One year in Rwanda..

This time last year, I was getting ready to move to Rwanda. It’s incredibly hard to believe that a year has already gone by. I feel like such an older person than one year ago and it’s crazy to think of how my life has changed its course. I thought that by now, I’d be in my first year of grad school. Instead, I ride a scooter through villages to work everyday, I wash my laundry by hand, my stomach is full of rice and potatoes, I play football and organize activities with children whom I love and get paid for it, and I’m learning tons about business and management.

boys will be boys

While I was in the States this past summer, I was incredibly anxious to return to Rwanda. My previous experience had been so full of conflict and heartache that I didn’t know how much longer I could persevere living in Kigali. However, things have changed 180 degrees. HFLM is filled with peace, growth, blooming organization, and healthy relationships. Sometimes, when I go there, I find myself lost for what to do. Our new staff team is remarkable and we are so grateful for their constant hard work. Most days, I find myself enjoying living my life here, and am rather fascinated and in disbelief that this is actually my life that I’m living. I think I should write a book one day about it all  Since being back over the last month, I have contracted typhoid, and a major flu. Fun times. I’m feeling much better, however, and the sickness was actually a nice time to force myself to rest. I’ve now experienced typhoid, malaria, parasites, and tungiasis in Africa. What’s next?

About a month ago, Morris and I were driving through town on my scootie and an object in the road slowly started entering our vision. What we thought was a dead dog, turned out to be a human whose broken and twisted body was covered in blood and glass. As we hurried off the scooter and towards the man, cars mounted the large sidewalk and drove into the bushes to drive around the scene and avoid stopping. We counted at least 10 cars before us who drove clear off the road instead of stopping. Our hearts were broken at the depravity and lack of care we had just observed between fellow humans, but there wasn’t time for that as we had to try and get the man to the hospital. After checking he was breathing and flipping him on his side to avoid choking on the blood gushing from his mouth, the search began for a car that would be willing to take us to the hospital. We asked at least 6 cars who all either said no, rolled up their windows, and shoo’ed us away before we found a willing bypasser. We rushed to the emergency room which was filled with other thin, frail, and broken bodies and awaited the news.

After this incident, I found myself deeply disturbed and saddened by the lesson the world had taught me. I feel as if I have been schooled in the reality of the world and the reality of my own depravity away from the SPU bubble this past year. The man survived the accident and now has metal poles running through his fractured legs. What’s worse, however, is that the hospital kicked him out of their ward and is making him sleep in the grass outside because he can’t afford to pay for any of his $550 bill. Nor can the hospital afford to feed him or give him medicine. I can’t imagine the throngs and throngs of people who are denied simple medical care each day in Rwanda because they lack the $10 to pay basic doctor fees. The ramifications are astonishing and cannot be hidden – the malnourished bellies of children, scabby ridden skin, a 15 year old boy dying of malaria and diarrhea before my eyes, a 13 year old girl collapsed on the sidewalk because she hadn’t eaten in 4 days.. it seems that there is truly no option for the poor. In speaking with locals about this, its been explained that its simply the reality of life in Africa – people die... frequently. I refuse to accept this answer.

I don’t tell you this story to shout, “Hey, look at me” in any way. Rather, I wish to illuminate the reality of the worlds inequality and the disparity between access to money and opportunity to care for your family. I’ve randomly come across 3 dying people in the road in the past 5 months around Kigali. The average life expectancy in Rwanda is 38. In 2004, there was 1 doctor per 30,000 people in the South-Eastern region of the country, and no hospital existed. Even if a hospital did exist, who in the village could afford the $10 to bring their baby to the doctor when the $2 they earned that day must house and feed their other 2 children?

In other news, I am reading about Paul Farm who founded the global public health organization, Partners in Health. I find myself fascinated, drawn in, and interested in potentially studying public health along with social work. It is truly inspiring what can happen when people stop to really care about each other. From its humble beginnings in a small community in Haiti, Partners in Health has now expanded its programs bringing quality healthcare to the poor around the world, including to Rwanda. It’s the only hospital in Rwanda that will treat a patient, no questions asked, even if they can’t pay. Amazing.

Lastly, Caroline, Pippa and I have moved houses! We now live in a quiet, cozy house that feels much more like our “home” than our previous residence. We are enjoying our beautiful garden, more peace and quiet, and having a living room again.

Pips & Meg being goofs as usual

For more news on what’s been happening with Hope For Life Ministry, check out: www.hopeforlifeministry.blogspot.com

Thanks friends!

