Rwanda 2018 | Days 6 & 7

I’m back! Holla. And at this rate, I should be done recapping Rwanda 2018 & 2019 in about 4 years.  For real though, my goal is to finish Rwanda 2018 recaps over Christmas break. I have one week left and I’m about halfway through. I can do it! Right?!

In case you need a refresher, you can catch up here.

Friday | July 20th

Day 6:

Friday: our last day in Nyabihu 😕

Our final day in Nyabihu is always such a bittersweet day. It’s normally so much fun because the children get a special day for our goodbye but that is a hard, hard goodbye. Cory woke up on Friday morning with a fever and felt awful with we assume was an upper respiratory infection. We had breakfast without Keneth because he had a rough night and didn’t get much sleep. Poor Keneth, we were his second or third group in a row and he was running on fumes. He works so hard and refuses to quit and always seems to catch some of our germs.

While loading the cars up, we had a time of encouragement from Bishop John standing in his driveway.  Bishop John is mentor and close friend to Benjamin. He also owns the house (like a bed and breakfast) we stayed at. Have you ever been in the presence of someone and when they speak, you know to listen? Yeah, that’s Bishop John. He is so wise and so influential in Rwanda and we appreciate his mentorship while we are there and for Ben year-round. He talked about cosmic redemption of the Rwandan people, that they have come a long way but still have a long way to go, using the example that 70% of Rwandan people still don’t have drinking water.

Before heading to the school, we had to go to the market and one other store to get food to feed the kids at the school. Then Cory and Claude went to print the certificates for the pastors that completed the training program with Joel and the pictures for the two kitchen ladies

Jordan is such a goof. He was told to watch the car and took his job very seriously. In all honesty, many people “high up” in the Rwandan government drive Toyotas like the one we drive while there and had Jordan been dressed in something a little nicer, people would probably believe he was protecting someone really important.

When we got to the school, the teachers and students had moved all the desks and tables into the dining hall and all 337 children were in there singing and dancing when we arrived. It took my breath away to have them all in one place. There are just so. many. kids.

We saw examples of traditional dances along with all the songs in English the kids have learned over the past couple of years. All week, the children sang a “welcome visitors” song and now had a “goodbye visitors” song. Cue all the tears!

The kids had been in the dining hall for who knows how long before we got there and a good two hours after we arrived. It is so long for some of the younger children to sit but they are so well-behaved.

Baker was a good distraction though.

When Ben got there, he started to speak to the children about goodbyes. Baker got upset so I had to take her out. I tried giving her a snack but it was too hot in the truck and she just wanted to play “monkeys” (on my phone) so I made her get out and tried to go back in. She was sleepy and wasn’t having it so Cory switched with me. When I went back in, Ben had me say goodbye to the group.

Joel, Jordan, and Cory said goodbye to the men they’d been working with and gave each of them a Bible in ikinyarwanda that Jordan had purchased earlier in the day. Bibles were also given to a couple of the kids who were selected to receive Bibles, the ladies that work in the kitchen, a couple of the guys that work around the school, and a few of the homes we had visited throughout the week.

As the children were singing and dancing, volunteers were in the kitchen preparing a huge meal of rice, potatoes, beans, cabbage and carrots, and meat for the kids. We also had picked up an orange juice drink on the way to the school too.

Once the food was done and some of the plates were ready, the team jumped in to help serve the meal to the children and open their drinks for them. The kitchen was so smoky, it stung my eyes and made them water like crazy. I have no idea how the volunteers and kitchen ladies work in there all the time. While we served all the children but 7, the kids sat there patiently until everyone had food. They were short 7 plates and had to wait until a few kids finished so they could wash their plates and replate them.

That means the children waited until 330 kids had food in front of them before touching the food that was placed in front of them. Many of them had not eaten a full meal in days. Not a single child touched their food until they were told to eat- mind. blown. at their patience.

After the children got done eating, we all headed outside for the Momentous Occasion that all but one of us knew was coming….

THE PROPOSAL!

Under the guise of Sarah praying over the children before they went home, we circled up outside. Keneth was explaining to the children in ikinyarwanda what was about to happen and had Sarah come to the middle of the circle to pray. While she was praying, Jordan made his way to the center with her. When she opened her eyes, he went down on one knee and popped the question.

