I know I haven't been very good with keeping up with this blog already, I apologize for that. Things get crazy busy here as well. So let's start with the trip to Rwanda. Started off with about 15 hours Riding in a van, on extremely bumpy roads. And let's be honest there really aren't too many rules to the road either. Crossing the border from Uganda to Rwanda took about 2 hours when it should have only taken about a half an hour. That was an experience to say the least. Our first destination was a Rwandan diocese where we would be staying for 4 nights. When we arrived we got our room which happened to be one big room with several beds where all 22 girls would be staying. It was like a big slumber party every night, which has both it's advantages and disadvantages. The first day we we're there we participated in what was called Umuganda, which in kinyarwanda means community work day and happens every last Saturday of the month. In this case we were to help the Diocese lay concrete in one of the new church buildings they were working on. I loved helping out with this, I needed the physical activity and found it fun to work and talk to the people at the diocese. Then when the work was done we share a meal together, I quickly learned that Rwanda has amazing food! Not that Ugandan food isn't good... I also quickly learned that soda is a very popular thing in Africa, no matter where you are. Fanta of all different flavors and coca-cola. I was disappointed in the fact that they don't have root beer anywhere, but that's besides the point. The next big thing i learned while in Rwanda just talking to some children in the back yard of the Diocese is that American secular and Christian music is really popular. One of the first things the children would ask because they spoke little English is you know Nikki Manaj? I laughed. Also, surprisingly Celine Dion is really popular in Africa as well. So glad this was true because me loving music and everything gives me an automatic connection point with many of the African people. We soon attended and led a rural Rwandan church service. A group of the USP students were to pick out 3 contemporary songs to lead for worship and someone to preach the messages, luckily in our group we had two of us that were pretty decent singers and one that plays the Ukulele really well and also a UCU Honors College student who was more than willing to preach and actually turned out to peach an excellent message and also spoke kinyarwanda so that he could translate to their language. The church service over all went well but it was about 4 hours long. The church that we went to had 6 different choirs and all of them were to perform as well as us doing all of our songs and message. It was a little overwhelming but super fun! Our next experience would be traveling to the city of Kigali where we stayed at a convent. On the car ride there some of our Honors college students were teaching my new USP friend Emily and I Luganda. Some simple phrases and words that we learned. Excuse the spelling, haven't learned that yet. Olio Tya - how are you Jayandie - I'm fine Gwani - who are you or what is your name Nyebo - ma'am Sebo - sir Katonda - God Yesu qua gala - Jesus loves you Wanji - yes These are only a few. I'm learning so much more as well. After we got to Kigali we went to an art gallery called Inema. The art was sooo beautiful! A lot of abstract art, and an observation the artists made art out of anything and everything even empty bottles they may have found on the street. It was here that a group of children and teens performed and taught us the traditional Rwandan dance. I loved learning and thought that it was so cool that the children even at a young age were so in touch with their cultural roots and it was such a part of them that it honestly made me wish that maybe I was a little more in touch with some of my heritage traditions. The next part of our journey would start the most difficult part. Learning and seeing things about the Genocide in Rwanda. The first place we went was a museum where they had the story from beginning to the end with pictures and bones and descriptions of people's stories.. They also had mass graves. The same afternoon we were taken to a church where a mass killing happened. When you walked into the sanctuary there were millions of clothes of people that were killed all over the benches covering every square inch of the sanctuary and you could see the bullet holes in the ceilings and through the walls of the church. Then down in the basement they had cases of the skulls and bones of the people killed there. Also, I didn't go down but in the back was a mass grave of the people killed and those that went down said that it was a really difficult sight to see. Although I would have rather not seen any of the memorial sight at the church or even the museum I am grateful that we did. The next day we went to what was called CARSA. It was there that we helped an older man carry rocks down a huge hill to his home and help rebuild the foundation around his house. After we were done working we had the opportunity to hear first hand some stories of the people that were there during the genocide. The stories were really amazing. The older man that we helped was able to forgive and reconcile with a man that killed his entire family. They are now neighbors and best friends, and that is just one example of the many stories we heard. This would conclude our time at Rwanda. Through the time there I came to realize that Rwanda is a beautiful place with an amazing testimony that