Rwandan Adventures

After a 12 hour coaster (bus) ride, we arrived in Rwanda on Friday, August 28th. Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be a celebrity? I feel like I have more of an idea now. People would be casually walking and going about their day, but when they looked up and saw white people in our bus they waved and yelled "mzungu!" (foreigner/white person). Kids were always the most excited. One little boy was waving at our bus, but when he saw white people his mouth literally dropped open and he started dancing and waving. I wonder if it was his first time seeing a white person. It was priceless! I do have to admit though, hearing people yell "mzungu" all the time did get kind of old.
We spent our first two nights at a church compound in Kibungo. There was one room full of beds where all of us girls stayed. We had 14 USP students and 10 UCU students. There were 14 girls in this one room. It was like a giant sleep over! On Saturday we participated in a community work day. It happens the last Saturday of every month. It's a beautiful thing where everyone in the community comes together to work on a project. This is a requirement by the government so of course there are pros and cons that go with it. However, I believe it enables citizens to get work done for themselves rather than relying on the government. It also builds community. We helped dig a trench that will be used to bury a pipe for water, providing water to more homes.
A crazy God thing happened Saturday night! We were making church plans for Sunday. Everyone was divided into 3 different groups. Each group was to go to a different church to lead the service. Our first African church service was to be lead by us! We were to have 3 songs, 1 preacher, and 2ish testimonies. My heart pounded a bit when testimonies was mentioned, but I tried to ignore it (like usual). When Reverend Emmanuel (our group leader) asked about people giving testimonies no one spoke up. He said that if no one wanted to share that was fine. So I was off the hook, right?! That's when Laura spoke up and she thought maybe she was supposed to share but she needed time to think and pray about it. I took her to the side and explained how I was feeling too. We talked about it, prayed about it, and talked some more. I then felt confident that I was supposed to share my testimony at church the next the day.
So guess what I did on Sunday?! I shared my testimony at my first ever African church service. Reverend Raymond (try saying that 10x) translated for me. The church building was basically a brick barn, still under construction. The church service was lively and fun! Full of dancing and singing praising Jesus. All in all, I shared and I hope others were blessed and encouraged. God is good!
Sunday afternoon we traveled to Kigali, Rwanda's capital. We stayed there for four nights. We slept in rooms with four people. My room was so fun! We had two USP students and two UCU students. We are all introverts so it was fun to have a calm, chill room. We had good conversations too!
Monday morning we went to a museum about the Rwandan Genocide. It walked through Rwanda before, during, and after the genocide. I don't think I've actually ever read that much in a museum before! It was very interesting and well organized. It was a bit challenging though because English was the third language for every caption. Of course that meant that the text was smaller and sometimes all the way at the floor, but we managed and it was still a great experience. That afternoon we went to the Nyamata Memorial which I discussed in my previous post.
Tuesday morning we went to a craft store called Amahoro. It is run by low-income women who need a way to support their families. They sold to most beautiful things! I bought a tie-dye Africa wall hanging. In the afternoon we learned about Hope International and met with some representatives. We went out into a rural part of Rwanda to sit in on a group meeting. It was held in a small community church building. I'm honestly still a bit confused about Hope and how the groups work. I couldn't hear the translator very well and I was also distracted by babies.... sorry.
Wednesday! That was a cool day! We visited and organization called CARSA (Christian Action for Reconciliation and Social Assistance). Their main mission is reconciliation and forgiveness post-genocide. We watched a video CARSA made about the lives of a few individuals post-genocide. Some were able to forgive and become friends with those that killed their families. Others, forgiveness is a longer journey that they are still working on. I didn't realize at the time, but most of the people in the movie were sitting in the same room with us. This made the movie so much more real. I saw the scars a machete had left on one man's face. I also saw the man who caused these scars and killed this man's family. They are now friends and can sit and have lunch together. There was also a woman there whose families had been killed. She said forgiveness is a journey that she is still walking. I hope I can find the video that explains it all. It was so well done.
That afternoon we went to an art gallery called Inema. It is run by brothers who use there talents to create artwork that is sold and used to benefit the community.
We ended our trip with debrief back in southern Uganda. We spent a day on an island and it was fantastic! It rained a lot of the time we were there, but it was so beautiful! I spent the night in the cutest little tree house. It had three beds, a small table, chairs and a table on the porch, and the toilet and shower was basically outside! It was so fun! I sat on our porch, enjoyed the view of the lake, listened to the rain, journaled, and enjoyed introvert time! I also got to swim and swing on a rope swing. It was a great ending to a wonderful trip!

