Adventures In Rwanda

Greetings from Mama Arlene for June, 2009

Greetings from Urukundo Village. June has been a wonderful month. We have had 19 volunteers arrive ready to work. Vacations have started and so our volunteers come and they are most welcome. They came one at a time and stay for as long as they can be here. Some come for two weeks, others for as much as 3 months. Two others for two days and 3 came for just an afternoon. All are appreciated.
We welcomed a team of 9 from Bloomsburg, PA for 10 days. We put them to work along with our other volunteers playing baseball, soccer and other sports with the kids, working with the babies, teaching bible study, speaking in worship, helping with laundry, cooking and cleaning, building a retaining and divider wall around the village. One visitor is teaching Taekwondo, two others English as a second Language, another Piano, and yet another is teaching Guitar. A nurse came and worked in the clinic for several days. So the activities have been wonderful and are many.
Our visitors visited the Genocide Center in Kigali, Kings Palace in Inyanza, The Natural History Museum in Butare and the Farm at Inyanza. It truly has been a good month.

How the Weather Kept New Photos Out of This Month's Update

You may notice there aren't as many photos this month as there usually are.  It all has to do with the weather, which is still unpredictable.

We have just passed through what is traditionally three dry months in Rwanda, but with rain storms every day. Our storms have been very violent, with high winds and much rain, but we are finding every leak in the homes and that is a plus. However moping up the water is a lot of work. Fixing the roofs, windows and doors to keep out the water has been a challenge.

The worst results of the weather happened to me or at least it was the worst for me.

The window over my desk in my bedroom office was not latched securely and at the height of the storm blew open, drenching my bed and the entire room which, sadly, included my desk. My macbook sat open on that desk. Water destroys computers and it certainly destroyed mine. The entire computer, monitor and key board were drenched.

Gradually, the water evaporated from the monitor. It was interesting to watch and it took 3 weeks to do so. There are about 4 spots still visible but inside the keyboard nothing has changed as it does not function, So the computer has to be replaced. Fortunately my hard drive was backed up, but I can’t get to the data just yet.

I am so grateful for the used PC I brought back from my visit in January 2008 and that is what I am using now to do the newsletter.

Our First Month of the New Year

Greetings and best wishes for the new year 2009. The new year came in with a bang and not all of it good. We have been victimized with an enemy known in the US as "the flu." It has gone through the kids and some of the staff. So far it has not found me. I hope it does not. I am so grateful for the vitamins we have received and are giving to the kids every day. I am sure it would have been much worse had the kids not been in good health. David has had the worst time. We took him to Dr. Theo yesterday and he has developed Pneumonia and Bronchitis. Please pray for him and all the kids.

- mama Arlene

A Christmas Pageant

To celebrate Christmas, the kids put on a Christmas Pageant. It was great fun as the kids had to do the whole thing with as little adult help as possible. They did an amazing job. It was enjoyed by all.

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I shared with the children the tradition of giving a gift to someone you love and the fun of the tree. Explaining that the tree is part of our culture. They had fun decorating the tree and each receiving a package from mom. The white bags are back packs and flip flops part of school supplies.

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.