Thanks for reading this blog.

Whilst this blog has come to an end for now, we've set up another blog for DT's work in Romania where Andy is visiting over the next twelve days, so do take a look at: dtromania.blogspot.co.uk - see you there!

Your friends at Damascus Trust.

If you are still with us, or arrived late to this blog, then here are a few photos from our recent time in Rwanda. Enjoy!

Back in Blighty.

Just a final note of thanks to all who have faithfully supported the team on the DT Rwanda trip this summer in so many ways; financially, with gifts for the schools and churches, words of encouragement and with prayer.  We are now all safely back home and have enjoyed a wonderful night’s sleep in our own comfy beds, without a ravine down the middle of the plastic covered mattress and missing the nightly tussle with the mosquito net.  I imagine today some of the watercourses of Britain may have acquired a tinge of orange temporarily, by a sprinkling of African dust as our washing machines have whirred away, in a vain attempt to return our clothes to their original colour.  

I’m guessing that none of the team will have started the day with either an egg or a banana as we resume our daily lives in a country of abundant choice.  So many of the items that we take for granted in our western homes, suddenly seem to be luxurious on returning from a trip to the developing world – a wonderful hot shower without having to collect a jerry can, a fridge to cool drinks, fully functional car door handles and car windows that actually close!  Though we may all be still marvelling at these ‘gadgets’ today, we know that in a couple of days time complacency will have set in once again, as we slot right back into normal life in Britain.  When returning to ‘the west,’ it is quite difficult to remember that the tough life led by our brothers and sisters in Rwanda, which we experienced as a snap shot in time, continues for them as a daily reality.  We will endeavour to remember them in our hearts and pray for them in their struggles, particularly when we find ourselves grumbling about pot-holes on our roads or a dripping tap in our comparatively palatial homes.

Accompanying us on our return flight were many refugees, dressed in winter coats and woolly hats, presumably in preparation for their new life in Europe.  They were all carrying the same plastic bags sporting the logo from the agency administering their resettlement.  We had been joined by a similar group of people on our outward journey, when we landed briefly in Entebbe, Uganda.  Judging by their expressions, an aeroplane appeared to be an alien environment to them and they clearly had no understanding of their allocated seating, which caused considerable confusion for fellow passengers.

At baggage reclaim we were relieved to see that our large collection of luggage had completed the journey.  Andy said a quick prayer as he took several suitcases of baskets and banana-fibre cards along to customs.  Thankfully after an expert official was called to deal with the goods to declare, Andy’s paperwork was deemed to be in order and we were ushered on our way without so much as a glance at the merchandise.

Contrary to all airport advice our cases were crammed to the limit with all manner of ‘other people’s stuff,’ mostly African handicrafts for resale to support the widows, but some destined for friends or relatives …. (ie lots of cute stuff for grandchildren!)  We had all discovered an Aladdin’s cave of African handicrafts on our visit to the Peacebuilding Healing And Reconciliation Programme (PHARP) in Kigali the previous day.  Run by a lovely Christian lady Julienne, the programme teaches young girls to sew in order that they can establish their own business to generate an income.  The girls train for a year and there is strict quality control of their work so that the products are produced at a high standard ready for the tourist market. As part of the training, the students have a time of Bible study and prayer together.  As they study, pray and talk together, reconciliation is taking place, wounds are being healed and a peaceful environment is established.  The teacher in charge of the sewing programme, shows the students how to follow and create patterns whilst also frequently checking the quality of their stitching.  This teacher was formerly a student of the programme.  Next to the sewing room the products were for sale.  The ladies of the DT team enjoyed the colourful delights of the handicraft shop, ‘oohing and ahhing,’ like wide-eyed children in a sweet shop!  Heather even went so far as to model a beautifully styled African dress, made by the students, which fitted her like a glove.  Meanwhile Andy was discussing the possibility of partnering with Julienne to source handicrafts for the new DT on-line shop.

After leaving all manner of African craft purchases back at our hostel, we headed out for the final debrief meeting at the Anglican Cathedral with the Archbishop, Pastor Samuel and another member of the development team. Afterwards, the rest of the staff team joined us for a farewell meal, which we shared together in the Cathedral’s conference room, dangerously near the room Eleanor had been trapped in during Sunday worship!  So we were vigilant not to get separated, or left behind a handle-less door!

The following day, our final day in Kigali, we headed into the frenetic city centre, buzzing with people and streets packed with little shops, whose wares were pouring out over the pavements.  We couldn’t resist picking up a few more African crafts and traditional rubber mop heads, great for cleaning hard floors.  The shop keeper obediently severed  the long wooden handles, from the mop heads, at our request, so as not to prove a nightmare in hand baggage.   At another hardware shop, Andy was drawn to huge wooden spoons, and then proceeded to bargain with the seller for a good price, which when converted from Rwandan Francs to Sterling, meant that he was in reality quibbling over a few pence! 

As Alan had stayed at the hostel, nursing a wobbly tummy, Eleanor had free rein to spend, spend, spend, with the result that she had to buy a new suitcase to stash her booty!  We treated ourselves to tea in a western style café to celebrate the end of our stay in Rwanda, and to fortify our bodies for the gruelling night flight ahead of us.  

Andy returned the dilapidated Land Cruiser to Brandon, with fuel in the tank to detract from the handle Isobel snapped in two and the glove compartment cover on the floor, which Alan had inadvertently pulled off!  Our many suitcases were piled up in a minibus, only to be unloaded again at a police check point on the way to the airport for the inspection of Rita, a malnourished, bony sniffer-dog.  Thankfully Rita was disinterested in African baskets so our baggage was reloaded and the journey to the airport resumed.  Airport security had been stepped up significantly since last year, with the addition of some typical African jobs-worth red tape, for instance, prior to entering the airport building, we had to queue at a desk, where an official collected all our passports in order to issue us each with a large important-looking blue card.  As soon as we had been given the card, we were then permitted step over the threshold into the building and having moved no more than 2 paces from the desk we were requested to hand over the blue cards to another official!  In spite of their large size and glossy appearance, these cards appeared to serve no purpose at all, other than to hold up the flow of pedestrians, by causing a queue and to create jobs for 2 employees, the issuer and receiver!  It made us all smile as we stepped from African soil into Kigali’s smart new airport to begin our journey back to Blighty.

Final thanks to Isobel for her writing of the blog, sometimes very late at night, with helpful suggestions from the team. 

Our praise and thanks to the Lord for giving us the opportunity to share time with his Church in Rwanda and for the many challenges and lessons they provide us with as the Church in the West. 

Thanks for your support and interest and if you would like to conitnue a link with Damascus Trust then please visit our web-site where you can sign up for various updates - www.damascustrust.org. Trips to India, Romania and Rwanda are planned for next year, so if you would like to join us, then please get in touch via the web-site.

