My first week!

Ok, so I thought I’d hurry and update my blog, since this is a surprisingly “good” internet night. Which means it goes in and out every couple minutes….but hey, I have it and I’m thankful to be able to communicate with so many of you! Skype has been WONDERFUL by the way! What a cool invention.

Today was the first day of school, and it was awesome! I had a great time getting to know my 4th graders….we only had 8 students today, but more should arrive soon! They are funny, sweet, humble, and adorable! (most of them!) I looked out today and saw faces from Rwanda, South Africa, Louisiana, Phillipines, Haiti…and God has chosen all of us for this year to be together here! God is good! I’ve spent all week making my classroom look as colorful and tacky as possible, just like my room at home. I ran out of duct tape on day 2 of decorating. (duct tape is tops on my wish list from home!)

My classroom is painted yellow..its very bright and cheery, and instead of bulletin boards, I have banana leaf boards to hang things on! I brought my “Amazing Work” letters to post above the banana boards, and my “Word Wall” too! Today was a super first day! One thing that all you teachers in the U.S. should not take for granted is your planning period! There’s little to none here! So close your door and make good use of your planning time back home! I had none today, but might get some on Monday and Wednesday when my kids have PE/Music. Enough about school…more later…

I live 2 minutes from school, which is good and bad. It’s very convenient to come and go as I please and work in my room…also school has the only internet. I’m here now at 10:30! But no worries…its safe. I live high on a hill….all I can say about the hills of Kigali are they are worse than hills of San Francisco! It’s crazy! But beautiful to look out in the morning and see the entire city below you. The city is kind of like in a bowl in the middle, and I’m high on a hill looking down into it. The downside though, is that I’m gonna have to be very intentional about getting out in the community and immersing myself in Rwandan culture, and making new friends. That’s gonna be more difficult than it was in Kenya…so I ask for your prayers for that. It’s very important for me to connect with the people here and be involved. I've realized that the Rwandans, while nice, are not as trusting of each other as well as outsiders, and can be more standoffish when it comes to forming relationships. This is, in part, because of the way the genocide was carried out 15 years ago....I don't blame them for being cautious.

I’ve been attempting to run in the evenings…and man, the altitude is no joke! But my body is slowly getting used to it. I think running may be the key to getting involved in the community. I thought I was somehow in this little bubble, but the other day when I went for a run….after a couple miles…there I was….seeing the same sights, smells, noises of the Africa that I came to know and love in Kenya! It’s weird how things and neighborhoods are kind of sectioned off here….all I have to do is branch out! It was beautiful seeing similar sights of mamas carrying their watotos (children) on their backs, smelling those same smells of the market, beans cooking over an open fire, having all the children running after me as I run.

On a more somber note….the first day here, all the new teachers went to the genocide memorial here in Kigali. I really can’t explain in words how monstrous and evil those acts were in 1994. Especially those committed against children, so innocent. And reading up on it, and trying to grasp how it all happened and understand it….I just believe that there were so many ways that it could have been prevented….if the right people with the power stood up, had courage, and made a decision to act and not be bystanders. Hard to believe one million people were brutally murdered in only 100 days. And not once during those 100 days did any international government or organization admit there was a genocide happening. Only 10 years later, did the UN, US, and others admit they committed grave mistakes and serious errors in judgment in not stepping to help Rwanda. A little too late. All I can say is that this was harder to see than the Atomic Bomb museum in Nagasaki, and the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. Amidst all the killings, there were also great stories of heroism that showed that God’s hand was there. I mean, I know God was there throughout it all….I mean I guess He was, but it’s just so hard to comprehend what happened, all the evil…even between neighbors, family members, Christians, priests…Anyway, there were stories of farmer who “hid” people underneath his grass, and then actually planted crops on top of them to prevent them from being found and murdered. And stories where a group of schoolgirls were confronted with machetes by the killers and asked their “tribe.” Half were Tutsi and half Hutus, but they were all friends. None of them would tell, they replied they were all Rwandans. And they were all murdered. Even more chilling was the fact that the memorial museum is placed on top of mass graves of hundreds of thousand Rwandans. The hills I live on now where there are now schools and churches and nice homes…only 10 years ago…some even just 5 years ago…were still forests…many men hid in these hills, and many died in these hills. As I left the museum, this quote from the Talmud spoke to me. “To save one life is as if you have saved the world.”

I have much more to tell you…about Lake Muhazi and Umuganda Day…but it will have to wait! This entry is already way too long! Thank you all for your prayers! Love you!