I met Stella at the Dream center early this morning.  She told us she would be down the street at her Aunt’s house when we were ready to pick her up.  I did not think much of it until I talked with our interpreter (Robert) and home visitor for African New Life.  Stella and he her little brother were found after they had gone with out food for a day and a half.  We have been her sponsor for two years.  Robert said that Stella’s dad had left their family for  another woman and not returned.  Her mom has no source of income and consequently no food.  People have donated housing for her on a 3-4 month period.  The reason Stella was at her Aunts is because school does not start till Feb. 4th.  There is food at her aunt’s but not at home.  When she’s in school she will get a meal provided her by ANLM.

Stella is now 12 years old and entering P6 grade level.  She is smart and turning into a beautiful woman.  She is a little shy but really just wants to please.  Stella has a brother and a sister which we did not get to meet.  They were staying at their grandfathers since their family doesn’t have any food while they are home on vacation.

I gave the family some gifts from my children, Jenny and I.  They were truly thankful for the help.  We also brought them two months of food for the family.  Her mother started crying.  She said that God answers prayer!

I am seeing that what I see as a need is simply a want.  People here live for the day.  Their hope is in the Lord.  I pray a blessing on this family as they live for the blessing of simply having life.

Street Kids:

Alden and I have never walked into an experience like this!  Over 300 boys are in a field huddled around 1×3 foot (round) plastic wash buckets.  They are washing their clothes and themselves.  Two times a week they gather here to eat, bathe, play together, and have chapel.  For some of these boys, this will be the only time they eat this week.  Others have a home but it is abusive, can’t support them, or they are told to work the streets begging for money. 

The age of the boys ranges from 5ish to late teens with the older ones protecting and caring for the younger ones.  We sat on wood stools around a cauldrin of Maze (corn based) soup which looked like Cream of Wheat.  The boys lined up in two rows being given a plastic coffee mug for Alden and I to fill for their breakfast.  Wow, feeding 300 boys is seemingly endless!  As they came up to us they were polite.  Some were wearing a t-shirt for pants others did not have anything (their freshly washed clothes were hung to dry).  They seem to make the best out of what they have.  I did not see boys looking down on others or making fun based on any child having more or less.  In a sense these street children are a family.

After eating we had one hour to play games.  Alden had brought a soccer ball.  He thru it to the boys and it was immediatley swallowed up by the big kids who love soccer.  These guys are really good!  Alden and I took many of the other children not playing soccer to the upper field.  Here I tried to think of what game I could play using sign language.  (My african tongue is not quite developed!)  All the kids seemed to love to be swung by their arms in a circle.  I tried to explain moving back so I could swing one but they all wanted to hang on me.  Finally a young boy named Danny emerged from the group.  He spoke broken English but was able to get enough of what I was saying to tell the others what to do.

Danny would choose kids in the circle that he thought would work based on size and behavior.  If they were patient he would pick them and if not they would just have to stay back and change.   I swung and swung till I felt like I could not walk in a straight line.  We laughed together till our hearts could not take it any longer.  Interestingly, before each child was swung he would check their arms and make sure they felt strong enough for the pressure.  A couple said that they were not strong enough.  I began to realize that lack of food can have an effect on even their play. 

With a sudden change, the sun turned to pouring rain and we headed for the pole building structure.  With 7 children holding on to me, I could barely walk.  I kept feeling them lightly poking me.  I finally turned to see what in the world was going on.  I put two and two together.  From the play I was hot from swinging them. When they would press on my skin it would turn from a redish color to white for a moment.  Their skin does not do that. 

As we headed into the condemed pole building, Danny got my attention and asked me if I would remember him.  I said I surely would.  He said his dream would be to attend school and learn about computers.  My heart broke as I realized that these boys do not have even the chance to attend if they wanted to.  This is where Africa New Life steps in.  As positions open, these boys can be chosen to go for sponsorship and then eventually be picked by a family to be supported.  What we see as a right in the U.S. or possibly a bummer (attending school) these children would die for the opportunity.

