a kigali institution

Last weekend, I had the outstanding privilege of attending another infamous Kigali moto polo event...this one was tournament-style! Moto polo is a daring, competitive "sport", that a couple of friends invented a few years back. Basically, moto polo is the result of mzungus who have lived here too long, and yearn for and miss the audacious activities in the States. Also, Kigali is not the most happening place on the weekends, and sometimes....you just have to create your own fun! :-) Thus, moto polo was invented. It's a great time of food, community, and some excellent laughs of crazy boys doing stupid things. :)

Here's a short YouTube clip for your entertainment! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=358iwM7aHmw

Eric and Matt posing

action shot

precious

this may be the sweetest, most precious letter I will ever receive....it made my whole week! :)


Dear Mrs. Griggs,



i love you as my teacher. you are the very best teacher and have tought me everythign i know like 62+5 and about apostophes they go above like the angels and commas go below. you tought me all about the countrys even egypt and greece and north carolina. and you take us on nice field trips like to see the coffee at the coffee place of mr. james. (he is tall and nice!) and thank you for loving me even when i'm bad and have to go for silent lunch mrs. griggs. i love how you smile at us and laugh at us. you make me laugh too. i want to be as happy as you someday. mrs. griggs i love you. but one thing, i wont you to be married, even in rwanda, ok? ireally wont you to be married and i will come at your wedding. the only person i know you could marry is my uncle. he is good-looking but he lives in dubai and does business there. he has money. but i know you dont care about money mrs. griggs. i wont you to be happy becouse i love you sooooo much! happy valentines day.


your loving student,


Eyoviel

Happy Valentine's Day!

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." ~1 John 4:10-11

His image

In Bible this week, we've been talking about how we are created in God's image...all of us, every single part! It brings me joy to hear my kids brainstorm out loud and wonder about God and His greatness and how He was able to make us so cool. I love their questions like why do I look like my mom? Or why did he make my dad fat? Or deeper ones like why did He create this baby, only to have it die so soon? Or harder ones, like how does God create babies, like you know, where do they come from Miss Griggs? :-) I enjoy teaching these kids everyday. They stretch me, challenge me. I love looking out and seeing God in them. I love seeing different faces, skin, 14 different accents, hearing different languages, and then worshipping the same God, our one Creator. He is in us, and we are in Him!

We wrote thank you notes to God, thanking Him for creating us in His image.....

What can you thank Him for today? Your eyes to see His wonders? Ears to hear? A sharp mind? Wisdom to know? A mouth to speak His truth? A bold Spirit to step out in faith? What can you thank Him for today? We are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image! How cool!


Thank you for making me so healthy.~Naomi


Thank you God for making me tall and artistic. I'm so happy to be tall, just like I am! Thanks!~Sofia


I thank you God for making me smart and creative and giving me such fine looks. I love you God.~Jashan


I thank you for making me. I really love me, everything about me. And I love you too! Thanks God!~Siem


Thank you for all my talents and how I look. You have very creative talents. I like that you made me messy. Yours truly, Jonathan.


Thank you for making me and Russia and Korea and all the great countries that I love. ~Kang-Hee


Thank you for making me male, brown-eyed, black-haired, fast runner, serious, and cute. ~Eyoviel


Thank you for making me how I am. I will never, ever say I am ugly because you made me. ~Megane


I love how you made my brown hair and my brown eyes go together and match! I also love how you made me strong and thin! ~Monia


Thank you for making me a strong, healthy, friendly girl. I love you very much. You are awesome God. ~Marijike


Thank you for making me friendly, blond-haired, and a fast, fast runner. I love you! ~Sam


Thank you, Lord, for making me in your own image. You are awesome. ~Azarias


Thank you for creating me and helping me through this life. I love you. ~Trevor


Thank you for making me just how I am. I love me this way, and I think you are awesome and perfect! ~Madelyn

It's a small world!

