bridge opened. We kept talking but her concentration was shifting to the slow stream of people entering the terminal in front of us. Then there he was. He was back! I recognized him from the photos. He looked quite respectable as he was traveling in a suit. She politely left our conversation and went to embrace her son with open arms. He very willingly returned the embrace and had a matching smile of peace to be home again and with his mom.

Fast forward through an average flight and I was in D.C. waiting to get my bags in baggage claim. I overheard a group of businessmen recapping the week and saying their goodbyes. One guy told the others how his son had turned 16 a few days earlier and successfully earned his license. This was a Friday and his son had respectfully asked permission to use the car for the evening. The permission was granted with a few restrictions to include he was not allowed to have passengers. The gentleman telling the story starts to get this fatherly grin on his face, not the proud grin. The mother/wife was also out and about this evening and had driven by the son and witnessed passengers in the car. A newly licensed 16 year old on his first Friday with the car has been caught redhanded and he doesn't even know it, but he will soon. Due to the wonderful technology of cell phones, the father was privy to this information. I predict he enjoyed some disobedience in his younger days because he almost seemed happy to be able to going home to fulfill his fatherly role of discipline as if the circle of life was being completed. He was enjoying the time to share with his colleagues how his first job when he returned home would be to take away the ever coveted license of his son.

It is moments like these that I can't help but think of the list of things that are first world problems. What do we wear to work? How much is fuel going to cost now? Yard work, traffic, weather, drama, need new clothes, technological devices are breaking...the list could go on and on. However, this time I realized it is the other way around. Moments like these ARE third world problems. Mothers should be sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to be reunited with their eldest son. Fathers should have the role of disciplining their sons to teach them responsibility amongst many other values in life. Instead, I was heading to a country with countless orphanages. I was heading to a country where babies are found on the side of the road. I was heading to a country where there is an orphanage of over 500 children.

Moments like these.....I wonder who will greet these kids with a joyful smile and embracing arms.
Moments like these....I wonder who will discipline these kids out of love to teach them values.
Moments like these....I wonder who love these kids.

Candle

Scents are a subtle part of life that creep up on us when we least expect it.

Maybe for you it is. . . . .
-Saturday morning breakfast that would fill the whole house as your mom created delicious creations with matching aromas to wake you from your slumber.
-the scent of Grandma's house
-the unfortunate smell of the van on youth trips when everyone was in the van for endless hours through the night
-cookies that are you childhood favorite

Whatever it may be. . . . .everyone has the scents in life that spark memories both good and bad. Those moments when our noses are filled with that familiar scent are priceless. Maybe it is the real thing or maybe it is a candle that has the right mixture of a dozen different fragrances that complement each other in such a way that the perfect combination is made and you drift back into memories galore. 

A recurring desire that I have is for candles or something similar to have the same effect for feelings. I understand that feelings are almost completely abstract. For goodness sakes, how many family pictures and school pictures did you smile in just to get it over with but in reality you probably weren't that happy in the moment. So the outward expression of feelings will not always match what is the true feeling on the inside.

Let me explain a bit more. . . . .

[in my opinion] God has clearly shown me that the Peace Corps is in my future. I am confident that it is in His will for me to join and serve in that way. Of course, I would love for this to land me in Africa so I could be close to all my friends and the children I have come to love so much. However, I do not know that this will occur. I am really trying hard to stay open minded about where I might land and what I will do to serve.

I can remember the day that I became certain about this. It was in August of 2011. I will have to write you another note about that day. The issue is that I don't have a "candle" to represent that day. That day I was so hyped and full of crazy excitement about what the future will bring. But it fades over time. The fresh baked cookies that have melted chocolate and are just moments from the oven are always much better than that candle that smells like warm cookies. The memory that the aroma creates is great and wonderful but it isn't the same. Although. . . the candle brings the memories and refreshes the concept which is better than being dependent on the original memory of the actual cookies.

I am beginning to think this concept is only going to make sense in my head.

I am confident that God has it in His plan to go into the Peace Corps; I can feel the original excitement fading as that moment gets farther and farther away.

Do you follow what I am trying to convey?

Possessions

Possessions. Everyone has them. Most have too many. Some only have the shirt on their back.

I have been struggling with this recently. I like to think I am a frugal person, and one that stays in check. I don't severely limit myself to only 2 pairs of shoes, 5 shirts, and 2 pairs of pants. (I am also not saying that is wrong if you live your life that way by choice or circumstance.) But on the other hand, I don't go shopping on a regular basis for new things just because I can.

Currently, I do live with some beyond describable amazing friends. Because of this, I mostly have all my possessions in my bedroom. There are a few out of season things in the shed and some childhood keepsake items at my mom's. Compared to the majority of those in Western culture, I would venture to say that I don't have much. I understand that compared to the world as a whole, I am filthy rich. I have a car, a roof over my head, running water, electricity, plenty of clothes, food at every meal, and food any other time.

