Journey Home from the Retreat

Just a quick note to let you know I made it home from the retreat. Mark isn’t back yet.

We had a good time and it’s a beautiful place – unfortunately it was overcast most of the time so we didn’t get any super pictures and it rained off and on – but it was still really pretty.

It was nice to get out of the city and hang out with colleagues for a couple days.

There were 5 cars there – 2 from Uganda and 3 from Kigali. When we were loading up our car, Mark discovered we had a flat tire so he changed that and we were on our way. The 2 cars from Uganda were caravanning, Bonvallats and us, from Kigali, were caravanning and the other car, Rossingtons, wanting to get home, went on ahead. We were caravanning with the Bonvallats because we wanted to see some property they are possibly going to build a camp on. So we headed off down the road and then we got a phone call that one of the cars going to Uganda was having trouble. Fortunately, they had made a wrong turn and were on the same road we were on, just ahead of us. But, Mark realized that the car we were driving was getting really hot so he stopped and we had to add water. We eventually caught up to the other car. The other car going to Uganda had taken some of the broken down car’s passengers and continued on, caravanning to Kigali with Rossingtons. (Going through Kigali is one way they could take to get to Uganda).

The car that broke down was the Hollenbeck’s. Bonvallats ended up towing Hollenbeck’s car to the closest town, Ruhengeri. Mark had to stop every so often and put water in the car we were driving. We ate lunch at Ruhengeri and the guys found a flat bed truck that could carry the Hollenbeck’s car to Kigali. Dale Hollenbeck, rode in the truck with his car and we rearranged passengers and stuff in order to all fit in Bonvallat’s and our car. However, our car didn’t look good. The water pump was leaking like a sieve and we had to stop every 5 or 10 minutes and refill it with water. Oh, Bonvallats waited with Dale to make sure the car got on the truck okay. We started off because we knew we would be slow (we were up in the mountains and going up and down steep hills.) Finally it got really bad and Mark began to think we would have to find a different way to Kigali. I think I forgot to mention that we had Steve and Debbie Wolcott with us and they had a plane to catch; we transferred them to Bonvallat’s car at the restaurant. Anyway, as we sat by the side of the road, we were watching as several public transport vehicles kept passing but they were all full. They we saw a safari tour company vehicle coming that looked like it had empty seats. One of our passengers (Kathy Hollenbeck) waved at them and they actually stopped and came back to see if we needed help. Here was Mark with 4 women, 2 kids and an overheating car on the side of the road. They happened to have enough seats for us and said they were heading to Kigali and we could hitch a ride – free! So we piled into their vehicle, leaving Mark with the vehicle.

Everyone has now gotten to Kigali safe and sound although the car on the truck is having difficulty getting off the truck. Mark just now got here. We have Kathy Hollenbeck and 2 of her boys sleeping here, Dale and their other boy is sleeping at Bonvallat’s. A single gal went to spend the night with Melissa. We were able to get bus tickets for the Hollenbecks and the single gal so they can go on to Uganda in the morning. Their car will have to have the engine overhauled here in town and he’ll have to come back later for it.

We are all tired but God took care of us and we’ll sleep well. Tomorrow will be busy with getting everyone to the bus station and starting to work on vehicles. Oh, yes, Wolcott’s arrived in Kigali with enough time for a cup of coffee with the Bonvallats and still get to the airport on time. Rossington’s helped the other car from Uganda get to a coffee shop in town to meet up with friends. We assume they made it back home okay – we haven’t heard otherwise.

Looking ahead

Just a quick note to let you know that we are heading out tomorrow for a weekend retreat with other AIM missionaries. There will be about 8 from Uganda (including Steve and Debbie Wolcott) joining the 7 of us from Kigali plus kids (9 I think-7 boys and 2 girls!)

We are going to a place called Ruhengeri. It is in northern Rwanda, near the volcanoes. We won’t be in the town of Ruhengeri but in the area. Ruhengeri is well known here by tourists because it is a stopping point before going on to hike to see the gorillas. We won’t be looking for gorillas this time around.