Today, I was riding in Hadley's car, coming back from lunch with a big group of friends. Hadley lives with Tim and Matt, and they are all young lawyers working over here with the Ministry of Justice. Hadley is helping write and translate laws in English, and I have no idea what the others do! :) I've known these guys since October. They live about 5 minutes from me, and Hadley is in my Bible Study too.

I knew that they all had a 4th roommate who came in November, but for some reason I had never met this 4th roommate until today. Her name is Muna, and we got to chatting, and then Tim somehow interjected and asks me when my birthday is. This is always a fun question, cause everyone is usually so surprised it's New Year's Day, like it's a big deal or something. Then I get to say how I was the first baby born in Cabarrus County in 1981, and how I won some prizes and my picture was in the paper. Whoop-te-do. :-) But it's fun to talk about.

So, I told em' the story, and as soon as I said, Cabarrus County, Muna says, where? I said Cabarrus County. And she said, Kannapolis or Concord? Usually, I have to go through the whole spiel about how I'm from North Carolina, and when people say where, I say, in the middle, right outside of Charlotte. That's the only place most folks have heard of. But to hear someone ask me Kannapolis or Concord was crazy! I said Kannapolis, and Muna says that she moved to Concord with her family when she was 14 and she graduated from Northwest Cabarrus Highschool in 1999! Wow! We graduated the same year from rival schools. I told her I used to teach at the Middle School too. Small world! She also went to university at Davidson.

We chatted some more, and she just went back there at Christmas to visit! She's been living in New York, but her folks still live in Concord. Dad is an accountant and mom is a nurse. It was weird hearing her say how she used to live near Carolina Mall, but now lives further out near the Speedway, and how her sister went to Robinson. Landmarks from home! Whoa! Love it! She asked where I lived, all I had to say was, do you know where the KFC is on 29 and she knew! Tim was rolling, and laughing at our smalltownness. :-)

Muna is out here also working for the Ministry of Justice. Such a small world! Who would have ever thought?? I love it!

This week in Rwanda

A mountain gorilla in the Virunga Forest gave birth to twins this week! It's only the 5th case of twins in 40 years!

http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14529&article=38084

and..

Rwandan coffee comes to New York!



Bourbon Coffee is the first commerical coffee brand out of Africa to spread internationally. We have 3 stores in Kigali, and my friend James helped open and manage the first two. Bourbon gets its name from Rwanda's Bourbon arabica coffee beans. Bourbon is unique because they are directly involved in the entire process, from growing the beans to brewing the coffee. They pride themselves on being a "Crop to Cup" chain, as this allows the "middle men" to be cut out, and more money goes directly to the farmers. Check it out! And if you're in Manhattan, stop for a cup! Don't go to the Starbucks down the street. :)

http://www.dnainfo.com/20110207/murray-hill-gramercy/rwandan-coffee-shop-challenges-starbucks-monopoly

Superbowl Sunday

In honor of the Superbowl, some of our guys organized a big flag football game at the stadium pitch. Of course, they wouldn't let us girls play, even though we assured them that we knew the rules of the game MUCH better than our 2 European friends...OR...Fabrice, the random Rwandan man they picked up to play. But whatever. They'll know next time.

Kelly, Kerry and I had a blast cheering from the sidelines for red and yellow. We were soon encroached on all sides by Rwandan men of all ages, curious to know just what in the heck we were cheering at! We got many stares (used to this by now), marriage proposals (used to this too), and questions in broken English asking, "Please, what is this game? Ball is not soccer. Ball is brown and long? Please, I need to know rules for American game." :-) So Kelly and I grabbed the spare football, and threw it back and forth with the spectators, and tried to cue them in on what was happening on the field. We taught them about 4th downs, and why you can't throw the ball ahead of you when you're running, and what a penalty is. They just laughed and laughed the whole time!

Santos, was this ADORABLE boy you see in the bottom picture on the left. He was doing cartwheels on the field, and jumping up and down! He saw one of our guys tackle someone, and then he tried to tackle his buddy, but was taken down. :) Greg and his son Weston are at the top. Weston was one of my best students last year, and Greg just started our very first American football club at KICS! They are a wonderful family!