A trip to Rwanda and A Parable in Action

Oren, taking a rest between breakers at Lak Tanganyika


Wow 10 pm Sunday evening and the power just went out. I wish I had started this earlier because I have a lot to say. This was a busy week all in all, and I have to admit that my nerves feel a bit shot from all that happened.

Monday through Wednesday was pretty much business as usual. We have been continuing to follow our 'splitting up of work and childcare' routine with me dropping off Oren, going swimming, and then to work in the mornings, and Rebecca going in the afternoon. While this is working, the thing that is, quite frankly, wearing about the job is the number of people that stop by the office daily to ask for money. Occasionally it is someone looking for a partnership with MCC, but most often it is someone with a sad story that wants a handout. It is hard because many people have very sad stories. It is really hard to know when to say yes and when to say no.

Jodi was in town as well last Sunday and Monday. It was good to have her here and with Robyn still with us, it meant we had another full house. (Which we like.)

Another brief moment of respite was a ‘date night’ on Monday evening. After the kids went to bed, Robyn stayed with them while Rebecca and I snuck out to a very nice local restaurant on the hill (The Belvedere) for a chocolate sundae (or Dame Noire as they call it there). It was really good, and the view of Bujumbura from the hill is really quite lovely (even at night).

On Thursday our family headed up to Kigali after a frantic morning of running around trying to get 2 days worth o things done in two hours before we left. We picked up Oren from school at about 10:40 am and headed for the mountains. We are definitely becoming veterans of this route and we made it to Kigali in a record 5 hours including the border. At this point we also know all of the border guards on both sides of the border, so going through continues to get easier.

When we arrived, we went right to the Africa New Life Guesthouse, where we normally stay, so the kids could get out and run around while I went into town to some banking. We needed to cram a lot into our time because we are trying to cut down on time spent in Kigali (for budget reasons.) We arrived Thursday, and were planning to leave Saturday.

Kigali and the ANLM guesthouse are very familiar stomping ground for Oren and he was particularly glad to see Miss Cindy and ‘Gerry Monster’ the proprietors of the establishment. (Oren mentioned several times on the trip up, his excitement about going to go to the guesthouse and help Miss Cindy pick up trash in the yard.) The feeling is mutual, fortunately, and all were glad to see the kids and us when we arrived.

That evening we went and had dinner with Ruth and Krystan, and Bridget (Zachee’s wife) who was passing through town on her way to Goma. Bridget’s organization works with several partners in Goma (DRCongo) as well as with our partner Friends Peace House in Rwanda. Having dinner together gave us a chance to talk about some strategic planning as donors to help build the capacity of Friends Peace House. Ruth and Krystan are really good cooks and made a fabulous vegetarian Indian meal for us.

On Friday we had some meetings with Friends Peace House in the morning and then took Ruth and Krystan shopping in the afternoon. All seemed to go well and we were able to get many supplies (although no computer back up batteries for when we have no power).
Friday evening we went out to dinner with Ruth and Krystan to a new restaurant in Kigali called The New Cactus. It sounds Mexican, but it is actually kind of Italian. We had a very nice time. Here is a picture of Oren and David at the table. (notice the portable high-chair we picked up in Nairobi from someone who did not need it anymore!)

We left Kigali fairly early on Saturday morning. It was the last Saturday of the month, which is community work day. No one is supposed to be out driving, but despite the intimidating Rwandese police, we went on through and did not get stopped once.

I continue to be impressed but leary of the progress I see in Kigali. It is being modernized so quickly and the government seems so earnest to bring about change. They have huge anti-aids, anti-prostitution, and pro family planning campaigns going on. (They are planning to charge a tax every child beyond a family size of three.)

Actually, it seems that every good idea is turned into law in Rwanda. For instance it is illegal to: Have a wall around your house without openings, posses plastic bags, wear flip flops in town, give money to pan handlers, have an unpainted house, or drive over 40mph. Also, there is universal health care, social security, and primary education. They have also laid fiber optic cable throughout the entire country.

The problem is that as progressive as these policies are, they are very coercive. I think the verdict about whether these changes are affecting the vast majority of the rural populaton is still out.

We got home Saturday around 4pm and we decided to head to the Club du Lac T. to refresh ourselves after the long drive. Oren was very happy to try his skill at riding waves and David was delighted to go into the kiddie pool.

After dinner we went over to Astrud and Travis’ house (our missionary friends from California/Netherlands) They have a family movie night every Saturday. They have 5 girls, three of their own and 2 adopted. The story of their faithfulness through some very challenging times in Rwanda is a real testimony of faith. They feel strongly called to be working with children and are trying to set up an association here to provide foster care and mentorship for orphans and street kids.

Last Tuesday at Bible study Travis shared with us a testimony which was a real parable in action.. We were studying Ephesians chapter 2 where Paul talks about us, though we are 'children of wrath', being ADOPTED into God’s family. We were marveling over this description of our inheritance and sonship as a result of adoption, and not natural birth as God’s children. God selects us and adopts us--not because we deserve it, but because he loves us.

Travis described the amazing testimony the adoption of their Rwandese daughter Yaya was. When they adopted her, Astrud had a 3 month old daughter of her own (Jasmine). She was breast-feeding her at the time. When she was adopting Yaya, she began breastfeeding her as well. Often women in Rwanda breastfeed publicly and many Rwandese saw her doing so with both children simoultaneously. When they saw her doing this, Travis described scenes where Rwandese women would fall at her feet sobbing and thanking her.

They were perplexed and asked a Rwandese friend why there was such an emotional reaction. Their friend said: “You don’t understand. Here, there are many orphans that families take in. Often orphans are minimally cared for, they might not eat at the family table, they are not always sent to a good school, or any school, they may be forced to be a family slave or worker, sometimes they are even sold for sex to earn income for the household. An orphan is not often treated as a full family member! When those women saw you feeding your own child and the orphan, both at the breast, they were shocked because you were treating the orphan exactly like your own daughter!!”

Travis said that the sight of seeing a white woman treating a Rwandese child as such was for many Rwandese, a living parable tantamount to the Good Samaritan—a non-Rwandese treating a Rwandese orphan as her very own child in the most intimate way. Their friend said that they were probably changing the way many Rwandese viewed care of orphaned children.

For me, it illustrated once again the amazing ministry of reconciliation offered through Christ about which John proclaimed: “O what manner of love is this that we should be called sons of God!”

For me, Travis and Astrud are a true testimony to people living out their faith on the edge. They have been willing to take risks in putting themselves out there in ways that really challenge me. With MCC we work through very established local partners, and I think that is good, but Travis and Astrud’s whole family does things like going out to the market to hug street kids (who are often pick-pockets) and share God’s love with them. We are very thankful to have them as friends who push us in our own faith.

Sunday we did something a bit out of the ordinary, we went to Marcelline’s church to hear her sing. We took Yolanda and Robin with us. It was a very nice service which was a modest 2 hours long. (I was grateful it was not 5.) She did very well and it was great to have a chance to test out my Kirundi in a church service.

We had a short break for lunch then went to the English service at the Rainbow Center where Rebecca taught Sunday school We were fairly tired when we came back and ready for bed. When we arrived home we found we had some unexpected drop-in visitors who stayed until about 8pm. This is typical visiting hours in Burundi and dinner is usually after 9pm.

This put our whole schedule off for the evening and we ended up getting the kids to bed too late. I am finishing and posting this blog at 6pm the next morning, ready for another week.