22nd June
After 17 hours of travelling from
4.00 a.m., we arrived in Kigali and were met by Eugenie (the Diocesan secretary),
Pastor John and our driver Celestine. The team along with many large bags
covering the back doors were then driven in a fantastic minibus through the
Kigali center. The sun goes down here at 6 p.m. which felt quite odd for the
newcomers to Rwanda considering it was pitch black yet very very busy with
motorbikes and people swarming the streets. We then drove to the Alleluia
guesthouse near Gitarama, in the Shyogwe diocese; the driving is not too terrifying
and the roads are established so far, although we did see three crashed vehicles
in the space of 30 minutes!
Two kind spirited women named Alfonsine and Claudine
welcomed us to the guest house with a tasty meal (much more of this to come we
expect) and Alfonsine does not speak English so we are having some fun
practicing some French and even Kinyarwandan! We crashed after a prayer meeting
and headed off to bed to get an early night’s sleep.
23rd June
In the morning we relaxed until our breakfast at 9a.m.,
which was another tasty meal; omelettes, toast, pineapple and other fresh fruits.
We all took our Malarone tablets together, and fortunately it seems so far that
none of us have had any adverse reactions. We then spent the rest of the
morning sorting out gifts that we are planning to give, the teaching we are
going to be doing and preparing songs and dramas that we may use in churches
and schools. After this time of settling in, we then split into two groups; one
travelling to Gitarama to go to the bank and sort out SIM cards and other
things, and the other setting off with Pastor John and Claudine up the road to
various projects that the diocese is running, as well as seeing Mount Zion
church where Pastor John serves.
The first project we visited was the Compassion children’s
centre, run by a man named Jean Baptiste, where each Saturday the children who
are sponsored come to be taught French and German, play games, study the Bible,
receive gifts and have their school progress checked. There are 288 children
currently sponsored from a 3 km radius under the care of the centre, which is
run by both the charity Compassion and the Shyogwe diocese; a large proportion
of these are orphans. Today the children were very excited to each be given a
brand new warm jumper, a tub of Vaseline and two bars of soap.
The team then headed up the road to visit the design and
technology centre, where both training and production in metal and woodwork
takes place. The manager, Bernard, informed us of their current preparation of
an order of 616 school chairs with flip –over desks which looked to be very
professionally and efficiently made. When they are finished they are stored in
very large containers, ready to be taken away to the buyer. Bernard’s trainees
and workmen also make some shoes and other items, along with furniture made to
order such as a cot made from scratch in 6 days!
Andy, Pete and Heather then met up with Lucy, Stephanie,
Hazel and Pete and together marched up the hill to Mount Zion church to take a
look at what we thought would be a beautiful empty building. However, the
beautiful empty building was actually filled with nearly 300 young children
singing harmoniously Christian hymns; this was a great delight for us to
witness. Understandably the children wanted the team to introduce ourselves and
entertain the children for a little while and it was such a privilege for our
first trip to be accompanied by so many happy grateful children. Before leaving
to head back to the guesthouses, the team was showed around a few other
projects including a Mothers Union (where many Rwandan gifts are made) and a pineapple
juice factory. On arriving back to the guesthouses, it was time to plan for a
very hectic following 3 weeks that we hope God is going to use powerfully for
His glory.
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