A strange turn of events has occurred here for me. The school we are helping out during their transition, KICS, is in the process of interviewing a potential principal and he and his wife will be coming to Kigali next week to have interviews in person. However, the school board, not sure if this candidate will agree to come or not, wanted to present a Plan B to the parents at the school. So, they asked me to be part of plan B! IF there is no principal in place by September, I will be the interim, temporary Elementary Principal!! It’s definitely a stretch but I will see what I can do. I am praying that this fellow will agree to take the position so I don’t have to !!!

Please pray for more teachers to come next fall and for the administration positions to be filled.

Thanks for Praying!

Thank you for praying for our family in Santa Barbara. Mark's brother, Bill, never had to evacuate which was very good. Mark's mom, Beverly, and Stephanie did evacuate for a couple of days. Beverly stayed at a friend's house near the ocean and Stephanie went an hour north to a friend's house for the weekend. They returned to a house intack but a charred hillside for a view. Stephanie spent an afternoon vacuuming the driveway, patio and pool deck to get rid of ashes. But they are no worse for the wear. This was Beverly's 2nd evacuation in 10 months - the 3rd major fire in Santa Barbara in the same 10 months. Pretty soon the hills should be all burned off and they won't have to worry about wildfires for awhile!

New house, new "job"

Well, we moved over the weekend and are fairly settled into the house except I haven’t organized the kitchen yet. It is a big job and I haven’t had a chance to tackle it yet. It’s a functioning kitchen just has too much stuff in it and I want to clear some stuff out and put in some of my stuff.

The new house is at least twice as big as the house we were just in and probably the biggest house we’ve ever lived in. It is way too big for the two of us but we will probably be hosting a few guests over the next couple of months. It is a very nice house as well – tile floors, large spacious rooms, decent furniture, nice front porch. But it has a few downsides: the kitchen is too small, the fridge is way too small, the house is situated sideways on the property so the “front of the house” and the porch faces the wall dividing the house from the neighbors. The kitchen is in the “back” and it looks out at the “Annex” – another building in the back with 3 more rooms plus a kitchen/laundry room; not a nice yard view like the other house. The living room and the bedroom we are using as an office face the yard and overlook the city but it’s not quite as good a view as the other house. We have a better view of the airport though. Can definitely watch the planes coming and going. We also have 3 pets now: a dog (no idea the breed but yellowish, short haired, medium sized and friendly), a cat (small gray tabby – reminds me of “Cindy” but much smaller), and an African gray parrot that talks all day long – mostly says “Hi mom”, “Gasuku” (it’s name which means parrot in Kinyarwanda) and lots of squeaks and whistles. It also sometimes says “No!” and something else I can’t remember but it is a very distinct Irish accent! The dad of the family we are house sitting for is Irish. They are all outside animals although all three have ventured inside at least once. The workers feed them and take care of them.

We have also started a new temporary job – we are the “transition team” at a school here in town. The school, Kigali International Community School (KICS), is a Christian school that several of the missionary kids go to. The short story is that they have had a very major upheaval and all the administrative staff and most of the teachers are leaving! They are interviewing a candidate for principal who is coming out next week to talk directly with the board before making his decision. But in the mean time, they asked Mark and I to spend time with the current principal to find out about the ins and outs of the school and then later we will pass the info on the to new guy, whoever he is. We were asked because: 1) the construction project is on hold for now and we didn’t have much to do 2) we have worked at schools in various capacities for many years 3) we are neutral and almost completely unknown to the school. So, starting Tuesday, we have been leaving by 7:30 am and learning about how to run a school! Up until now, we sometimes were still in bed at 7:00 and often didn’t get around to breakfast until 8:00. This has definitely changed our lives for a bit but we were probably getting a bit lazy.

We are still trying to have language lessons. Oh, and the new house comes with new workers. The inside worker, Musengimana, only speaks Kinyarwanda so that forces us to use what we are learning. She is extremely nice and patient with us. She helped the Finnerty’s learn the language so she knows what we are trying to do.

Because of all this, I need to close and go to bed. It is almost 11.

Good night!!

Prayer requests

Thank you for praying for our family!

First we have those in Santa Barbara. Mark's mom, Beverly and Stephanie have left their home near Goleta as the fire is blowing in their direction. They left before it was necessary in order to beat the traffic. This is the 2nd time in a year that Beverly's house has been threatened by fire!

