Katale: Tuesday July 27

We spent our second day at the "God is Good School". We visited the last of the seven classes today. It is cool to see how similar little kids are here to the kids in the USA. These kids are studying similar things. Today one of the classes was studing how to calculate the radius and diameter of a circle. Another class was learning words that begin with "S" and "T". Carrie, who is on our team, is a teacher in the USA and her perspective has been helpful to us. She keeps on telling us about how familiar the kids feel and how familiar the teaching is.

Today at break time I was swarmed by kids. I'm sure my big camera and "cool" sunglasses drew them to me. The kids like to see their photos after I capture them. ANd they like seeing their reflectionYeah, it probably wasn't that I was one of the few Muzungu's on campus and that I'm tall. : ) The kids found great fascination with my feet. They spent some time "petting" them. At the same time kids were patting my rear end. They fought for a piece of my hand. It was fun for a while but one of my teammates rescued me just about the time I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

The classes were fun. We got a chance to help teach today. The teachers had us help with English speaking. The kids again seemed really comfortable with us in their classes. Tomorrow Carrie and I are going to spend time actually teaching the kids. I’m going to share more than teach. I’ll get to share about my family and life with three classes tomorrow. I must say that it is nice to have the chance to be with the kids for several days so that they get to know us and we get to know them.

After school we spent time just talking with Pastor Wilson. What an incredible man. I'm impressed by his humble spirit and his passion for his community and God. Wilson shared a bit today about his story. He was a child soldier. And while he didn’t go into this very much what I found interesting is that he was working for the army that supported the RPF (of Rwanda). In my mind it was those who confronted the Hutus that were the “heroes” of the 1994 Genocide. (as much as there can be a “hero” during any war) Yet it sounds like even that side of the army practiced great injustices. Children in the army?! How horrible. Pastor Wilson has been through a ton and the way God has been involved in his life and those around him was really great to hear today. At one point all of us listened with teary eyes. It was a good day!

Before Wilson dropped us off at the guesthouse he took us around the village and showed us the spectacular views of the city. We drove up to the top of the “mountain” right above where the village of Katale is. There are some huge homes being built. Even out in the village there is the rich and the poor living next door to each other.

Katele: Monday July 26

July 26

From here on out you can click on the link below to get updates from the GAP Team as well as my blog updates.

www.gappartners.org

Today Grant, Trevor, Kerri and I headed to the "God is Good" School. Before making it to the school we needed to exchange money. The traffic in Kampala is horrible in the morning. Pastor Wilson parked his car and we walked into the center of town. 4 Muzungo's waking single file on the city streets....I'm sure no one noticed us. I've never walked in town before here. It is an experience that is hard to describe unless you've been here. At one point we were looking down from a top a hill and I could just see swarms of people and cars. This is a dirty place...one of the dirtiest I've seen. The traffic seems to the inexperienced eye to have no order. I've just not been here long enough, I imagine, to figure out the order. We arrived at the Forex exchange before it was open. Of course we did. Luckily we didn't have to wait long. We then trekked back to the car an headed to the school.

We had a great day at the school today. There are 7 classrooms and today we got to sit on three of them. We had a blast just watching the kids and teachers. We are all really impressed by what we are seeing. I am enjoying the fact that we can understand the language. English is the language of teaching! I was surprised by how good the kids were with such distractions sitting in their classrooms--us!

After lunch the kids put on a wonderful series of performances to welcome us officially into their school. It was just adorable. They had a group of dancers and as it was ending Trevor Hall suggested I go out there and dance with them. SO I did. The kids erupted with excitement. I'm sure I looked silly but hey...we enjoyed it.

It is good to be with people I know and to be talking together about what we we've been seeing here today. Tomorrow we plan to continue to visit the kids in their classrooms.

Kigali/Kampala: Sunday July 25

July 25

Before I left Philbert’s home I had one last meal with he and Sophie. Last night Philbert had said, “If you have any questions for me tomorrow make sure you ask them.” He was commenting on how quiet I was at dinner. I’ve had a few long days and was really tired by late evening! This morning we had a wonderful conversation. Even though I was not in church I felt as if we were having a service. I am dreaming of coming back to Rwanda. There is still so much to learn. Bakke University is going to send a class here next October and he told me more about what that is going to be. How cool would it be to take a class on forgiveness and reconciliation in Rwanda? It is one thing to read about such things in books. However, it is something totally different to be here learning from practitioners. They don’t just talk about forgiveness and reconciliation. Here some are living it out and facilitating a process for others to live it too. Philbert regretted not getting to spend more time in conversation with me this week. And sure I would have loved to take more of his time. However, just being around him and the people he works with has been my teacher.

