Miti

What a wonderful, wonderful day! We visited the area known as Miti on Sunday where we have supported the building of a local school (Pastor John Tarp School as many of you know it) in partnership with Mark's good friend Pastor Lwabimba and their church community in Miti.

Pastor John gave a fantastic sermon about saying Yes to God! 

We were greeted by rows of singing children. The old church is on the right, the new church is the brick building on the left, and the new school is being constructed in the middle.

Inside the completed church.

Panoramic image of the service - Pastor Lwabimba is the main pastor on the left.

Pastor John with Pastor Lwabimba sharing a light moment during the service.

Pastor Lwabimba receives all the cards created by our church kids.

After the service there was much visiting outside and the children performed special music. You can see the new school building in the background.

Pastor John and Mark in the shell of the new school building. The community of Miti is working extremely hard to provide an education for the orphaned and very poor children of the community.  This is really an amazing group of people who are working hard to help the most vulnerable among them. Next challenge: trying to figure out how to pay the teachers, all of whom have been volunteering for months.

Pastor John with a new friend.

The school children - they sang many beautiful songs 

Mama Miti with the teachers and students around her

Ryan and Helena making friends

Mama Miti, Francine and Titi 

Amy with Francine - Francine did an amazing job with Amy explaining to all the women at Miti how to utilize the SHE kits we donated. What a blessing!

“Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:7)

Fruit Bats

Local kids disturbed the bats and many of them took flight.

Monday morning those of us in Rwanda went on a boat ride to an island to see a colony of fruit bats.  There were a few minor adventures, like an approaching storm with huge rumbles of thunder and a hole in the front of the boat that was pouring in water (no problem- we just needed to redistribute the weight) but those things just added to the fun!  

Apparently President Kagame visited the island and met with the residents who told him they needed electricity and a hospital. The President told them it would be done within a year ago. And it was!

You can't see it in the picture but there are thousands of bats on this tree.  I'll try to find better pictures from someone else's camera!

Fishing boats.

More fishing boats.

Fishing village in distance.

Sue enjoying the ride!

All on board?  That looks like a 'yes, mom I know ' look on Lindsay.

Getting life jackets ready.

Marla leaves her mark - Gatumba Miduha Primary School

Two years ago we stopped on an empty-looking stretch of road so that Marla could get some air and hopefully settle down a queasy stomach.  When we all were quickly surrounded by children, however, it became apparent that we'd actually parked right next to a school!

Today we were able to visit the same school--Gatumba Miduha Primary School--and had a great time!  Over 900 students attend the school split between a morning and afternoon session.  When we showed up though (without permission!) it was all fun and games!

An upset stomach isn't the greatest feeling, but thanks to Marla needing some time off the bus we made a new connection. Thank you, Marla! and thank you, God for using all things for good!

...all things work together for good for those who trust in the Lord...

A boy carrying a rock on his head outside the school

Some of the teachers with some students

Ryan heading back to the bus

Adorable little girl

There were several small signs in English around the campus. This one says  "Teaching is the basis of other professions" ... so true

The students were so happy and excited to see us. They greeted us with several songs.

Our FUMC kids sang to the students in return.

Another photo of the hard working teachers--13 in total for over 900 students! Some teachers have 55 students in their classroom!

These boys were happy to strike a pose for the camera. Even happier to see the digital image of themselves.

Nancy with her many new friends!

High fives are universal!  Elizabeth high fiving the kids on her way to the bus.

View of the school campus from the street.

Waving goodbye

Beautiful Rwanda / Beautiful Congo

We saw so much beauty in our surrounding on our trip. Here are just a few snapshots we took along the way.

Murambi Genocide Memorial

We stopped the bus at this spot in the Nyungwe Forest

The male silverback eating leaves ... We were about 15 feet away from him.

Tea is one of Rwandas top exports. The tea fields are part of the beautiful tapestry of countryside.

Beautiful view of Lake Kivu at sunset as we pulled into the Peace Guest house.

Another beautiful sunset on the way back to Kigali from Musanze

More patchwork tapestry

Another view of Lake Kivu

The silverback had a fight yesterday with a rival gorilla and had some cuts on his face.

Moto taxi!

Fun times in DRC! What a way to go to church!

Mama Ombeni insisted that the kids have brand new helmets. Lwabimba made sure the drivers drove carefully!  Lwabimba will sell the helmets at his motorcycle shop after we've gone.

Panzi Hospital

What an amazing visit we had at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, DRC!! Mark's friend Leonard's son, Dr James, is a surgeon at Panzi hospital so we'd been in communication with him for some time and had expressed our hope to visit when we were in DRC. In addition, the much-loved and two time Nobel peace prize nominee Dr. Mukwege ((known for his work advocating for and repairing injuries to victims of rape) is the very famous surgeon at Panzi so we were of course hoping to meet him too! We arrived at the hospital several hours later than planned after church, visiting the Pygmy village and handicapped women's center, lunch at Lwabimba's, and a long, slow ride through a gridlocked super-dicey part of town. But finally we arrived at the hospital. As luck would have it, Lindsay desperately needed a bathroom so Dr James brought me and Lindsay on a mini tour while searching for a suitable bathroom. Little does he know that we pack our own tissue and are ok with whatever is available! We've even mastered the seatless hole in the ground! We sure did enjoy the tour though. On our way back to meet the others we walked to dr Mukwege's house to see if he was ready to meet us. Because of a previous assassination attempt (which his bodyguard did not survive) his home is surrounded by a tall fence with razor wire coiled around the top and armed guards. Yikes. All that protection because he speaks out against rape and those who commit rape!!! We ended up gathering in a conference room and wow - what a lovely man! Besides being a world famous surgeon he is also a pastor and has the kindest gentlest spirit. I think we all felt a bit dumbstruck just to be in his presence! After visiting for several minutes we retrieved all our donations for Panzi from the vehicles and it was the doctors' turns to be dumbstruck! They could not believe how much we were able to bring to them, including several thousand dollars worth of sutures!! Both doctors said how infrequently they get visitors and how very much it meant to them to have us come see them offering encouragement and support. All of us were so amazed and impressed by both Dr Mukwege and Dr James and would like to do more to support their work.