Once inside the pole building you will find a rough concrete floor with 7 rows of wood benches holding from 7-8 boys each.  Over three hundred boys sat with zero space between each other.  The older ones made sure the younger ones were on task.  With only three adults over 300 boys are in full-control learning during Chapel. 

They participated in singing , dancing , and praising God with the drums going.  These boys love this time.  As the Bible was read older boys got up and told the younger of how real life scenarios for them had taught them to trust God.  It was amazing to me with so little these guys are seeing life thru God instead of blaming him. 

Alden and I were called up as guest.  We introduced ourselves and encouraged them thru Jeremiah 29.  It is awesome that God has a plan for these boys, to give them a hope and a future.  I fully believe that some of these boys thru sponsorship will rise to lead this nation.  They then asked us questions: How many kids we have? What we do for work? Where we were from? and Why I look like a muslim?  I told them it is a fashion in the U.S. and then Alden piped-in that it was a bad one!  The boys erupted in laughter!

After Chapel we set up for lunch.  We again sat on wood benches and served corn maze with beans on top and potatoes on the side.  What and emotional time we had watching something that seemed incomprehendable to my mind.  Young children making the most out of very-little and Africa New Life stepping in to start the process of transformation.  I am so blessed!

Alden-On Wednesday we went to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. It is located on top of a hill overlooking part of the city. When we arrived there were four guards stationed at the gate. They searched our bags very thoroughly and used a hand-held metal detector to scan for guns or bombs.  Apparently there has been numerous threats to this memorial.

We were allowed to take pictures outside the memorial, but they asked for no pictures inside. Inside there were many graphic pictures and stories of near death.

 As my family knows, I’ve got a weak stomach for blood, but I tried to absorb the mass carnage of it all. As you can imagine, Rwandans are still emotially recovering from this tragety. We heard one estimate that 7 out of 10 Rwandans need couselling for the things they experienced and saw.

If you are not aware, 800,000 people were murdered by blunt objects and machetes over a period of 100 days in 1994.  Women, children and familes were murdered.

Onsite there are mass graves of people buried. One of them was still open, because they are still finding people’s remains. The gardens outside the memorial were beautiful and they have done a very good job of making the genocide personal and relevant.

One quote (I’m sorry that I don’t remember who said it) I read inside the memorial really impacted me. “Genocide is not the killing of 800,000 people. It is killing one person, then another 800,000 times”.

The picture on the right is a pathway on the left. On the right (concrete lids on top) is the graves of Rwandans.  I thought I heard that 200,000 people are buried onsite.

Alden- Before I left for Rwanda, I knew we wanted to support a child. We had called ahead and asked if there was someone that Africa New Life would recommend that we could visit and provide new sponsorship. Their response was, “every child in Kajeyo needs sponsorship, and they all are needy”. Even after seeing only a small part of Rwanda, I believed them. Still, I didn’t want to make a choice. How can choose one, and by doing that, NOT choose someone else.

When we first arrived we met a little girl in a green shirt who had malaria medicine with her. She was very shy but when prompted said she was suffering from malaria. Luckily she had medicine. This same little girl was to be my sponsored child, Lillian. We arrived at her home and it was tucked behind one of the other homes. It was a mud hut without a roof.  It was really only one room and in it was one “bed” made of sticks and covered with black plastic. The only other item was some supplies in a corner covered with a well-used blue tarp.

Lillian was there with her mother, Antoinette, and her little brother, Noah. They were very thankful for the food and supplies (rice, beans, oil, sugar, salt, crackers and soap). Lillian’s story is really a story of her mother and father. It was asked by the Africa New Life staff why she was living in a home without a roof. I didn’t realize this was a big deal, but in hindsight, I don’t know if I could have absorbed any more information. The staff asked the neighbors why she was living here and not with friends. (Rwandans are community and family people).  They expained that Antoinette’s husband had participated in the genocide and was in jail. (Remember this is a Resettlement camp with displaced Rwandans) She also had a small child (Noah aged 2?) and was not married. They said she could not be trusted.

