This past Saturday I traveled about 40 miles east
of Kigali to visit the home of Reverend Jean Paul's
father. Reverend Jean Paul is a pastor at the
Anglican Church in the Remera district of Kigali. He
was responsible for bringing the Good Samaritan choir
to visit our home last month. He asked me to help his
father build a shelter for a cow. Heifer
International, in conjunction with the Rwandan
government, will provide Jean Paul's father with a
cow if he will build a shelter for the cow and the
grass for the cow to eat. Grazing cattle is a problem
in Rwanda where real estate is limited. The
government is trying to encourage zero-grazing to
keep cattle away from neighbor's crops. Jean Paul's
father is 77 and responsible for 4 young children.
You can see three of the four in the above photo.
Jean Paul is the primary provider for his father and
his family, but as a pastor his income is limited and
he has five children of his own.
A good friend of mine has offered to fund the
construction of the shelter for the cow. The cow will
be capable of producing excess milk that can be sold
to neighbors in return for money to purchase food at
the local market. One of Jean Paul's father's
children is suffering from kwashiorkor, which is a
disease caused by the lack of protein. You can see in
the photo below that his young son is losing his hair
- a symptom of the disease.
"Poppa" invited me into his home to sit in his
"chair of honor." The home is about 20ft by 20ft and
constructed with mud and sticks. Six people live
there. It's easy to get fairly comfortable staying at
our duplex in Kigali. Getting out of town was a
reminder of why we're here and how blessed we truly
are. There are millions that live in similar
conditions as I witnessed Saturday morning. When I
take the time to consider this fact, I realize that
with blessings comes responsibility.
"Poppa" and his oldest daughter at home
The mud stove used to feed the family of six
"Poppa" resting in his field
From Todd -- After three months sailing across the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans, our container arrived in
Rwanda on Thursday. It was cleared through customs in
less than a week thanks to several people that helped
us through the process. The above photo was taken
just down the street from our duplex. Our street was
too narrow for the "Hammer" that brought the
container to our home, so we negotiated a spot down
the street to unload the goods. The men in orange
were our "man power" as they call it here. We
attracted quite a bit of attention. There were about
20 kids hanging around watching everything being
moved off the container.
We have boxes all over our house and can barely get
around, but we've got enough Tuna Fish and Rice
Crispies to feed the city. For the last couple of
days we've had several kids hanging around outside
our gates. Yesterday a woman with twin babies came to
our gate to ask for some food. I guess she heard
about our tuna. I was upstairs with the kids and
captured this photo from the window. It is sobering
to trip over cereal boxes from Sam's while people
just outside our gate can't feed their children. This
photo sums up this tension. As the rain began to
pour, she left as quickly as she came. It was just a
couple minutes, but it made a lasting impact on me.
The mud hut pictured above houses a family of
seven. This is a typical home in the Eastern Province
of Rwanda, where our guard Alfred is from. He made a
trip there last week to take photos for us. Last week
Alfred's father, Reverend Alfred, visited us in
Kigali.
He was in town in an attempt to meet with orphan
care groups to find support for the 150+ orphans that
he and his congregation care for. He explained that
orphans and many other children in his parish don't
attend government schools because they can't afford
the small fees for books and uniforms. The church is
the last safety net for these children, and Reverend
Alfred runs several schools in his parish.
It never ceases to amaze me when I have the privilege
to see God work. The day before we met Reverend
Alfred, I was given money by a good friend to put to
work in Rwanda. It did not take long for God to
provide us with an opportunity. Reverend Alfred was
unsuccessful in his attempts to find support from the
orphan care organizations in Kigali, but he was able
to go back to his parish with enough money to pay his
teachers who had not been paid in months.
Afterward, we sent our guard, Alfred, back to his
village with a camera to capture images of how the
money was being used. It was sobering to see the
images of so many orphans with little if any access
to the basic needs we take for granted. You can see
some of these photos here. We are planning a trip of
our own in the coming weeks.
Reverend Alfred is in the process of building a new
school and church. Jessica and I are researching to
see how we might help Reverend Alfred and the
children of his parish. I believe Alfred did not
become our guard by accident, but God placed him in
our path to expose the needs of his village and his
father's church. It will exciting and challenging to
see how God might use us to bring blessings to the
Eastern Province of Rwanda.
