I've been having fun lately walking through all kinds of open doors! I think God opens doors for us to walk through, and He has been answering prayer and opening many new doors for us at KICS. Relationships are most important to me. Building them, keeping them...meeting, connecting, sharing....learning and loving. There's people that God wants us to meet, and He's been making sure it happens! I know He chooses special people, relationships to bless us. Open doors can bring new blessings and new opportunities to serve and love.
It's been a prayer of mine for over a year now to help connect our students and teachers at KICS with the greater community in Kigali. We have 250 kids from 30 different countries, in such a unique setting. Many of our students of children of missionaries serving here in Rwanda, others are East African natives, and others are Rwandan. And our children are blessed. Our teachers are blessed. And where we are blessed, we have a responsibility to bless others. But it takes time to build relationships. And even more time, patience and effort to sustain them. I'm so excited that doors are finally opening for our kids to serve, and in doing so, eyes are being opened..hearts are being opened!
Our school sits atop a pretty sweet hill in a nice international negihborhood in Kigali. Gaculiro was a hill where over 20,000 died in the events of 1994, but now, we have one of the first Vision 2020 Estates in Kigali. We are blessed with nice homes, a church, a school, and even a field to play in; all situated on top a gorgeous hill.
The view of the city at night is breathtaking. We really are a "city on a hill" that cannot be hidden! It's a good place. I feel safe here, and comfortable. But I don't long to stay here! I've really had to be intentional about getting off this hill, getting into the world, into the communities where maybe I don't feel so comfortable. Being stretched. And helping to stretch others. How can we be a city on a hill, when we are not shining our light? We can't. So I've been meeting, sharing, listening, and now doors are opening!
Last Friday, we had our first KICS Service day, where all of the elementary students...170 students, went out into Kigali to serve and share. It was awesome! Our kids benefited from being stretched beyond themselves and being the hands and feet of Jesus. We worked in the gardens, planting crops for our school workers. Kids painted murals in the lunchrooms, of a KICS Kite (our bird mascot) overlooking the school on top of the hill with a cross on top of it. We took a group to the Home of Hope orphanage where I volunteer, to feed and play with the babies. Others went out to a ropes course area that is being built by missionaries in coordination with the YMCA and Kids Across Africa Camp. The idea is to have a low ropes challenge course available to teach trust initiatives to counselors, soccer coaches, students and young leaders in Kigali. Our kids participated in the clean-up at the site, so the guys can continue building it.
Some more of our students went to John's preschool in Nyarutarama, and read and sang with the children. I was blessed to meet John last month and form a relationship with him. After the genocide in 1994, John was praying and seeking how he can help his beloved country rebuild, and he felt convicted to help the orphans and vulnerable children by building a preschool on a very small plot of land on the side of a hill. John started out with no walls at all. He just called the children to come, and they came. Eventually he was able to save and build a room. Then it became 2 rooms, and later a third. He keeps adding bit by bit to his property. Nyarutarama is a nice area in Kigali, and John's place is surrounded by the South African and Kenyan embassies. However, you'd never know his preschool was back there, at the end of the long, dirt road, tucked back on the side of a hill. He's the last local to be in this neighborhood, and we pray that he doesn't get pushed off this land because of the recent developing in this area.
Sidenote about development: Honestly, it's really cool to watch a country develop before your eyes. Even since I first arrived here in August 2009, I've seen sidewalks, street lights, sign posts, billboards, and countless buildings go up for the very first time in Kigali. BUT...like most everything else, there's a downside to all this development too. It's always gut-wrenching to see local houses and shacks and eateries get bulldozed down, and then you see the occupants the next day, walking aimlessly around with a baby on her back with no food and no place to go. Or like last year when they knocked down a whole rown of local houses to make room for the Vision2020 estates that we live in. Ugh. Makes me mad. But then, I live here, so I guess I'm an accomplice too. Even the locals who sell flowers and lush avocados and mangoes on the side of the road are being forced to leave. Over Christmas, they knocked down the last 2 local meat joints where you could get a great, cheap brochette in our neighborhood. The local bar was demolished last year. There's a huge wide open space and amazing view of the hills now....but it's sad to see what had to go, and who is now left homeless. The government does compensate, but it's still not enough. And according to the "Kigali Master Plan," they're gonna try to make this city like NYC in 10 years. Not cool. Everyone loves the smalltown feel that Kigali has now. I hope it stays that way, and doesn't seek to become Nairobi or Kampala. Yuck. Ok, back to John's preschool...
