Rwanda, week 2A

Monday, Sept 28
We visited two field locations today. Our first stop was the sewing school. As we have found so many times already, the students were crammed into a small, dimly lit space with too few machines for the class size, and that’s in spite of several rotating classes. The machines are old fashioned black, peddle operated Singers like women used in the early 1900’s. Since electricity isn’t available everywhere and is often out for an extended time even where it is available, these machines are practical for basic sewing. The girls in the class seemed to be between 18 and 22, some had children, and some were the head of their households taking care of younger siblings. Their dream is to graduate, start a sewing co-op and be able to hire a teacher from their profits to teach their pre-school children while they work. We will be giving them the sewing machines we bought to help that dream come true. To those of you who donated money to my walk-a-thon this summer, my sincerest thanks. May God bless you for the hope you have given these girls. I’ll post pictures - probably once I’m home.

Our next stop was to visit the genocide widows who make baskets to sell to support their families. They sit on mats in a small grotto under trees weaving grasses they’ve harvested and dyed. The baskets have colorful designs and are well constructed, even though the women were apologizing because, to them, the quality of the grass material was inferior due to a dry spell. The women hope to be able to market their baskets, and we think the baskets would be well received in America. We’ve been brainstorming… Meanwhile, the women need a sheltered place to work where they can store their materials. The weather in Rwanda is mild, but the women could work through the rainy season and more efficiently with a shelter.

Home for a rest, and then off to English class. We’ve been tossed in with little direction. Time to improvise! It would really help to have access to the wealth of material available on the internet. Maybe before too many more classes, we’ll have to make an internet café a priority stop during our busy day

Tuesday, Sept 29.
We spent the day in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, a sprawling mixture of ultra modern offices and shopping plazas, side street markets, and slums (like any city, except distinctly African in flavor). The city is crowded with people of all stripes - professionals, students, street vendors, shoppers, tourists, and beggars. As we were waiting in the car for Laurent and Jean who were running a quick errand, an old woman approached hoping to sell what appeared to be sets of woven trivets for hot plates. She was asking a high price, but tender-hearted Sherrie offered to buy one out of the set for a lower price. The woman agreed, but as she was taking apart the string binding them together, a small stampede of people began to run past. The woman tossed the trivets into our car and ran with them. It turned out that street vending is illegal and the stampede was and effort to evade arrest by a passing policeman. The old woman returned to our car, claimed her money & trivets, and vanished.

Earlier in the day, we visited the genocide memorial. That was a difficult experience. Most of the memorial was dedicated to the genocide in Rwanda, giving the history of the decades-long build up of hostility & propaganda to dehumanize the Tutsi and then documenting the 100 day nightmare beginning in April of 1994 that cost a million lives. There were heart rending videos of people telling their stories, and thousands of photos of victims. A section of the memorial covered many other modern day genocides, and if the cumulative effect of all that wasn’t enough, the last stop at the memorial was a room dedicated to the child victims. Enlarged photos of little children with short biographical details like their favorite foods, personality traits, favorite activities, little descriptions like “Daddy’s girl,” and then, how they died: hacked by machete, burned to death inside a church, dashed against a wall… I was holding it together pretty well until we got to that room. Thousands of people are buried in mass graves at the memorial. We were all very quiet afterward.

Wednesday, Sept 30
The half way mark. I can hardly believe it.

Today we were visited by two monkeys. The first came to the front of the house and perched on the gazebo. I wanted it to stay for a picture, so I tossed a banana into the courtyard. It wasted no time retrieving the prize and sat down to eat. When it was finished, it calmly walked over to sit near us. Then I did something stupid… don’t tell my physician who warned me to avoid contact with animals. I simply could not resist - I handed the monkey a banana. Then I handed it another. It was a very polite monkey. No sudden moves, no grabbing. It quietly reached out and took the bananas. A short time later a second monkey of a different kind came. It got bananas too, but kept its distance. I imagine the banana buffet is being broadcast on the monkey grapevine tonight, and tomorrow every monkey in Rwamagana will be dropping in for breakfast. Good thing bananas are cheap here!

After the monkeyshines, we headed out to the field to deliver the sewing machines and goats we bought. This was the most moving, yet difficult thing so far. We picked up 3 old-fashioned, peddle operated table mounted sewing machines and set out for the sewing school we’d visited on Monday. The bumpy ride damaged the flimsy wood housing the machines, but the machines themselves were fine. The girls gathered around as their instructor, and older gentleman who is also a pastor, set up one of the machines. He began peddling and the belts, wheels, spool, bobbin, and needle whirred out a line of stitching just as they should earning a thumbs up to declare to all that it was a good machine. The girls told us these machines were the key to their futures as well as those of their children and siblings. It was obvious to us that they still need more machines and a larger space for the school, as well as a suitable building to set up the shop and preschool they dream about. Pictures will follow when I am able, and again, my heart-felt thanks to all of you who helped make this possible.

The community was asked to choose the poorest of the widows to receive the goats we purchased. Ten women were selected - the poorest of the poor - and they gathered around so we could meet them and talk. As I sit here attempting to write, I cannot find the right words to convey the destitution of these women, but it’s even harder to try to capture their simple, beautiful faith that God had not forgotten them, that He heard their cry and answered, and their confident hope that the future would be better because of these goats. One woman explained that her son had to quit school because she couldn’t afford the fee, as small as it is, but that she could now sell one of the kids her goat would produce and her son could return to school. All the women quietly expressed their gratitude, and it was clear that, even though we brought the goats, they all understood them to be gifts from God. As I promised all of you who donated money for goats, I told the women through an interpreter, that the goats were purchased by their brothers and sisters in Christ, with love, from America. To those who bought goats, thank you so very, very much. Pictures will follow.

After we were finished talking with the widows, we visited two of their homes. I’m not even going to try to explain what I saw. I have pictures so you will see too. As I waited for sleep the night of our visit, I couldn’t help but wonder what it was like to walk 5 miles each day up & down steep hills for contaminated water, and then carry it back home another 5 miles, cook a pot of beans over a charcoal fire in a 4 foot tall grass hut, and then lie down to sleep with my children in pitch black darkness under a leaky banana thatch roof, on a single banana thatch mat on a dirt floor while malaria and yellow fever bearing mosquitoes buzzed in my ears.

I’m staying in a house with little electricity, no running water, a refrigerator that’s as reliable as the electricity, an old foam mattress, an out door kitchen with a charcoal stove, and a toilet that we pour our hand wash laundry & bath water down to flush. I have a mosquito net, fresh food, bottled water, and hot water to sponge bathe in each day. I am incomprehendably rich.

Thursday, Oct 1
When we were in Kigali, we bought more soccer balls for the orphans and drinking cups for the one school that has water (two of the schools have no source of water). We bought the cups because all the students share one cup for water - not a good idea when some of the kids are HIV positive. Not only is there a slight risk of transmitting HIV, but a cold or flu could be devastating to the HIV infected child.

Today we used permanent markers to write the names of each child and draw some decorative pictures on the cups. Tomorrow we'll pass out the cups along with a piece of candy and a card with an American penny attached. Should be fun.

We'll be spending the night in a Kigali hotel Saturday. Wow... am I ever looking forward to a hot shower & wifi for a night. ;-) Sunday morning we'll attend a Kinyarwanda Anglican service. Can't wait.