Your friends - Alan, Eleanor, Heather, Isobel and Andy

Friday - we're back, safe and happy with a bit of tiredness thrown in.

Once we've got our breath back we'll be posting a final blog from our time in Rwanda this weekend, so please do come back to check it out.

A,E, H, I, A

Monday

With 3 ladies dressed like Arab sheiks, faces covered against the incredibly dusty road, (two of whom were joined by their noses to the same sarong!) the Land Cruiser ground up yet one more steep, rocky orange road into the hills outside Kigali, to visit the parish of Bumbogo.  The customary warm greeting awaited us and plates of boiled eggs, teeny bananas and bread rolls.  We continued to increase our girths, embarking on our second breakfast within a couple of hours.  The little humble home, as with many other pastor’s homes had some unusual items – probably gifts from muzungus, that they had no idea how to use!  This family had found an unusual use for those silly shower puff things that pad out gifts sets of ‘smellies’ at Christmas time.  Various coloured  ‘shower puffs’ were tucked into the corner of each arm chair in the living room, where we might place a cushion.  In other homes we’ve seen beach balls hanging from the ceiling as unique expressions of décor!

In the yard at the back of the house we were all intrigued by the truck a little child was playing with – deftly constructed out of a small jerry can with various plastic lids fashioned in to wheels – it looked surprisingly realistic.

The sound of singing became louder and louder from the nearby church, beckoning us - a most effective way of calling people to worship, in a society where the clock on the wall is often merely ornamental.  In the church we were greeted by most exuberant dancing, drum beating and those characteristic harmonious African voices.  After the usual introductions, each of the team shared with the congregation the blessings we have received during our visits to many Rwandan parishes.  We spoke of their warmth of hospitality, their ready smiles, faithfulness in tough times, and the freedom in their worship to sing and dance without boundaries.  One of the men in the church  responded by saying how saddened they were to hear that their brothers and sisters in England often felt inhibited to dance in worship, and they longed to come straight over to UK to help us dance and worship with our whole bodies.  On the other hand immediately after saying this, he continued by saying he was so overwhelmed by the fact we’d come all this way to visit them, he felt this was a great demonstration of our faith and he did not have the words to express his emotions.

After this time of sharing, Pastor Samuel asked the church whether they had any questions for us to answer.  We were then faced with some most unexpected thorny issues to which we had to respond immediately – questions with which the western church is continuing to grapple.  They commented that as the team introduced themselves, not one of us had a family of more than 3 children.  Even though they always smiled and clapped at the mention of any of our children or grandchildren they were questioning why the team had such small families, when in Genesis, God had commanded man to populate the whole earth.  Rwandans are certainly following this instruction with their large numbers of children. They questioned whether ‘family spacing’ was a principle that should or should not be used in the Christian community.  They then proceeded to tell us that they had heard about the acceptance of same sex marriage in the church in Europe and America and wished to hear our views on this!  

After this discussion, the congregation left the church, where Pastor Samuel and Isobel remained to have a chat with the headmaster of the local school.  He talked of the 1000 children in his primary school, which works in 2 shifts in order to educate this large number of children in one building – rather a heavy work load for the teaching staff, who work a double shift daily!  We handed them some gifts of school supplies, but a rather paltry amount, considering his number on roll!

The pastor’s wife provided a wonderful spread of lunch, finishing with their home grown passion fruit.  Having eaten so much passion fruit over the past couple of weeks, but seen none growing, the pastor took us out onto one of his terraced fields to see them.  Pastor Samuel commented that they weren’t flourishing because, ‘This area is suffering from a long period of sunshine,’ not a phrase commonly heard in England!

We arrived back at our hostel in Kigali just in time for an appointment with Gilbert, a businessman,  who expertly talked us through the issues involved in setting up a UK shop to assist the poor widow basket weavers of Rwanda.  After his in depth lecturing, we had all learned a lot about what constituted an expertly woven and dyed basket, and which were made by amateurs!

Once more we were invited to a meal at the American Pastor’s home.  Having mistakenly smothered ourselves in Deet, expecting we were attending a BBQ last time, and feeling rather foolish arriving high on repellent, we neglected to spray ourselves this time.  We were then greeted with the words we really didn’t want to hear, ‘Oh this time I’ve had time to light the fire and we’ll sit round the fire pit after the meal!  We survived and had a very enjoyable end to the day, drinking, chatting and eating chocolate cake around a fire pit.

Give thanks for an encouraging visit to Bumbogo parish; for the faithful ministry of catechists among the different congregations; for hospitality.

Please pray for discernment and wisdom for pastors when dealing with some of the social issues; for our planned visit to the Peacebuilding Healing And Reconciliation Programme (PHARP) tomorrow (Tuesday).

Sunday

We emerged from our mosquito nets at an unearthly hour to collect our jerry cans of hot water and have a wash in order to be ready in time for the English service at Kigali Anglican Cathedral.  It was lovely to find breakfast had been set for us on the brown lawn outside our rooms overlooking the city below, because our usual dining room had been overrun with the chaos of yesterday’s wedding.

We arrived at the Cathedral, at five minutes to 8am, just in time, we thought.  The place was entirely deserted and then the American priest, Brandon appeared from a back room to inform us we were actually 50 minutes early, none of us had checked the time!  As he greeted us, we apologised for being ridiculously early, to which he retorted, that this was a pleasant change as most of his congregation arrived, ‘ridiculously late!’  He apologised that the singing might be pretty poor as he had just received a message saying that his music assistant was detained elsewhere.  Little did he know that within the hour a visiting choir from Kenya and another from Uganda were going to join us unannounced for worship!  This sudden influx of visitors somewhat took the clergy unawares, when administering communion too!  Looking at the limited amount of consecrated bread and wine brought the feeding of the 5000 to mind!

Needless to say, the singing was fabulous!  The visiting choirs were in the city for a festival of East African choirs at the local stadium, and had decided to pop in to worship en route to the venue. 

Soon after the worship began, Emily the American pastor’s wife arrived with her 2 young blonde children.  She carried baby in a Western style baby pouch, but our eyes were drawn to 2 year old Elsa, who has spent most of her life in Rwanda, and in spite of her shock of blonde hair, clearly feels at one with the natives.  She entered the cathedral carrying her little plastic doll, strapped to her back in a muslin cloth!

After the service we all piled into an adjacent room for milky Rwandan tea with an aroma of lemon grass.  Brandon had brought along 50 samosas to share, but once more commented that he had somewhat underestimated the size of the early morning congregation.  Other church members had baked chocolate cookies and tea flavoured shortbread, so we enjoyed a veritable feast before filing back into the church for the Kinyarwanda service. 