This morning I asked him to tell me more about the process he goes through when he does a workshop. I’ve been curious about the “how” of reconciliation. As he described what he does I realized that his process is very much connected to this specific context. Of course! When he works with groups he spends a lot of time talking about the history of Rwanda. This history is married to the history of colonizing countries. It is also married to the church. The church too played a significant role in the conflicts and ultimately in the 1994 Genocide. His telling of the history isn’t just a lecture but it is a conversation. It sounds like the workshops create space for people to tell their stories in light of the greater story of Rwanda and the church. There is power in story and power in acknowledging how one’s life intersected and joined the greater narrative. Then another story is also presented. It is the story of God and his reconciling himself to us. Again Philbert mentioned that forgiveness and reconciliation involve great sacrifice. God’s story of reconciliation with humanity involved great sacrifice!


It occurs to me that in the USA that there may be different barriers to forgiveness and reconciliation. Not harder just different. Here because the killing was so extensive and between friends, families and neighbors there remains whole communities who live divided by the conflicts in them and between each other. In the USA when we experience conflict we can “move on” in different ways than they can here. (and I’m not meaning to trivialize moving on). If we don’t like the church we are at, we can change churches. If our neighbors have victimized us, we can move across town, across state or across the country. Also in the US we do not value community and family tradition as deeply as they seem to here. We might feel sad about leaving a community we’ve known but we can build a “new one”. If there is a problem with someone in our city we don’t often come across the on a daily basis. Our lives are more contained because we drive our individual cars, we stay in our homes, we shop in the stores across town. Here they have plots of land that are their families for years. We can flee from the people who hurt us in a different way than many others in our world can. Even if we have means to ‘move on” we don’t actually move on! The pain remains and the venom of hatred continues to eat away at our life.

I must admit that I was very sad to leave Kigali and my friends there. I felt really emotional leaving today. It has been a very wonderful visit. My last visit to Rwanda had me focusing on the Genocide and the history of colonization there. This visit was so different. There are some stellar people there and I’m incredibly grateful for all that I’m being taught by friends.

So my flight to Entebbee marks the last phase of the trip and it is the primary reason for the trip in the first place. Today begins my involvement with GAP International and GAP’s partnership with Pastor Wilson. Pastor Wilson runs a school and we are going to be spending most of our time with his school.

My flight and my journey through immigration was uneventful. I’ve been grateful for the ease of borders this trip. This year my hardest experience at a border was at the Canadian border…go figure. I was picked up by a man from Pastor Wilson’s church. I have been taken care of as I’ve traveled these last few weeks. I’m so grateful for all the help and people who have come into my path. Yeah, the adventurer in me wanted to negotiate the taxi to Kampala but another part of me knew this was just what I needed. Thanks to Pastor Wilson and the GAP team for working this out. Robert, the driver, drove me to Pastor Wilson’s home where I was greeted by our team members. And finally after several years of hearing about Pastor Wilson and his wife Grace, I’ve met them in person.

After lunch at Pastor Wilson’s we went to the school where we joined a teacher and parent meeting. We witnessed quite the scene. Of course we made introductions and expressed thanks to each other. Wilson gave us an wonderful introduction. We heard from some of the parents. And then the parents launched into some concerns they had to share. We were not sure of all the issues but it was clear that the parents really care about their kids and that Pastor Wilson cares about hearing the good and the “bad”.

We drove to the Namirembe Guesthouse after the meeting finished and met up with our Nazarene Missionaries. We enjoyed great conversation with Dan and Melody Anderson. What a wonderful couple they are!

Kigali: Saturday July 24

July 24

Today I was able to get some rest. It was so needed after yesterday. Since we didn’t get home until nearly 1am last night I was wiped and I slept until 10am. When I woke up I thought to myself, “I could be on a 10 hour bus ride right now.” It is a good thing I wasn’t. This morning I connected by phone with our Nazarene Missionary in Uganda. I am grateful for the cell phone here. We’ll meet up with him on Sunday (or Monday). I also connected with Grant Christy who is the leader of the GAP part of this trip.

So today I spent the day with Sophie. Both of us needed a down day. I was able to catch up with myself a bit. In the evening we met up with Philbert and some other Americans and went to a wedding reception. After hearing about Rwandan weddings this week it was cool to actually be at a part of one. We went to the reception where there was a presentation of cake, gifts and dancing. This all happened in front of an audience. So there was no mingling happening among guests. The best part was the group of dancers.

