Baskets.

There is a basket making factory here who makes thousands upon thousands of baskets for Macy's. They are actually called Baskets of Hope. You can read more about them in the NY Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/garden/11rwanda.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
You can also check them out at Macy's website: http://www1.macys.com/campaign/rwanda/index.jsp



Anyways, so a group of us went today to see the women and buy baskets. I have read a few articles about the project, but never fully understood the process until today.



When I walked into the room, I was blown away by how many women were there working. I mean, I guess it should not have shocked me considering Macy's has the women making about 500,000 baskets a year and each basket takes between 1 week to 4 weeks to make!



Yet, still I was shocked to see so many women just sitting in a room, on a floor, just weaving baskets. They seemed to be really enjoying themselves too. When we walked in they all had big smiles on their faces and gave us a big wave.



I also noticed as I walked through MANY of the women were paraplegic. There were crutches laying everywhere. It could bring tears to your eyes thinking about all the women who would not be able to find jobs anywhere else because of their disability.



How beautiful it is that these women can, despite their disabilities, sit on the floor with other women and make just enough money for them to support themselves and their families.



There are certain parts of Rwanda that have taken some time to warm up to, to get use to. There are many cultural differences and some racial stereotypes that are hard to fully embrace. Yet, today encountering those women, seeing their smiling faces, and feeling their warmth is definitely something I want to continue to get use to.




These women were so beautiful to me today and literally all they did was sit there in their element and be themselves. I love Rwandan people and specifically women here for that very reason.

Kibuye.

A few of my closest friend and I decided it was about time to take a vacation and so we packed up our things over the Thanksgiving holiday and headed west. We went to a little place here in Rwanda called Kibuye. It is the kind of place, situated right on the water, where you can just relax, read, watch movies, or whatever you want.
... and that is exactly what we did. We sat around and did nothing but those things. With Kibuye being right on the Lake Kivu you can also rent a boat for the day and go to a few of the islands there.
My friend Maggie and I, being the girls that we are, did not manage to get up in time, so the others, Justin, Amy, and Myal, headed out early one morning and went to "Bat" Island. It definitely lived up to its name.

On our way home from our relaxing weekend in Kibuye we ran into some instrument playing kids. They were not only crazy, but hilarious. They were very persistent about us playing their handmade instruments. Maggie and I gave it a try.

YL Coming to Rwanda.

Many people seem to want to help Rwanda. There is just something very attractive about coming to Rwanda, therefore many people come and go with some to few who actually stay long term. There for a little while it was up in the air whether or not Young Life would come to Rwanda because of so many people and NGO's involvement already. Yet, there is literally NOTHING for the youth here. Thank you though, through the holy spirits leading and proding I am happy to say there are many steps being taken towards it being so. The needs of the youth here in Rwanda are simply just not being met. More importantly there are few who are actually telling them about the love of Jesus and letting them know they are valued and loved. Witnessing that day in and day out is painful to see. Yet, I am thankful and can stand here today with great praise in my heart because Young Life will and is coming to Rwanda!!

Learning.