We were ushered to seats on the front row of the Ugandan choir, so it was good to have a brief chat with them as of course they had to communicate in English as they were not speakers of Kinyarwanda.  The minister travelling with them, got up to share a few words of scripture in English, translated into Kinyarwanda for the majority of the congregation.  He began by turning to us and shared a very emotive few words thanking us, as representatives of Britain, for bringing the gospel to his country in the 1800s.  He talked of how many of the missionaries had perished from malaria in their endeavours to bring Christianity to Uganda, and that the church in Uganda, remains indebted to the British.  We found tears welling up in our eyes as he spoke.

After his words, the choir accompanying him were invited to sing a couple of songs.  Clothed in long robes of Santa-red with white collars, they formed a tuneful and colourful spectacle as they swayed in time to their gospel sounds.

It was extremely hot in the church so Eleanor went out for some air as she felt a bit faint.  Heather kindly asked after her, but Alan assured her that his wife was fine.  Unbeknown to any of us, Eleanor had sat down in one of the offices and been shut in as the door handles were missing on the inside.  When she realised she couldn’t escape, she went out of the other side of the office to a corridor only to have the door shut behind her once more and find again that another door handle was missing!  She was then well and truly stuck for the whole duration of a lonnnnnng Rwandan church service!

A choir of children sang to us before Heather was invited to the front of church to pray with them. Barely visible amongst the crowd of children, she prayed for them before they departed to receive their Sunday school teaching. Andy preached, about what it means to live with Christ as Lord,  with Pastor Samuel by his side as translator.  Throughout his preaching, whenever a verse of scripture needed reading aloud, a member of the congregation would always spontaneously stand to read, such an encouragement, when we consider how difficult it can be to cajole a member of the congregation to read a lesson in English churches, with a week’s notice, let alone an immediate request.  It’s so refreshing to see African worshippers, free of our British inhibitions!

Having discovered and freed Eleanor from her stifling captivity after the service, we resuscitated her with a second-hand bottle of water and a cola, snaffled from the church office! Heather was also looking a little peaky and had been nipping in and out of the service with alarming frequency, clutching her tummy and sporting a pained expression on her face!  Clearly the punishing African lifestyle was beginning to take its toll on the team!

After a mini kip back at the hostel however, both ladies were revived and ready to head out again to continue negotiations with the widows, who had brought their large collection of home made baskets into a local church for us to purchase.  After some discussions, tapping on the calculator and the scribbling of many lists, the ladies seemed to be happy and there were hugs all round as we staggered to the Land Cruiser laden with a variety of their attractive Rwandan baskets to take back to the UK.

Give thanks for the services; for the baskets bought for Ubushuti; for general safety and wellbeing of the team.
Please pray for final meetings and tying up loose ends; for visit to Bumbogo parish tomorrow (Monday).

Saturday

From early in the morning, there was great excitement in the SU grounds as a couple of marquees had been constructed on the bare earth terrace below our little garden.  The place was a hive of activity with people binding the guy ropes with brightly coloured fabrics and a florist busily creating floral arrangements – a wedding was afoot! Sadly, Andy, Alan and Eleanor had teaching responsibilities to fulfil at the pastors' conference (more later), so they had to leave Heather and Isobel to enjoy the wedding celebrations (as well as catch up with some team admin / note write ups).

Jacqueline, the manager of the hostel, dressed in a striking, voluminous traditional African red and black dress and was keen to tell us about the proceedings, so Heather and Isobel couldn’t resist the opportunity to stay home and watch a Rwandan wedding, whilst the rest of the team headed off to lead the second day of the conference.

Jacqueline had told us the wedding would start at 10am but true to form, by this time of the morning there were still swathes of coloured fabric being used to decorate the marquees, where crates of Fanta were being placed to warm in the sun, well before any of the guests arrived. As the preparations continued an incongruous blast of Country and Western style music interspersed with screeching Indian medleys issued from the amplifiers below.

Eventually the guests started to arrive to fill the two open marquees, which faced each other across the sandy yard. The guests were brightly dressed in a plethora of vibrant coloured robes, some traditional African prints and others more reminiscent of Indian sarees.  Two of the ladies, dressed in bright yellow and red matching outfits stood like bookends at the foot of the flight of steps down to the wedding location, ready to greet the guests as they arrived and to hand out gifts.  Jacqueline was very keen to explain all the proceedings and, shouted across to us when the groom’s party arrived at 11.30am.  The men were dressed in a modern equivalent of their traditional tribal costumes, so wore drapes of zebra printed fabric over their western white shirts, and carried carved walking sticks, those of the groom and best man being covered in goat skin, to signify the chiefs.  The groom’s and bride’s families sat in opposing marquees and then a very long discussion of the terms of the dowry ensued.  The head of each family held a microphone and negotiations over the giving of cows proceeded for an hour and a half.

Meanwhile one of the bedrooms adjacent to ours was buzzing with the activity of the burgeoning bridal party.  Heather reckoned that up to 100 people had been pouring in and out of the small room during the course of the morning and that about 50 people had squeezed in there at any one time!  This bedroom must have had Tardis like qualities as it was the same size as ours, which are not spacious enough for much more than our cases to be opened on the floor.

After over 2 hours of wrangling, it seemed that a bovine agreement was forged and finally the wedding commenced with a colourful parade of the bridal party issuing from the tiny bedroom.  The bride, draped in robes of salmon pink lace processed down the steps escorted by her brother.  Leading the procession were a group of ladies in pale lemon robes, and behind the bride, in yellow and white were a collection of ladies carrying beautifully decorated presents, smothered in ribbon and ruffled paper. 

The bride and groom seemed to be married comparatively quickly and the ring was place on the bride’s finger with their hands high in the air for all to see,  This was then followed by the ceremonial sharing of drinks.  Next the happy couple spent a long time distributing gifts to various members of both families, one we assumed, the bride’ father was presented with a cow boy hat on the end of a walking stick!  He dutifully then donned the hat for the rest of the ceremony!

The bride and groom were finally seated in a smaller ‘top table’ marquee to oversee the on going celebrations.  We were shocked when a man shouting and screeching burst onto the floor, dressed in what looked like a silver lurex halter-neck dress, reminiscent of a marathon runner’s space blanket, over a black shirt.  He was madly wielding a staff above his head and dancing around like a witch doctor!  The bride came out of her bridal canopy to join him, and he seemed to be serenading her!  Fortunately, Jaqueline came to our rescue to explain what on earth was going on.  Apparently it was all about naming the cow and providing some particular herbs to keep the cow clean!  After this peculiar performance another similarly dressed fellow continued the ritual - all highly entertaining!

