Justice?

Discovered this story a few days ago on CNN.com....

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/25/italy.rwanda.arrest/index.html

Before coming here, I knew very little about what actually happened during the genocide in 94. And what I did know, I realize was just what was in our Western media. I'm learning more and more being here and reading up on it.

I'm reading a fabulous historical acocunt now called, "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families." Stories from Rwanda, by Philip Gourevitch. It's amazingly powerful. I can't really fathom what happened. Soo hard to comprehend. Especially when you live in Kigali now and see how nice and "modern" it is. Hard to believe a million people were brutally murdered in 3 months and the whole nation was dead.

Anyway, back to the CNN story....this guy had been living in exile in Italy. My book says there are many, many Rwandans living in exile, even in the U.S! Preachers who gave up their entire congregations to be slaughtered, living in a Texas mansion and driving a Mercedes! As we speak! Other government officials living a lush life in Arkansas or Alabama. Too many stories of those! I don't understand how they can't be extradited and taken back to stand trial? There are still genocide trials being held today, 15 years later. People are still being tried and convicted. It makes me so furious to read what these people did, and hear they are living the "American dream" now. Justice? Huh uh. But what does justice look like for the survivors?

A quote from a survivor in my book reads...."This was a true genocide, and the only correct response is true justice. But Rwanda has the death penalty, and....well, that would just mean a lot more killing."

In other words, a true genocide and true justice are incompatible. Something to think about. It makes me want to ask, then, is the death penalty justifiable for just one killing? 5 killings? I don't know. I also saw the article where the U.S. can't afford the death penalty anymore. Interesting.

I don't know what justice will look like for the survivors that are left here with no families, or no arms....or for those genocidaires livin' it up big time in Texas, driving their Mercedes. But I do believe in His word! 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

Justice will come!

I smell a rat!

Well, since we moved into our cozy abode, we've wanted to try our hand at baking, and figure out how to make some sort of bread, or at least cookies when we are missing home. Each time we've tried to crank our oven up, it will work for 2 minutes, and then the whole place will be filled with heavy, black smoke, and smell like a charred something or other. We couldn't figure it out! We thought, well, maybe it's cause our oven is kind of dirty. Cause you know how little leftover pieces of food that get stuck to the rack can cause it to smoke. So last week, Micah tirelessly cleaned the whole oven, inside and out. It's a tiny oven, but still, its a lot of work. Still didn't work. We thought it must be the wiring. Our crazy and lazy Rwandan landlord came over again and said he fixed it; apparently it WAS the wiring. Now, he said it would work. Nope. It still smoked the whole house through. So today, Mark, one of the administrators of our school, came to see if he could help. He opened the oven, took out the rack, and started taking out the floor piece on the bottom. Then, to his amazement, he found a very large rat's nest with part of a charred rat inside, complete with rat bones, other bones, insulation, and many pieces of trash! Haha! Unbelieveable. I wish I had been there to take a picture before they threw it out. Mark had to open all our windows because he said our house smelled like burnt rat. Glad we now know what that smell was. I could never pinpoint it! Ha! Now, the question is...do we try to make cookies in it this weekend? Or will they smell and taste like burnt rat? Hmmm....

A treasure!

I just love a good deal! All ya'll at home know how much I love shopping at Value Village. It excites me when I find a treasure, and then I have to tell everyone about it! Well, I have to tell ya'll about this good deal I got today! I bought this awesome, sturdy, three-tiered basket today for less than $4 to serve as my nightstand! Now I can keep my Bible, glasses, flashlight, phone, and journal off the dirty concrete floor. I love it! And it really serves its purpose! Thanks for letting me share!

Our God is an AWESOME God!

My kids sang this song today during chapel. 4th grade was in charge of chapel today, and I couldn't be more proud of them! They sang, danced, prayed, and worshipped. They did a skit based on a true missionary story we read in class, when a tribe of Karens in Burma waited 44 years for someone to help them understand God's word, way back in 1795. A long time to be waiting! And they were so eager the whole time...they knew about God, knew of him...had heard his name mentioned before by their ancestors...but that's all they knew. Had to wait 44 years to find out what was so special about Him! This story made me feel a bit guilty...I got to thinking about how I've had a Bible all my life...always known about God, but am I always eager to understand His word? Nope. I'm not. But I wanna be! God is an AWESOME God for sure! He opened the rainy sky and clouds for us, and gave us sunshine so we could have chapel outside today! We sang the song in English and Kinyarwanda. Here's the Kinyarwanda version...it took me about a month to learn! Ha! Kinyarwanda is waaay more difficult than Swahili. Words don't sound like they're spelled!