Lillian is very shy and up to this point did not understand what we were doing. The staff communicated with them and explained that she would be attending school. I think it took some time for this to sink in (5 mintues? ) I showed them all a picture of my family and told them about each of them, Aidan, Ethan & Audra and their ages. I think this made it real for her. She held that picture tight and from then on, wanted to be next to me holding my hand. It was very crowded and busy in the home and we had many more places to be. 

It broke my heart to leave her. I felt so much responsibility and wanted to give her more and more.

I later found out that she was actually not even ready to be sponsored yet. She was not on Africa New Life’s list to be a sponsored child. The staff had just identified her as having a great-need (but literally every child in Kajeyo has a “great need”) There are 200 children currently sponsored for school in Kajeyo. There are 300 children ready to be sponsored (paperwork filled out: history, health, family) and 300 children not yet identified. Lillian was in this group. They estimate 800 children are in Kajeyo. I firmly believe that God picked Lillian for us.

We met some new friends from Austin Bible in Austin, TX . They went with us to Kajeyo. One of them, Natalie Green, is joining the staff at African New Life Ministries, and will be working from Austin once she starts full time. She has  blogged about her trip here: http://www.nattibeth.blogspot.com/

When we arrived in Kajeyo the first place we visited was Alice. We piled in the van with Alice to head to her home.  My thoughts were that everyone in Kegeyo lived fairly close in.  I was wrong.  We drove and drove on a bad dirt road with deep ruts from wash out.  On the way we would see men and women out in fields among the bannana trees clearing and tilling the land with a hoe.  Yes, huge amounts of land had been cultivated.  There are no cars or farm equipment out here.  We reached the end of the road and Alice asked us to turn right.  We were now driving on a walking path thru the jungle.  After a couple of minutes we arrived at a round mud hut with a thatch roof. 

This was Alice home.  She took us out and introduced us to her Aunt and Uncle.  This is all being interpeted to us in English.  Her parents have died of AIDS.  She lives with 7 siblings none of which are blood related.  Her Uncle and Aunt have 4 of their own children, Alice, a set of twins and another adopted child totaling 8.  These 10 live in this small round hut.  They asked us in to their home and we took off our shoes and entered.  It is amazing how many people you can fit in a small place without furniture.  We annouced that we had brought food to last about a month for them.  They were so thankful and gave thanks to God for the gift.  These people have nothing except God and each other an yet they are so happy.  It proves to me that material things are the wrong things to chase after.  Being together with one hope truly brings joy in life.  We are so happy for Alice (age 12) to have a chance at a better future now with the generous support of Jason and Zoe Copeland.  Thru there support they have provided schooling, two uniforms and a pair of shoes ( She has none currently), a meal a day at school and health insurance.  This $35 a month will give this child a chance to grow and with the essentials known to man.  Something very few have out here!  This is a wonderful family who will care for others even when it is a struggle to care for their own.  May God bless them.

Alden -The physical road to Kajeyo takes about 3.5 hours to travel. Two and one half hours are on pavement, and one on a dirt road the progressively gets worse.  The area is called, thousand hills, so you are constantly going up, over and around small hills. It reminds me a bit of Nashville, TN in that sense. However, it is very green (at this time of the year) and every square inch of farmable land is being used for something.

We bought groceries in Kayonza, which is about 1 hour from Kigali, and also where Africa New Life’s main school is located. (More on this later-Wednesday) For each family we spent $56 dollars and bought, rice, beans, maze flour, sugar, salt, crackers, and soap. One family was for a sponsored child of a friend from Austin Bible that was being delivered by Natalie Green. The other was for Alice, who was recently sponsored by Jason Copeland, who works with Eric. The last one was for a child that I was planning on sponsoring. I did not know who this child would be.  I had sent word ahead that I wanted Africa New Life in Kajeyo to choose a child. I honestly did not think I would have the emotional energy to pick one child over the other.

The Kajeyo resettlement camp was set up approximately 3 years ago by the government. This was done because the nearby nations told any Rwandan living in their country to go back home. They were given one day to get their things and to walk back with what they could carry. Many of these families had been living in Tanzania since the 1960’s and had farms and animals. They were not allowed to take them. Since the nation of Rwanda is only the size of Maryland, and is very dense, there was nowhere for these people to go. The government of Rwanda carved out some land inside the game park of Akagera (sp?).