Eventually a chef dressed in traditional whites appeared and led a team organising the arrangement of many dishes on a buffet. As the bridal party moved to collect their food an African choir, in vibrant bright colours, some with babies strapped to their backs, burst into swaying song to entertain the guests.  Their wonderful singing continued for ages whilst all the marquees emptied and then refilled, with guests carrying plates brimming with food.  The bride and groom’s ‘first dance’ could not have been more different to their western equivalent.  After ceremonially feeding each other with their first meal as a married couple they then joined the swaying choir for a boogie!  Kicking up quite a dust on the sandy ground, the bride and groom danced separately in their indomitable African rhythmic style.  The bride danced with the ladies of the choir, whilst the men gathered around in a circle and appeared to dance with their arms positioned as birds’ wings and stamped together as African cranes might perform in a sort of mating ritual!

We felt so privileged to have witnessed such a wonderful event, and though they must have been aware of our presence watching from our ‘balcony seats’ there were nothing but smiles and the bridal party were even happy to pose for our photos as the wedding came to a close in the heat of the mid afternoon.  Not only were we watching from above, but there was also a little crowd of local children, who had collected among the trees in ‘our garden’ and were joining in the dancing, holding a private party of their own!

No sooner had the wedding finished than the rest of our team returned from the conference. All had gone well with further teaching from Andy on refreshing our relationship with the Lord and more practical teaching on marriage and ministry from Alan and Eleanor. There was good interaction between pastors and opportunity for questions and comments which proved very useful. Alan and Andy managed to record interviews with the three pastors (and their wives) whose parishes are included in the SAP Programme and, from shared feedback, the conference was much appreciated.

After a quick drink and change of clothes, we headed off to negotiate with some local widows about the purchase of some of the baskets they make in their homes.  The ladies had laid out their handicrafts in the yard of Pastor Eugene’s home, so we took the opportunity to pop into see his lovely family of 6 children and his wife who was nursing her tiny new beautiful baby – another opportunity for the grannies, Heather and Eleanor to cuddle and coo over a cute bundle!

Please pray for: the healing of the Caesarean scar of Pastor Eugene’s wife; for the pastors and wives as they return to their parishes; for the sorting out of the baskets.

Give thanks for a good conference; for God's provision of our needs (food, hospitality, transport).

Friday:

We began the day in a leisurely manner having booked our breakfast for 8.30am, expecting our transport to arrive at the usual African time, somewhat later than the agreed rendez vous.  But oh no, we had not envisaged the punctuality of Pastor Eugene, who rolled up early, in a  muzungu time frame and was ready to whisk the team off to the Pastor’s Conference even before our morning eggs hit the pan!  Oops – fortunately we managed to divert him with a bread roll as we devoured our breakfast at breakneck speed!  So as not to cause alarm to our guest at the breakfast table, there were barely audible whispers among the team about the urgent need of imodium by one of our number.  Heather our resident nurse, who seems to constantly carry a condensed version of the NHS about her person, soon handed over the necessary supplies to save the day and enable the team to head off to the conference.

After Pastor Samuel’s announcement, that the conference was starting a little late, (leaving egg on the faces of the muzungus – metaphorical eggs for a change (!) - and a feather in the cap of the African pastors!)  the pastors’ and wives’ conference in the Anglican cathedral of Gasabo diocese got into full swing and we quickly made up time. Andy spoke on 1 Peter 2:9 looking at the importance of our relationship with God and all that it means to be 'in Christ'. He looked at four key areas - Where we are, Who we are, What we are and Why we are - in Christ  There was a very receptive atmosphere among the pastors and we enjoyed some good Rwandan singing.

Eleanor and Alan’s teaching session about the pressures of marriage and ministry was equally well received.  In fact, Pastor Samuel expressed how moved he was by their words as he worked hard as their translator.  He felt that Eleanor was speaking directly to him and into his marriage.  He joked that it appeared that Eleanor might have had a surreptitious discussion with his wife prior to the conference, as her words were so poignant.  He told us how he is so busy he never has time for his wife and family.  His day off is Monday, when his wife is at work, and her day off is Saturday, which is a particularly busy day for him with weddings and meetings.  He shared how his phone is always ringing and his wife threatens to confiscate his phones from time to time!

An American pastor, currently seconded by his church in New Hampshire to support the work of Archbishop Rwaje in Rwanda kindly lent the team one of his vehicles to travel back to our SU hostel.  Alan was trying hard to note down the route so that we could retrace the journey without the assistance of a street map, road signs or the guidance of an African pastor.

We had a short tea break at our favourite make shift café outside our rooms (ie Heather’s kettle and a few remaining Typhoo tea bags, accompanied by the local version of digestive biscuits.) Having watched the sun sink below the horizon around 6pm and fill the sky with an amazing orange glow, we made ourselves ready for the journey across town to dinner with the American pastor Brandon.

The trip in the borrowed Land Cruiser was not uneventful.  The initial challenge was to actually get into the vehicle.  One of the passenger door handles was missing so we had to enter from the other side. Unfortunately, though she was able to get inside by that route, Isobel clearly didn’t know her own strength, and when opening the door for Eleanor, found the interior handle crumbled in her fingers!  Ooops this now rendered both back doors disfunctional!  Andy was a little concerned by the fact that only one of the front and rear side lights were working and the only way to have the headlights on was at full beam!  The journey began with much-needed prayer that we would arrive safely and not be pulled over by the traffic police.  As we drove up the precipitous rocky road out of the SU enclave, it was little disconcerting when our human SAT NAV, Alan, on whom we were relying for our directions, instructed Andy to turn right, which immediately prompted other members of the team to chorus, spontaneously, ‘No left!’  Not a very promising start to a journey through the dark streets of the city!  In spite of this disconcerting start, we arrived at the American pastor’s home with only a couple of U turns en route.

In spite of Brandon sharing the same language, something seemed to have been lost in translation, regarding the dinner invitation.  We had been led to believe he was inviting us to a barbecue and so had decked ourselves out in the longest sleeves in our possession, having smothered ourselves in generous quantities of ferocious Jungle Formula bug repellent, so that rather than sparkling with jewellery at this western dinner party, it was the greasy Deet that made our skin glisten.  This was somewhat embarrassing as when we arrived at Pastor Brandon’s spacious, tastefully decorated ex-pat dwelling, and were ushered to our places at a large dining table, laid out with place settings in completely western style down to the glasses and napkins.  There was no hint of the fire pit barbecue, which we had been expecting and any mosquitoes were safely tucked outside beyond the window grills and tasteful cream silk curtains!  Once more we were the ones with the metaphorical egg on our faces, though some of our cheeks were so lavishly covered in oily repellent, that the egg would have slipped right off!

