9:30pm Kigali time, Rwanda, January 5 2012
Hey guys!!
I just want to start off by saying, thank you! I have been so encouraged by all the messages everyone has been sending me, they have just totally lifted me up. I feel so loved and blessed by you. Like... really, I have the best friends in the world (the whole world).
Just an update on the bomb attack... unfortunately it turns out that two people have died in hospital so far. Please continue to send your prayers for the injured and the families of those who have lost their loved ones.
I have already had some people asking me if it is safe where I am and if we are safe. The answer is yes. Rwanda is one of the safest countries in Africa, according to Margit. Because of what happened in ’94, the government does not tolerate any movement that will disturb the peace that they have worked so hard to attain. So... it is really safe here, no need to worry!
Yesterday I spoke at the noon hour session! It went great! I was shaking and so nervous, but it all went over great. :)
Today was amazing. Really, truly amazing. This morning we visited the YWAM base here in Kigali. It was beautiful. I sometimes wish that I did take a year before going into University to do a DTS with YWAM. It was sweet to see what they are doing there with a preschool and primary grade school for local kids, a vocational school for the locals, along with the DTS programs that they run. They even have a HIV-Aids and widows ministry. It’s a super sweet. Even to hear how they got started. One man really felt like God wanted him to start a YWAM base in Rwanda, he moved here right after the genocide in 94 with only a hundred dollars. Praying and trusting in God to provide, one donor committed then to donating enough money each month for them to build the whole base that they have today. So cool what God puts on peoples hearts and how everything comes together! So neat! We serve such a big God indeed!
This afternoon, after the bible study at the church, we went to a real African market. There were merchants selling all kinds of fruit, beans, nuts, rice, and so much other food. Even a meat section with huge animals hanging upside down bleeding all over.. haha it was gross. Good thing I am fasting or I probably would have lost some of my lunch. There were so many fabrics that they were selling too. So many amazing colours and patterns! They wear the coolest patterns here! I love it!!
Afterwards I went with Margit and a few ladies from the church to help them in their hospital ministry! It was the highlight of my week. I got to visit another hospital and learn a whole lot more about the health care system here in Africa. We brought porridge, tea, bread and cookies to hand out to the ladies on the “maternity ward”. Before we left we also put together some packages with a baby blanket, some onesie baby outfits and some baby hats to bring to the newborns. I was absolutely blown away by the way the hospitals here operate. All the patients have to bring everything from home. The hospital rarely will even supply them with sheets on the beds. There are so many beds in each room... this is what they call a ward. Sometimes there will be more than one lady in each bed even. Lots of people here don’t have health insurance for financial reasons, and if they cannot pay for medicine or even supplies like bandages... they don’t get any. And if they cannot pay their hospital bill... they are not allowed to leave. These moms who have just given birth are discharged from the hospital (so they no longer have a bed) but they cannot leave until they pay their bills. So they are discharged with a brand new baby, sometimes pre-mature, and have to sleep on the ground of the hallways and in the court yard of the hospital on the cold concrete with no blankets, sometimes even the babies have no clothes. It is so sad. We met many ladies who were so scared because the doctors don’t tell them anything about their conditions. We met ladies who were in so much pain but just could not afford medication. We met ladies who were so hungry because they have not eaten for days. How someone can expect to get better and get well in a place like this I do not know. With a translator we talked to this one woman who just lost her baby and was she thought it was because she had the baby out of wedlock... she expected that was why the baby died. It was so sad... I wanted to say, our God is not like that! We got to pray for her and many others. We prayed in each room that we went into. It was so touching. We even visited the children’s burn room. I fell in love with this one little girl who was covered in bandages because she was burned by hot beans and water that fell on her. She had been there for two weeks. I wanted to just hug her, but she just stared at me with such a vague expressions. It broke my heart. There is such a huge need here for health education. Many of these women don’t even know about baby development, what is normal and what isn’t. One lady was so scared her baby was so sick, but all it was is that the baby was too hot in his blanket. It was also so hard to be there because you just want to help everyone... but we only had so much food, and so many blanket bundles. We couldn’t give them money for medicine or to release them from the hospital because its frowned upon. If people keep feeding them money, they will become reliant on it and the system that they do have in place will collapse. It’s hard to explain all this. I learned so much over the few hours that we were there for. It was so different from Canada. The power even went out once. There are no monitors in the rooms, no materials... there is barley anything there! It was just so eye opening. I was so blessed that I could go an experience that today. If I lived here, I would spend so much of my time going there with these women. They go every week. It’s amazing.
I feel like I have been crying a lot while I have been here... haha. Just everything here makes me want to cry! Tears of joy, tears of sadness... a mix of both sometimes!
The prayer times here have been so great! (I really wish there were more words in the english language to say great and amazing!). I have just had times alone with God where I have just cried and prayed and just opened my heart to Him. I am loving this. I will not let this die when I get home.
Things have just been put on my heart while I have been here. Things that I need to do when I get home, things I need to fix in my life, things I need to get right. This has been such an encouraging and learning time for me.
I am missing home though. I don’t want to come home because I love it here so much, and yet I miss home so much. It’s a weird combo. I don’t really like standing out so much as I do here. Because of the lack of white people here... I do stand out. I miss that about home, its a comfort that I take for granted so often. I will miss the green here... because it is SO green. So many beautiful trees and flowers. I do not want to come home to snow! haha! Gross!
I did not listen to my travel consultants advice... I ate fruit not knowing who washed and peeled it... haha oops. I did it twice! I also have many mosquito bites and I am not taking anti-malarias... haha. I really am hoping I don’t come home with every bad sickness I could get. Oh well...
Please excuse all my spelling and grammar mistakes in this entry. And if some of it didn’t make much sense... haha sorry. It’s late here and I am pretty much falling asleep on the lap top... but I just had so much to say, I had to get it off my plate!
Peace and blessings.
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