After two trips to Africa and a minimum of one in the future, I am becoming increasingly aware of "stuff". The stuff we need, stuff we want, stuff we think we need, stuff we get because we can, and the list could go on. I have been trying to make an effort to accept what I have and live with that. It may take more planning and will definitely take a strong will. For example, always take a lunch and/or snack for long days at work/school. There is no need to spend the gas, time, and money on something else when the cupboards and fridge are full. Food is just one small example that is easy to point out.

I struggle to find the balance between living below my means but not putting myself in poverty. I have met kids and families that literally live in the dump. I have met hundreds of kids that are orphans with maybe 3 outfits, one meal a day, and a mismatched pair of shoes that used to fit a few months ago. That definitely does NOT mean that I have to live by those standards. just because I know these kids that live by the dump does not mean that I should sell most of my belongings, quite bathing on a regular basis, move out of my friends house, and live by the local dump here.

I was at a friend's house this weekend. Every time I stay there I notice this dresser that is in the bedroom. I really like the style of it and the variety of compartments. I think to myself that maybe one day I will have something like that. Sometimes, I start to imagine what I would keep in each space. Then I realize what's happening. I get frustrated with myself for WANTING something that I definitely do NOT NEED. I have a perfectly fin dresser and closet situation that suites me just fine. It actually suites me more than I need because I have too many clothes that don't get used often enough.

Leaving the house and headed somewhere I see a motorcyclist. I used to have a motorcycle. (I bet you didn't know that.) It makes me WANT one again. Makes me wish I could make that work for my schedule and for the craziness that I am part of now. But I don't NEED it. I have a perfectly fine car that transports me where I need to go. (I wonder how many of those orphans have even been in a car.)

Frustration fills me to the edges when this happens. Of course the higher the frustration, the more it seems like it happens. How could I WANT so much? I know God has placed the Peace Corps in my path! It is in the plan (unless something changes because He can do that). That is not a place that you can WANT things beyond the basics that it takes to survive.

I feel like this is something I will have to overcome.

Three Boys!!

During the August trip, we went to a place called Korah in Ethiopia. Simply put it is the village that has built up around the city dump of Addis Ababa. It was originally a leper colony. Now, there are still some lepers that live there but mostly it is families, kids, and people that are not blessed in the ways that we take for granted.

We were able to spend time with the kids there. It was such a joy to love them and laugh with them if only to give them smiles for a day. A while ago, someone from another Visiting Orphans trip was impacted enough to want to continue making a lasting impact on the kids of Korah. From this, the organization Project 61 was created and is working to change the lives of these kids. One way they offer, is to allow those that are able to sponsor kids in Korah. Sponsorship helps the kids have food, clothes, school, and more. 

In August a group of boys started to talk to me and we talked the entire time that I was there. Only two of them had reasonable English. These two translated between me and the other boys. It became very clear early along in the conversation that three of the boys do not have any sponsors. Continually they would ask me for sponsorship. It was a difficult situation. I know that they want help but I also know that they are fully aware of how to pull at the heartstrings of the "rich white people" that come to see them. I never promised a sponsorship. I did tell them I would try to help them. I would try to find sponsors. They even asked me to take individual photos of the three boys that needed sponsors to show to my friend. I asked for their names and they wrote them done willingly.

Upon return, I contacted Project 61 with the names of the boys and wanted to see what I could do. I was heartbroken when I found out that none of the boys were part of a sponsorship program and could not be added until all the kids int he program were sponsored. Surprisingly enough, the boys have access to an internet cafe and had emailed me a few times. I was devesstated when I had to give them the news. I felt like I was telling them that they are poor, live in a dump, and everything else, but they just aren't poor enough. I hadn't heard from them in about a month.

Then. . .

About two weeks ago, I get a message from Project 61. They asked if I was still interested in helping to get these boys sponsored. I responded with a resounding YES!!!

I am so excited to tell you that a sponsor has been found for all three boys! As soon as all the paperwork is finished in Ethiopia, these boys will be officially sponsored. I am so excited for this. I am excited that they will now have better opportunities. I hope they are as happy as I am.

Even better. . . . I may get to see them next month on the trip. . . .

16 Weeks!!!!

In just 16 weeks from today, I will get the privilege of returning to Africa. I have made the decision to join the Visiting Orphans team in December. We will have almost the exact itinerary as the team did last month. This was such great news to receive. I am just bursting with joy and excitement beyond description to be able to get to see these children again.

I have kept in touch with a few of the older children by email. I am so thrilled to be able to tell them that I will be back. I wish I could see their face when they get the news.

Most of these children see many teams come and go from different organizations. I am so happy to be able to go more than once. I think that will mean so much to the kids. The few things that these children have consistent in their lives are usually negative (or at least not something to be excited about). I look forward to the possibility of being a consistent part in these kids' lives if only to put smiles on their faces for just a day on each trip.

There is much to be done in the next 16 weeks, part of which is sharing with you about the first trip. If you wish to see pictures, ask specific questions, or hear stories, please let me know how to reach you in the comments section below.

Please continue to prayerfully support me as I try to share the love of Christ in Africa.