My last dinner in Rwanda this trip was at Philbert’s new restaurant with Sophie and 3 other American women. Also another Rwandan man joined us.

Butare: Friday July 23

July 23

I lived 5 days in 24 hours. It is amazing to me how much experiece I can pack into one day!

“Day 1” After the Sauna last night I slept hard and deeply. So when the alarm rang at 6:20am I really didn’t want to get up. I did. Philbert asked Emmanuel, his house help, to help me get a moto so I could meet Lindsay and Blake near their home. I was off on the moto and then just waited at a gas station. I waited for about 10 minutes and I must say they were a long 10 minutes. There is nothing much more uncomfortable than being a Muzungu all alone. Maybe if I knew the place better, knew the language I wouldn’t feel as exposed. As I waited I thought about how blessed I’ve been on this trip to find so few moments alone. Lindsay and Blake came just as I was beginning a “conversation” with the boy that was picking up trash at the gas station. He was practicing his broken English and the conversation helped me pass the time. When Blake and Lindsay arrived we all got a moto to a coffee shop. Today was Lindsay’s birthday and although she was giving her big day to a trip to Butare at least we were beginning the day with an American breakfast. I enjoyed their company at breakfast. It has been fun for me to hear of their experiences in Rwanda in these last 6 months.

“Day 2” We took motos to town where we caught a bus to Butare. I was expecting the “matatu” buses which are tiny and cramped. I was pleasantly surprised that we had a nice bus. We had enough room which means my knees were against the back of someone’s seat but I didn’t feel cramped. The drive to Butare from Kigali was beautiful. The road winds through terraced hills.. There are were a ton of people walking and riding their bikes on the side of the road. Our bus was pulled over by the police and it looked like our driver didn’t have the correct papers. They police got in the bus an took us to the police station. For the most part everyone in the bus just sat in quite. I was more calm than I expected myself to be. I’m sure that was because I was with Blake and Lindsay. The driver was away from the bus for a short time and when he returned nothing was said. We just continued our journey. We arrived to Butare after 2 and a half hours. We were met at the bus station by Pastor Zabulon. We greeted each other and loaded into a taxi to head to the Nazarene District Center.

“Day 3” We spent a few hours with Pastor Zabulon and other pastors from Butare. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I learned about the ministry of the district. They have several projects they are working on to support the orphans and widows of the area. Pastor showed us some of the cards and necklaces they make. Our conversation centered around the possibility of bringing a team of students to Butare in the future. What impressed me about the pastors is that they see a team coming to participate in the things they are already doing. They value relationship. They mentioned the idea of connecting with University students. Butare is a huge university town and in May students would still be in school. That would be awesome! It sounds like there is huge opportunity here for a relationship. It is amazing to me that I can be on the other side of the world and meet with Nazarenes. After our meeting we walked to Pastor Zabulon’s home for lunch. We met his entire family. It was a wonderful time of connecting!

“Day 4” After lunch Blake had to do some business in town for the pastors. We also needed to get our bus tickets for our return trip home. It was 10 minutes to 4 when Lindsay and I went to get our tickets. When we got up to the desk the lady informed us that there were no seats. We asked, “Can we have a later bus?” She said, “No, there are no more seats today.” This feeling of dread ran through me. I saw visions of staying in Butare the whole night. We called Black and Pastor and they said they’d try another bus company. We are in Africa! Everything is an adventure here. Sometimes I think having a knowledge off a more developed country works to be detriment. I can become so bummed by delays and disappointed when things don’t work out like they do back home. I think it is easy to be flexible when I know I’m just staying in the country for a short time. I would find some things about the way life works here very difficult long term. I totally respect those who are from developed worlds here that are working here and living simply. It must not be easy! Pastor Zabulon helped us get bus tickets for 7pm. We celebrated being able to return home tonight even though we had to wait several hours. The wait gave us more time with Pastor Zabulon.

At about 6:15 we ventured off to the bus station to wait for our bus. We began to get a sense of what to expect when it was our turn to fetch the bus. When a bus arrived everyone made a mad dash to get a seat. Pastor Zabulon helped us know when our bus arrived and the plan was for Blake to go ahead to save us seats. Sure enough when our bus arrived a mob formed around the entrance even while the bus was in motion. We had to push our way to the front. While I was pushing my way Black opened the back window of the bus and jumped in. I’m not sure how he managed this. Everyone was laughing at him outside of the us (at least those who were not getting on this bus were laughing). He then fought off people to save our seats. Lindsay was so good at pushing her way into the bus. She has had more practice than I for sure! I made my way in but only because Linsay and Blake worked hard to save a seat for me. We were so grateful to have made it on the bus, to be sitting together and to finally be on our way back to Kigali. I was glad to be sitting in the back because I could not see the road. There were several close calls as we passed other vehicles. I was glad when we made it back!

