Waste not - Want not

I'm sure you have all heard stories about starving missionaries in foreign lands, not having any of the comforts of the good ole USA. How they can not get items they desperately need and have to make do or improvise to accomplish even the some basic tasks. Well, Bev and I do miss many things that we used to take for granted. Not that we can not live without them but once in a while a good dish of ice cream would be nice. We can get ice cream here but the very few times I have had it it was not all that great and at $40 to $60 a gallon we simply choose to pass. As we are doing a great deal of construction here on the village I would especially like to wake up some morning to see a Home Depot or Lowes in town. There are so many things in the construction trade here that is so different and foreign to me, not that it is all bad but much of it is very different and takes some getting used to. But getting back to making do and not being able to get basic items here. I want you all to take a look at the photo's. I'm sure these would make the top 10 best ever uses of duct take, they may even put Red Green to shame.

Sayings

I wish I had written down all the different sayings I have heard since being here in Rwanda. It is fun to listen to the people as they explain something or are just in conversation with you and the different terms that are used. We have to remember that English is not their first language, in fact usually it is down the list around fourth or fifth. Which makes most of us single language Americans look pretty foolish. So I am in no way ridiculing or making fun of the people here, it is just interesting to see how they have adapted English using their own ways of saying things.

We were driving through Nyamata last week and I saw a gentleman that looked familiar, so I asked Sam if we knew him. Sam knows about everyone in Nyamata and hardly ever forgets someone we have met anywhere in our travels. Sam said, "No, we don't know him, he is not familiar to my face."

Another is, if we are teasing each other about someone and I say something about Sam you ought to do this or that, or say this or that to them. He might say, No, I can not do that they can easily abuse me."

There have been many more tht I have failed to write down. I have good intentions but if I do not take the time to do right then it's gone for good.

Busy

The past couple of weeks have been on the hectic side, last week more for Bev and this week for me. Last week it was fairly quite for me, it was Genocide Remembrance week and we had 3 Holidays during that time so many of our workers were not here. But for Bev it was rough as she had one cook out for a weeks vacation, another one needed much time off as she has a very sick young baby, another one was out a couple days with malaria. That makes it very difficult with 3 of your four cooks not working and trying to run a kitchen and laundry from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm. Thank the Lord for our house keeper, Lillian. She worked in the kitchen for about 9 straight days and a couple of those were very long days. Not sure what Bev would have done if it were not for Lillian.

This week is about back to normal in the kitchen which is very good, but week has been very busy. All our workers and contractors are back at work and they all did to have materials ordered right now. I am dealing with 3 different government Ministries, trying to get paperwork work signed. It took 6 weeks to get it through the Mayors office, two weeks to get through our Ministry of Genders office, finally got it to Immigrations and they told me they had changed our deadline date from April 15 to March 31, with out any notification. Finally accepted the fact that we did not know about the deadline change and then said we had the wrong forms as they had also changed those this year. So it is back to the drawing board to file out all the new forms and resubmit them.

Our team-mates, Tim and Patty left on furlough to the US this week, so we have picked up a few extra duties, among which is the keeping of the budget. Scary for a guy who could never balanced his checkbook. Bev has the medical and childcare program to look after along with the kitchen/laundry and dining hall. It seems like we just get to a point where we are keeping our heads above water and someone puts another flash board on the dam.
But if Peter could walk on water maybe we can at least tread water for the next three months. I think we may have it easier than Tim and Patty as they have to come back and jump into this with both feet after being in the States for three months while we come back on furlough.

We have cleared maybe 10 acres of property were our buildings are located. So if you take out for the buildings, sidewalks and roads, we have maybe 6 acres that we have to keep mowed. Which seems like a never ending task during the rainy season. We have a 36" cut SCAG mower, which is a very nice unit. A chink in it's armor are the inflatable rear tires. We have killer thrones and they penetrate those tires like a balloon, My brothers have sent me tubeless tire repair kits and our tires have more rubber in plugs than in tire tread. But today the guys cut a side wall which makes it pretty much unrepairable with my small kit. So I dropped about half the balls I was juggling this afternoon and drove into town only to find out the tire shop could not fix it and did not have a replacement. I was about ready to go buy 15 or 20 goats, when I got an email and a friend is flying to Rwanda on Monday and is willing to bring our needed tire with him. God is good and faithful even when I forget to go to Him as my first resort.

Rwanda Genocide, 15 years or 50

This week in April marks the 15th anniversary of the death of the President of Rwanda and President of Burundi when their plane was shot down on it's approach to Kigali. That incident triggered the slaughter of between 800,000 and one million Rwandans, many of them women, children and infants. The streets lay littered with corpses, the rivers ran red with their blood and their souls cried out to the world for justice. The 7th of April commemorates the start of one of the deadliest and most brutal 100 days in world history, as the world sat back and said it is just African tribes fighting as usual. What a sad legacy for the rest of the worlds powers to bear, with the greatest burden to be on the shoulders of the UN. Our world peace keeping force that was here and not only stood by but packed up and left the country.