A few of my sweet friends here in Kigali and I decided we should take the weekend and go to this place called Kibuye. It is about three hours away and is found snuggled up next to Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu is beautiful and greeted us each morning all dressed in a glimmering bluish green. It is a beautiful place, Kibuye. Definitely a place you want to go to find rest and just sit in the beauty of God's creation and goodness, which is exactly what us friends did. We spent the weekend just hanging out together, taking boat rides, watching movies, reading, journaling, praying together, learning about one another, and just reflecting on the lives God has laid out before us. Through my dear friends and the conversations we were able to have I continue to learn. I continue to learn God is placing themes in my life and is always at work on me. Recently, I have been learning that in life whether I realize it or not, I some times say yes to Satan and some of the lies he whispers in my ears. As Christians, we try so hard to focus on truth, to pray, and to find ourselves literally on our knees before God, yet some times missing that some of our pains, our struggles, and insecurities have come from saying yes to those dark, fleeting, and insecure thoughts we think and feel in our weakest moments. For me, this weekend I began to realize and God began to shed some light on some of these "yes' " in my life. One of the biggest things I have said yes to is the feeling of I am not good enough. Not good enough to lead, not good enough to be in the presence of certain people, not good enough to be pursued, not good enough to be where I am doing the work I am called to do. We all experience these moments. Some times, like my one friend this past week, we experience them in our weakest moments where we are sick or physically run down. Thankfully, there is hope. Thankfully, even in our weaknesses and in those moments where we have began to believe those defeating thoughts, God has a BIGGER yes for us. Thankfully, God takes those moments where he has given us the wisdom to realize these weaknesses and says get up again, lets attack this together. Thankfully God allows light to be shed and these "yes' " to come to surface so he can continue to take us from where we are today to the place he wants us to be tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. God does not give up on us, God does no give up on me, God does not give up on the people of Rwanda. God does not believe those lies we often believe and/or think about ourselves. He absolutely sees us as beautiful and a work in progress. He sees us as his child. Praise Jesus, we can live for a God who sees exactly how we are, as we want to be seen. He sees us in his image. Praise Jesus, we can live for a creator who loves us and has a greater life and plan for us then we have for ourselves. I am so thankful for these things. I am so thankful we can come to God and ask for strength, ask for courage. Our past does not have to be our future. As one of my friends shared with me... "may I be as confident as I am about my past as I am about my future because Christ has already written it." I pray for you and I pray for me, that God would give us the strength and courage to not believe those lies, but to believe the truth about who He says we are. I pray God will continue to shed light on our lives and turn us into people who are full of freedom, joy, and a desire to just live for Him and Him alone.

Broken Hand.

Only a few weeks ago my boys team played our KICS school team. The game went well with my boys team coming out with the win. I think it was 5-1. The game was on Tuesday and I did not see the boys until the following Saturday. It was part way through the day before I noticed John Pierre, one my boys, had his hand wrapped and kept holding it as if he was in pain. I called him over and took at look at what was going on. To my surprise his hand was obviously broken leaving the bone right behind his pinky finger bowing upwards. He winced in pain any time I touched it. We went straight to King Fiscal Hospital, the main local hospital in Kigali. Being it is the main hospital in Kigali they actually do have an emergency room. Now it is nothing like an emergency room in America, but at least they take emergencies and try to provide some form of help. We sat in the ER for a good long while.
Finally after about two or so hours he got an x-ray, which just confirmed even more so his hand was broken. The doctor then informed us, unlike in America, we should return in a few days, on monday for surgery. So... John Pierre had to wait two more days for help. The surgery he was suppose to have would require them putting him under anesthesia and would take about one hour where they would straighten the bone and put a pin in his hand. So, monday came and I showed up at the hospital after school around 3:30. JP was suppose to have had surgery around 10, but he was no where to be found. After searching for him, I finally found him outside where he told me the doctor had said they only do emergency surgeries on monday. My mouth dropped because in my head I had thought a broken hand was an emergency, but I guess not. He was then suppose to return on Wednesday for his surgery. So... John Pierre had to wait two more days for help. Wednesday arrived and JP was suppose to have surgery around noon. Once again, I arrived after school to check on him and to see how he was doing and once again I found him outside. This time the hospital staff had forgotten to inform us he was not suppose to eat the whole day before his surgery. NO ONE told us this. This time we were to return thursday for his surgery. So.... John Pierre had to wait one more day for help. Thursday arrived and I was pretty confident this time all would go well and his hand would be taken care of. With great confidence I showed up at the hospital like usual at 3:30 to see how JP was doing. This time unlike the two times before I found JP sitting on a hospital bed in the adolescent in his jeans and t-shirt.

I asked him what was going on and he said he did not know. I then went and found a nurse who informed me that I had to sign a second of kin consent form in order for JP to have surgery performed on him. At this point, you are probably where are his parents in all of this and why they were not there to sign off for his surgery. Well, the short story is that JP's dad died in the genocide about fourteen years ago. JP's mom got pregnant with him right before the death of his father and she survived the war. John Pierre fourteen years old, the genocide happened fourteen years ago. Now JP lives with his mom and mom alone. I have never talked to nor seen his mom. She did not even one try to contact me or show up at the hospital therefore making me the second of kin guardian to John Pierre and able to sign in her place for his surgery. So... once again, John Pierre because of not having the right paper work signed had to wait one more day for help. Finally, on Friday, I showed up ready for one more hang up in the process and found that JP was finally in surgery. I found his sweet friend and one of my best players sammy sitting by his bed waiting for JP to come out of surgery. After about an hour, he finally did. We spent the next few hours just sitting beside and with JP as he recovered. To pass the time together I set up the movie X-Men on my labtop. About three hours after surgery John Pierre was finally released, cast and all. Now two weeks after the surgery, JP and I will go this Tuesday to have the cast removed and to see how his hand is healing. He is doing great, but misses being able to fully play soccer all the time without Momma Jenny telling him to be careful or having him sit out.

