11:51 AM Central Africa Time - Noel Orphanage; Gisenyi, Rwanda
"Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it."
and when he is old he will not turn from it."
Proverbs 22:6
I am sad to report that the "special rooster" did not pay my bedroom a visit this morning. Instead, there were wolves howling aaand... wait for it... just some casual 4 AM mopping. You know- the prime hour for mopping. haha. I woke up to the sounds of water sloshing, buckets slamming, and mops swooshing across the floor. Keep in mind the gap between the windows and the floor. I thought for sure I was getting an unsolicited bath in bed. I'm excited to see what the edge of dawn has in store tomorrow! Who would have thought 4:00 AM would be one of the most exciting hours of the day?! :o) The Rwandans sure start early!
I cannot believe our time at Noel Orphanage is more than halfway over. Today is our third of four days here, and I already feel like some of these kids are my own! One of them, Lilliane, went back to school today after being sick for a couple of days. I am so glad she is feeling better, but unfortunately, that means I did not get to spend any time with her this morning. However, Brigitte was around this morning (they have opposite school schedules), so we spent most of the morning together.
As soon as I got off the bus, Brigitte pulled me over to the library. I was incredibly excited to find that they were practicing their math skills. They were doing multiplication tables with a little bit of geometry and algebra scattered here and there. I loved spending my morning helping teach them math! Having been a math major in college, I am confident that this was a God-ordained opportunity. [In fact, because Brigitte pulled me away so quickly, I missed the tour that the rest of the team took to the pig barns. I was bummed to miss the pigs, but it was definitely worth the trade!] I taught Brigitte the rule of 10's (a x 10 = a0) and the rule of 11's (when a is a single digit, a x 11 = aa), and showed a younger boy how anything multiplied by one is itself.
[Side note: It is SO hard to get good candid shots of the kiddos because they LOVE getting their pictures taken! If I even touch my camera, someone will see it and start asking, "ifoto?" (for you slower ones, that means "photo?"), and then everyone will stare at the camera and smile. The fact that I was able to get a few good shots in the small library speaks volumes about their focus on learning math!!!]
The beauty of math is it's the same in nearly any language! Despite the language barrier, I was able to use drawings and arrows to teach. The numbers and symbols are the same from English to Kinyarwanda except for the slight difference in the way they write the number one. They write it like a slanted seven and distinguish the seven by crossing it horizontally through the middle. It was very easy to catch on. I absolutely caught a glimpse of heaven when this mathematical opportunity found me in Rwanda!
Also this morning, the teacher of the three to five-year-old class asked us to come teach a song to the class. We sang and danced for them and with them, which was a blast! They sang and danced for us in return. Their songs were precious! They even knew several in English. We taught them "Father Abraham," and it was just short of chaos. The kids adored goofing around with all of the body movements. All of us mzungus were out of breath from bouncing around at a higher than usual altitude!
I slipped away to the adult "safe room" (the kids are not allowed in here) quickly to write, and through the window, I can hear giggles as the kids play Ring Around the Rosy and Duck-Duck-Goose. They are such beautiful sounds of fun and laughter! I think I'll go add to the noise! :o)
After lunch, we did some crafts. We made braided string bracelets and popsicle stick crosses.
Note to self: When making crafts with hundreds of kids, don't get too fancy or they will swarm! I had a long line of kiddos waiting for me to help them with their popsicle stick crosses! ...And by "line," I mean "mob." :o)
I was furiously wrapping yarn around popsicle sticks, and all the while a sweet little baby girl named Maria was clinging to my skirt wanting to be held. I thought for sure that my skirt was going to fly south for a little while there. This was the view down my legs:
We also had some really nice time bonding with the older girls in their dorm. We sang and danced with them, and taught them a worship song. It was such great girl time. The dorm mom even hung out with us! I loved every minute! And of course, Kazuba was there with me. It is amazing how attached you can get to a child after just three short days. My sweet little Kazuba has melted my heart. Today she introduced me to her friend, Ivona. She also told me that she has a 12-year-old brother named Innocent who goes to boarding school three hours away in Kigali. She does not speak great English, but I love conversing with her however we can.
