Day #9 ~ Byumba ~ Kids

A very full and fun day today! Tonight I was in the van by myself. It was cold and I was enjoying a little bit of quiet. Pastor Sam opened the door and said, "Mayleenduh... are you in here alone." I replied, "Yes." He said, "Wrong answer, Mayleenduh. You are never alone. God is with you!" I laughed and laughed. The man has a point!

This is my favorite picture of the trip... a sea of happy Rwandan kids!

Today we spent the day with over 350 children (many orphans) from Byumba. Kristen and I led songs, made beaded necklaces, colored and played outside. The kids sang and danced, red poetry (in English), played soccer and ran us all ragged!

These children are sponsored by Compassion International. They receive school uniforms and many school fees are also paid for.

Singing...

They colored pictures. We weren't prepared for the masses! We passed out 1 crayon to each child... and it wasn't long before they were all swapping with one another. No whining, no complaining... just sharing and enjoying a simple activity. The simplest of things bring such joy!

Some of the youngest...

We were very blessed to have the sun shine when we needed it... and the rain when we were (mostly) inside...

We passed out stickers and assumed they would know to put them on their sweaters or papers... and laughed out loud when they all sported them on their foreheads!

I love this shot... he's "snapping," my picture too!

We ate lunch at a church members house. She has twin sons (in the center) who dream of coming to America!

We passed out packages of biscuits and "bombo" (candy) to all of the kids. They lined up from youngest to oldest, all said thank you and then sat back down and waited until every last child received their treat. Such manners! I absolutely love that it is Rwandan culture that when food is made available, the youngest always eats first. This is so that the youngest have the best chance to grow.

At night we showed, The Jesus Film outside. The film is the most viewed Evangelistic movie in history and is distributed through Campus Crusade for Christ. It took a lot of patience and creative technical suaveness to get the film to run... with the help of a generator (which blew several times...) and the kids showed up in droves to watch it. It was nearly 10:00 at night when the film ended. The kids walked home in pairs... some over 2 hours... to go home for the night. They will return in the morning.

We all had to laugh... the kids ran around chanting, "Kris-teen-uh, Just-een-y- May-leen-duh!" and following us everywhere. At one point our driver / bodyguard / translator grabbed a stick and literally shoed them away! I had kids on my back, on both legs, holding both hands... saying, "May-leen-duh.... May-leen-duh..." CLASSIC!

Day #8 ~ Mothers and a whole lotta kids

This is what we saw at any arrival or departure ~ kids faces eagerly crowding at the windows!

They're like paparazzi's!

I love the one in the front with the serious expression and thumbs up!

Pound it!

Today was spent with the Mother's Unions and playing with the kids who live near the church.

There's "my girl" getting carried around...

Feleste

Byumba sling shot

Feleste and I

Everybody takes care of everybody.

This little guy went into the bush to find dinner!

Justin and Brent found this spot and we hiked there to take it all in.

Kristen and I

My beloved Nikon D60's flash broke a couple days into my trip. I was beyond disappointed! Luckily it still worked outside and I had a back up camera. Justin is a very good photographer and knowledgeable too. He taught me a lot of new tricks. Now if I can only learn how to use Photoshop!

Our session with the Mother's Union went well. We were able to leave them with teaching tools that address Malaria prevention, Parasites, Nutrition, and Healthy Families.

Many of the women we met earlier in the week when we met with the Widows group.

There is a rabbit project in the church. 20 women have been given rabbits as part of a micro enterprise project. They breed the rabbits, give one back to the church and then sell the rest for meat. Our group decided to make a seed money donation to help purchase additional rabbits for the project. It works, in many ways, like the project Heifer International.

I was determined to learn how to walk with a basket on my head. This one was full of acabanga (secret). I peeked and it was full of beans. Not very heavy, but awkward to balance. How do they do it? And they have larger baskets, and oftentimes a baby on their back!

Show off!

We ate lunch with this cute family. They have a 2 week son, Berrerut. A baby begins being carried on their mother's back when s/he is 8 days old.

Sam took us to the market to buy food for the Children's activity we are doing tomorrow. I asked to stop to browse the fabric. My mom would have loved to have seen all of the prints. I bought her 18 yards!