Of course, she said yes! And everyone cheered really loud- kids, teachers, and all.

Before dismissing the children, we all had to get one last photo with “our” kids. You know, the ones we’ve connected with over the years and the ones we support all year long. Our Rwandan children.

My girl, Harriette. I fell head over heels in love with her in 2014 and I have loved watching her grow up.

After most of the children headed home, a few stayed behind and played with us and the teachers- a time to fellowship with the incredible staff that keeps this school running day-to-day.  We delivered toothbrushes and toiletries to Alodie, the headmistress, to be distributed among the kids as needed. Not wanting to forget anyone, we gave small gifts to the teachers, the kitchen ladies, Alodie, the man that cares for the school’s chickens, the man that cares for the school’s cows, and the men that work security for the school.

Being staff at Nyabihu Christian Academy is no easy task and these folks do it with very little pay. The staff loves RCRI and have a heart for these children. Can you imagine having a dozen teachers for almost 400 kids here in America? No one would do that job, especially without competitive pay. But these guys, they have been handpicked for RCRI and we are incredibly thankful for their commitment to the organization we love so dearly.

Jordan and Jamie started up a game of basketball with the teachers that ended up being one of the most entertaining games we’ve ever watched. The teachers have upped their game since last year, and with Jordan scoring baskets in the wrong goal, the game stayed competitive.

Rwanda 2018, you guys but so much more. This is family.

And then Baker fell and hit the ground so hard her face bounced off the ground. Being the wonderful mother that I am, I took a picture. Of course.

After a few group photos, our time at Nyabihu was done for this trip. Other than taking off when we leave, pulling out of the school driveway is torture. Sometimes there are kids running beside our vehicle and it feels like we are leaving a loved one because we are. For most, there are tears on the ride back to Musanze as it is always emotional saying goodbye to these little faces that we come to love, especially those we have known year after year.

We headed back to Musanze for a quick shopping trip, dinner, devotion, and packing. The year before, we headed back to Kigali on Friday night and it was late and dark before we got to our house. We decided to rest on Friday evening and drive down Saturday morning (it’s about a 3.5-hour drive) and it was a much better decision. Since Cory still wasn’t feeling well, he got a nap in while Baker covered him with all her toys.

Funny moments from our week:

-Jordan running like the flash from the bathroom to his room in nothing but a towel.

-Me walking into Jordan and Keneth’s room (whose door was open) and Jordan being in his underwear. All Crystal and Sarah heard was “where are your pants?”

-Jordan falling asleep and Keneth covering him with the mosquito net saying “I will help you”- Keneth, he’s just that good of a person.

Saturday | July 21st

Day 7:

Saturday:

On Saturday, we traveled back to Kigali. Kenny and Cory ran some errands around Musanze that morning, dodging the numerous police officers, floats, and traffic management present because of a big cycling event downtown.

Everyone got packed, had breakfast, and a time of fellowship and prayer with Bishop John and his wife Harriet, thanking them profusely for the warm and extremely comfortable accommodations they set up for us during our week in Musanze. Our stay was phenomenal- from the accommodations to the food we ate each day- it was all way more than we could have asked for. Bishop prayed a beautiful prayer over us and the upcoming work we would be doing in Kigali.

During breakfast, Baker pitched a total fit over her sippy cup. We couldn’t figure out what she wanted but she kept saying “I can’t drink water, I can’t drink juice” which had been her way of telling us she doesn’t want something.

It’s a long drive from Musanze to Kigali (about 3.5 hours), so we stopped halfway and had some delicious goat brochettes (the signature Rwandan dish), some grill-roasted buttered potatoes, and hot sauce for Jamie before finishing the journey. Baker didn’t sleep the entire drive down and was pretty good except for one crying spell when I tried to get her to go to sleep. Once she got upset, I asked her if she wanted a cookie to calm her down and she shouted: “I don’t want a cooookie” for about 10 minutes straight so that was fun. I always feel bad for whoever has to ride with us which was Joel and Keneth this trip.

