Time to catch up…

It has been over a week since I have had an opportunity to update my blog. As you can imagine, a lot has happened during that time. So, I will be doing my best this week to update you on everything and share some of my photos as I do. This is Part I with additional posts soon to follow!

Highlands Team

The Highlands team has come and gone. The week was, in my opinion, successful in that it provided a more tangible direction for the development of the next steps and phases of the partnership. I’ll try to update you more on what this will mean, but for now I’ll just tell you about the teams first couple days that were spent here in Kigali.

After everyone arrived on Saturday, having only lost one bag (which was quite quickly recovered), we took the team out to dinner at the “New Cactus.” A great little restaurant with a nice variety. One thing I appreciated about this team was how seamless the team seemed to integrate. People were quickly sharing their stories and identifying common bonds. Much of dinner was conversation which did just that.

18 people crammed in to the van. Highlands team…welcome to Rwanda.

On Sunday the team all went to a local church service here in Kigali. It was a beautiful service, taking a deeper look at the Holy Spirit and how we as Christians allow ourselves to be impacted by the Spirit. It was an appropriate reminder for the team prior to our heading east. Following the service we went to the genocide memorial in Kigali. It was my first time to the memorial, an experience that is both enlightening and crushing. The memorial is made up of various displays composed inside a museum of sorts, all which educate people on the different contributing factors, outcomes, and consequences of the genocide. Surrounding these buildings are various gardens and burial grounds for memorial victims, one which holds the remains of over 200,000 genocide victims. I can’t speak for the team as a whole, but for me, it was a dark reminder of the capacity within humans to engage in evil, which unchecked, can breed into death on all levels…utter catastrophe. I spent a fair amount of time contemplating the ramifications to this and the implications for how we can learn from the genocide. Further, what does it mean to experience (from a distance) such darkness as a Christian, how should we respond? What is our place? I think most of the group left asking similar questions. Sunday evening we went through a briefing of how our week would be spent, followed by a fantastic dinner hosted by a couple here in Rwanda that has ties to Highlands.

Monday morning the majority of the group visited the FH office while a few went to the nearby IJM (International Justice Mission) office to learn more about their ministry in the area. IJM is working diligently to bring justice through the legal system to the people of Rwanda. While much of this used to be related to the genocide, now, the majority of the issues are related to land ownership and the education of local leaders specifically related to the law. After that the team enjoyed lunch at the Jackson’s, graciously hosted by Dwight and Brenda (Brenda is an amazing host and fantastic cook).

Rwandan Proverb.

By about one in the afternoon we loaded up and headed east to the Nygatare district. On the way we stopped at a small restaurant on  Muhazi lake to grab drinks and use the restroom. It was there that I saw the bird below, a great crested crane, the national bird of Rwanda. We enjoyed the break, and several people also enjoying the opportunity to get some great photos. We then loaded into the vehicles to finish the final leg of the trip.

We arrived in the Rwimiyaga sector and after being welcomed to the area by the head of the sector we proceeded to the primary school where team members were able to meet their sponsored children. It was a bitter sweet time for most of the team. Though  a lot of joy came with the time they spent with their sponsored children, there were questions raised about the other 1200 + kids at the school and 250+ children registered in the CDP (Child Development Program) but not yet sponsored. All and all it was a good experience for the team. Following that we went to the Blue Sky Hotel in Nygatare and got all checked in. The first 48 hours had been good, more was soon to come.

Cover page to the PowerPoint I am putting together for the teams briefing

Highlands/FH Rwanda Project

I’ve been working a lot this week! The Highlands team is arriving here in Kigali beginning Saturday morning and I have a few more things to take care of in preparation. I am excited to have them finally arriving. This week will really reveal, at least to some extent, how successful my time hear has been in cultivating the grounds for this project. I have spent most of the week this week in the office, which has been a big change of pace after being in the field for a month.