We were treated to a delicious meal beginning with Brandon’s home made vegetable soup, served with a dash of cream and finishing with a wonderful moist carrot cake, baked by the pastor’s wife Emily.  For couple of hours we were transported away from the real Rwanda to a little cordon bleu corner of the US of A.

Please pray for the rest of the conference to go well; for our meeting up with ladies who produce baskets to happen tomorrow and for the team's wellbeing.
Give thanks for a good first day of conference; for safe travel and good food.

Thursday

Heather started the day with the discovery that some livestock in her mattress had spent the night nibbling a neat little row across her butt!  Those of us who’d been moaning about the sweaty nights we’d been suffering on plastic sheeting, which crinkles every time you turn over, suddenly recognised the benefits and stopped our whingeing, realising that waking in a pool of sweat was preferable to being the meat in a nocturnal picnic.

There were many ‘oohs and ahhs’ when a pile of pancakes was brought to our breakfast table in place of the usual eggs.  Passion fruit and honey made a great pancake topping and sent us off to meet Pastor Samuel at the Land Cruiser in good spirits.   Once again we were heading out of the city to visit a rural parish.  We thundered along the dusty rocky roads, our skin and clothes turning the same shade of orange as the tracks, with every cloud of dust that was kicked up and blasted our way through the open windows.   Today the truck continued to climb beyond the attractive terracing on one of the valley sides into a rather barren moonscape, with very little foliage and a single lone bare tree protruding from the dusty open summit, which was being used as Kigali’s rubbish tip.  The whole area was covered in all manner of discarded debris, unappealing to the eye and the stench travelled with us for some distance.  Though the scene was grim it was not devoid of life.  It was pitiful to see people clambering over the tip and picking over the rubbish.   One particular lady sticks in mind, with a tiny baby strapped to her back, she staggered over the foul-smelling mound, prodding the garbage to find anything worth recovering …… this is poverty.

We simply drove on, glad to be moving away from the stench and thinking how cruel of the large city to dump its unwanted trash away from the city limits, on the margins inhabited by the poor.

As we arrived at Gasura parish a smiling Pastor Alfred was there to greet us.  Behind him a crowd of excited school children, all dressed in navy and white gingham shirts appeared from behind the church building, inquisitive to know who the Land Cruiser had brought to their rural community.  We were ushered into Alfred’s small home and barely an hour since stuffing ourselves with pancakes, we were faced with lunch.  The usual range of cooking pots were placed before us and Alfred’s wife lifted off the lids to reveal the customary dishes of potatoes, rice, chicken, beans, plantains and sauce, all a little unexpected at 10.30am.  After we’d served ourselves, a bench was pushed through the doorway from the yard into the remaining space in the room, followed by 5 of the church catechists, who then started filling their dishes and joined in our hearty brunch.

Alfred and his wife have 6 children in a tiny home, which is wholly inadequate for their needs.  Last year they began to build a new, larger home but sadly the government disapproved of their plans.  Between the church and their small home lie the derelict ruins of their deconstructed new home.  It had been built with mud bricks and the government felt this was inappropriate and so sent representatives to demolish the structure – very demoralising for the poor family after their hard building work.

Once again we were welcomed into their church with the most beautiful, rich singing, with a soloist singing an introductory few words and the rest of the church replying in typical harmonious, African style.  As usual we introduced ourselves and any mention of a child or grandchild generated a ripple of approval accompanied by a burst of applause!  When Andy mentioned his 3 beautiful, unmarried daughters, Pastor Samuel allowed himself a little, ‘ad lib’ in his translation, inviting any interested suitors to step forward! 

Eleanor shared with the congregation some of her thoughts and challenges as a pastor’s wife having to up sticks and move from time to time, unsure of what her new role would be and therefore having to trust in the Lord for his guidance.  Afterwards Alan spoke about the Kingdom of God as expressed in the parable of the banquet.

Back in the city we visited various handicraft projects, set up around the cathedral.  There were ladies making intricate jewellery, creating beads by tightly wrapping slivers of magazine pictures.   Others were manufacturing rustic lemon-grass scented soaps, which both Eleanor and Isobel commented were rather expensive …(oops once more they’d not counted the zeros carefully and having made this critical announcement, were embarrassed to admit that at 20p a bar these soaps were actually a bit of a snip!)  Continuing to be financially challenged Eleanor later really confused one of the seamstresses when she tried to buy some of their handicrafts.  We were all bamboozled when they seemed unable to give her the correct change after her purchase, and kept questioning us about the current exchange rate.  As the conversation proceeded we finally realised what the problem was – without wearing her glasses, Eleanor had inadvertently handed the poor salesman a note in Euros rather than Rwandan Francs – oops!

Please pray – this evening we had a visit from Joseph, who is hopefully going to assist us to sell baskets from the widows in Gasabo Diocese. Please pray that we will be able to sort out the practicalities involved; for the building of a primary school in Gasura parish; for the needs of Pastor Alfred and his family.

Give thanks for our team picnics of cheese, tomatoes, bread and jams; for good health and strength for the team; for safe travels thus far.

As soon as Pastor Samuel arrived this morning with a driver and land cruiser, we headed off out of the city through the bustling streets filled with people wandering everywhere, with motorbike taxis weaving in and out of people pushing wheelbarrows or carrying all sorts of loads on their heads, to visit the parish of Rutunga.  From the chaos of the city streets we were soon once again out in the beautiful hills, for which Rwanda is famous.  We travelled along the road between steeply rising terraced slopes.  The valley floor was a patchwork of small paddy fields, all neatly tended with rice at various stages of development - some full of bright green young plants, others awash with water as the tiny plants were being transplanted in rows,  White Nile Egrets amongst other tall wading birds were probing the paddy fields, with their long beaks foraging deep into the water.

Soon we left the valley floor and began the steep climb on a dusty, rocky red road up into the hills, affording us a panoramic view of the piercing green rice fields in the valley below.  We arrived at Pastor Damascene's home and were immediately introduced to the two cows in the stalls behind their home.  Damascene's wife was keen to show us how these cattle were being used in new bio-gas project, which creates power for their cooking.  We all gathered round for an in-depth examination of cow dung and how it is transforming their world!

This gave us a great appetite for the second breakfast that the family generously prepared for us. Once again we enjoyed an egg-free meal!  We were treated to chapatis, bananas and passion fruit before heading off to find one of Damascene's churches to be greeted by his church council and members of 4 of his congregations, who were all seated in the church with chairs lined up at the front of the building ready to seat us.