Then there is sweet Lilliane. She was at school in the morning and was dancing at church after school, so I did not get to see her until pretty late in the day. She does not ever let me out of her sight and has to have a hand or two on me at all times. As sweet as it is, it can also be a bit overbearing. But, it does break my heart to see tears roll down her cheeks when I leave for the day. I pray that she receives the peace and love that she needs from the Lord and does not rely on people to bring her happiness.
When we got back to the hotel this evening, I had a nice conversation with a woman on the team and one of the American girls who is living in Gisenyi about purpose. The two of us on the team are both struggling with clarity about the "what's next?" All of our experiences from the past several days are floating around in our heads in a blurry chaos. We need to pray for clarity. The woman living in Gisenyi provided us with much encouragement. She mentioned that after her first trip to Rwanda, she took two weeks off of work to process all of her thoughts even though she had already decided to move to Gisenyi before she even left Africa. I am at a point where I have had wonderful experiences but no clear take away as of yet. I suppose there may not ever be one, but I pray, if there is, I am listening attentively to the Lord when He reveals it.
Tomorrow is my birthday, my last full day in Rwanda, and my last day at Noel. As sad as it will be to leave, there are things back at home that I miss dearly. However, I have noticed that this list of things I miss is growing shorter by the minute. I have grown accustomed to the sleeping arrangements, wearing bug spray 24/7, incorporating the "pepto bismol" food group into every meal, brushing my teeth with an agacupa ["water bottle"- see this post for the agacupa story], and getting woken up by roosters, wolves, and casual 4 AM mopping. All humor aside, the luxuries of home are no longer important; once you take away all the excess "stuff," loving people is all that remains. After all, the two greatest commandments in the Bible involve simply loving.
Maybe that's my take away- to loosen my grip on the material and tighten my grip on the hearts of people. I know I have become somewhat of a recluse. I am selfish with my time, space, and money. I do not always give people the attention they deserve, and if I appear to be doing so, my mind is often elsewhere. I have been over-utilizing my "I's" and under-utilizing my eyes. I have been putting myself first. I think that is why I had such a tough time adjusting when we first arrived in Rwanda; I was uncomfortable. I missed the luxuries. I wanted to hop on the next flight and head back home.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring even more clarity. I will be sad to leave my precious "daughters," but I know that my prayers for the Lord's protection will be much more valuable than my presence.
I cannot believe our time at Noel Orphanage is more than halfway over. Today is our third of four days here, and I already feel like some of these kids are my own! One of them, Lilliane, went back to school today after being sick for a couple of days. I am so glad she is feeling better, but unfortunately, that means I did not get to spend any time with her this morning. However, Brigitte was around this morning (they have opposite school schedules), so we spent most of the morning together.
As soon as I got off the bus, Brigitte pulled me over to the library. I was incredibly excited to find that they were practicing their math skills. They were doing multiplication tables with a little bit of geometry and algebra scattered here and there. I loved spending my morning helping teach them math! Having been a math major in college, I am confident that this was a God-ordained opportunity. [In fact, because Brigitte pulled me away so quickly, I missed the tour that the rest of the team took to the pig barns. I was bummed to miss the pigs, but it was definitely worth the trade!] I taught Brigitte the rule of 10's (a x 10 = a0) and the rule of 11's (when a is a single digit, a x 11 = aa), and showed a younger boy how anything multiplied by one is itself.
[Side note: It is SO hard to get good candid shots of the kiddos because they LOVE getting their pictures taken! If I even touch my camera, someone will see it and start asking, "ifoto?" (for you slower ones, that means "photo?"), and then everyone will stare at the camera and smile. The fact that I was able to get a few good shots in the small library speaks volumes about their focus on learning math!!!]
 |
| "Can I bomb your "ifoto" of Brigitte?" |
 |
| "WE LOVE MATH (and ifotos), BUT MOSTLY MATH!!" |
 |
| Brigitte and the rule of 11's! |
The beauty of math is it's the same in nearly any language! Despite the language barrier, I was able to use drawings and arrows to teach. The numbers and symbols are the same from English to Kinyarwanda except for the slight difference in the way they write the number one. They write it like a slanted seven and distinguish the seven by crossing it horizontally through the middle. It was very easy to catch on. I absolutely caught a glimpse of heaven when this mathematical opportunity found me in Rwanda!