This week, along with planning out the teams schedule, taking care of logistics (lodging, transport, food etc.), and budgeting the trip, I have also worked on two different tools to help prepare to the team for their time here. One is a PowerPoint that will be used in the briefing of the team prior to our departure to Nygatare and the other is a field guide, with details from all of my meetings as well as goals/objectives for the group. To help mix things up I spent some time working on different covers for the projects and ended up with the two posted here. Playing with pictures and designing them helped to preserve my sanity amidst the presence of nemesis-logistics.  Hopefully both of these tools provide to be fruitful for the team.

Cover page to the field guide and project overview I prepared

Film Crew

Another bit of news that I haven’t shared thus far is that PBS is partnering with Food for the Hungry to produce a documentary short on the work FH is doing here in Rwanda. Highlands and this project will be spotlighted in the piece. I have been, to whatever extent I can, assisting a coworker here in making preparations for the film crew as well. I don’t know when the short will air, but it is part of a series called “Heroes of Hope.” You can check out what they’ve done thus far by visiting their website here.

Other

In addition to all of that, things have been really good. Busy, but good. I’m feeling healthy and haven’t had any issues with my stomach since the second hospital visit a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to everyone for their prayers. I do have some more pictures and some interview type conversations I had with some families out in the east that I will try to post soon! I leave you with this quote from Mother Terresa, with everything that’s going on with Food for the Hungry and Love God Love People right now, it resonates with my own thoughts on money:

“Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness,
of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the
Kingdom of God – the rest will be given.”

Overview

I didn’t expect to be posting so soon, but I had a meeting today in Nygatare and was able to stop and briefly use the internet. I am feeling much better. Thank you all for your prayers, I feel almost 100% at this point and it is amazing how quickly I recovered. I am also acclimating quickly to the environment. I have been able to start connecting with some of the people here which has been good. Also, God has been continuing to challenge me, but providing comfort in little ways along the way, but of course, comfort that is rooted in Him. That has sustained me.

Projects

I have been very busy meeting with people so far. Paul, the Rwandan FH officer who is hosting me, has been incredibly gracious and vital in setting up these meetings. The goal has been to gather as much information as possible about the cell of Gacundezi, Sector of Rwimiyaga, and District of Nyagatare. I’m trying to learn about government, education, business, ngo’s, and the church. This information will be used by the FH/Highlands partnership to establish our steps in moving forward.

So far I have met with a representative from the head of the primary school, the head of the council of local churches, the head of the sector, and today the vice mayor of the Nyagatare District which totals about 300,000 people. I also met with the managers of a new dairy plant that is under way and newly developed and toured the facility, it may be a potential project we work with. All and all my fears of not being able to gather enough data have now dissipated as I am trying to keep up with the different channels of information and as the best possible questions.

God

God has been so faithful during this process. I mentioned that He had taken me out of my comfort zone, this is certainly true. He has pushed me and made me seek Him more so than I have in the past, but in that he has provided so much. In the past few days I have been thinking about the following things. One a quote from the N.T. Wright book that I previously mentioned; the other a passage from Romans that a friend left me in a comment.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

“In the absence of real hope, all that is left is feelings.” (N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope, p81)

This time has been a process of God breaking the patterns in which I was conforming to the world around me. I have been forced to let go of those comforts and to cling to Him. As the following quote suggests, outside of true hope, the hope found in the cross, all that is left is feelings. If I was without that kind of hope while here I would be lost. I would be completely out of my league, rendered useless and overwhelmed. But it is firmly anchored in that hope that I have found the ability to push through the “feelings,” that I have been so challenged by and instead I have proved able, by His strength, to see something more. Something in this experience that without hope would be lost.

God is so good.

Side notes:

I don’t have much more time to type but I wanted to mention a couple things. One, as I said I am feeling much better. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayer and support, it has been so encouraging.

I have posted two pictures below. One is me with the kids at a football game I went to at the school. I went to watch the game and about 100 kids went to watch me. It was nuts. The teachers literally had to push kids to the side because they were backed onto the field. Not many white folk up here! They also absolutely flipped out when I would shake my head. They thought it was the funniest thing in the world. They would run up to touch my hair then go crazy and run back.

The second picture is of me with the plant manager at the dairy plant. He is in the process of explaining the equipment to me.

Be well. Be encouraged. Be steadfast in your faith. In love and faith, through submission may you find your self resting in Him!