Imana Ishimwe- Glory be to God

Hey Everyone!

 Well, I made it to Rwanda! It is so beautiful and I am so excited to be here. I have been in Kigali for about 5 days now and I am having an incredible time. It is very green here and there are hills as far as the eye can see. 

  I am staying at Hope Haven currently. Hope Haven is where all the Valor Christian High School teams go so it has been nice to adjust with people I had known previously. Interestingly enough the house I am staying at is right across the street from some very important Muslim leader and I have been waking up at 5 every morning to their call to prayer. That is somewhat different than waking up to my alarm clock back at home:) But it reminds me to pray to our God so I don’t get as annoyed as I probably could, being woken up at 5 every morning. 

  The first full day I was here I went to two Genocide memorials. The memorials are churches where Tutsis thought they would be safe during the 1994 genocide but found out that that was just an easy place for Hutus to contain them. I have never been to a Holocaust museum but I imagine the experience is very similar. In the churches there are clothes of the victims, draped over wooden “pews” and hanging from the rafters. On shelves, bones of the victims are displayed to remind everyone that these were real people with real lives. One of the churches had a mass grave that held the bones of 40,000+ people. Talk about a difficult experience. I was so horrified I couldn't even cry. The hard thing is that you think you know something about the Genocide until you experience the repercussions from it first hand. But the beautiful thing is that God always redeems and today most Hutus and Tutsis are walking the streets and going to soccer games TOGETHER. 

  Hope Haven is an incredible school with beautiful dreams. They have great teachers and precious students. When we drive up to the school, children wave at us and yell “mizungu! mizungu!” which means white man. They have the most beautiful smiles. On Friday I got to sit in on one of the classes and the children make me laugh so hard even though I have no idea what they are saying 90% of the time. Friday was also a Holiday called Sports Day. On this day everyone is let out of school/work at 12 and they spend the rest of the day stretching their legs and playing games and sports. So after the kids had a few hours of classes they all went outside to play around. Talk about a slightly overwhelming but absolutely blissful feeling when 200 precious children scream and yell and jump and try to touch what ever part of you they can reach. It is Heaven for me! And if you even try to sit down to take a rest after running all over the place, you are mobbed by 20 kids trying to touch your hair and ask you questions that you have know idea what they mean. One little boy was tugging at his shirt that had a picture of a monkey on the front so I said “monkey” and pointed to it. He looked up at me and just started laughing and proceeded to point to every one of the 20 kids around me so that I would tell him what color their shirts were. They thought it was the silliest thing to hear a mizungu recite all the colors in english. The language barrier is pretty frustrating but thankfully I started learning some Kinyarwandan before I left the states so I am just getting to practice what I know and learning more on top of that. 

 The food here is delicious and so fresh! And I will never be able to enjoy pineapple, mangos, bananas, and papayas in the U.S. the same anymore:) 

 Driving is absolutely nuts! Thankfully I don’t have to drive but there’s enough excitement just in taking the ride for me. People just walk in the middle of the street and there are zero rules and about two traffic lights in all of Kigali. And yes, women in Africa do walk around carrying water buckets and you name it on top of their heads. It is actually a beautiful sight. 

 So, to say that I am adjusting well to Rwanda would be an understatement. I absolutely love it here! God has been so good to me. I see Him in every face I come in contact with and I have seen so many people! God is definitely at work here. That is very apparent.

 I miss everyone at home but so far I have not felt very homesick at all. Which I hope that’s not a bad thing? :) Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to learn and grow in the lessons God has to teach me. Also, I would love to hear from you all! I would be so encouraged if you would just share some of your favorite verses or just things God has taught you. And now I am going to have to say murabeho (goodbye) until I post my next blog:)

Love from Rwanda,

Heidi

The view from Hope Haven

 One of Hope Haven's school buildings

 The children line up before they go into class

 Precious children with adorable faces. The boy in the striped shirt is one of my sweet friends.

 Lining up

Doing a puzzle. Finally learned how to say "good job" - kazi keza (not sure how to spell it)