Adventures In Rwanda

A Storm and a Mud Slide

The weather here has been exciting if you call unpredictable exciting.

In the last month, we have had a severe wind storm, an earthquake, and now a rain storm too severe to comprehend.

We do not have streams or rivers on our mountains, but mud slides are a problem.  Especially where new development is taking place as older developments are properly terraced.  If you are in the way of the path the water wants to travel, there is no contest. The water pouring downhill will find its own path. Move or be buried.

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Our homes are built strong to withstand the winds and the earthquakes but not the devastating rain and mud slides.  So retaining walls need to be built to protect the houses.  Stones and cement are very expensive but necessary to protect our homes.  We need stone, sand and cement, but we know that god will provide.

The Bricks that Build Our Homes, Also Build Our Community

Building homes for our children takes a lot of bricks for the walls and tiles for the roof and we have been buying many of these supplies from the Women's Tile and Brick Association. Many widows of the genocide have been working hard to build a new and better life and this small business is a great example of that.

John received a call from a woman at the Association offering to bring us a load of bricks and she came to meet me herself. She said:
"You have done so much for me and my business. Your work has lifted us up and we have been able to care for our families and buy a bigger truck. We will always be grateful to you. We will deliver to you all the bricks you need and you can pay us whenever you have the money. God bless you for what you do for us."

It was a wonderful surprise and it's great to see such hard work along with such a strong sense of community. It's at moments like this that we know we are having a real impact in this struggling part of the world.

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How do you say no when God sends a baby?

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Surprises come every day here at Urukundo Home for Children and in the month of July we were presented with a great challenge.

This baby was thrown away. No father, no mother, and no name. Just a child of God. He was found in the bush and brought to us by the police asking us to care for this two-month-old baby.



He is very special as he now has a family of 38 brothers and sisters, a mama (me) and a papa (John) who love him very much.  We are not set up for a two-month-old child, but we have the most important thing a child needs: lots of love.  Keep us in your hopes and prayers as we take on another challenge in the children God places in our lives.

Realizing the Need and Stepping up to the Challenge

It is clear to us now that this will not be the last thrown-away child that will come to us.  So we will need to plan for the future of a nursery with a mama and those things needed to care for infants.  Most of the things we need, like diapers, cribs, blankets and clothes, can be purchased here.  I guess the bottom line is that we need the money to buy the things that all babies need and to build a home to care for them.



We can give these babies a future.  I am praying someone or a group of someones will want to help us build the house for babies thrown away because a mother can't take care of them and survival is the key.

Please pray for this child's mother. She must have struggled for two months to care for her baby and could not. I do not know her circumstances, so I do not judge her. I just know how heartbreaking it must be to know that if you keep your child, it will die, and to throw it away may give it a chance for a better life.
I am thinking that this is another reason why God has been so faithful to the work of Hope Made Real. We serve in mission and serve children.

We have named him David Chad Kayitare. Yes, John and Hope have shared their last Name with him.

With this child's arrival comes another: we have found a young woman who is an orphan of the genocide and needs a home and some little money to live.  She is now the mama for David as she will be caring for our new child, bringing two together and helping restore the families and communities of Rwanda.

God gives us so much and expects much in return.  Join us in celebrating this new child in our midst.
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Cooking Food, the Price of Gas, and our New, More-Efficient Cooker

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I'm sure everyone is well aware that the price of fuel has been going up.  It's been straining us here too.

Charcoal has become very expensive here because of the ban by the government on cutting trees.  This is, however, our least expensive way to cook.  Electricity is currently not possible for us and gas is expensive and can only be purchased in Kigali.  So we spend $20 to retrieve it and for $86 purchase a small tank that lasts less than a month.  There is no truck to deliver gas like in the US.

Looking for a solution, we discovered a new, much more efficient design for a cooker.  We had it build in a single day.  It is made of cement but has three cooking holes and uses a third of the charcoal and can burn scrap wood.  We have lots of that from old scaffolding.  It's a step in the right direction and makes sure we all have properly cooked meals.

Our new cooker

It may be reaching a bit, but it reminds me of the old Iron cook stove in my Gram's house when I was a kid.  Any way you look at it though, we're please to be doing more with less, making better use of the materials and gifts available to us.

Playing Football in the Fields

An open field

One day, a day care or clinic will be on this land, but until the funds come, the land will not sit idly by.  As children tend to do, praise God, our boys see the open land and immediately use it to play football (aka soccer.)  The boys are now using the basketball court and the cement is hard on the balls as well as the knees and elbows of the boys when they fall which is often.  Much like life, soccer is a fall down, get back up, and keep on going kind of game.  I think we need some kind of protection for the knees and elbows but until then falling on dirt will be much better than cement.

The Season's Disturbance is Global

In Rwanda, we are dealing with the change.  The dry season has finally come.  The wet season which normally lasts three months, lasted five.  You would think that is good but it surely confused the crops and those waiting to begin the harvest. Even though the rains continued, the growing season stopped.