Very close to the Kajeyo camp was a pond with a hippo. Apparently when the people first got here (3 years ago) many children were killed by the hippos living nearby. At one point the people killed a hippo and ate it. I’m sure this is illegal now (and maybe then).  We also saw some Impalas that they call Boxtail, or Boxbutt, or… we’ve forgotten.

On Monday morning we got the honor to visit the Esther Home in the city where we are staying, Kigali. This home is for university students and is a highly desired scholarship program. Girls must apply and be accepted into the home. There were about 11 girls in the home. The scholarship provides housing and tuition (and books I believe). The girls operate the home with their “Aunt Carol” who acts as a mentor to them.

Upon walking into the home you can tell no boys live there…the house is perfect! There were beautiful curtians and everything was spotless. The girls introduced themselves and shook our hands.  We then asked, no begged, them to sing us a song.  It was amazing and gave all of us chills. I wish I could upload the video that Andy, from Austin Bible, took…

These girls will be the future leadership of Rwanda and I have no doubt in their ability. They were well spoken and you could see the love of God displayed in them.

The girls take school very seriously, but don’t forget this is still “university”. They still have fun, and when questioned, refused to talk about boys with us. (I don’t blame them)

We planned to go to the Calcutta orphanage run by the sisters. First we went to a local market to buy baby formula and meat for the children. This was the only place known in Kagali, a city of one million, to buy formula.

When we arrived at the orphanage we were told to put away our cameras. Bummer! We wanted to share the pictures of these incredible children ages new born to 7 years. We were able to bring stickers -to give to the children. If you have ever been to an orphange you may be able to picture this. They swarm you not only asking for a sticker but to be touched and held. No matter how dirty or the smell your senses just block it our and you reach for them. I think it is an inate instinct to save and give what you have. In summary your heart is broken for these 120 children that want you to take them. I am tearing up just recalling the experience. You go away asking what can I do to help others feel what I am experiencing. Andrew, a fellow from Texas traveling with us, has acted and is adopting one of the infants.
At this point, we have been up for about 3 days with a total sleep of about 6 hours.

We flew into Kigali Rawanda on Sunday morning the 17th of January. After our 36 hour trip to get here we had totaled 6 hours of sleep in the plane. We were taken straight to the African New Life Dream Center.

These are the next few days of life in Rawanda for us. Internet here is spotty, so we will be updating as frequent as possible.

We attended Church with 800 Rawandans! Wow, they guys can worship with heart and soul. I am blown away how sold-out for Christ they are! They have so little but are so joyful. Love abounds between these people. When you share with them, instead of hording, they share with each other. We are so impacted.

We had a group of sponsored kids gather at the Dream Center in the afternoon. They were from Kayonza and from here in Kagali. There were 38 of them sitting of them sitting in a square. You could literally hear a pin drop. These children are so well behaved and respectful of the leadership. When they are asked to speak you have to listen with all the hearing you have. They speak very quietly. We then served them lunch. With manners and quietness they take the food and eat with their hands.

More than 450 families live in Kageyo, an arid, remote re-settlement camp in Rwanda. Without jobs, food or transportation, these families struggle to survive.

Freeman Motor Co. needs your help to lift the community of Kageyo out of extreme poverty:

1. The community of more than 3,000 people has only 10 bicycles.  If there is an emergency, it is a full day walk to the nearest transportation.
Children in Kageyo have died from treatable diseases because they are too far away from help.

But, we can help!  Freeman Motor Co. is raising $20,000 to purchase a truck for the people of Kageyo.

The truck will save lives by providing these people with an easy way to get help, to transport the sick and to get life-saving medication to the camp.

2. More than 1,000 children live in Kageyo.  And they desperately need education to give them a chance in life!

Child sponsorship is $35/month and gives hope to a child in Kageyo by providing education, food and basic necessities.  By helping one child, you lift the entire community out of poverty!

Freeman Motor Co. is challenging its customers to sponsor 100 children in Kageyo!