From Todd --
We had our first stressful evening in Rwanda last
night. Ben developed a deep cough (croup) Sunday
night and by Monday evening he needed respiratory
treatment to assist him with his breathing. Ben
experienced the same problem about one year ago in
Little Rock, so we knew what was needed, but the
drive to the hospital was emotional because we didn’t
know if they were equipped to handle respiratory
distress in a child. We are so thankful that Ben
received the necessary treatment and is doing well
today. You can see him in the above picture with our
guards, our next door neighbor’s guards, our cook and
our “German Shepherd” Beauty. By the way, we have a
new dog in the family. “Socks,” a puppy that looks a
lot like Beauty, showed up in our yard several days
ago. Alfred asked all the neighbors if they had lost
a puppy and nobody claimed him. So our little family
is growing by the day!
Ben has been on a Darth Vader kick lately. I don’t
think he’s ever watched more than 30 minutes of any
Star Wars movie, but he is fascinated with the depth
of Darth Vader’s breathing. Ben imitates his
breathing daily with a slight whistle. It is quite
entertaining. When we were in the emergency room
awaiting Ben’s respiratory treatments, I tried to
make him comfortable by telling him that he was going
to put on a mask like Darth Vader and breathe like he
does in the movie. He even wanted us to take a
picture of him with the mask on. To our dismay, when
the respiratory machine was turned on, the excitement
of being Darth Vader disappeared. The treatment was
difficult but effective since Ben’s crying assisted
the vapors to reach his windpipe and lungs. After the
trauma was over and Ben settled down, with a serious
tone, Ben informed us that he did not want to be
Darth Vader anymore.
From Jessica -- Our new cook, Chantal, has changed my
world. She makes enchiladas, salsa, guacamole, tacos,
roast, salad dressings, soups, breads, cookies and
more. Todd might just gain back some of the weight he
lost these past few weeks!
We have also sealed many of the holes and leaks in
our home, and we have replaced our screens, so we
aren’t fighting the bugs and geckos so much. We are
eating yummy meals free from ants. Life is good!
In addition to enjoying her delicious meals, I have
thoroughly enjoyed spending time with this sweet,
soft-spoken woman, and I’m constantly bombarding her
with questions about her life. Here are some things I
have learned...
* Chantal is married to Claude, a carpenter. We have
hired him to repair the countless things that are
broken in our house. That’s another story...
* They have three children, ages 10, 3 and 1. Her
fourth child, a six-year old daughter, died six
months ago. She had down syndrome or something along
those lines.
* Their family took in four orphans a while back, but
they could not afford to feed all of them, so the
orphans are now staying with Claude’s sister. Claude
and Chantal still help take care of the orphans as
much as they can.
* She takes a taxi to and from our house each day. It
takes her two hours to get here and two hours to get
home.
* Chantal has a 16-year old girl who works as her
babysitter and lives in their home. Chantal pays her
5,000 francs ($10) a month plus meals.
* When she gets home at around 7 p.m., she cooks and
cleans for her family. I asked her if she ever rests,
and she said, “Yes! Every night in bed!”
* I asked her what she enjoys to do for a hobby. She
said “reading.” I asked her what books she likes to
read. She said, “The Bible.”
* Her daughter (also Rebecca!) turns one on Saturday.
I asked her what they do to celebrate birthdays in
Rwanda. She said she cooks a big meal, she might even
prepare some meat, and they might even drink some
cokes. But they don’t celebrate birthdays every year
because this is too expensive.
* Chantal formerly worked as a cook for the World
Relief guest house. They closed the guest house, so I
snatched her immediately. She told me she is thankful
to God for providing her with this new job, because
it is very difficult to feed her family if she does
not have a job.
* We pay Chantal a good salary compared to many
cooks. She makes less than $1 an hour.
I’m quickly learning that while we came here to help
the Rwandans, in many cases, they are the ones
helping us. Which is more important? Freeing them
from poverty or freeing us from materialism? God is
working on both ends of the spectrum.