goodbye Kigali... at least for now

my time in Rwanda is officially over.. at least for now. I know without a doubt that I will be back there one day. I am now in France for two weeks before finishing up my time in Europe with my family in Italy. What a summer full of memories.. I have been having a hard time comprehending all that has happened yet alone finding the words to adequately express it.

My heart has been aching since being away from Rwanda and if I could, I would go back this very instant. I find myself staying up into the early morning hours of the night everyday looking at pictures and wishing more than anything that I could hold the street children in my arms once again. Yet I know that my time for now has come to an end and that God has other things for me. I must finish up my time at school, and I do so with a renewed focus wanting to learn as much as I can so that it might somehow benefit the kingdom of God, and hopefully the people of East Africa.

Update on the street boys: For my last month in Rwanda, I was pushed to pray for the boys knowing that I was going to be leaving soon. What would happen to them and who would care for them when I left? During my last week, my friend Josiane who has one of the most beautiful and caring hearts I’ve ever seen, approached me. She said that she had been touched by the boys after seeing them in church the previous Sunday and that she wants to help take care of them!! Words can’t describe how jubilant I was and I had a hard time hiding the smile on my face for the rest of the day.

We set up a small program between us where I am going to send her money and she will take care of the boys as if they were her own children. Already she has sent me reports and they have warmly accepted her and were overjoyed to find out that she was coming in my place and that we could remain in contact through her. She plans to take them to her home weekly to feed them and let them sleep in her living room. She wants to teach them how to pray and plans to continue taking them to Patmos on Sundays. The most exciting thing is that Josiane offered to find schools that would take the boys if I could find sponsors. When she told them the news, she said that they were absolutely thrilled. I can just imagine their smiling faces and see them jumping up and down with delight in their eyes.

Habimana

That being said, Josiane is in the midst of figuring out the schooling process and I must find sponsors for these 9 very vulnerable boys. I am currently unsure how much school fees are but I am positive the cost is small compared to the significance of how much this will change the future of these 9 lives. I am trying to figure out a way to send the money through an NGO so that if you sponsored a child, it would be more reliable. Josiane, however, has a degree in accounting and experience as she was in charge of a large church’s finances before. I don’t trust anyone more than her in all of Kigali. Before I left, I talked with countless NGO’s such as World Vision and Compassion International, but they were all unable to take the children into their programs because of many restrictions they’re organizations have. Thus, God answered through Josiane.. Oh, how He is faithful! I am still trying to find an organization to partner with though and will keep you updated..

Other than that, my time saying goodbye to my new Rwandan family was pretty difficult. On the night before I left, all the youth came to Pastor’s house to say goodbye. Because there was no money for electricity, we sat there in the shadows of the dark and took turns encouraging one another. It was a beautiful time. After lavishing me with kind words, they gave me so many gifts that I had a very difficult time bringing them all home. It meant a lot because I know that each one of them must have sacrificed hugely to buy me such nice things. They then surrounded me and prayed and the room was filled with many tears. After this, we moved all the furniture from the living room and danced together singing of how we are all going to be together in heaven someday.

Aline, the director of the youth, and I the night before leaving

On my last day, I gave Auntie the money that we raised for her to start a salon. She teared up many times while we talked and signed the papers and then she finally broke down speaking of how she no longer alone J

After a tearful goodbye at the airport, I spent the majority of the plane ride writing. I was filled with such ups and downs, so sad to be leaving yet at the same time knowing that I have other things to do this year. I got the opportunity to see my long time friend Pastor John in Kenya. His family spent hours getting to the airport just to see me for about 45 minutes. His family was beautiful and it was great to be able to see him after nearly 2 years apart.

After getting to Paris, it seemed that all hell had broke lose. Because my flight had been so delayed from Kenya, I had missed my flight to Southern France and had to buy a new one. I soon discovered that my credit card had been locked and I didn’t have enough cash on me to buy my ticket. It was awful and I broke down in tears at the ticket counter. After frantically searching through my bag, I amazingly found more money that I forgot I had… thank God! I then waited for 8 hours in the airport where my wandering eyes met many homeless people sleeping in empty chairs. From one airport to another, from each country to the next, there is suffering and poverty of many kinds.  As I sat there people watching, my mind and heart raced, switching back and forth, to and fro between emotions and thoughts. The thought of the huge financial disparity that’s between the people in the world made me ache and want to scream and break down crying all at the same time. When I finally arrived in Southern France, I found out that my car was broken in America, and that my cell phone had been stolen from my room in Kigali two months earlier, and that my phone bill was $8,500. It was a very discouraging few days, especially coming from a place where that much money could literally save hundreds of lives. A door has finally opened up though (thank you SO much Steiner!!!) and there only needs to be one more word of approval from the cell phone company before they waive the charges.. wow, I hope it works!

Last night I spent an hour and a half on Fritz’s farm laying in an open field watching the stars come out, reflecting on what I’ve seen, smelled, heard, tasted, experienced and learned this summer..

..but that shall come tomorrow.