“Day 5 Tonight Philbert’s new restaurant had its grand opening. Lindsay, Blake and I took a taxi to join the opening party. We were exhausted. They didn’t stay long but it was good to introduce them to my friend Philbert! I ended up staying until Mid-night. It was great to be there for Philbert’s big say. It was “an experience”. Several of the men at the party had way too much alcohol. I’ve never been around drunk men and I don’t care to be around them every again. It is the one time this whole trip when I didn’t feel safe. I was exhausted and didn’t have much left in me to deal with crazy guys. So when Philbert said it was time to go I was thrilled. I was beyond ready! It was a marathon day of 5 acts….. I’m grateful for each part (except the drunk men).

Kigali: July 22

July 22

Today I spent the day with Steven. I met Steven in 2007 at the Amahoro conference and I’ve stayed in contact with him. There are a group of friends from the UK and the US who are partnering with him. I’m beginning to see that there are a ton of orphans and widows all over Rwanda. It is interesting how in the Ukraine this summer I saw that so many churches were participating in ministry to those struggling with addictions. Yet here in Rwanda the church (and a 1000 other kinds of non-church related NGO’s) are serving orphans and widows. It is at least the story of HIV/Aids, the Genocide and poverty that creates the struggle here.

Steven invited me to join him and some of the members in his community as they handed out food items. One of the young men wrote down all the names of young people who are in the youth cooperative. Then people waited until their name was called. When their name was called they brought containers to receive oil, rice, sugar, and flour. It wasn’t much but each person got something of everything. Some brought paper bags for the dry goods. Others had only their back packs. Imagine putting flour into your backpack. As the girl who was helping poured the flour into the backpack she frowned. She too even thought this wasn’t the best method. It took a couple of hours for the whole process. The youth were patient as they waited. I played with some of the kids and tried talking to some of the youth. When it was all done we loaded some food into a car for Steven and his family.

I got to see Steven’s home. I remember seeing his home in 2007 and this home is a mansion compared to that house! The kids even have bunk beds instead of sleeping on the floor. Steven and his wife have something like 16 kids--he has “adopted” most of them. I met some of them. Most were at school. I’m not sure how his household works. Steven mentioned during our visit that when the kids reach a certain age they move in with other kids. So some of the young women and young men I met in the village, he said, used to live with him.

Steven pointed out the water that recently “turned on” or was “installed. I’m not sure when this happened but it just boggles my mind to think of a not having running water. Even though I’m here and constantly seeing people carrying yellow jerry cans I still struggle to really comprehend walking hours every day for water. On Tuesday I missed walking to the water hole that Steven’s community uses. The group of American women I’ve joined some this week made that trek to see what walking to the waterhole is like. They said it took about an hour to get there. I can not imagine walking everyday to fetch water from a watering hole. I imagine when those get water in their home it changes their lives drastically.

Later this afternoon Steven introduced me to a friend of his who wanted to share her story with me. She is a survivor of the genocide. She lost her husband and was raped multiple times. Her two kids survived also. Admittedly, it felt a bit awkward to here her story without any sort of relationship. However, she explained that when Steven asked if she would like to get together with me she agreed because she wants people to know what happened. She said that many women she knows do not tell because there is so much shame. What courage it must take to share your story--a story of horrific suffering with people! Her courage really touched me.

Tonight I had a uniquely African experience. This week Philbert and his cousin, Augustine, told Sophie and I about the Rwandan Sauna. It sounded something like the Korean Bathhouse. Philbert asked Sophie and I if we wanted to try it. Sophie is up for everything! Me too. So we went. Let me just say that I’m glad she was with me! We were both glad to have another female companion in this experience.

In my mind I pictured a really nice “western” place much like an upscale hotel. Ha. Julene, let’s be real! It was a nice building but it was still very African. We entered and Sophie and I were given a large green sarong to cover ourselves with. We were directed into a women’s changing area. I was envisioning a locker room behind the curtain with benches, sinks, and shower stalls. Sure I saw the shower stalls in the main room when we walked in but certainly there were women specific showers. Yeah, right. Behind the curtain was a room with pegs on the walls for clothes and slippers on the floor for our feet. It was very simple. We changed and were both feeling nervous and uncomfortable. How does this sarong work? How will we keep it from coming off or falling down? “We can do it.” When we exited the changing room Augustine and Philbert were waiting for us in their own sauna attire. They lead us into the sauna.