Safe and Sound

Don't worry everyone - I made it safely to Kigali a few days ago! I've spent the past few days catching up with the boys and staff, and falling asleep in the middle of the day on the bus, in chairs - jetlag is rough.

I really hope to blog more often this time in Rwanda, so stay tuned and if I'm not blogging, get on my case!

Love you friends, family, and supporters. I couldn't be here without you.

You're Invited!

You are invited to CREATIVE CHANGE: A BENEFIT ART EXHIBITION FOR RWANDAN STREET CHILDREN. Hosted by Hallway Gallery in Bellevue on September 18th from 5-8pm, the event will feature semi-abstract paintings that portray the beauty and struggles of daily life in East Africa. Displaying a wide variety of artistic styles, canvas sizes, and vibrant colors, the diverse price range of the exhibit offers something for any budget. Half of the funds raised from this event will directly benefit Hope For Life Ministry, while the remaining 50% support Rwandan painters who grew up in orphanages themselves. One of the Rwandan artists will even be in attendance of the exhibition!





We look forward to joining you for a meaningful night filled with beautiful art and wine for the betterment of Rwandan children!

For more information, email swansonhfl@gmail.com

Liberation in a Journey

I discovered this poem today:

“Liberation is a Journey” by Uwayo B. Edouard


Liberation is a journey

Rwandese of Rwanda and Rwandese outside of Rwanda

All who speak Kinyarwanda

We descend from a common culture

Come, we’ll sit here in Rwanda

Immersed by the culture of Rwanda



Let’s remember how liberation came

Unleashing heavy burdens in my youth

When I was young and just a child I played in mud and heard of hate

Rwanda readied children for war

Children chosen and armed against enemies



I heard that Tutsis were roaches and should be stomped

With tails like snakes, they should be killed



We were given bows and spears

And foreign countries gave us guns



Really

Darkness came to Rwanda , Machetes in place of peace

I saw people killed

Muslims and Christians worked together

Joined by machetes and their will to kill



And our Rwanda burned

Rivers flowed with bodies and corpses covered fields

Rwanda’s youth led the battle,

don’t you know that this is injustice?



That our Rwanda, its beautiful rivers and pools

Its beautiful fields with roads and no famine

Became a cemetery and a shame

Don’t you know that this is injustice?



And the RPF ARMY I was taught to hate

Decided that it was time to defend Rwanda

Should Rwandese die?

Should there be widows?

Should the dead be shamed?

They said, “No”



War began in Kinigi, in the heat

Everyone was involved so understand, my children

It wasn’t about guns or weapons

It was about a fight for truth

I will thank them wherever I am

Their heroics will be known worldwide

From Darfur in Sudan

To the Comoro Islands, they will be admired

And I’ll see them the way the Pope sees his church



But now that they have conquered, I ask of them

Free us from poverty and illiteracy since liberation is a journey

I’ll start with the family, the foundation

I condemn the many men who don’t allow their wives to have a voice

They hit them and think they’re mindless

Who gains from this?



Man of Mustache and small mind,

Hairy chested and without pity

You burden your wife to stay in the house

You are killing our vision of being a strong nation



And the children I see working so hard everywhere

Picking tea and coffee but they can’t even afford soap

What a shameful image of Rwanda

Give the child what he needs and he can become a king

His parents will live in peace and his family will be safe

Young girls miss school and are given a broom

And they dig in the valley because education is only for their brothers

A wife works all day and her husband hits her

And who will save her?



Where will liberation be?



And men work hard, sweat pours down

But he makes no money and it’s never enough

Don’t you see that this is injustice?
Let liberation come and let liberation be a journey

Away from prostitution

And towards wisdom and to new projects done with fervor

The rich one can prepare a gift to give to the poorest one

And how poor is he?



A house of wheat and a bed of wheat and he eats just wheat

And then he’s thrown out like wheat



Really

Our beautiful Rwanda with beautiful rivers

Beautiful pools and fields with roads and no famine

Tell me

Will it remain a cemetery without peace?

Don’t you see that this is injustice?



Let me speak further

What happens in the village genocide courts?

Let justice liberate

Let truth replace lies in Rwanda

Sitting together on the grass without division or hate

Without lying to each other

As we live in peace and the guilty seek forgiveness



Our Future is already failing

Unless we begin out journey well, helping widows and orphans

And food for the man in ruins with nothing

What is left is to share everything

As we battle against hate

I wish you all the best



And so I close here

I, a poet will speak again

Peace to you in Rwanda, peace everywhere."

May in pictures

Veterne and Tantine, the beloved HFL Caretaker.