Imana yacu irahambaye,
Mwijuru no mwisi,
mu bwenge,
mu mbaraga mu rukundo
Imana irahambaye

Our God is AWESOME in any language! :-)

Kids from Gisakura

Kids experiencing with my camera. They LOVE taking pictures! I think they did a great job too!

Nyungwe pics

Amazing!

Kamiranzovu falls

Enjoying the view!

Look close and you can see a monkey in the middle :-)

Entering the forest, tea fields

They tried to pave the road leading to the forest...they might as well have kept it dirt!

The Forest

Waterfalls are probably my most favorite thing on earth. I think they might even top ice cream for me. One of the reasons is because I feel so connected with God through His creation. I think God must of thought of me when he created waterfalls, and that thought makes me smile. :-)Last weekend, I was able to go hiking in Nyungwe Forest with some teachers, and I saw my second "African" waterfall. The first was in Tanzania. And both have taken my breath away like a bowl of ice cream could never do. :-) So refreshing! Makes me think of that verse in John..."Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

The forest was amazing. We spent 5 long hours on bumpy African roads, and I suffered a bout of food poisoning from some bizarre-looking green vegetable soup. (I was just really hungry!) But it was all worth it. On the way, we had views of gorgeous tea fields, deep terraced valleys, and plenty of green trees. (something I've missed in Kigali!) When we got there, we hiked 8 miles into the largest remaining mountain rainforest in Africa! Definitely got rained on, saw some cool monkeys, some weird-looking plant species, and even a black viper snake! Ok, it was only a baby snake, but still, it was only 4 feet away! Not cool! The Rwandan guy who was with us took our arm and hurried us past it, but said we had nothing to fear. Only afterwards did he tell us that if one bites you, and you don't get this special medicine powder from the village, you die within 5 hours. Great. Made us feel a lot better. He actually said he had been bitten before, but this special "powder" saved him. Hmmm....We didn't see any other large animals, but we learned that the government is trying to reintroduce an elephant species in the forest. The last elephant was seen here in 1999, and since 2004, they've tried to introduce other elephants, but poaching is still a serious problem here.

Sunday morning we were supposed to be on the 10am bus back, but time is a relative thing in Africa. That's one of the first things they will tell you when you get here. "Oh, no worries, it's African time!" We ended up waiting 4 hours in Gisakura village by the roadside trying to flag down every bus. I had a blast. I met almost everyone in the village, got soaking wet during a thunderstorm, and ended up having a fantastic time playing and singing with the kids.

I love observing life in an African village. I guess I could write a whole seperate blog about this. I love just watching the action, watching life....the parade of women in brightly colored cloths with babies tied to their backs and carrying loads of something on their heads; young, barechested men hauling entire stalks of banana trees, or huge wooden carts of logs; older men ambling along in their best suits, trying to get down the red clay hill from church; young boys pushing thier homemade "go-carts" made from tire leather and wire, leading it wobbling down the road; others on ancient bicycles, carting milk or water jugs; a group of youngsters chasing run-away pigs or chickens, and swatting and laughing at them; young girls trying to keep up with their mothers, some with babies of their own to carry. Life. I love it!

The day (and the weekend) wasn't what we expected at all, but it turned out to be a wonderful way to spend our Sunday morning! It was one of those times where I was glad that I was able to just be still and know that he is God. And spend time with those He loves! It was a beautiful "un-busy"morning spent drawing pictures, learning new Kinyarwanda songs, and teaching all the kids how to use a digital camera. :-) One precious girl could sing "I will Make you Fishers of Men" in English. She was so proud. That was the only song she knew. A perfect song to know. Eventually, at 1:30, the WHOLE village of men ran out in the middle of the road during the rainstorm to stop the next bus for us...and thankfully they finally let the mzungus on. :-) It was a hilarious, random, and pretty awesome morning. I didn't get to go to church in a building, per se, oh but I had church. I was with the church! And He was with us! Good memories. We finally made it home around late Sunday night, totally exhausted, but fulfilled and refreshed!

I want to apologize for the lack of updates lately...the power has been very unstable all week. They say it's unusual for Kigali, but we've had a few 24 hour periods of no power this week. Don't know what the deal is, but it's all good! :-)

Hope you enjoy the pics! Peace!