Cory had commented to Joel a couple of times on the way down the mountain that he thought the brakes felt a little spongy. These mountain roads are generally steeper and curvier than anything you’ve seen in the US, and spongy brakes can be bad. About a mile outside of Kigali, just before traffic gets insanely dense and chaotic, Cory calmly made the passengers of our vehicle aware that we no longer had brakes and that he was using the gear shift to slow us down before pumping up the brakes a little and jamming the pedal to the floor to stop. Luckily, we quickly found a safe service station and had the brakes looked at. I gave Baker a dose of melatonin and gave her back the iPad and she fell asleep right before we pulled in to the service station.

Cory thought it was just the brake fluid but it was full. The guys at the shop took the tire off and found that our brake pads had been vaporized. Bless God, the men jumped to work as soon as we pulled in and in less than an hour we were back on the road with new brake pads, no accidents, and only slightly lighter in the wallet region. The left front tire was the only one that was bad- they checked the right one but it was fine. Since the brake pads come in a set of two so we saved it for the next time someone needs one.

After getting the brake pad changed, we headed to the house we’d be staying in for the remainder of the trip. The house was up a rough dirt road and we were hoping the location would be as convenient as last year. It wasn’t but we quickly realized the view totally made up for it. I have to admit that we all feel guilty staying somewhere this nice on a mission trip. Benjamin and Josephine arrange our lodging for us, so we don’t know what we have until we get to a place, and this place was a shock to us all. The view was undeniably gorgeous, the house was comfortable and clean in every possible way, and we had help that cooked and cleaned.

Sandra, the owner, was there when we arrived and we had just missed Josephine. Sandra was very nice, had excellent English, and someone said she worked at the White House for some time. After settling in, we decided that since the day was still young, we would knock out our shopping so we could use that time more meaningfully towards the end of the week.

We went to the artist co-op first and most people got all their shopping done there. Cory bought a wrap and tried to tie Baker on to his back but she wasn’t having it. There were a lot of abazungu (white people) there and one of the guides for a couple told Cory he had it right but needed to pull Baker’s arms out because it was too hot. Jordan, Cory, Sarah, Jamie, and Crystal met a guy name Shadrach that also had met Haven, Nak, Jeanne, and Clyde. He had great English and told Cory he had applied for college in the states. Jordan found a pair of pants like he was looking for and immediately put them on. I changed Baker’s diaper for the first time all day (I didn’t realize we hadn’t changed it) and it was almost completely dry. I panicked and immediately tried to think of ways to get liquid in her- I told her we would get ice cream next.

We headed to the mall co-op, careful to find closer parking this time as to not have to walk 7 miles uphill through the crazy downtown to get there like last year. Turns out, there is a parking garage attached- go figure. We remembered that last year, we went to the old location only to see it was torn down when we got there and the other driver knew where the new location was so we walked, not knowing how far it would be.

We checked out the co-op but didn’t find anything then headed downstairs to get ice cream/smoothies. As we were waiting on everyone to get their ice cream and juice, I realized that Baker’s sippy cup had the same amount of water in it as it had that morning. It then occurred to me that maybe she couldn’t get it out and Cory checked the silicone stopper and sure enough, there was no hole. The poor girl had been trying to drink from it since that morning and all the screaming about “I can’t drink water, I can’t drink juice” was her trying to tell us she literally couldn’t drink it. I. felt. awful. I grabbed a straw (which was ridiculous fat) and she chugged a whole cup of water. No one had any water on them so I bought her a bottle and she drank two more cups immediately. Goodness, my heart hurt that she was that thirsty and I didn’t know.

The house we stayed in had these big doors in the living room that we kept open for the breeze and they opened to the front porch and this view. Holy cow! Anyone who’s ever talked to me in-depth about Rwanda knows my obsession with the lights there. I’ve waited years to have an unobstructed view like this and it was literally out our front door. I was in Heaven.

We came back to the house and enjoyed another delicious supper prepared by our new friend and helper Tina, followed by devotion and a quick visit from Benjamin, Josephine, their kids, and Heidi, a young lady from Colorado working with Ben for the summer. Jordan and I both started feeling bad after the long day- colds tend to circulate between everyone while we are there. And Baker finally pooped (TMI?) that night after not pooping all week. I guess the water helped and she found herself a place on the wall and filled her diaper. Needless to say, she slept like a rock that night but I think we all did!