Mark's brother, Bill, who has MS is also living in Santa Barbara and is on the edge of the evacuation area. He is hoping to be able to stay put.

Please pray for safety for all the residents and especially for the firefighters. Also pray for peace of mind for Beverly and Bill as they wait this out.

Then there is little Abbey. She finally got in to see a specialist and after running some tests, it has been determined that she has a problem with her urinary tract. Sometimes when her urine goes from her kidneys to her bladder, instead of continuing on to her diaper, it goes back up into her kidney. This obviously is not good and can cause infection and scarring. She will be on low grade antibiotics to prevent infection and be monitored for a year. At that time it will be determined if she has outgrown the problem or if surgery is necessary. Please pray for healing, for wisdom for the doctors and for peace of mind for Joe and Rebekah as they trust in God's sovereignty.

We are praising God for Christopher today! Today is his 2nd Birthday! The family will be celebrating at the Angel Game tonight. Christopher loves to say, "Go Angels!"

Moving Day!

Today is moving day! In case you don’t remember, when we came here we moved into Keith and Margaret Ferdinando’s house because they had left suddenly in September for health reasons. It has been really nice because we have been using their furniture and dishes and we haven’t had to buy anything major yet. Well, Keith had bypass surgery in January and now they are returning to teach at FATER on June 2. So we need to move out of their house in order to get it cleaned up and ready for their return.

There is another family, Patrick and Valerie Finnerty and their two boys who live 4 houses down the street. They are not with AIM but with the Vineyard church in Canada, although Patrick is Irish. Valerie is Canadian. Anyway, they had scheduled a furlough from May – January and wanted to keep their house in tack so we are moving in there! We still don’t have to buy furniture and appliances and stuff, yet.

We spent about 2 – 2 ½ hours this afternoon and got 95% of our stuff packed up and ready to move (we don’t have much…). Mark said he wanted to have a cup of coffee before putting things in the car and I thought that sounded like a good idea. Well, seeing as how this is Africa and rainy season no less, while we were enjoying a short break and a storm came in and now it is DOWNPOURING outside. So, I decided I’d write a quick note. It’s almost dark now so I don’t know if Mark will want to move still tonight or not. However, we would be very culturally Rwandan if we move after dark! We’ve been told that because of trust issues, they don’t want the neighbors to see what they own so they move their stuff after dark.

Once we get our stuff over there, we’ll probably be pretty well settled by Monday. That’s the goal anyway. We also hope we’ll have better internet connection over at the other house. They have a different system, which I haven’t tried to understand the difference, but Mark is hopeful that it will be more consistent.

Yesterday we decided to go into town to get some sewing supplies for our curtains. We brought out some of our curtains from the US but the curtain rods are different here so we need have an adjustment made to them in order to use them in the new house. Anyway, we took “our” car. It’s not in our name yet, nor have we paid any money for it but we have it in our driveway and Mark has done a lot of work on the electrical wiring. The part of downtown that we went to is very “African” in that the road is more narrow and there are a lot of small shops all lined up side by side and lots of people spilling out on the sidewalk selling things – fruits, vegetables, tablecloths, phone cards, lots of stuff. It’s not really an area with many “wazungu” (white folks). After we found a shop selling what we needed and headed off to our next stop, we were driving up this crowded road, dodging pedestrians, motorbikes, cars pulling out of parking spots, etc. and Mark honked the horn. He looked a little funny and then honked again. I asked him if was doing that on purpose and he said, “No!”. Then he realized that if he turned the steering wheel a little bit, the horn would honk. All of a sudden it started honking and wouldn’t stop! There was nobody in front of us but it appeared that this “muzungu” (singular form of wazungu) was in a big hurry! Everybody started looking at us, some started motioning for Mark to stop honking the horn, and basically everyone got out of our way! Mark was trying to keep the steering wheel steady so it wouldn’t honk but at the same time was trying to find a place to pull over. The street was jammed with parked cars but finally he found a spot with a small car and he scooted in beside it, still sort of in the road but at least other cars could get around him. The horn was blaring away! Several guys ran up to us to “help” as Mark got out of the car. Mark popped the hood and one guy started to open it but stopped when Mark told him he could take care of it. The guys all stood around and watched as Mark disconnected the horn and finally the blaring stopped! Mark made a comment about the “crazy muzungu” driver and they all laughed. Then we were on our way again. Mark worked on it today and figured out what had broken which caused the horn to stay on like that. I’m sure there will be more adventures with this car until Mark gets all the kinks worked out. Overall, it is a decent car, though.