D'Amour before playing soccer, with his new Seattle Sounders ball.



Eating lunch before heading to school.

glimpses of the kingdom.

this post is full of quite random and unrelated events, but things that have made an impression on me in the past few weeks and shown me glimpses of jesus in kigali..



in the past month, i have been walking in kigali and have came across 2 individuals who were literally nearly dead, sprawled out on the side of the road. it's the craziest thing. the first experience the individual was a very young orphaned girl around the age of 15 who had collapsed because she was literally starving. we took her to the hospital and got her some food that would last for about a week, but i can't help but wonder how she is now nearly 4 weeks later...

then, a week later, i was out jogging and stumbled across an older man who had also collapsed on the side of the road. there were lots of people walking past him but none of them stopped to see if he was okay or anything. i was flabbergasted and stopped to wake him up and see what was wrong. it turns out the man was named Musafa and he had come to Kigali from the village to search for work. however, while he was in the city, he had contracted malaria and didn't have the $10 to buy the meds to treat it. Thus, it grew worse and worse, and combined with a cold and not having food, Musafa collapsed, shivering with feverish chills in the heat of the day in the middle of some bushes. it blows my mind.

my new friend Musafa spent the next week in the hospital recovering. visiting him everyday, i made quite a number of friends at the hospital and learned significant amounts about the healthcare system here. Sometimes I get so engulfed in the business and administrative tasks that are right in front of me that I momentarily forget the bigger picture of why I'm here - I was grateful to be reminded.



The boy's got their Term 1 report cards back and they did SPECTACULAR. We seriously think one of the boys will end of being the next President of Rwanda. They are SO smart! 15 out of 20 of the boys scored in the top 10 students in their class - with their class sizes ranging between 42 and 51 kids. After being out of school, some for the past 4 years, their performance and diligent effort in school is remarkable and is consistently stunning their teachers. In third grade, HFL boys took the first, second, third, and fourth places in their class. It blows my mind and warms my heart.



A few weeks ago, Caroline went to the store to buy meat. As the man working at the deli stood slicing her meat, he looked up at her randomly and cheerfully excalimed, "I made a choice today.. I choose every morning to be happy." His simple and joyful sentence has been floating through my mind challenging me the past few weeks..



The other night, I went to a restaurant/bar with a few friends. The scene that unfolded before my eyes was one of those times that you can feel being etched into you as it's happening. In the middle of a club filled with dancing people who had had too much to drink, our friend Fila from Uganda got up on stage and filled the room with powerful, unashamed, humble, selfless worship, words of truth and declaration of the love of Jesus to bumpin reggae beats.. it was beautiful. i felt deeply moved at the power of the situation and the humility of this guy. it was such a powerful picture to me that this - bold words of jesus' love regardless of anything in the middle of a bar - is the growing kingdom of our jesus.



http://bbedit.sx.atl.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100501/NEWS0107/5010366/1159&nav_category=
This article was posted in major newspapers all across the world a few days ago. This situation of Iwawu Island is personal for us at HFL as one of the children that we served through our drop-in services was arrested and is now at Iwawa Island, a supposed "Rehabilitation Center" for those who have committed petty crimes ranging from living on the streets, not wearing shoes, or not having an identity card. Although the government denies that children are here, we know for a fact that our 15 year old friend is stuck on this island for the next 3 years of his life simply because he is poor. It's absurd to me. Although I respect that the Rwandan government is doing something to address the problem of poverty, I think they have it all wrong in the way they are handling it. There have been rumors of human rights abuses, and of forced labor, of trapping children on a remote island where they have no way to contact their family members and tell them of their whereabouts. My heart is so sad.



We have a new roommate as of this week. Our friend Jo went back to the UK and was replaced with Pippa, our new 23 year old friend full of energy and spunk. She has been a delight to get to know and constantly cracks us up. I'm grateful for her joy and energy, and for having another new friend here.



Personally, I've been on a bit of an emotional, spiritual, and relational roller coaster the past few weeks sometimes being completely satisfied, and at other times wanting to run away as quickly as possible. Through this, I think God has been teaching me in a very tangible way that in his kingdom, weakness is the new strength.. that collapsing, resting, acknowledging the pain in my heart and my overall brokennes, and letting self dependency end are what he seeks to bring glory to himself (Psalm 51). It's funny how opposite His ways are - how resting in the fact that I am weak instead of fighting it has slowly led to more peace, how liberation shines when we realize that Jesus doesn't demand perfection from us. Despite the aches that my heart sometimes feels, I feel on the verge of learning something very important..


...come, jesus.