Newsletter 7/21/10

Dear Family and Friends,

As the beautiful Rwandan sun sets on our time at Rafiki Village Rwanda we look back and praise God for the privilege and blessings the Lord has given us in knowing and loving these wonderful Rwandan people. We will miss many dear friends as well as our dear mama's and precious children here at Rafiki Village Rwanda.

As difficult as it is to leave Rwanda we so look forward to a new village, new friends and new children in Zambia. Those we are leaving and those we will soon meet will ever be in our prayers. It does not matter so much the physical place we are located as long as we are where the Lord desires us to be...."not my will but thine O Lord." We know God works all things for good to those who love him.

We thank God for each of you who have partnered with us here in Rwanda. You are vital to this ministry, our support team and to us and we pray you will make the transition to Zambia with us. We trust God that our hearts are big enough to love another village full of wonderful mama's, children and ROS teammates.

We ask for your continued prayers as we travel to Zambia and adjust to life there. May we continue to witness the wonders of the Lord's love, His work and His provision as He equips us to serve with joy unspeakable. Also please pray with us for the new team in Rwanda as they settle in to a new village, new language and learning many new things. And for these children as God continues to work great things in their lives.

Here are some photos from the past couple months here in Rwanda.

Ken & Bev with all the Rafiki Rwanda children, Mama’s, Aunties and the New Team members.

Kitchen staff that Ken has been working with.

Mufasha and Bebito, they are siblings and two of our newest children.

Bev with Juliet and Jen. Juliet was our house helper and is now working as a teacher’s aid in the school. Jen is Juliet’s sister.

Sam is the assistant to the village director and nearly like a son to us.

Thank you for your continued support and may God bless you. Much love,

Ken & Bev

Village Dedication (pt1)

The past week has been very busy with all the planning and arrangements leading up to the Village Dedication on 25 February. We thought we had things pretty well planned out then the different government officials started coming by and most of our program was changed by one or another of them. There were many protocol issues that had to be addressed as the First Lady of Rwanda was to be our Honored Guest Speaker. We wanted to be very sensitive to the wishes of the Rwanda government and protocol. The poor lady who put up the tents had to move them four times as different officials wanted things set up in a special way.

We had planned a closed event with about 150 invited guests.

But could not do that because when the First Lady or the President speaks they need to be speaking to the people of the area and not just to a select few. Of course we readily agreed and opened the ceremony to all. It was market day so there were many people going past our Rafiki Village and most of them stopped for the opportunity to see and hear their First Lady. There were many bicycles loaded with goods for the market, from live chickens and goats to woven grass mats and vegetables. We estimated well over 1000 people came through the gate in addition to the 200 invited guests.

It was a foggy overcast morning, which is not typical here in Rwanda. We may have fog in the mornings but it usually burns off by 8:00 am and the sun comes out. But that was not to be the case this day. Most of the guests arrived prior to 9:15 and the First Lady arrived about 9:30 to cut the ribbon and unveil the dedication plaque. The rain started just about the same time that the First Lady arrived. At first it was just a drizzle but as the ceremony continued so did the intensity of the rain.

After the ribbon cutting and the unveiling of the plaque, the First Lady went to meet and greet the children and toured one of the cottage's with the Minister of Gender, the Governor of the Eastern Province and the Mayor of Bugesera District, plus the press and Aids de Camp. During the time of the VIP tour, the choir from our partner church here in Nyamata was singing for the people. As the First Lady and other VIP's made they way back to the tents the girls from the Maryundo Girls school performed a traditional dance.I will continue with the events of the Rafiki Village Dedication in the next post.