Like Sophie reflected the “sauna” was a mix between a steam room and a sauna in the States. It was a large room with two levels of seating along the walls. At the back of the room was the steam maker. There were spices that lay over top of the steam maker. The room was hot and smelled of a potent lemony scent. Honestly it smelled of Pinesol. Sophie and I were the only two Muzungu. There may have been one other women in the sauna. The rest were men. We were the talk of the room. The guys joked that with us in the sauna there was no need for light. Our light skin was light enough. Ha…ha.. On the floor of the sauna a man was giving another man “a wash”. Later Philbert and Augustine would receive “a wash”. I was asked if I wanted one and declined. Yeah, that wouldn’t be fun….guys staring at me “getting a wash”. I’m all for experience but even I have my limit. Apparently one of the men was willing to pay to give us a wash but the man working retorted that it was his job and if anyone were to was the Muzungu it would be him. Yeah, no wash for me!

We went from the intensely hot sauna to the “resting room” and back and forth a few times. I was done after 3 rounds. Those shower stalls in the entrance….well they were for everyone. I found one in a corner that seemed more private. There was a shower curtain! I took a real shower! I haven’t had a real shower in 2 weeks. I’ve bathed every day at Philbert’s (and with warm water, by the way) but he doesn’t have a fully functioning shower head. So tonight I took a shower. The water was cold but at it was a true shower. Oh the niceties of western culture.

We ended our evening with dinner out. All of us were ready for bed after dinner. The sauna experience and a good meal prepared us well for rest. I wish I could sleep in tomorrow morning! I have to meet up with Blake and Lindsay, the Nazarene missionaries, at 6:45am. It has been another full day of experience and adventure!

Kigali: July 21

July 21

Dana Hicks, my pastor, was in Rwanda at the end of June. He met up with a couple who has been in Rwanda for 6 months. Before I left Nampa for Africa Dana helped me connect with Lindsay and Blake Berry. I learned they are Nazarene Missionaries and they are planning on spending 2 years in Rwanda and Congo. Blake‘s main job is to set up compute centers so that pastors can get theological education online. What a cool task! Lindsay is finding her job too but her work is coming more slowly. She has been connecting with the Nazarene Youth and next week is speaking at the youth camp.

Lindsay and I met at a coffee shop. Lindsay showed me around the city a little and then we met her husband at a nice western restaurant. We talked all afternoon. They showed me their home and the Nazarene compound. We made plans to meet on Friday when they are going to take me to visit some of our pastors in Butare. We are going to meet with a District Superintendent.

Today I changed my return travel plans to Kampala. The bus experience was so good on the way here. However I’ve decided to fly back. I decided to fly on Sunday (instead of returning on Saturday) because Friday is going to be such a long day. I’m hoping Saturday will be a recover day. I just can not see having 2 long travel days in a row and ten jumping right into the last part of my trip with GAP. I also learned that Saddie, who was my travel companion on the bus ride here, had a huge incident on her attempt to return to Kampala by bus. She was in a head on collision on the bus. She had to climb out of the window. No one was hurt and the bus company sent for everyone and returned them back to Kigali. Oh my! So my decision to fly on Sunday feels really good! I’ve had my bus adventure for this trip and we’ll leave it at that.

After leaving Lindsay and Blake I returned to Philbert’s home. I had dinner with Sophie and Philbert. We talked more about forgives and reconciliation. Philbert has a wealth of experience working with people who have experienced conflict. I find it so easy to over romanticize the work that he does. It just amazes me that people who lost family members can become reconciled with those that killed their family. It is beautiful. Philbert said that in the last 10 years he has done his workshops with 23,000 people. And only 5,000 of those have been able to forgive and/or be forgiven. He talked about how hard it is for people. He said that the power to forgive only comes from God and that he can not judge those who cannot forgive and be reconciled because it is just too hard. It is too hard for so many to live in the same community with those who took their families from them. Philbert helped me see both the difficulties of forgiveness but also he helped me gain a perspective of how needed the work he is doing is. There are still so many people in Rwanda who are living with the pain and trauma of 1994.