Having introduced ourselves, Heather and Alan shared some words of testimony and encouragement and the congregation responded in their wonderful vibrant song and dance.  Unfortunately they were very keen for us to join in their exuberance, so some rather stilted 'English dad-dancing' ensued.  At one point Alan and Eleanor appeared to be performing synchronised front crawl (without the water!) But the Rwandans just smiled, clapped and praised God all the more! (Video taken of this extraordinary event is available from Andy for a small fee or a snicker bar.)

Lunch was prepared for us, and as we signed Pastor Damascene's visitors' book it was clear that this family had already prepared lunch today for two other sets of visitors as the archbishop had visited earlier with a representative of Compassion's child sponsorship from the USA.  Once again we were humbled by this family's generosity.

Since the team's visit last year, the rural parish had raised funds to begin to construct both a church and a school building, which is an impressive undertaking, and hopefully a great encouragement to their pastor.

On returning to the city we made many interesting observations along the road, including the unusual sight of many men roped together to carry a massive telegraph pole along the road side.  As Heather commented, 'I hope they don't have to turn a corner!'  Then in the city, the traffic came to a stand still as the entire Rwandan army seemed to be on the move!  Truck after truck of troops filed past us as all other traffic came to a halt.

In a bid to increase the variety of our diet, we visited a supermarket in order to feed ourselves this evening.  What a treat to be back in the city and actually recognise some familiar foods in the shops! Unfortunately we weren't necessarily that careful when counting the zeros on the prices and Heather got stung for a mere £10 when buying a packet of almonds!  ...they certainly saw that muzungu (white person) coming!

Our rooms at the guest house are positioned in a row on the ground floor, all opening onto a garden over looking the city.  This evening we sat down outside our rooms at a table with our relatively western purchases spread out, to enjoy 'bread and cheese' (albeit at bit squidgy and warm!) as the sun slipped behind the hillside and the lights of the city twinkled before us.

Give thanks for our time at Rutunga and the joy we shared in song and dance; for all that has been acieved in the parish over this last year.
Please pray for the Lord to continue to bless the work of Pastor Damascene and his congregations; for the practical needs of the people, all of whom are reliant on subsistence farming.

Tuesday blog

Due to a lack of internet connection this blog is running late!

Tuesday morning was spent tying up loose ends. Andy had a few meetings, the banana fibre cards were finally checked, catalogued and selected for us to bring back to the UK with us (coming soon to a church near you), Isobel was shown two options for accommodating a teacher from the UK and she re-visited the King Solomon Academy to take photos to go with the job profile we will be putting together. It appeared that a local goat had recently given birth in the middle of the school field, and as Isobel approached slowly, so as not to scare the suckling kids, a little lad appeared as if from nowhere, concerned as to what this mystery 'muzungu' (white person) might want with his prize beasts!  He was easily distracted when she wiped the greasy finger prints from her camera and shared with him a selection of the goat photos she'd taken.  At this point, realising he had a photographer rather than a goat rustler before him, pride got the better of him and he called for a mate to come see the photos too!

Overnight Heather had managed to get onto the internet to see that she had passed her prescribing exams and is now a fully fledged prescribing nurse. Alan and Eleanor celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary (sheer bliss) so out came the champagne kitkats to go with our morning drinks. After an exciting lunch of hard boiled eggs (yes, again), toast and fruit, we paid our bills, packed up the land cruiser and climbed on board for the journey to Gasabo diocese. In order to enable six people to travel comfortably in the back, most of the cases went on the roof rack. As they were piled high, the various owners (us) looked on anxiously as a parent might do when giving their precious child over to the care of teachers on the first day at school. The cases were strung together with rope which was then tied to the roof rack. We clambered into the back of the car hoping to see our cases the other end.

The journey was pleasant, uneventful and relaxed. On reaching Kigali, we stopped at the side of the road and sat waiting. Archdeacon Samuel got out, and stood on the pavement talking on his phone. We sat, engine running, time passing, Samuel on his phone. When asked what was happening, Samuel said that he was waiting for someone. He went on to say that on Saturday he would be going to the wedding of his godson and just then his godson showed up, accompanied by a lady who was not his future wife. After exchanging greetings beside the busy road and whilst Samuel continued to talk with his godson, the lady proceeded to get out a tape measure and began taking Samuel's crucial measurements. His chest, his arms, his waist, his hips, his outside leg!! All measurements were noted down on the outside of a paper bag that had some shopping in it. The conversation continued, people walked around them. We watched and wondered....what measurement would be next? How would it be accomplished? Who would hold the tape measure? Surely not...... Six pairs of eyes stared in anticipation. The lady took hold of her tape measure and with a flourish - put it into her bag. We sighed with relief on Samuel's behalf. The conversation ended, Samuel climbed back in to the car and our night-time tour of Kigali continued.

On arrival at the guest house in Kigali, there was a hold up as we tried to wheel our dusty cases along the rocky path to our rooms.  Unsure as to what was happening in the darkness, we all gathered around to see the driver and a couple of others staring at the ground.  One was stamping his foot forcefully and another was grubbing around in the darkness selecting a substantially sized rock, which he then threw onto the floor.  On closer inspection we noticed a tiny baby snake slithering sideways along the path in a desperate plea to escape the menacing rock .... alas in vain....  We all felt a little sorry for the little fellow, meeting such a grizzly end, but we were also all wondering where the rest of its family might be.   This was happening right outside our rooms and we all noted that the gap under our doors was clearly big enough for his parents to crawl through!  I'm guessing that we all shone a torch under our bed clothes looking for his relatives before settling down to sleep!

Before turning in for the night we trooped down to a very large hall, where 5 places were set for us a at a large empty table. Rather curiously two chairs were stacked at each place setting, and as we sat down and tried to reach the table surface, it became evident why.  We were presented with a hearty meal, totally devoid of eggs - allelluia!

Isobel and Heather soon discovered an intriguing additional feature to their accommodation - situated in adjacent rooms it became apparent that when one of them turned on their 'shower,' it water began to flow abundantly out of the shower head next door!  Having both disturbed eachother at different times by this fascinating feature, they decided the only way forward was to synchronise the turning on of their taps!

Give thanks for all that was achieved in Byumba; for safe travel down to Gasabo diocese; for all who responded on Sunday morning.
Please pray for our time in Gasabo diocese, that we will fulfil all that the Lord has for us to do; for our visits to parishes and different projects; for contiued energy and enthusiasm.

Monday's Blog: (see below for Sunday's blog)

This morning we piled into the Toyota pick up once again and headed along the dusty, rocky roads into the hills bound for Gakenki, a parish perched high up on the terraces, just below the summit crowned with a deep green tea plantation.  The team had visited this parish last year to see its water harvesting project and was keen to see how it was progressing.  We were pleased to find they had been using the money raised to good effect, using some of the money to build a sturdy concrete platform in their new church.   Construction of this new building is on going and there are substantial heaps of rocks at the rear the building, in readiness to be split and laid on the earth floor.