We were able have someone take the curtains today to sew the tape on them that is needed for the curtain hooks. Hopefully we’ll be able to hang them on Monday next week. The house has curtains, we just thought it would be nice to use ours since we brought them.

Well, the rain has stopped and it is time to get supper on the table. Talk to y’all later.

Transportation

There are several modes of transportation here. Mostly people walk. You can imagine in a “Land of a Thousand Hills” the people are in good shape with all the walking they do!

A few have bicycles but because of the hills, bikes are great for going downhill, not so good for going up. Those who can afford it, which is a smaller minority, own cars.

Then there are the “taxis” which are minivans that hold 10 or 12 people. There are a few larger ones but mostly they are the smaller vans. In Kenya a minivan is called a “matatu”. These are fine if you want to go where the van is going.

If you want to go somewhere more quickly or to a specific spot that is not on the taxi’s route, you can take a “moto-taxi” (moto for short). These are small motorbikes. There are oodles and oodles of these zipping in and out of traffic. Sometimes I imagine them as little ants. The driver wears a reflective vest that is good for seeing him at night. Also, the drivers wear helmets and carry a helmet for the passenger. I suspect the driver will be fined severely if caught with himself or his passenger not wearing a helmet. Most of the motos have small motors and are not able to go very fast, especially uphill. That is a good thing. Mark has taken a moto around town a few times. It saves money on gas but it can be a little nerve wracking. I haven’t been brave enough or needed to take one. For the number of them we see around, I’m surprised that we really don’t see too many involved in accidents. The car drivers are used to them and they all watch out for each other.

Often the moto passenger has something he or she is carrying. I have seen babies on passengers’ backs. Sometimes there is a big bundle between the driver and the passenger. Usually if the bundle is large, though, the driver puts it in front of him. A few times I have seen a driver with a small child riding up in front of the driver and the parent as the passenger. Occasionally I have seen the passenger with something long on his shoulder, like a board or a metal pipe. The funniest thing I saw the other day was a passenger with a car tire balanced on each knee! I wished I had a camera. It really was a bit comical to see this moto with these two big tires on either side of it. I suppose if it had crashed, it would have been a bit more cushiony. . .

Speaking of transportation, we are only waiting now for one more signature on a piece of paper and then the car we are buying will be officially ours!! The problem is, the guy whose signature we need lives about 6 hours away and he has to sign it in person here in Kigali. We were told he was coming to town today but we haven’t heard if he made it or not. We have the car sitting in our driveway and Mark has gone over it and made a list a mile long of all the things he wants to do to it when it is ours. He has also already gone through the wiring and taken out unnecessary items and moved some wires around or connected them using wire connectors instead of tape, etc. It will be nice when it is truly ours!

Wedding

I am WAY behind in writing about our happenings here in Kigali. I will to catch up a bit by filling in the highlights. Emily came back from RVA on March 28 and we had a great month with her. The following is about her first day home. It is longer than what I normally like to post but hopefully somewhat interesting!

Emily was REALLY tired but glad to be here. The day before leaving RVA, all the dorms have clean up and packing jobs. Obviously, they have to pack up everything and get it put into the storage room and then wash everything in the dorm really well. Since everything is packed, including bedding, Emily’s dorm girls have a tradition of just staying up all night watching movies. The RVA bus was leaving Kijabe to go to the airport around 4 a.m. anyway so it hardly seemed worth it to go to bed, right? The problem with the bus is that it takes a full load of students to the airport but they are on a variety of flights. So even if your flight isn’t until noon, you still have to get up and out by 4 a.m.! Fortunately for Emily this time around, her flight was one of the earlier ones so they didn’t have to wait around too long. She said that RVA gave them a “boxed breakfast” with cinnamon rolls and juice and maybe a yogurt, I forget. So, that was nice.