Also this morning, the teacher of the three to five-year-old class asked us to come teach a song to the class. We sang and danced for them and with them, which was a blast! They sang and danced for us in return. Their songs were precious! They even knew several in English. We taught them "Father Abraham," and it was just short of chaos. The kids adored goofing around with all of the body movements. All of us mzungus were out of breath from bouncing around at a higher than usual altitude!
I slipped away to the adult "safe room" (the kids are not allowed in here) quickly to write, and through the window, I can hear giggles as the kids play Ring Around the Rosy and Duck-Duck-Goose. They are such beautiful sounds of fun and laughter! I think I'll go add to the noise! :o)
4:45 PM Central Africa Time - Noel Orphanage; Gisenyi, Rwanda
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight."
and he will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5-6
After lunch, we did some crafts. We made braided string bracelets and popsicle stick crosses.
Note to self: When making crafts with hundreds of kids, don't get too fancy or they will swarm! I had a long line of kiddos waiting for me to help them with their popsicle stick crosses! ...And by "line," I mean "mob." :o)
 |
| Aaand Cue Swarm. |
 |
| Precious Maria |
Then there is sweet Lilliane. She was at school in the morning and was dancing at church after school, so I did not get to see her until pretty late in the day. She does not ever let me out of her sight and has to have a hand or two on me at all times. As sweet as it is, it can also be a bit overbearing. But, it does break my heart to see tears roll down her cheeks when I leave for the day. I pray that she receives the peace and love that she needs from the Lord and does not rely on people to bring her happiness.
7:45 PM Central Africa Time - Hotel Dian Fossey; Gisenyi, Rwanda
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the
continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has
fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,' and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
Romans 13:8-10
When we got back to the hotel this evening, I had a nice conversation with a woman on the team and one of the American girls who is living in Gisenyi about purpose. The two of us on the team are both struggling with clarity about the "what's next?" All of our experiences from the past several days are floating around in our heads in a blurry chaos. We need to pray for clarity. The woman living in Gisenyi provided us with much encouragement. She mentioned that after her first trip to Rwanda, she took two weeks off of work to process all of her thoughts even though she had already decided to move to Gisenyi before she even left Africa. I am at a point where I have had wonderful experiences but no clear take away as of yet. I suppose there may not ever be one, but I pray, if there is, I am listening attentively to the Lord when He reveals it.
Tomorrow is my birthday, my last full day in Rwanda, and my last day at Noel. As sad as it will be to leave, there are things back at home that I miss dearly. However, I have noticed that this list of things I miss is growing shorter by the minute. I have grown accustomed to the sleeping arrangements, wearing bug spray 24/7, incorporating the "pepto bismol" food group into every meal, brushing my teeth with an agacupa ["water bottle"- see this post for the agacupa story], and getting woken up by roosters, wolves, and casual 4 AM mopping. All humor aside, the luxuries of home are no longer important; once you take away all the excess "stuff," loving people is all that remains. After all, the two greatest commandments in the Bible involve simply loving.
Maybe that's my take away- to loosen my grip on the material and tighten my grip on the hearts of people. I know I have become somewhat of a recluse. I am selfish with my time, space, and money. I do not always give people the attention they deserve, and if I appear to be doing so, my mind is often elsewhere. I have been over-utilizing my "I's" and under-utilizing my eyes. I have been putting myself first. I think that is why I had such a tough time adjusting when we first arrived in Rwanda; I was uncomfortable. I missed the luxuries. I wanted to hop on the next flight and head back home.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring even more clarity. I will be sad to leave my precious "daughters," but I know that my prayers for the Lord's protection will be much more valuable than my presence.
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