John doesn't get any support from the government, and he relies solely on donations to keep his school running. The walls are simple and concrete, and each classroom is about the size of a walk-in closet and fits like 50 kids in there. John serves roughly 100 children from the slum behind his preschool. These are children whose parents can't afford school fees. So they walk up the muddy side of a hill to his place. Currently John's preschool only has room for these 100 kids (it's already super crowded!), but in the afternoons when the kids go home, John walks down the valley to this big tree, where 300 more local children gather. These are kids that John doesn't have room for in his school, but each afternoon, he gathers his few teachers and splits the kids into "animal groups" and they have lessons for these children as well.
What stands out about John is his quiet, unassuming, humble character and spirit. He doesn't put on a show to get big donors and supporters and mzungus to come to his place, like some do. He is calm, and quiet, and loving, and so sweet with the children. He has really sacrificed his time, his social life, all to do the work of the Lord. He heard God calling him to this, and believes this is His calling; to provide schooling to all the children in the slum behind his hill. John represents Christ to these children, and delights in the sacrifices he makes for Jesus. It is a honor to call him my friend now, and to see what God has in store for this relationship between his school and our school...and even beyond.
Finally, I went with my students to visit a Catholic school and children's home in Kiyovu. This is where my friend, Mary Elise works. (I wrote about Mary Elise earlier. She used to work on the farm with the street boys, but her job changed in January, and now it's girls!) She's now the matron of over 100 young girls who live at the home because they are orphans or their parents cannot take care of them. Many of their parents who are still alive are strung out on drugs, or prostitutes. She wakes them up, bathes them, dresses them, and sends them to the adjoining school. Then she spends her day teaching nursery school in French, and then after school, she puts her "mom" hat back on. She helps her girls with homework, plays with them, cooks dinner, and gets them all to bed. I miss seeing her because now she only has 4 hours off per week on Friday afternoons, and of course she goes back to the farm to visit her boys! She is tired and weary, and I pray for her to be filled up each day with new strength. I try to take her some Coke and chips every week, because she can't leave the compound at all! She's the mom! Watching her in this role takes me back to Mombasa and to my dear Wema girls. I took my kids to her place on Friday to read and do Math facts with a 4th grade class. There are also other students that school there who do not live at the home, so it's a weird mix in the classes. We did "introductions", sang This is the Day, and the Wake-up song, and then our students read with her students. Then we played Math relays and prayed with them. The Catholic Sisters were so thankful and wanted us to come every week. I spoke to the Head Sister, Mary, in Swahili, as she was from Kenya, and we found out she had also stayed at the Bendictine Monastery in Limuru where I spent a whole month back in 2006!
Mary Elise's girls have many needs too. We were able to take them clothing and underwear and stuffed animals. Many of her girls suffer from psychological disorders due to trauma when they were babies. Others have to deal with parents who are un-well now, and are abusive when they have homevisits. I was especially attracted to one young lady. She is about 13, and has the most beautiful skin I've ever seen. Her mom is Rwandan and her dad is American. This girl definitely looked different from the others; in her mannerisms, her hair, her skin, her voice. Mary Elise says she sometimes gets picked on and they call her mzungu because of her skin. No one knows for sure the whereabouts of her American father, but we are now trying to figure some things out, because this young girl has really piqued my curiosity, and I see a unique light in her. The Sisters think that her dad is an American businessman that comes here periodically and unfortunately visits prostitutes. They also think he may not even know about this child. It was just very odd for me to be in Rwanda, at a children's home, seeing this American child walking around. She's quiet, and a wonderful older sister to the other kids. But I wonder when I look at her...what will her future be? What opportunities will be available to her? What would she be doing right now if she were in an American school at age 13? It makes me sad and confused when I see her there. Hopefully, God willing, we can find some answers for her. We have to trust in His plan.
An open door is a beautiful thing, as it lets in light! I'm so thankful for open doors and new relationships. It's been a busy month, and I've been finally using my PR degree like no other! :-) But I delight in new opportunities to serve; to be His hands and feet. Please pray with me that these relationships can be sustained through prayer and visits and encouragement. Also please join me in praying for John and Mary Elise, and the needs of their children, and strength for their ministries. I'm excited to see how God develops these relationships and praying about how I can continue to support them.
"I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." ~Revelation 3:8