We received the customary warm welcome from the resident incumbent, Pastor Emanuel and were invited into his home for a second breakfast.  We shared lovely aromatic lemon grass tea and were each presented with plates, filled with fluffy bread rolls from a local bakery and of course more of the ubiquitous boiled eggs!

Having been introduced to the family, in walked another young man, who ably introduced himself as ‘Innocent,’ with a second name in Kinyarwanda meaning ‘Determined.’  He told us that he is praying for his dream to come true for him to live up to his name!  Having listened to his inspirational conversation for only a short while, we were all convinced that he will indeed achieve this dream!  He works in a government office, where he openly shares his faith with his colleagues.  He told us that he finds Pastor Emanuel’s family inspirational and so he enjoys spending time there.  Innocent longs to work for an NGO (Non Government Organization)  because he came from an impoverished family, understands what it means to be starving, and has benefited from an NGO himself.     He impressed us with his profound words when he said, he believes a challenge is not to weaken you but to shape you.   He wants to work for an NGO where he can be inspired by others.

Innocent joined us to wander around the church and to discuss the current church projects.  Twice a week a group at the church come together to teach 47 people to cook and then they share the food, eating together. There is also a basket weaving project, whereby a group of people co operate to weave a mat together, which they then sell.

After our return to the guest house and a lunch of yet more boiled eggs, we proceeded to the Hannah Ministry in Byumba to purchase the baskets made there by the widows, to take back to the UK with us.  As today is a bank holiday, it was lovely to be greeted by a whole load of children just ‘hanging around’ at the Hannah Ministry, where they had been fed their daily meal and were just sitting chilling together.  On seeing Heather, whom they recognised from her previous visit, they rushed to her.  She got out her phone to show them pictures of her family and she was absolutely swamped by an exuberant scrum of children!

Almost as much excitement was later caused by Eleanor amongst the market traders as she wandered into the material section of Byumba market,  intent on buying a swathe of colourful African dress fabric.  Soon both Eleanor and Heather were charmed by some of the plethora of bold designs and wonderful rich coloured cloth for sale.

This evening the 2 grannies, Eleanor and Heather, were once more enchanted by some of the pastors’ children - this time it was Pastor Taddy’s 5 year old twin boys.  We were all invited to dinner at Pastor Sam’s home, where we experienced for the first time a taste of glutenous cassava bread served with cassava leaves.   As we sat eating and chatting together, Pastor Sam’s 5 year old daughter inquisitively stroked Isobel’s hair!

Please pray for the successful conclusion of projects tying up loose ends in Byumba before we depart for Gasabo on Tuesday.

Pastor Sam’s wife Janette and other pastors’ wives who are under various pressures bringing up their children, whilst working full time and supporting their husbands in ministry.

Sunday's Blog: We were encouraged by the number of young people attending the English service at 8am in Byumba cathedral.  Alan preached about the Lord’s prayer and its relevance to each of us in our daily lives.

The Youth for Christ Choir took us back to the days of the 1980s Billy Graham crusades with their renditions of Amazing Grace, I Surrender All and Blessed Assurance…  In song they moved from their seats to the front of the church swaying in a rhythmic conga formation to lead the worship.

As the English service drew to a close, the cathedral began to fill with church members in readiness for the following service in the Kinyarwandan language.   The cathedral’s wooden benches were almost full to their capacity, seating 1000, and though we found a few spare spaces on a bench near the back, our white faces were soon spotted by a church warden, dressed in a green and white cassock, who eagerly re-seated us on the front row beside the font.  Almost immediately 3 church members slotted themselves strategically between us on the front bench to interpret for us individually.

Andy, who was due to preach in the service, had previously been collected by another church warden, keen to get the service started and was seated amongst the clergy on the platform in the chancel.

Although the service was three and a half hours long, it was full of variety, music and colour.  A group of between 15 - 20 new members were welcomed into the church, introduced and then enfolded in a loving embrace by their brothers and sisters.  Several newly-weds were invited to the front for well wishing, 3 young people were baptised and Andy preached whilst Pastor Elson interpreted.  The service was interspersed by wonderful African singing and dancing led by 3 choirs. 

After Andy’s message, there was a good response from the congregation to Elson’s call, inviting people to give themselves to Christ.  About 30 young people came forward for prayer and were then taken into a side room where church members talked with them, putting into place a follow up programme.

Having eaten breakfast in a great hurry to attend the early service, we then returned in the early afternoon to ‘enjoy’ barely lukewarm porridge and hard boiled eggs.

We spent a gruelling afternoon coding and sorting hundreds, if not thousands of banana fibre cards hand made by a group of local widows, ready for us to take back to sell in the UK.  Fortunately Heather produced a packet of sweets to keep up our sugar levels and cheer us on through this tedious task.  By the time Andy returned from a meeting elsewhere, the large pile of empty sweet wrappers said it all!

Once again we were invited out to dinner in 2 pastors’ homes.  The 2 grannies, Eleanor and Heather, were in their element in Pastor Elson’s home as they spent the evening passing the young baby, ‘Heavenly Joy’ from one to another, cooing over her cuteness, living up to her name.  (until she covered Heather in baby rice!)    
      

Elson’s other children Shalom and Grace were also home from boarding school for a family wedding.  Alan enjoyed finding out about Pastor Elson’s involvement in the training and follow up to the post genocide programme of reconciliation.  This social therapy programme is based on post World War II material and has been funded by the Netherlands.

Meanwhile Andy and Isobel were being entertained at Pastor Etienne’s house.  We munched through warm roasted peanuts, trying to maintain a conversation with the family as the lights flickered on and off with annoying frequency.  A storm was brewing outside as the rainy season approaches.  Clearly Rwandan electricity struggles in such weather conditions.  After a sumptuous feast of local produce, Etienne invited Isobel to eat one of the lemons off his tree.  Hoping there had been confusion in translation, she accepted the offer, only to find that it was indeed a very bitter lemon and much wincing and grimacing ensued!  Etienne’s teenage boys tried to appear macho and proceeded to down their segments with virtually expressionless faces.

The jolly evening was rounded off by Andy organising a family game of bowls using Etienne’s home grown fruit.   To add to the excitement of the impromptu game, the ‘passion fruit jack’ was extremely well camouflaged on the concrete floor and to add another dimension to the challenge, we were periodically plunged into sudden darkness as the electricity cut out again!  A fun night was had by all!

Please pray for the young people who responded and also those who were baptised in the cathedral and pray for them to be discipled.

Give thanks for the opportunity to meet with local families and share meals;  the Cathedral was full and needs to be extended/rebuilt;  a youth group activity raised £2000 towards the building of a new cathedral.

