My Weekend in Gitarama

Muraho=hi in Rwandan… Seriously the only word I can consistently remember

On Friday Mama Arlene, the American lady I mentioned earlier, took us to her home for boys, home for girls, her own little home, and the guest house currently being built. They are all on a hill about a mile from our guesthouse which she also manages to make money to help children. There are 37 children in all. Mama Arlene first came to Africa to start an orphanage in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. She started working with a very bad man, and he ended up taking the $100,000 she raised in America to start an orphanage, and he threatened to kill her if she didn’t leave Rwanda. Well although Mama went back to the states, she was not ready to give up her dream. At age 75 (2 years ago) she came back to Rwanda, and this time started helping children in Gitarama, where we are staying now. Her mission, Urukundo Home for Children, took off, and is now quite a miracle. Instead of starting an orphanage, she decided to actually adopt the children and call it a home. She says one of the major faults with other orphanages in Africa is that although they are a safe-haven at the time, when the children become a certain age, they are kicked out and not welcomed back, even if they have nothing and there is no chance of employment. Now all these kids have a home. She is amazing… At 77, she has 37 children in Rwanda (and once the new building is done, she will always have up to 50 children) and 4 children in the US-she also has grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the US—CRAZYYY! Anyways, she’s amazing… Seriously, I met a future-saint. When we don’t have work to do or we are bored, we go to Mama Arlene’s to play with the children.
Saturday, we went to Epiphanie’s house to review the survey we will be using with the orphans that ZOE Ministry helps through their Giving Hope Program. We needed to make sure everything was clear. Olivier, Epiphanie’s son, joined us; he is our age and will be traveling with us as a translator (he speaks many languages). Such a nice person; we are so excited to work and hang out with him! Wherever we want to go on the weekends (Safari, to see gorillas, lake, etc.) he comes with… We are lucky! At Epiphanie’s charming house, we had a delightful lunch, and met the rest of her family!
The highlight of Sunday was walking to Church… I passed out some lolley pops to street kids (probably as young as 2) roaming the dirt streets next to their shacks (literally made out of mud, clay, tires, etc.). They saw my camera and immediately became curious; they pointed to it. So I take a picture with some really cute kids. I love it… If my internet wasn’t so terrible (I shouldn’t be complaining, we are lucky to have it this week-we may not have it next week)-then I would upload this adorable photo! ANYWAYS so we keep walking to church and Maddie sees some other cute kids, and I give her candy so they will like her too. This little girl runs to his 2 year old brother and picks him up to join the picture and grab some candy, the little boy starts screaming and crying “MUZUNGUS MUZUNGUS” the ubiquitous word for white people… Maddie got a picture with her looking distraught and this kid screaming its head off. Sad.
Church was actually really cool. It is in a building with lots of windows and doors; consequently, you feel like your outside in the nice hot hot weather (mom, I don’t know where you heard it would be 70 here, but NO it’s rarely below 80). The children sing and everyone claps. To say it’s like a celebration is an under-statement. I got some GREAT video… So after a few songs, the children started singing something I thought I recognized. Then they sand a verse in English… “God is an awesome God; he reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power, and love. Our God is an awesome God.” Not going to lie, I was teary. These kids are amazing, and I couldn’t help but remember singing this hard core in our Charlotte Catholic High Gym and Holy Trinity Middle School gym during mass. My friends and I used to love singing this at the top of our lungs. It shows you people everywhere really do love the same things. Well although there was lots of singing, the 3-hour service (1 hour homily) was something I was not used to. A little girl sat on my lap most of the time (6 years old, but very small) and played with my Camel Book-bag. I forget her name, but she was stunning. She had a few scars by her eye, and I asked Mama what it was from… Her family burned her when she was a baby because she would not stop screaming. She was mal-nourished for years before her family abandoned her, and Mama took her in. After the service we had lunch with Mama’s children. They have a basketball court and a dirt soccer field. Because it’s not safe to run here (yes, it’s killing me) I used all my energy against these kids on the field. Once I took out a kid that must have been like 7… Oh well, their tough ☺. Then I played tennis with a bunch of little boys and a beautiful girl named Devine. It was fun, but I wish I could wear a cute white tennis skirt and polo like at Duke, here I was wearing my Safari outfit to protect me from the killer mosquitoes. Hah.

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Love,
Jessica