As we talked Philbert said, “Julene I have an analogy I want to share with you.” I love that I’ve felt like a student in his home. : ) He explained that in Africa most snakes have poisonous venom. If a snake bites you it infects you with poison. When infected you need to get to a doctor to get help. If you don’t get help, the venom inside of you could very well kill you. He said, “What if you were to kill the snake after it bit you?” “Would that save your life?” “What if instead of getting help from the doctor you kept wishing and planning how you were going to kill or make the snake’s life miserable?” “ It wouldn’t save your life!” “In fact it would kill you because the venom would take its course in such a way that life would end.” What a good way of talking about how holding onto hatred and ill feelings for people kills us. It might not actually make our heart stop beating, however, it steals life from us. And it does!

Sometimes we spend so much time plotting how we are going to kill the snake instead of taking care of the venom that is working to kill us. Forgiveness doesn’t turn the snakes bite into an acceptable act. Forgiveness in no way condones the wrong doing. But it frees us from the poison. And getting rid of the poison can also be a very painful journey! God is needed to help in the journey towards forgiveness.

It was a great evening! I wish I could listen to Philbert tell stories all night!

Rwanda Day 4: Tuesday July 20

July 20--

I’ve been fighting a cold for a few days and today it finally really caught me. So I’m taking it easy today, getting rest and fluids. It is nice to be able to rest at Philbert’s home. I’m hoping today’s rest will help this cold to pass. We shall see. After yesterday’s huge day I’m so content to have a less huge day!

I’ve finally been able to upload blog entries that are indeed too long. But there has been a long list of experience too. I’m with great people and having a trip of a lifetime, for sure. I can see returning to this place.

Rwanda Day 3: Monday July 19

July 19--

Today was absolutely one of the most profound days of my life. It was profound because I walked away believing more in the possibility of goodness, believing more in meaning of hope, believing more in the potential for forgiveness and reconciliation and lastly believing that Jesus is alive and well even in the darkest of circumstances. I’ve been believing for years now that God is the greater of all that is good and the redeemer of all that lacks goodness. Thank you Julian of Norwich for this. I’ve seen this come to light in the circumstances of my own life. But I’ve never had a neighbor kill my family. I’ve never had someone I know take everything from me--house and family and livestock--and leave me for dead. As I’ve learned about some of the unspeakable evil in our world it has had me question the possibility for goodness and the potential for forgiveness let alone reconciliation. Could God really redeem the worst in our world?

At the start of summer I read the book that or freshman are going to be reading come fall. It is a book on forgiveness and reconciliation in Rwanda titled “As We Forgive”. It spoke to the real difficulty and pain involved in the process of forgiveness and reconciliation. When I am honest about such an issue as “reconciliation” I have to acknowledge that it is a romantic idea in my head. It is something that is so beautiful on the outside and heart warming on the inside. “As We Forgive” did a good job of demystifying reconciliation for me. The timing of my reading that book couldn’t have been more perfect.

Today I went with Philbert who heads up Reach Rwanda, Pastor Fidel who works alongside Philbert for Reach, Bishop Mark from Northern Ohio(from the Episcopal church), his daughter Sophie and son Eli on a trip. We traveled about 21/2 hours out of Kigali to the Eastern province of Rwanda near the Tanzania border. This is an area that Reach has been working in the longest to help facilitate forgiveness and reconciliation after the 1994 genocide. It has been a big deal for Bishop Mark to be here. It turns out that he was the first bishop from the US to come to visit Reach participants in this area. So you can imagine how excited the people were when an American bishop arrived with Philbert and Fidel. Of course they were excited to see the rest of us who are Muzungu’s too.
We met for a gathering in a Pentecostal church. There were pastors from several churches, a choir of young people and maybe 100 others. It could have been any church gathering in Africa. But it wasn’t just any gathering at all. The people in the room and the stories they are host made this gathering anything but a regular church meeting.

As the gathering started pastors made introductions. One of the pastors who works with Reach asked all those who have been trained by Reach to stand up. Quite a few people stood up. Then he asked all those who are survivors of the genocide to stand up. More than half of the room stood up. Then he asked those who killed someone during the genocide to stand up. Maybe 1/3 of the room stood up. In that number stood both men and women. I was sitting in a church with survivors and perpetrators of the genocide. Reach has been going into some of the prisons and helping those who killed others to know about God’s forgiveness, his love and helping them to know Christ. Many of the perpetrators have finished their prison terms and returned to their communities. I can’t imagine how hard this must be for them as well as the survivors. Yet some of the perpetrators are returning to seek forgiveness. I felt in awe that I was sitting among those who had killed and those who survived. Some of the survivors even sat with people who had killed their own families.