After chatting for a bit and looking at pictures, Emily went in to take a nap. Mark and I headed off to a wedding! The cousin of one of our friends here, Alexis, was getting married and Alexis invited us to the wedding. We were excited to have the opportunity go to a Rwandan wedding. There is a traditional dress that the women attending weddings (and other special occasions) wear but I didn’t have one. Myriam wasn’t going to the wedding because of her kids so she offered for me to borrow one of her outfits. It is basically a full length skirt and then a long matching piece of cloth that you wrap around like a towel but it goes under one arm and up and ties at the other shoulder. So, it just drapes down from the one shoulder. A camisole or tank top type shirt is worn under the draping the cloth. The one Myriam loaned me was really pretty: a royal blue lace with sequin all over it. When I buy one, I will not get that type but rather one that is more flowing and lightweight. Hers was very heavy with all the sequins. But, I was dressed appropriately. Mark actually wore his sport coat with a shirt and tie.

We went to the wedding with Gilles and Bruce (their wives stayed home with the kids) and they said it was just a short 10 minute walk down the hill to the church. We had never just walked down the hill; we usually go to the main road. Unfortunately, it was an extremely clear day, with nary a cloud in the sky which here in Africa makes for very intense sunshine. In other words, it was a really hot day! We started down a “road” but it was too narrow for a car. We walked past some houses and then Gilles and Bruce had a discussion about which way to go. We ended up backtracking a bit and walking on a path between more houses and down another “road” and past more houses – all the time going downhill. It turned out to be more than a short 10 minute walk – I think we walked about 30 minutes but maybe they walked slower because of me. I have shorter legs and I was in a long dress. By the time we got to church we were 15 or 20 minutes late but we were escorted to benches up near the front and still waited 10 – 20 minutes for the wedding to start.

Once the wedding started, it was pretty much like an American wedding. The family was escorted in and then the bridal party and the bride. Mark was able to get some pictures of the bride as she came down the aisle – but wait! There were two brides! Did he get pictures of the right one? Turns out, he did! Come to find out, to save money Rwandans often share the church/pastor/choir/ etc. for their wedding ceremonies. Not a bad idea. Instead of the bride and groom standing in the front during the ceremony, they had chairs for them to sit in during the music, sermon, etc. When they took an active role (ie: exchanging vows and rings, etc.) they stood up. One very annoying part of weddings that we’ve been to in Kenya and now this one, has been the photographers. Because this one was a double wedding, there were double the photographers/videographers. These fellows were not at all shy about getting the best picture which meant they surrounded the bride and groom so completely that none of the guests could see a thing other than the backs of the photographers! And then, some of the guests and family wanted pictures so they just went right up front and crowded in to get their pictures! It reminded me of paparazzi! The cutest, though, was a small boy, probably about 6 or 7 who wanted to get a picture. He went right up there with the rest of them. He kept looking back at his family for confirmation. Very cute fellow.

Well, the ceremony, which was all in Kinyarwanda, was about an hour and a half – prolonged by having to have two exchanging of vows and all. (Fortunately, there was only one sermon!) After we all went out of the church, it was explained to us that the bride and groom would be heading off to get photos taken in town. There is large roundabout downtown with a statue and fairly nice landscaping that is very popular for taking wedding photos. (It is unofficially known as the “wedding photo roundabout” when giving directions.) They were due back to the reception in 1 ½ - 2 hours. Bruce and Gilles opted to stick around and socialize but since Emily had just arrived, I wanted to go home and wait. However, we weren’t sure we’d be able to find our back up the hill! Alexis said, “No problem!” His son could escort us back up the hill. So we headed back up the hill with a 10 year old guiding us. We know the shortest distance is, “as the crow flies” – well, the path this little guy took was “as the water flows”! We literally walked back up drainage areas (dry – remember I said it was a really hot day) between houses and gardens, one time even going under someone’s clothes hanging on a line! No one seemed to mind us cutting through their yard and many greeted us but most just stared. A few greeted our guide by name although his name has slipped my mind.

By the time we got home, remember it was all uphill this time and still quite hot and I had on a heavy dress, I was dripping! I took a shower – my 2nd for the day! Emily was awake and decided to go back with us to the reception. When we got a phone call from Bruce saying that the bride and groom were on their way back, we put our wedding clothes back on and got in the car and drove back to the church (using the main roads – not as direct but easier).