Nyamata Memorial

The smell was musty. The steps were steep. Darkness surrounded me. I was entering a mass grave. The bones were stacked on shelves. Skulls occupied the top shelf. They told the stories of their cause of death. Some had been shoot, hit, and smashed. Some had holes. Others were missing the back half. Some were left without a face. Arm and leg bones found their residence on the next two shelves. These are real people. People who sought shelter within a church. 
The church roof was full of bullet holes. A grenade hade destroyed half of the metal door. Windows were broken, holes in walls, and blood stains splattered all around. The alter had its' original tablecloth, stained with blood. The back wall was stained with the blood of innocent children whose heads had been smashed against it. Blood stained clothing of victims covered the benches. 
I stood in a church where 10,000 people were brutally murdered. The church was thought to be a safe place. Who would kill inside God's house? Genocide knows no bounds.
History and evil have never become so real to me.

** these are my real reflections, observations, and emotions after visiting the Nyamata Memorial. To learn more about my trip to Rwanda please read my next post "Rwandan Adventures".

My First Week at UCU

Sorry it has taken so long for me to update this! Life has been busy and wifi has been scarce! I arrived at Uganda Christian University (UCU) on Saturday August 22nd. Lisa and Courtney (Uganda Studies  Program staff) picked Molly and I up from the hostel that morning. Then we went back to the airport to pick up another Uganda Studies Program (USP) student. On our way to UCU we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that was right on the beach of Lake Victoria. It was so pretty! We had pizza and at that point in time we didn't realize how much of a treat that was. Now we know.
My first temporary roommate here at UCU was Kat, another USP student. The UCU students were not on campus yet so us USP students enjoyed getting to know one another as well as the campus. On Sunday (23rd) we hiked up Monkey Hill. It was beautiful at the top! It was a wonderful view of Mukono. Wow! I just got super distracted while writing this because there was a monkey on my window! That's so cool! Back to the story though... The hike was good time for conversation and getting to know each other better. Our feet were so dirty when we were done though. It looked like we all got awful spray tans!
Our first week was basically all orientation. From getting to know campus to safety and health tips to follow while being in Uganda. Later in the week we began orientation for Rwanda. We learned a brief history about the genocide as well as a rough overview of what we would be doing there.
As a part of our UCU orientation we did a Mukono scavenger hunt and we didn't even get lost! After that a group of us went to the Tuesday Market. It is a second-hand market that happens every other Tuesday. It was crazy and packed full of people. I wasn't a huge fan, however, I did get a nice shirt for around 80 cents. I also moved dorm rooms again that first week. Some of the Ugandan students had come because they were going to Rwanda with us. I moved in with Eva, a Ugandan student. She is a senior nursing student. She was very sweet and very creative with how to hang my mosquito net.
On Thursday (27th) we had our first social work meeting. I found out that I will be working with Chains Foundation! That's the organization that I believe I discribed in my first post. It is a school/orphanage that works with both sighted and visually impaired children! I'm not sure what exactly I will be doing there but I will keep you informed! I'm so excited though! This is the reason I came to Africa!
Friday (28th) we left for Rwanda at 5am! It was a beautiful place and the trip was filled with a variety of emotions. I hope to post a couple blogs about my time in Rwanda. Some of it may feel a bit dark and depressing, but it's real. Learning about a genocide isn't exactly the most joyous occasion.
I hope to post again soon!
Much love,
Jessica