The farmers are not sure when to plant the next crop.  We wonder, will the dry season also last five months?  When should we prepare the soil and plant?  This was not my problem but now that we have farm land and plan a garden, I also am concerned. I will however leave these decisions to those who are more experienced than I.

Computer Problems Slowed My Correspondence This Last Month

Today, I'm posting all the great news that took place in June.  I am fine even though you have not heard from me.  Computer problems continue to plague me.  This time it was not the internet, but actually my computer that took a turn for the worse.

Most computers can be repaired in Rwanda, but the Mac is not yet supported here.  The repair people won’t even look at it, which I guess is good since they could do more damage by not being trained for that work.  There's a job opportunity for someone versed in the Mac who'd like to come to Rwanda.  More and more people are needing that service here, not just me.  The Mac seems to be very popular with Americans coming to work in Rwanda.

Fortunately, two wonderful people from the U.S., Paulette and Rich Whitekettle, parents of my friend Christie who works with Food for Hungry, were ready to return to the US and offered to take the very sick computer to the Apple store where they live.  The sad part is that the technician at the store said there was water in the PC and the cost of repair would be over $800 USD.  This is a lot of money for me.

I am currently working on a Dell now and a gentleman from Austria gave me his old computer, a Toshiba, but alas I know his intentions were good but the thing is in German and I do not know German. Oh, he did tell me I can go on line and get the words I need to use it.  We’ll see.

Enough about the communication problems. I’m back with the Dell and am praying for the return of a good used Macbook to replace my old one.  Fortunately, I still have a backup of all my files.

Bees Ain’t All Honey

Strange title for this story, but believe me I do know the truth of it. Every day is exciting here but some days more than others.
There were bees everywhere.
Millions of bees.

Today was moving day for the boys to the village and the truck arrived to take bed frames, mattresses and other items. We were all helping load the truck. I did not anticipate trouble as a strange dog came to check out the activity. Our dogs saw the stranger. The dogs sniffed each other as dogs do and decided they were not friends. A scrimmage took place on the guest-house lawn. Suddenly all the dogs started to screech and howl and run in circles biting at themselves. "What in the world?" What I saw set me in motion at once.

There were bees everywhere. Millions of bees. The strange dog took off howling down the road, bees in pursuit and our dogs ran screaming as only dogs can scream back in the direction of the boys home. Bees, when angry, do not give up the chase and now the entire area was a mass of bees. We would soon be in the middle. The bees were everywhere and more were coming out of the ground. I needed to get the kids out of there, and quick. The kids didn't see what was happening. They heard me yell and started to run toward the house and thank God they followed me.

It is hard to make scared kids understand, “Don’t throw your arms. Just run. Run!" In English it just does not come across easily.

You might be surprised to see how fast this woman can run given the right incentive. I ran with the kids following me and we arrived at the front door of the boy's home. By this time the bees had reached the kids and they were being stung. Once inside I had to yell at the top of my lungs for them to hear me. They needed to stand still. Now it was a matter of keeping the doors and windows shut and picking bees out of hair, off clothes and out of body parts.

I thought I should go for help. I had to go through the bees to get repellent. The walk to my house took forever. I covered myself as best as I could. While walking I tried to warn people going in the other direction, but again the language barrier made things difficult. Smiling at me they continued to walk into the bees and then turned screaming and running helping to spread the bees further and further. I did not get stung on the way to get the repellent. I spayed myself and started back. Hurrying back to the boys' home with repellent, a young man who wanted a job started walking with me. I tried to tell him this was not the time but he continued anyway. Suddenly we reached the bees and he started swinging his arms. I was under full attack. I had not sprayed my face and so my face became the target. I have a big nose and the bees found it very easily. They stung outside and inside, under my eyes, and on my cheek bones. My face became a battle zone and I ran spraying my head to get inside. Picking bees off when the stinger is still attached is weird. My staff were waiting and cleared my face. The stingers left me in pain.

Bees in Africa are very dangerous. I would find out soon enough, but right now I needed to get the boys out of danger. Thank God for mosquito nets. In order to get the boys to safety past the bee zone, I started a search and found three mosquito nets in a packed box. The kids laughed as Mama tucked them together under the nets. They thought it was funny. I showed them how to hold the net tight around their knees and told them to walk quickly to the girls home and stay there. God is good. None of the kids were affected by the experience.

Things finally quieted down after several hours and I was able to relax. Big mistake, now I could feel what was happening to me. My face felt as though I had been beaten. I could not touch my nose as there was so much pain. It felt broken and was on fire and my eyes burned as well. I managed to get to my home with the help of Etienne, my guard, to where Carrie, a visiting missionary, put cold compresses on my face to stop the terrible heat. I took an antihistamine that Etienne found in the little clinic. I was having a violent reaction to the poison. Thank God I survived a nasty bee attack that I am told could have been fatal.

Two people, a young man and a woman, ended up in the hospital. We are not yet sure if there are other reactions to the bee attack.

That surely was enough excitement to last a long time.

Thanks for letting me share.