Philbert asked Bishop Mark and I to introduce ourselves and to say a few words of encouragement. I was glad he warned me before we got there because I had an idea of what I could say. I think I would have been totally speechless had I not come in with some thoughts. What in the world could I say to these people about God when they “get it”? They understand the pain and struggle of the long road to forgiveness and they are participating in God’s life in a way I only hear about. I thanked them for their witness to the resurrection. Their lives are proof that Jesus is living in this world today. Bishop Mark thanked them for their living testimony to hope. Later he commented that these pastors and people are not only teaching their community and Rwanda about forgiveness and reconciliation but they are teaching the world. God is redeeming the horrendous events of 1994 in small pocket communities all over Rwanda. God has been using the work of Reach and other organizations that are doing reconciliation work to show the world that forgiveness and reconciliation is possible. It sounds like, however, that the work has a long ways to go.

When Paul talks about the church being an ambassador of reconciliation he isn’t talking about a pipe dream. He is calling us to be this and Paul for one knew how painful for the journey was, the heart ache of being the wrong doer and the triumph and freedom of being forgiven and forgiving. Today I met people who prove that the call to be reconcilers is real and that the possibilities are just as real.

During the service we heart 3 people give their testimonies. Agnes shared in general about what happened in 1994. She shared how hard it was and how hard it continues to be. From her I sensed that this road of forgiveness continues. There is still a lot of pain involved in living in a community of survivors and perpetrators. She asked us to pray for them.

Next John got up to share with us. John was in prison for around 10 years. He killed people in this community. While in prison people from Reach ministered to him. He became a Christian and then when he was released he found some of the family members of people he had killed to repent and apologize. Yet Reach made it possible for John to go further than just say I’m sorry. John shared how he has been working on building a shelter for one of the families. The family was asked to stand up. There was a man in the back of the room who was standing on crutches. This was the man that John was building a house for. I was sitting there feeling like I was living in a dream. But I wasn’t. This is real. I remember reading in “As We Forgive” about a similar story. Yet here I was meeting people who are living this story out.

A third lady got up and shared about what happened to her during the genocide. She survived at first by hiding in the roof of her home. She was found and then “survived” by being handed to many men to be raped. Her story represents so many women’s stories during the genocide.

At the end of the meeting some of the ladies presented all of us visitors with a token of thanks for being with them today. The ladies in the community have created a cooperative and they are weaving baskets. They presented each of us with a basket they hand crafted. One of the pastors explained that our baskets had a specific purpose. These baskets he said are to hold inside of them all of our experiences and all the stories we have heard. We are to take these baskets and open them up when we get home. We are to share what we’ve seen and what we’ve heard so that the rest of the world knows what is happening in their community, within Reach‘s ministry, and in Rwanda.

After the service ended we greeted the people. The ladies had some more baskets for sale too. After spending some time with the people we got in the car and drove to two of the homes that was built for the survivors. Both were homes John was working on.

John met us there with the man on crutches and his wife. We were welcomed in the home to see it. Inside the home John explained how no one had told him he had to build a house but that he felt like he had to do something for this man. Saying sorry is not enough. We learned that John had beaten the man on crutches and left him on a pile of dead bodies for dead. The man survived but has been disabled ever since. The man on crutches also shared with us. He said that he has been so grateful for what John is doing. He never could have guessed this would happen to him. He said that when John came out of prison John came to him and told him about Reach. The man also got involved with Reach and learned about forgiveness and reconciliation. He said that it was too hard to hold the hatred any longer. Forgiving has set his heart free. He commented that no one in his family helped him build a home after the genocide yet John came to him, told him about Reach and has been building him a home. As he spoke you could see the sheer amazement on his face. I too felt amazed by what I was hearing. I felt like I was in the presence of Christ. I’m not sure there is a moment in my life where I’ve been as keenly aware of God’s real presence. Later Bishop Mark commented that today we had witnessed the miracle of the Incarnation. I think he is right. I also think that today I was able to witness the miracle of the resurrection too. Both were so clearly being witnessed today in our midst. Jesus has been giving new life and Jesus has been present through his people for them and for us.

I’ve read about how holding onto hatred and resentment and anger keeps people from living the lives they want. In small ways I’m coming to know this to be true in my own life. Yet today I felt like God gave witness to this reality in a way that I’ll never forget. While I can not deny the pain and difficulty in forgiving and reconciling I also cannot deny that it is both possible and freeing for the soul. If it can happen among killers and survivors, then it can happen among anyone.

Today there was an appeal for more building supplies. More freed prisoners would like to participate in reconciliation and would like to help build homes. Reach has helped provide resources for 30 homes to be built for victims by their perpetrators. I think it would be incredible to help provide the resources for a home. How cool would it be to participate in this process of reconciliation by helping victims and their perpetrators have this experience? We saw two homes today. They are simple houses but their meaning to all involved is far from simple.