Saturday Morning Camp

A group of us have created a SATURDAY MORNING SOCCER CAMP for about 100 Rwandan boys from ages 4-24. The camp since then has been thriving and we are seeing a lot of growth. Us leaders are also spending more time together and starting to really just enjoy one another's presence. We have a great group of leaders who are all just so fun and have heart's for children, youth, and the game of soccer.

We are also just falling in love with the kids and seeing the fruit of consistent coaching. My friend George after ever camp has nothing but positive things to say. He has been one of the main founders of the camp and one of the main guys who first started working with this particular group of boys. Every time we get together as leaders to discuss how the day went George continues to remind us of how far we have come.


Its amazing to see the boys grow from not wanting to play with one another and fighting all the time to what it is now. Now, unlike before, they actually enjoy playing together and the arguing has literally stopped!


I think George is right, if there is anything we have encouraged or done right, we have helped a group of boys who come from diverse families, backgrounds, and racial segregation stop fighting! Now that is worth celebrating and in a sense worth fighting for!

Live, Love, Learn...

Its amazing to me how a simple game of futbal can bring a group of people together.

The Count Down is On!!!

Hard to believe, but I am 37 days from coming home for a visit!! I think my mom has already started sleeping at the airport waiting for me to return. All I have to say is that I am really looking forward to coming home to see familiar faces, friends, and family. I am looking forward to the blessing of being around those who really know me and have known me for a long time. I am looking forward to being able to sit across the table with my best friends and being able to have a conversation instead of a delayed skype phone conversation, which often ends in one of us being disconnected. As much as I will be excited to return back to my home in Rwanda, right now all I can think about is just coming home for a little while. See you in December!

I want to be a tree...

"But blesses is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." ~Jeremiah 17:7-8

Combining Two Teams.

I really adore my friend George. We work together often. Like me, he also has boys who he coaches. He has three age groups he works with, young (7-10 years old), middle (11-15 years old), and old (16-25 years old). He is a man of great influence who at this point does not have a job, but goes to school and does full time ministry all the time. I always joke that he does have a job, he is a young life leader in the making, and doesn't even know it. Anyways, George and I have been partnering on several occasions to do joint practices, training sessions, games, etc. Just last week we decided to combine my team with his middle aged boys for a match versus another team. It was really fun to see my boys planning with others and actually doing well. I think they would admit that they even enjoyed it as well.

X-Men.

There is this once a month community holiday called Umaganda. Simply put, once a month no one is allowed to go anywhere or drive until noon. After noon you can do whatever you want, but before noon you are required to help serve your community by doing whatever projects your neighbors and community need help with. This past Saturday was Umaganda and so therefore there was no soccer camp in the morning, but instead of just playing in the afternoon, we decided to set up the projector, set the movie on French with English subtitles, and showed the boys the movie X-Men. They seemed to have a really good time.

Sweet Friends.

There are two individuals specifically that I seem to spend a lot of my time with. They are my friends Justin and Amy. Already we have had some pretty fond memories and laughs together. Just the other night we decided to go out to dinner, which is our typical "social event of the week" which is what Justin likes to call it. I am very thankful and blessed by my sweet friends. I really would not know what to do with out them.

Bandaid.