At 10.30pm in the midst of writing yesterday's blog we received the disturbing news that we were due to head off on a 7 hour journey into the wilds at a cruel 4.30am this morning!  Fortunately this seemed to have got lost in translation and we actually departed at a genteel 10.30am after securing a vehicle with a broken window (hastily repaired with a chunk of wood - somewhat obscuring Eleanor's view of the upland panorama!)

We were heading off into the countryside along some horrendous, dusty, corrugated roads congested with bikes laden with bananas, people carrying all and sundry on their heads.  Stuffed to capacity, the pick up truck struggled up the gradients and Andy negotiated the hairpin bends with terrifying skill - performing 3 (or more) point turns above a sheer drop as Heather and Isobel winced from their cosy pole position. squashed onto the front seat.

Our mission was to visit two isolated parishes, set in beautiful terraced hillsides where daily life continues to be a struggle. We received the same warm welcome in both parishes, where the pastors and their families shared abundantly of the little they had.

As if the trusty Toyota was not straining enough, 'passers by' frequently jumped aboard only to drop off (literally) as we continued along the bumpy road.   Eleanor, Alan and Pastor Placide were somewhat dismayed to find another pastor being shoe-horned into join them on the back seat, as he wished for a lift down into the valley far below to take a wedding ceremony.  From their groans there was a substantial degree of discomfort and this reached a crescendo soon after we'd delivered Pastor Onesime to his destination and Pastor Placide's cramp caused him to spring from the vehicle and have his leg massaged back into life by Alan, in the presence of an ever increasing road side audience!

Give thanks - for Pastor Onesime's recovery from a motor bike accident 4 days ago; for seeing that our visits make a difference to the parishes, letting them know that we care.

Please pray for the challenge of providing education for the children in these beautiful yet remote locations;  the responsibility on the shoulders of the pastors for coordinating and encouraging their church leading teams; safety of transport for the church leaders in their rural parishes.

It has been another interesting day for us as a team. A day of the unexpected and unplanned as well as  a day of learning and sharing with our brothers and sisters here in Rwanda. Here are few snippets.

Interrupted and missed meal times - but porridge comes to the rescue.
Team's resilience was tested by the fluid nature of the day's programme, but we're still smiling!
Covering the cathedral benches with banana fibre cards as they were recounted and recoded. An annual event as part of our visits.
Distributing hand-knitted cardigans to pastor's new-born babies. Smiling wives and bemused babies.
Managing to finish off the interviews with all the pastors. Relief all round and much to pray for.
A realisation of how much we take everyday things for granted and the respect we have for our brothers and sisters here who keep going under very trying circumstances.
Important and helpful teaching for husbands and wives.


Please pray for:
Pastors and wives as they return to their parishes, that they will have been encoursged and strengthened as a result fo their time with us here.
The plans for new buildings and site developments.
The many pastors and wives and their families who struggle with everyday challenges - food, water, education and employment.

Give thanks for:
The many new believers who have been baptised in the last year.
For the increase in numbers attending church services.
A growing commitment within congregations to serve the Lord.

We launched into the day with a hearty breakfast of chicken soup with omlettes in good time to greet the pastors and their wives and families arriving for the conference. A burst of harmonious Rwandan a capella singing launched the first session which was taken by Andy who began to trace the Kingdom of God throughout the Scriptures ably translated by Pastor Elson.

After lunch Alan and Eleanor, aka the Scottish couple, shared from their personal experience on marriage and ministry. Being newcomers, they boldly suggested they could break into groups for discussion with the result that the room emptied and they went to the ends of the campus, which meant it took some time to round everyone up to continue! Eleanor spoke from the heart about the challenges and struggles of being a vicar's wife which resonated with many of those listening.
During the breaks Andy, with Isobel's help as debutante camera person, managed to do seven interviews with pastors whose parishes are part of our 'Support A Parish' programme.

Supper was fish and chips, African-style, accompanied by a further instalment of Eleanor's Budgie Tales.

Matters for prayer and praise.

• For a good second day at the conference 
• Help with sorting out Ubushuti Cards
• Practical needs of pastors, many of whom need to build a family house
• Thanks for growing congregations and many new church buildings

Thanks for your prayers.
Alan, Eleanor, Isobel, Heather and Andy.

Wednesday's blog. An interesting day. It started with us trying to get our phones sorted with the necessary SIM cards.  Pastor Placide took us to a local trader who had his 'desk' located under a sun umbrella. The initial problem was that the trader was not under the umbrella but once he was told he had some customers he soon appeared from up the road. He fixed us up with the cards and we went on our way happy - except that three of the cards needed to be cut down to micro size to fit the phones we have. This needed to be done in the town centre, so we would have to wait until later. We moved on to visit the new diocesan school.

King Solomom Academy is located on the edge of the town next to the sports stadium. For the 68 children and three teachers the accomodation is somewhat sparse. There are just three classrooms (Patience, Goodness and Kindness) and a very basic set of toilets. Other than this there are three more half built classrooms (Love, Joy, Peace?) a staff room (Self-control?) and an office (Gentleness?) which should be finished by November. If they are, then the school will get full accreditation from the government. The diocese is not short on a vision for the site. They would like to have a primary school, a secondary school and a university located on the large site in the next few years.

From the school we visited Hannah Ministry to see what baskets they have for us to bring back. It was good to see the centre active again and they had been working hard in readiness for our visit. From there we went down into the town to get the phone cards cut to micro size and then walked back up to the diocesan centre. Over our evening meal we were treated to the hidden world of budgie breeding by Eleanor - from them being born the size of a finger nail to the intricate art of budgie foot washing. We even heard about the time Alan locked Eleanor in the aviary - but more about that another time! Suffice it to say that she did get out - eventually - and following these insights, our lives will never be the same. Bed beckoned and we gave in.

We are here! After 18 hours of travel we arrived at the Scripture Union guest house in Kigali. On the way we had a damaged case, an hour of sitting on a plane waiting to take off and a long wait for getting our entry visas. But it was all worth it to be welcomed by a beaming Pastor Samuel who had come to the airport to meet us. After a good night's sleep we went to the Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali, a difficult but important experience, and then travelled up to the diocese of Byumba with our good friend Revd Juvenal. We've had a warm welcome from Bishop Emmanuel and his senior staff and enjoyed an evening meal together.

So here are some first impressions from the team. "Beautiful landscape of terraced hillsides."  "Surprising speed of housing and road development within a year." "Hustle and bustle of the city streets in sharp contrast to the absolute silence when confronted by the harrowing images of the genocide in the Memorial Centre."

Tomorrow we visit a school and two local projects.

Thank for you prayers.

Alan, Eleanor, Isobel, Heather and Andy.