We arrived just before the bride and groom. We were led back inside the church which had been rearranged a bit for the reception. The reception was only for the couple we were there to see – the other couple had their reception somewhere else. At the front of the church was a table for the bride, groom, maid of honor and best man. They were facing the guests. Next, on both sides of the church, several rows of benches were replaced with plastic chairs facing the middle. These were for the families: his family on one side and hers on the other. The rest of the regular church benches were arranged as normal for the guests. Also up front was the cake. Here, instead of stacking the cake tiers on top of each other, they have a metal stand type of thing and each cake layer is on its own platform. The whole thing was covered with netting to keep the flies off. We sat on the groom’s side, on the benches but close to the family section.

After most of the guests were seated, the bride and groom were announced and came in. They did the SLOW processional this time (and it was a large church). At weddings at Rethy, they did this same processional. It’s pretty much two tiny steps forward, one step back. The whole time there was music and cheering and excitement all around. During the reception the father of the groom (or his representative) gave a long speech welcoming the bride’s family. Then the bride’s father (or representative) reciprocated with a long speech. The groom’s father and mother offered sodas to the bride’s father and mother and they drank a little bit together. After a lot of talking and hand shaking and soda drinking, sodas were passed around to all the family members and eventually to the guests. Pretty much the entire reception was one speech after another and since it was all in Kinyarwanda, we don’t really know what was being said but basically the families were welcoming each other and telling what the bride price was and what their gifts were to the new couple. Occasionally the bride and groom stood up and acknowledged what was being said. There was a master of ceremonies who was in charge and there was a choir that sang periodically.

When it was time for the cake to be cut, our friend, Alexis, excitedly motioned for Bruce to go up front. They wanted him to open the “champagne”. It was actually sparkling cider but Bruce did it with great flourish – shaking the bottle well and letting the bubbles flow all around. Before cutting the cake, there were sparkling candles in the cake that were lit. We found out later that this represents cooking their first meal for guests. Also, as the bride and groom went up to cut the cake, a couple of ladies stood behind them and sprayed shaving cream that showered around them – probably bubbles would have been a bit better… We found out that this represents---ahh, umm--, we forget what the shaving cream represented. When the cake was finally cut, the bride and groom took platters full of pieces of cake around to each of their family members. This represents their first show of hospitality as a couple. By this time we were thinking a little piece of cake sounded good but, alas, it wasn’t served to the guests – only family.

Following the cake ceremony was the gift giving. The families went first and made big speeches as they went up and presented their gift to the new couple. (One thing we’ve discovered in church is that Rwandans aren’t afraid of microphones or being in front of a crowd!) Fortunately, all the cows and goats that were being given were not actually present at the church! By this time, the speeches had been going on for quite awhile and a couple different people approached the MC and told him to hurry things along a bit! The choir (who all got cake, I might add) was looking particularly interested in heading home. Finally, it was the choir’s turn to present their gift and give their speech. Bruce and Gilles had slipped out by this time but we still had our gift and weren’t sure what to do it with it. Mark talked with Alexis and asked if he was going to have to speech when we gave our gift but Alexis said he would speak on our behalf. Mark was a bit relieved. Since we had no idea what people were saying, it was difficult to know what would be a culturally appropriate gift-giving speech – especially since we had never met the couple before. Eventually Alexis motioned to us and told us to get in the gift giving line. We made our way up to the front and Alexis took the mic. He gave a nice little speech, introducing us to the family. We really don’t know what he said but it was met with approval as there were several “Ehs” and nodding of heads and at the end we received some cheers and a round of applause. We then went up to the exhausted looking bride and groom, gave our gift and our attempts of greetings and hugs.

We were now free to leave. The church, which had been fairly full, was now quite sparsely occupied as people were heading for home and dinner. It was after dark already. As we were getting into our car, we were asked to drop off some of the family members which we were happy to help with. By the time we got home, we were hot, hungry and tired. Emily was a trooper and survived the whole event. Our understanding is that the family gift giving and speech making would continue on for quite a long time...