It was yet another fun filled day for me. My boys club soccer team played my KICS school team. I have been working with both teams, so we organized a game between the two. This is their second time to play each other. Interestingly enough for the last several matches whenever my boys get hurt, bummed, or bruised they often ask for "cream." I am always so confused on exactly what they are asking for. This time I came prepared for any injuries, medical kit and all. So, as predicted one of my boys received a gash to his leg, which shin guards would have protected if he had any. He immediately asked me to put something on it. Usually I have nothing to give them, but this time with my med kit ready I was able to pull out an alcohol pad and a bandaid. Coming from America I just assumed he knew what those things were, so I just started handing them to him. After a few minutes pause I noticed he was still holding the pad and bandaid just blankly staring at them. Long story short, he had no clue was they were nor how to even apply a bandaid. I asked him if he had any clue what it was or how to use it, he just shook his head. We all kind of laughed and then I showed him how.

Soccer Camp.

For the last several Saturdays and hopefully for many more to come, a group of us including three Americans and the rest Rwandans have been putting on a soccer camp from 7-2 in the afternoon that serves a bunch of Rwandan boys ages 5-23. The original connection was my friend George. For the last year George has been giving up three nights a week literally on no salary (he currently does not have a job and is not being sponsored to work with kids) to go and play soccer with a bunch of street boys from the Kycuiro area. He is absolutely a Young Life leader in the making and doesn't even know it. George's sole purpose for getting together with these boys is to just hangout with them, build relationships with them, and share Christ with them, but with so many boys (40+), in the last few months, he has begun to start to see that this is bigger then what he can handle. After meeting the YL Africa country director in September, George started praying for people to help him and to come along side him to help with all these boys he continues to take on. Within in only a few weeks after George started noticing this need that our friend Kent came up with the idea to hold a camp every Saturday morning for Rwandan boys where we would do training, play games, meet with the boys in small groups, and share a devotional. It was pretty unbelieveable because also within a month this camp had started to take place to serve not just George's many boys but also my twelve or so as well. Also, George's prayer for more people to help him was definitely answered. It is no longer George who is working with these boys, but every Saturday around eight to twelve men have begun to help all of which come from several different denominations and local churches. I think between the group of us leaders there is probably six different churches and denominations taking part. The grounds are also owned by Youth for Christ, so as it seems everyone is working together and really doing something meaningful for this group of boys.

800 Girls!!!

Also, I wanted to share with you about my day yesterday. It was a bit unbelievable to say the least. For over two months now my friend Emerthe has been asking me to speak to some girls at King David's Academy on sexual health and how to honor God with their bodies. Her main reason/concern in having me come talk to them was that many of the girls at school had been having sex and/or getting pregnant and having to leave school. I have been putting it off with so much going on at school and actually had to cancel twice. Well, yesterday we finally went and literally I had hardly planned because I spent my entire week planning for school and that morning from 6:30-2 coaching a soccer camp. I also thought there would only be able 30 girls there, so we could just have a conversational discussion about the subjects instead of me sitting in front of them like a lecturer. I had also brought a tin of cookies for the girls thinking it would only be a small group of us. Well... with only a tin of cookies, my bible, and no notes in hand, I showed up and walked into this huge hall to 800 girls!!!!!!!!!!! My mouth dropped and the only thing I said to Emerethe was "oh my gosh there is a lot of girls" to which she responded "oh yeah, sorry I forgot to tell you." I was shocked, unprepared, and feeling a slight sense of "what in the world did I get myself into".... I seriously just stopped in my tracks and started praying. It was all I could do because there was no way I was going to get through this meeting as a guest health teacher speaker on my own thoughts and planning. Thankfully, I can report that I did make it through and I do think the girls were interested and learned. It was a sweet time where I was able to share a bit of my story with them and my mistakes. I was also able to share with them from 2 Corinthians where it says your body is a temple and how as girls they have value. I also was able to share not only my heart, but also the little knowledge I know from teaching health and sexual reproduction. It was pretty unbelievable all around, but I think what was most shocking was the little they actually knew on their bodies and how it works. Yet, their lack of knowledge on the subject does not surprise me with it being slightly culturally taboo for parents to really talk about these matters with their children, most of the girls living at a boarding school hundreds of miles from parents and relatives, and most importantly because health education is not seen as valuable here and so there is literally NO sex education in schools. No one is telling them the simple things that could really help them value themselves, say no and/or be safe, as well how how to just simple honor and take care of their bodies for the Lord. Again... crazy. It was a pretty amazing time though and I really felt blessed to be there, to a share, and felt a desperate need for God to really speak..... it was just an unbelievable time.