The day didn’t end here. We gathered with Reach leaders for lunch and had opportunity to share more with each other. We also stopped by Philbert’s parents house. That was fun for us. Philbert has been an awesome host and so it was special to meet his parents. Just down the road from his parents other youth who are involved in Reach were waiting for us. There was another choir and a dance team that was preparing a performance for us. We sat and listened and watched. It was wonderful. The choir has been together for many years now and their ages are between 15 and 30. Philbert explained that they have spent a lot of time and money on this group of youth. They have had training and they have uniforms. Often when Reach puts on a workshop for reconciliation the choir comes to sing for the people. Philbert said that often the choir helps people to begin thinking about their need for Christ and their need to forgive. The dance team invited all of the visitors to join them. I danced…not very well…but I tried. We all did. It was a very fun ending to a hugely meaningful day.

Rwanda Day 2: Sunday July 18

July 18

In the morning I had breakfast with Philbert and Sophie. They were heading off to meet Sophie’s father and brother for church. And I was heading out to meet up with an American group--we were not going to church. Philbert has a wonderful sense of humor and gave me a horribly bad time about my not going to church today. I was hoping I would get to go to Steven’s church today but there was another plan in the works which I was pleased to join in with. And Steven was to be there! So he wasn’t going to be at his church either!

One of the serendipitous things of this trip is that a group of Americans from Seattle are here in Kigali visiting Steven. Also a friend from Amahoro who lives in Portland, Kelly Bean, is also here. They are all staying at the AEE Guesthouse. From Philbert’s house it is only a 5 minute walk. So today I walked to the guesthouse in the morning to meet up with Kelly to learn more about the scope of Steven’s work and to learn about the work she has been doing since arriving in the country last week.

When Steven arrived we gave each other a huge hug. We’ve been communicating these last 3 years and it was so cool to see each other again. We chatted about our families a bit before heading out for the day’s work. Kelly and the American group have been working to learn more about the village that Steven and his wife Providence are serving. There are a large number of widows and orphans in the community of Gasoni. The group of us walked around the village visiting several kids homes. Two of them have not adult living with them but instead they have a child head of household. We visited 2 boys homes and 1 girls homes. The girls home had an adult living with them. I can’t imagine being a kid and running a household!

Later on in the afternoon Kelly and I went with Steven and Gloria (a member of Steven’s church and a translator) to one of the projects Steven has been working on with the widows. The project is called “New Destiny” and it is a cooperative. Sewing machines have been purchased and a tailor has come in and given some instruction to the women. From what I gathered the cooperative exists not just for learning how to sew but to work together to help each other survive the struggle of intense poverty. The women are working together to come up with ideas and plans to help them make money. This is not easy as I heard yesterday. Kelly called this meeting with the ladies to learn how their committee works and to learn what struggles and challenges they are facing. I listened in and was amazed by the challenges they face. I was also enlightened to the complications presented with the original sewing project. So far it hasn’t helped bring in income. There are not enough sewing machines. It sounds like they still need more skills. The machine qualities is poor compared to market quality. The location of the project isn’t conducive to market. The ladies are needing to give time to survival and so it has been hard to give time to sewing when it doesn’t produce a solution to their hunger, their need for school fees, or their needs for medicines, etc. Also they talked about how hard it is to purchase materials for themselves. As the meeting went on I saw so clearly the challenge before us. It is not that easy to come up with sustainable enterprises with people. There are way more issues at stake than I could imagine and I can see it is going to take all of us time, patience, and a willingness to fail at first in order to get where we ultimately want to go. That is we hope to see these ladies find a way of supporting themselves.

When I returned to Philbert’s home I looked down at my feet and they were covered in red dirt. I had arrived just in time for dinner. Philbert had a group of pastors and friends over. They were sitting on his porch when I arrived. Something in me said I should go and wash my feet and I laugh because it dawned on me that this is what they’d do in the Bible times. I’m so used to being clean but this place is dusty. At least the village was. So I washed my feet before entering the company of the guests and was reminded that I had been a part of something actually pretty biblical today. No, not just in washing dirty feet. That is silly. But in being with the widows and being a part of a group that is trying to work with them to find a solution for how they might support themselves. As Kelly recounted the history of our relationship with Steven and their community it dawned on me that the space we participated in today was holy space. All over scriptures it talks about caring for the widow and here we were a part of something like this. So as I washed my feet before entering into the party I felt grateful that in a very small way I participated in the Kingdom today.