Labour time!

30/06/2012

The team is tired! Today all 7 of the Damascus Trust Rwanda team were involved in a lot of heavy lifting and getting very muddy as we helped build a new church in Gaseke. We all wore slightly too large red t-shirts with the Damascus Trust logo on as we made a fool of ourselves in front of about 200 Rwandan’s from the local community. The morning started off early as we set off at around 8 am to arrive at the building site for 9. We picked our good friend Pastor Tedae up on the way which made a total of 8 of us in a vehicle that certainly did not accommodate 8. When we arrived at the spot where we were to spend the morning heaping heavy bags of sand, the Rwandan’s were highly amused at our presence!

After a while of the sand bags causing dints in our shoulders, different members of the team diverged into different tasks that were going on. Stephanie, Pete Nadin and Lucy helped transporting water before getting involved in what would be a very mucky hour. The threesome got their hands muddy as they helped with literally throwing the sloppy cement like mud onto the half built wall (this was clearly entertaining for the audience). Pete Ellis, Heather, Andy and Hazel continued for a while lifting the bags of sand, they are obviously more fit than the first 3 who ran off! Pete Ellis was crowned champion of the day as he did not stop lifting heavy bags of sand all morning (not bad for a 70 year old)! 

After throwing mud around and laying a few bricks, the morning of building the church was coming to an end. It was such a blessing for the team to spend time with the local community, sharing in not only practical labour but also many laughs. Everyone was then gathered to what will be the centre of the church floor for a sing along and dance. 

After introducing ourselves to the community, and Andy sharing a message about Nehemiah, we had lunch with Pastor Bernard, his wife Patricia and two of their seven children! Then the team were involved with a meeting consisting of the entire church leadership and like all meetings in Rwanda, it dragged on a bit! With sitting in such a warm room for such a period of time, this resulted in Pete Ellis humorously falling asleep (only for a minute though). There was then a video interview with the Pastor and his wife with Pastor Tedae translating before we headed off back to the guesthouse. The team are very tired but still pushing on as Stephanie and Heather have just gone off to meet with another Heather to discuss what her life has been like living here for a year as a teacher in the local schools. Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day and the team will be splitting to lead two different church services so stay tuned to see what we get up to!