Beautiful day.

Yesterday was a beautiful day not in the weather sense, but in the community sense. In physical education I have been teaching my KICS students the fundamentals of the game of soccer. We do not have a very big field to play on, but we have made it work, and it has been a ton of fun. Many of the high school and middle school boys expressed they would like to play in a "real" game. So, through a bit of energy on my part, I was able to provide them with exactly that. I organized a game between many of the secondary KICS students and the boys team (they call themselves Wyldfire) I coach during the week. The Wyldfire team I coach were estastic to have a game and to have a crowd of people to play for! This is definitely something they do not always get. So, come game time there was about fifty people standing around the field watching. You could feel the energy. We even had lots of parents and other teachers come out to watch. It was so great to see people in the community come and support. Our Principal, Brian Dolinger, was the coach for the KICS team and I was both the coach for my Wyldfire team and the ref for the game. It was quite hectic to try to coach and ref at the same time. The game started off with my boys doing a great job of spreading out and passing. After four long months of coaching them they have finally caught onto this concept. One of the largest blessings/ problems about coaching in Africa is that you will often have many players who are really talented and have amazing ball control, but they have no concept of how to pass to their teammates. They are what we call in the soccer world "pre-madonna" (I sure hope I spelled that right). Not that they are trying to be errogant about their ball skills, but more so they just have never learned how to play as a team and allow the ball to do all the work/ running. Everyone is a dribbler here. I hope that makes sense. Anyways, so finally for the first time yesterday, I saw them actually passing and playing as a team! It was amazing. Not only that they started scoring, not just once or twice, but they ended up scoring seven times during the game! They kept saying "coach, coach we scored!" To which I responded "yes, yes you did." The final score between the KICS team and my boys team ended up being 7-2. The KICS team gave it their best shot and did an amazing job for never playing together as a team before. Also, every single person who played gave it their best shot. I was really proud of everyone. Yesterday was just so beautiful for me for several reason, most of which I just described. It was also beautiful for the mere fact that I was able to see two big parts of life here in Rwanda come together, the KICS community and my soccer boys. It was just a beautiful thing to see. I wish you could have been there.

Fighting for a job.

Another teacher and I have been waking up at 5:45 a few days a week to go for a run. During this time it is kind of cool and there is not many people out roaming around. Yet, the people who are out are out fighting for a job. One morning I noticed this big group of people standing in front of a housing construction site. I was puzzled, but as I got closer I saw them all trying to push there way forward to hand their identification cards to a man running the site. It reminded me of the scene in Cinderella Man where he was not allowed to box anymore because of his broken hand, so he went to the work yard to find a job and had to push himself up against the gate just to be noticed. It was kind of like that in the sense that people were urgently pushing to be noticed and for their cards to be taken. As I ran by I could hear a small group of men cheering behind me. They were the lucky ones who happen to be selected for that day.

Oswald.

"We think that if Jesus compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have thought that our dreams of success are God's purposes for us. In fact, His purpose may be the exact opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance and reaching it only comes merely as an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself... His purpose is the process itself."
~Oswald Chambers

Deeper Appreciation.

What a blessing it is to have friends and family come visit you. For the last month Mike came to visit me and it was so great to have someone from home here to see and experience my life in Rwanda. It can definitely be an adjustment for people when they come because life here is much different then the one we live in the U.S. It takes time to warm up to people, to get use to being stared at, and constantly asked for money. There is no chicken here, so almost everything you order is either vegetarian or made with beef. Also, we do not have the luxury of a washing machine or dryer so laundry is always done by hand and hung on a line. Adjusting to life here just takes time. I think the best part of it all is that when people finally do return home they see life a little differently. Through a new perspective and they have a deeper appreciation for the things they have and have access too.

Home.

Some of the hardest things about being overseas and living in Rwanda is missing some of the familiarities, comforts, and people from home. When you are away and cannot come home for a long time you miss out on weddings, nephews growing up, and family. Some times it is easy to get through and some times it near breaks your heart. Life here is great and God is moving and working, but some times there is no place like home and the familiarity of people who really know you and love you.