Every Tuesday and Wednesday morning we get to help out at a school right up the road from our house. There are about 7 different classrooms, ranging from 5 years old to 12 years old. Our team each splits up and helps with one class each. I’ve had the pleasure of helping in the N3 class, which is the highest level kindergarten class, and my students are 5-6 years old. There are about 30 of them in my classroom and they are all really smart. The first day I was there, they were learning shapes and they were spelling “rectangle” on the board. I’m not even sure I could spell ”rectangle“ when I was 5!
In our class, what normally happens is in the first half of the morning, I can teach them whatever I want. The first day I met the teacher, Maxy, and she asked me what I could teach, and I told her I have a degree in music and I would be happy to teach the kids music. She was thrilled to hear this because she loves to sing, too. She was so excited to learn new songs. I got to teach her and her class lots of songs, like Lord I Lift Your Name on High, Jesus in the Boat, My Rock My Sword My Shield, Raise a Hallelujah, and many more. She also got to teach me some of their songs, and we got to share some of those with the kids in the whole school.
My favorite part of being in this classroom is not just singing with the kids, but getting to know Maxy. During the students’ break time, Maxy and I like to sit and talk about life. She asks me about home, and I ask her about her family and what her life looks like. She is so full of praises for the the Lord and is always saying such kind things to me. She loves when we sing in church and always tells us that we are such a blessing to her by sharing these songs with her. I remind her, though, that she is also a gifted singer, and the way she is teaching these children is such a blessing. She is from Uganda so she doesn’t speak Kinyarwanda fluently, so she teaching only in English, and the kids are learning so well that way.
She had said in one of our conversations that she wishes she could sing with the praise team at church, but because she doesn’t know Kinyarwanda, she can’t sing with them. So after I had taught her a few praise songs, I asked her if she would want to come and sing with us one Sunday when we share praise with the congregation, and she was thrilled. We invited her up to sing with us and she was so surprised and happy. She sang harmonies and sang with all of the strength in her voice, and after church she said singing with us was such a blessing. She felt so honored and was so happy to get to share her gift with the church in a way she had never gotten to before.
Now that we’ve been here for almost 3 weeks, we’ve gotten to know quite a few people in the village. Across from the school, there are workers who are working on a new school building and a new church building and we help then every Thursday. One day Maxy and I went to go get cups from the kitchen to give milk to the kids, and one of the project managers was in the kitchen. I had met him the first day. He does not know English, but he told the translators to tell me that I was a hard worker and they liked what I did. Then he would say something about “Mzungu” (which is the Rwandan equivalent to “gringo” in South America). It’s not necessarily offensive, but it points out the fact that I am, in fact, not of African descent. So when Maxy and I saw him, we greeted him, and he said some something to Maxy and then “mzungu”, to which Maxy responded in English “She is my sister. She is my friend” and the man went back to work.
When Maxy said this it warmed my heart. We had bonded and gotten so close that she would tell this man that we are not different, but the same in so many ways. We are friends. We are sisters in Christ, and any other difference doesn’t matter. She and I both love to sing and worship the Lord. We both love mangos and nature. We both have dreams to travel the world and we both love each other and call each other higher and point out the gifts the Lord has given each of us.
I told Maxy that I would be praying that she can use the gifts the Lord has given her in the church and the community. I told her that I pray that the Lord can give her immeasurably more, and that when she prays, that He will continue to give her blessings and gifts to use for His glory. And she told me that she would pray that I have a good life, and that the Lord would provide for me, enough that I could come back to Rwanda and visit.
Today was our last day helping at the school, and even though we don’t leave until next Wednesday, I am sad to no longer be working with Maxy. I’m hoping to see her around the village so I can talk to her again before we leave. She will be in church with us again on Sunday, and she will be able to sing some of the songs we will share for worship again, but I really do hope and pray that if it is in God’s will, this is not the last time I will see Maxy.
