A Much Anticipated Homecoming

David has the reputation among our friends of behaving like 'Pig-Pen' from the Peanuts comic strip. Here he is after diving into puddles while Oren played soccer and I taught ballet.

Rebecca came and offered to take my place tonight while I was reading a story to the kids so I could “write the blog tonight.” I have to admit that it had not even occurred to me that another week had gone by and it is once again Monday night and time for another entry. (Admittedly I have been slipping into Tuesday fairly regularly.)

But this could be an opportunity to actually be short and sweet. It was a fairly straight forward work week and the last (for one week) when I was out of town. I left off last week on the night of our arrival in Kigali. I had come to bring the SALTers back, but also to get Matt Gates, our new food security coordinator, set up. This was to be no mean feat in the 2 full days I was to be there. Fortunately we were able to get him an internet modem on the way to dinner on the night we arrived. I was amazed to find that unlimited 4G internet is available in Rwanda for $40 per month. I think that is better than most anywhere else I have been in the world.

On Wednesday, our second day there, I introduced him to the Legal Representative of the Friends Church and we went over to visit his house on the church compound. This had been Ruth and Krystan's house in the past, and I was pleased to find that the church had done a lot of renovation on the outside and repainted the inside, but also put all the furniture back the way it had been. It was nice for him to arrive to a furnished house with all the amenities including some food and cooking utensils. One reason it was in such good order is because we had retained Ruth and Krystan's cook Fifi who had been keeping the house clean since their departure. Matt was introduced to her and it became immediately apparent that he will need to start learning Kinyarwanda quickly so he can communicate with her since that is the only language she knows.

After meeting with the legal rep and visiting the house, we went to the bank to get him an account. Fortunately this is not too complicated in Kigali either and we left the bank with an account as well as a checkbook on order to arrive in one day. We also took the opportunity in town to visit Nakumatt, the large modern East African supermarket that is like a Walmart in Kigali.

After lunch on Wednesday we had an appointment to meet Dave and Debbie Thomas, the Friends missionaries who live almost next door to Matt. I wanted him to get to know them in case he had any problems, but I did not expect to find that their current work project, called Discipleship for Development, which involves working with very small inputs to help communities develop their own assets, would be such an area of interest for Matt and MCC.

The fact is, this approach to development based on helping communities identify their own needs and assets is very much in the direction MCC would like to go. Matt was already excited about the opportunity to see their work in practice in the field. He also talked to them about finding a small piece of land to lease where he can begin some experimental farming.

It is great that he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and lived with a family and worked with them regularly in their fields. He is used to a rural village way of life and farming, and should be able to find some helpful techniques to improve production here using the tools at hand.

We ate at a Lebanese restaurant Wednesday evening. It was not great, which is not typical of restaurants in Kigali. Matt spent the first night in his new home and the next day we had a morning of meetings beginning with a sit-down with all of our partners at Friends Peace House. It was a chance for them to meet Matt and to hear how he will work collaboratively with all of our partners and will not be seconded to just one. We also visited the Mwana Ncuti project where Alyssa works before heading back to Matt's house for lunch.

In the afternoon we did a bit more shopping found the post office and interviewed and hired a language teacher so he could start Kinyarwanda. The only thing we were not able to accomplish before I left was to get him a car. That is a project he will have to do on his own with the help of some partners or others at the Friends Church.

Matt and SALTers at Zaffron

I had dinner with Felix, Janelle, Alyssa, and Matt, at Zaffron (our favorite Kigali Indian haunt). It was a good last meal together and appropriate 'welcome' meal to Kigali. I am sure he will have many more. (It was almost certainly the place where Ruth and Krystan had their last meal in Rwanda.)

Felix and I left Kigali at 6am the next morning. I had not cancelled my ballet classes that day (Friday) so I had to get back into town by 3pm to teach. We actually arrived around noon and I was able to pick up the kids from school. It was great to see them after being away for several days. It was also great timing to give Rebecca a break from seeing them constantly for 3 days.

Ballet went well, and despite my exhaustion it was great to come back to three classes of very enthusiastic students from 4 year olds to adults. The second level of ballet girls is working on the little swans variation from Swan Lake (simplified) and they are actually getting pretty good at it.

I had about 10 adults which was also very satisfying. I went home that evening exhausted but also exhilarated to be able to teach dance. We had a nice dinner with the kids then watched the Scooby Doo movie for a family movie night.

Saturday was yoga followed by a day at home in which we did very little besides relax and play family games. Saturday night though, Rebecca and I had a date night, the first in months, and enjoyed going out to La Trattoria, an Italian restaurant in town while Jennifer (our service worker in town) took care of the kids. It was great to have an evening alone with Rebecca where we could have some adult conversation without being interrupted.

Sunday was church and Rebecca taught Sunday school. I was pleasantly surprised to find J.J. Ivaska giving the sermon this week. He is in our small group and working here with World Relief. We are beginning a six week series on the book of Micah and he did very well to make it relevant to our time as well.

We met that evening in our small group for the first time in 3 weeks. It was great to be back together again for us.

Monday was back to a fairly normal work day less our morning swim as our pool continues to be closed. We did join another for the time being but I was not able to go until the afternoon. It was good to finally be able to swim after missing it for 3 weeks straight, but we both missed doing so in the morning before beginning our work day. We did find ourselves less tolerant of the normal stressors-- random people dropping by to ask for money, having to do things 2 or 3 times before they are right, etc.

The kids and Rebecca are all asleep now and I am ready for bed as well. It is good to be home as a family to at least 7 days.