Was this something that just happened in the blink of an eye or the shooting down of one aircraft? No, this had been going on since the late 1950's with prison camps or death camps situated in areas' of Rwanda that were known for Malaria, drought and tetis flies. The world knew of these atrocities and still did nothing, the UN was here and still did nothing. The evidence was there that something was going to happen, the stock piling of thousands of machetes, (for a future sugar cane production), the hate speech and denial of basic human rights.

Now, in 2009 the world is here to look back and say how sad, to give aid in order to help rebuild, to voice the opinion it could never happen again. I pray it does not. Not in Rwanda or any where else in the world. God, not history will be the final judge.

I truly love the people out in the villages of Rwanda. They are honest, hard working people, most are very poor and that is hard to see. It can be overwhelming to look upon all that poverty and feel so helpless. But once in while the Holy Spirit prompts your heart to help one little starfish back to the sea.
I would like to to meet Erick. What a great attitude from this little guy. Don't look at his clothes or the mud hut he lives in, look at that smile. Does he touch your heart? If your reading this then you must be alive and breathing. Of course there are thousands in like situations, but there is only one Erick.
Erick and others like him are the reason Beverly and I listened to Gods call for our lives to come to Rwanda. Please go to the Rafiki web site (www.rafiki-foundation.org) and look at those precious children. They looked like Erick before the Lord bought them to Rafiki where they are finding a place to live, grow and learn. We have children here at our village that need sponors, will you answer Gods call?

Saturday Mid-March

This has been a busy day but also a fun day. Bev and I have the duty at the village this weekend, which means we stay here to watch over the children and the village so the other ROS can have some time off.

After being lazy for a while this morning I got out and walked the fence line just to check the security and get a little exercise. As I was going past the EPR church school, which backs up to our lower fence, there were many children around and I could smell something cooking at the Compassion office. I went out to say Hi and found they were serving breakfast, porridge and bread, to 230 compassion children. Most of the the adults working there are from the church so I knew most of them. I asked if there was anything I could do to help and they put me to work helping to serve the kids. They were lined up in rows, apparently by age or class, and were very well behaved and quiet. Amazing for that many children. I was handing out the pieces of bread, like a corn muffin, and others were giving them mugs of hot porridge. It did not take very long to serve all of them and they were all sitting around enjoying their breakfast before going to classes.
It was a joy to help them and meet all those children, most of who had been in the Sunday school class Bev and I taught last year. I was gettign rteady to leave when the leader asked me to stay and eat with them. I have been in Rwanda for 14 months now and had managed to avoid drinking any of their breakfast porridge, but I was caught this time. I really do not know how it is made or what is in it. I know it is boiled and is the consistancy of loose Cream of Wheat but it is brown in color. As it cools off it gets thicker so the bottom of the mug is pretty thick. But all in all it was not bad and I get to chalk up another first.

The rest of the day was busy with contractors working and having to adjust their work here and there, going to the market to pick up the kitchen ladies with the vegetables, going again to get 50Kg of potato's and 10Kg of beans, also had a couple of maintenance issues to work on.

Sam and I had some time for him to teach me to make Posho. We cooked some local beef in a tomato sauce in the pressure cooker, which he had never used before. But it is about the only way to cook this local beef so you can chew it. Then we cooked the Posho, which is not stirred, it is 'mingled', now before you laugh, like I did, you should read the instructions on the bag of maze. It states very clearly that you 'mingle' the flour in the water. Two firsts in one day.

During the afternoon I had time to go play with our Rafiki children as we took a walk down to our main gate then raced back up the hill to the cottages. That about did me in, but Epa, our oldest boy, wanted to play soccer, which is not my best game. But as long as I chase the ball and kick it back to the kids they are happy and think I am 'Pele'.

So it was a very good day and I praise God for it.

Art of Aging

Today was probably not the best day I have had. So while I was having a very good time at my own "pity party" I came across this bit of classic information and instruction. My day instantly became better as I put things into their proper perspective. I hope you enjoy this and pray you have a great day in the Lord.

The Art of Aging

When I'm feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor's dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then you body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

If you think there id some thing good in everybody, you obviously haven't met 'everybody'.

There's always a lot to be thankful for if you take the time to look for it. For example, I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.

Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

Some people try to turn back their life's odometers. Not me, I want people to know "why' I look this way. I've traveled a long, long way and some of the roads weren't paved.

You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.

Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

First you forget names, then you forget faces. Then you forget to pull up your zipper. It's even worse when you get to the point that you forget to pull it down.

Lord, keep your am around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth...AMEN!!!