God is using to change lives. It was so cool to see that even though everything happened there they are not going on as if it never happened but instead forgiving and living life together in unity and showing the real beauty of Rwanda. I even learned something very important from Rwanda. If someone can forgive another person that killed their entire family and then live side by side with them, then I have no reason but to forgive those in my life that have done much less worse. I also learned that forgiveness means nothing without reconciliation. Not only am I called to forgive, but also to reconcile with those that I have forgiven, not just forgive and forget. Through our time in Rwanda I also learned some things in kinyarwanda. Imana igufashe - God help you Imana igahu mugisha - god bless you Muraho - hello There is so much to share, that's not even close to everything that I've experienced on that trip. After another 15 hour van ride with number out jam sessions worshipping God we arrived back at campus in Uganda with a day to relax before classes started. I was a super excited for classes to start and to get settled into a routine, although it hasn't quite happened yet. The first week of classes went extremely well. I was finally able to start my internship. I am interning at Chain Foundation. There is so many different things happening at Chain. My main focus is going to be an outreach project called OVC. Within this project they have several groups of caretakers of about 161 households in the community. The main goal of the project is to raise the income and quality of living within these households. Each of the groups has meetings and they save money each time they meet and it kind of works like a micro finance group where they can borrow money from what they have saved. Also in the groups we lead life skills trainings on nutrition and ways that they can raising their income, having a garden, etc. This is not the main focus of the foundation. At the site they have a primary school grades K-6 that facilitate high functioning children as well as visually and hearing impaired children. They also have an orphanage there as well that the majority of children in the school stay at. They also have a garden and animals as well as a pottery studio so that they can teach the children a trade before they graduate so they can have a skill to go out into the community with when they get old enough. I love my internship sooo much and am looking forward to working there this semester. Now that we have a week of classes under our belt we we're dropped off at our 2 week Mukono Homestays yesterday morning. When I first arrived I was very surprised to see this lovely woman greet me at the door. I was expecting not only her but her husband and several children, however, this was not the case. It was just her. She was soooo excited! And told me that I was to call her mama Harriet! She is so sweet! She was showing me around the house and showed me my room and the latrine and washroom. And yes, I do mean latrine. They're not as bad as you'd think. Then she introduced me to her daughter, Jennifer, and then she had a meeting to go to. So I was left with Jennifer to prepare lunch. I soon found out that she is not the host sister that she mentioned earlier when she was showing me the rooms in the house. She happened to be 30 years old and had 2 children of her own, and her own home. But all as well she took me to the market to get bread so that we could take our tea. Because that's the first thing you must do when entering into the Ugandan home. Then we got greens, an onion and Irish.. (Potatoes). I watched as she prepared lunch. Then after we ate lunch my real host sister, Lily came home from high school. But she's not Mama Harriet's daughter, she is her niece. She is pretty awesome!! She is 19 years old and still in high school. This is her last year though. She turns 20 in October, and then graduates in December. And starts at the university in September. She isn't younger than me by much.. Only 5 months. So then we went to get some things for dinner and I kid you not, the first meal for dinner that they wanted to make me was spaghetti, and they didn't even know me. I found this funny, as it is my favorite meal. Haha. They also made tomato sauce, with onions and garlic, and salt and a little seasoning. It was reallyy good! I also had my first real bucket bath last night. This is the first time I really regret having long hair, washing it was beyond difficult. I love it here so far, even though it puts me out of my comfort zone. I was a little worried at first, and unsure if I was going to be able to do any homework. However, God really blessed me with the type of host family that He knew I needed. Not something too crazy where I can really still learn about the community and culture of Uganda, wether I want to or not. It's really a serve yourself, you're part of the family so help out where you can kind of environment. I like it. I'm thankful that I tried to do my best in keeping an open mind even though it was really awkward and difficult at first. Now it's a Sunday afternoon and I am sitting at monkey hill just relaxing and thinking about all that I've learned and looking forward to the next two weeks as I become close with a Ugandan family. Within these last two weeks alone there have been so many different things thrown at me and so many new experiences, it's a lot to handle, but I am taking it day by day and taking in all that I can because I know that when I come home in December it will be so worth it!
