Beautiful green rolling hills of farmland, houses and shops greet dirt roads. A cool breeze welcomes the sunrise, a kiss of purple and pink. The soft pitter-patter of feet pass as cows begin to yawn and roosters crow.
Each house is a concrete façade with elegant pillars, colorful window frames and decadent landscaping. From the large, multi-room houses to the single room homes they stand. Curtains billow in doorways and kids stand doe-eyed in the yard. The streets, mostly red dirt, wind off into the distance.
Rain pours from the sky with the strength of an ox but only for a moment. What remains is slippery hills and laughter trying to maneuver on unsteady feet.
Little “HI’s” echo across the land from every house and are matched with tiny hands stretched out to wave. Women pass wrapped in elegantly colorful fabric with baskets, bins and bags balanced gracefully on their heads. Fabric ties around some of their waists to their backs where small eyes and chubby fingers peep out from the bulge, their most precious cargo.
This is Rwanda, Africa.
It has only been a week (now two since we don’t have WiFi) and we have already experienced so much. Our host is a pastor and his family. He is a witty man with a clever sense of humor, always ready to pull a small prank. His wife is a beautiful and strong woman who reigns in their five children with gentle love. Two family members also live with them and they all works together in caring harmony.
Our living quarter is a separate “guest house” behind their main house. There are two bedrooms, a living room and a bathroom. Just as we have experienced in every country prior, there is no air-conditioning so we leave the windows open to increase airflow. (This does not bother us, as the days have been decently cool thus far) The water currently stopped working so we fill up a large bin, daily, by carrying buckets from the well to the bathroom. (The well collects rainwater and this is their main water supply) The bathroom has a toilet in the center right off the room, sink in the front left corner and a drain in the back left corner for showers. The water we carried from the well provides us with water to fill the back of the toilet for flushing, water to wash our hands, faces and teeth and lastly, bucket showers.
Our sleeping arrangement is two to a bed for the larger beds, one person in a tent on the floor in the living room and myself in a smaller bed. I share a room with two team members and every day we are greeted by a lizard on the wall and every night we cocoon up under mosquito nets.
Our days begin between 5:40 and 8 depending on if you want to get up and run with Pastor Moses or if you want to sleep in until breakfast. Then we all hike up to a small local school where we teach and play with kiddos. School is over now but consisted of an hour of teaching and two hours of play since they were finishing up their final exams.
The afternoons vary from relaxing and doing laundry to visiting different churches and organizations. Thursday afternoon we visited a women’s organization that aids local women by teaching them trade skills: hair, nails, sewing, etc. Most of these women are single mothers and each has a beautiful testimony of how they found the lord. My favorite moment was letting them play with my hair. They were amazed by the texture, color, cut and length. They didn’t know what to do with it but loved attempting braids, twists and other fun designs. (It wasn’t as painful as I expected either)
The days are long yet short and hard yet easy. We walk everywhere and work hard but each day brings new fulfilling joy. The hardest struggle is honestly the lack of WiFi. It is the beginning of the holiday seasons and not being able to talk with my family is extremely difficult. With that being said, I am grateful for my World Race family and for this amazing season of life.
With only two weeks left in Rwanda my mind is amazed at how quickly time is passing. Soon we will be in Uganda and then time will fly and we will soon be home. Thank you everyone who has followed me these first 4 months. Stay tuned to see what weeks two and three hold!
(sorry there are no photos…WiFi is too slow to load them)
