This month we are in a village approximately 6 mi outside of Kigali (the capital of Rwanda). You would think that this village would be fairly modernized because it is so close to the city, however that couldn’t be further from the truth. Transitioning from the city to the village almost felt like switching to an entirely different country. So much changes on the 40-minute drive. There are fewer buildings, more and more fields, mountains, wandering goats, and rougher roads. Even the people start to look a bit different. They aren’t dressed in the latest western clothes like you might find in the city, but instead, are wearing more local trends or dated western looks (think 80’s exercise gear).
This all came as a surprise to us as we thought we were staying in the city this month. The ministry we are working with is called Rhema Victory Church and our host, Pastor John, has worked at its multiple locations (including one in the heart of Kigali). We are the first team to be sent to this village location and the church here is only two weeks old. Church here is quite an interesting experience but… I’ll save that for another blog post. In the mornings we are teaching the baby class at the Rhema Victory Church Nursery. There are 22 kids ranging in age anywhere from 2-10 years old. It has been a challenge to teach them because of their lack of English language skills, their vast ages, and their even more vast abilities. On the second day of teaching it was my turn to plan our warm-up activity. I decided it would be good to warm up with coloring. It is a simple activity and it helps the younger ones learn simple fine motor skills (like holding a pencil), the older children would be able to practice coloring inside of the lines, and the oldest girls would be able to practice their English color identification. Easy-peasy.
Taylor, Kim, and I passed out the necessary materials and then had our translator tell them just to color freely for a few minutes. The kids all stared at us. After a minute or two of this awkward staring our translator, January, let us know that we would need to teach the kids how to shade. The kids had absolutely no idea how to color. My heart broke as I understood their confused looks. I can say with confidence that this is the first time in my life that I have met children who don’t know how to color. Even just a 30-minute drive outside of the city there is little access to luxuries such as crayons or coloring books. Each of us had to sit with tables and demonstrate coloring for them, but it didn’t seem to click for most kids. Many of them would just scribble back and forth on the same spot until the paper looked like it might tear underneath the weight of the entire crayon. I tried to correct them a few times, but then I realized that it was a fruitless endeavor. I simply sat back and watched them bear down on the same spot of paper over and over again. It is a process of exploration, creativity, and discovery. We will probably be doing a fair amount of coloring over the next two weeks to allow them to continue to explore, discover, and gain the necessary fine motor skills to color inside the lines, but for now, we’ll just be content with coloring at all.
We take for granted so many things in America and that is something I know full well. A lot of the things I have seen this year honestly don’t surprise me that much. Wi-Fi is a luxury. Smartphones are a luxury. Having any food you’d like at your fingertips is a luxury. Being able to buy new clothes anytime you want is a luxury. Even running water and electricity are luxuries. But I never considered coloring to be a luxury. Coloring was a foundational part of my childhood and education, as it is for all American children (and many other children around the world). It is the little things that we forget to appreciate, so today I encourage you to take a look around your house and think of all of the things you use daily. Take a moment to be thankful for it all.
