We met the team from HOPEthiopia at the airport Saturday the 26th
of November. They had just spent one week working in Harbu Chulule, the town
where Rilla and I are going to be spending a lot of our time after Christmas.
From the sounds of it, it is going to be quite the experience... lots of
people, lots of poverty, and lots to do! These last couple weeks we have
spent with them have been really great! We were able to visit the Kigali
Memorial centre, Rilla and I had already been, but then we went out to visit
Nyamata, one of the memorials located outside of the city. It was a church
where many people hid, to find refuge from a lot of the killings that were
taking place. Instead of finding safety, as they had previously done during
killings that took place in the country, on April 14th of 1994 about 10000 people
were locked inside the church and within the grounds outside of it. They were
all killed. Many very brutally. The church was left with the clothes of the
victims on all the pews and piled on the sides, and at the back of the church.
There is a woman who has been honored in the church with a special tomb draped
in lace beneath a glass floor. She was honored because of the horrific way in
which she was killed, I won't go into details. They also have mass graves that
you can go down into and see the bones stacked up twice as tall as I am. They
know the exact number of people who are buried there, and add to it when they
find more bones, 45 276.
But enough of all this, Kigali is actually a very positive place
to be, with a lot of life! One day last week we were able to take part in a
kids camp for street kids. There is a place called the house of hope that has
taken in 10 street boys, they feed them, clothe them, and put them in school.
They are the kindest most well behaved boys that were there that day…the secret…love!
We played volleyball and soccer, had a parachute along and I attempted to teach
some of them baseball. There were 4 girls who taught me how to do some of their
traditional dancing. I went to grab my camera so I could capture some of it on
film and when I came back they greeted me by counting to three and saying all
together “You are a lovely lady”. Warmed my heart!
We also spent some time at Jeanne’s house. Jeanne is a woman whose
best friend was killed due to domestic violence. She now takes in women who are
victims of domestic violence for counseling and vocational training. She has a
sewing school where she teaches the ladies to sew quilts, bags, beads, aprons,
oven mitts… many things! They are then able to work for her and make really
amazing products. It allows them to learn the trade and be able to get another
job and further themselves to be independent! We painted all of their rooms in
the centre except for the reception area, and some of the men on the team built
a roof that the ladies can sit underneath to sew, sheltering them from the sun.
They were extremely thank-ful!
One of the guys we have been able to meet and work with, Olivier,
is in charge of HOPEthiopia/Rwanda in Rwanda. He is also the lead singer of a
band called Beauty for Ashes. They had a huge concert last Sunday. During the
week we got to see one of their practices as well as get to know Olivier and
the drummer Max. They are really fun guys!! We then had the pleasure of selling
cd’s at the concert on Sunday. Ushubura Kajera CD! (Buy a Cd in Kinyarwanda!).
The concert was AWESOME! Lots of people showed up, a bunch of people started
running all around the sanctuary (it was in Christian Life Assembly Church).
They ran around in a train and grabbed some of the flags that were there,
including Canada’s and of course Rwanda’s, and ran with them. They went up on
stage and were dancing behind the band for a bit. There was lots of energy!!
On Wednesday we went to Eddie and Bonita’s for lunch. When we got
there, the place had a bunch of boxes that they were moving in. Are you moving
in or out?? We were confused, as they hadn’t said anything about this when we
planned lunch. It turns out that their church back in Canada sent a whole container
of donations for them, their church and their ministries. They had asked to
store it at a house in the community because they knew that nobody was living
there. They found out on Tuesday night that the man they had agreed with and
paid to store the items was only the night guard, and that the house owner had
come home unexpectedly to find his home full of boxes. We helped them move a
good portion of 700 boxes into their house. It is stacked from floor to ceiling
with boxes! Insane! We were lucky though, Bonita gave us some of her homemade
cookies as a thank-you… they are delicious!
That night we took the night bus into Kampala, Uganda. It has
never failed at a border crossing for the person checking my passport to
comment on my name. “Njaa, do you know what that means?!” Wednesday night I
responded “Yes, I’m hungry, do you have any food for me?” They always get a
kick out of my name, which makes for a very jolly border crossing as they are
always laughing ‘with’ me. For those that do not know, in Swahili Njaa,
pronounced N-Jah, means hungry. So here in Africa I am ALWAYS hungry. Please
send any food donations to P.O. Box 84… just kidding.
Until next time!
