Good Shephard Community Church and Mount Kibuye

Well, i have had quite the weekend... Friday was girls night... me and Jenny went to beckys house with cherle, and we did manicures and watched a cindarella story, and ate ice cream, and played with their puppy... who i fell in love with (pictured above)...Saturday i went hiking up Mount Kibuye, which was one of the most intense hikes of my life.... i am very sore today.... it was fun... lots of Africans accompanied us up the mountain... although i got a migraine on the way home and ended up throwing up in the car...no fun!! but i feel good this morning. Me and jenny went to good shephard community church (the one that Camelback Bible is funding the Project (the progress is shown on the 2nd picture.) the Edwards were there visiting, as well as mrs ryan who was my preschool teacher, so that was pretty fun! now we are at burbon, enjoying the best coffee in Rwanda and trying to relax for the comming weekend. Our friends from the Nile come in tomarrow, and julie comes to Visit on thursday, so it should be a fun week! (the top two pictures are of the Church, and the bottom two are from the hike which is of me, becky, sam, and jenny!

The north

Well... It has been another week... and i went too 3 communities in the past 2 days... The poverty still doesn't stop shocking me... which i think is a good thing.... The fact that these people are drinking brown water that the animals drink is still shocking to me! They also are holding school under trees... one school has 2400 students... 40 teachers and only 16 classrooms... can you imagine?? we did 16 interviews in two days... it was intense... in one of the interviews, we were in the head masters office and there were 21 wasp nests, there were bees flying in and out, and there were several spiders on the sealing... it was a bit much for me... we also stayed in a hotel that was probably the most beat down place ever.. haha.. welcome to Africa... there was broken pipes.. and bees in my room... it was amazing! and we paid 20 dollars to stay there!! ha... but it was a good trip and we got a lot of information for our packets. It was encouraging to see also some of the communities working for themselves to get things accomplished. I am getting a bit tired though.. i am working 66 hour weeks, and i have to write about one article every half hour next week... so that will be interesting to see if i can get it all done.... we are going hiking this Saturday and it should be a lot of fun! also our friends from Tennessee are coming next week. President Bush came last week too... it is funny because he comes and we shut down all the roads, and turn off all the internet so he could send things to the US... so that is probably the closest i have ever been to our president!! Exciting huh! so when we were in the community the kids sang us a song that says "English is the best....".... i was wondering where they learned that because that seems to be a little... WRONG?.. ha… who teaches kids these things?? It is a struggle to make people see us as equal and not treat us different since we are white… it is funny though because if we ever walk any where people are SHOCKED because they don’t think white people walk… they think they DRIVE… and they never think we can make it anywhere, that we will get to tired. It is humorous. So pray for me that I don’t get to tired, that I finish all I need to, and that Gods will is done!

Things in Rwanda are never Boring...

well... as my title says... things here are never boring! it has been quite the adventure the past few days....lets start with this morning and then move backwards.... there was an earthquake... it was from the congo (a 5.5)... so we just felt about 30 seconds of shaking... but still.. a little nuts... i have never experienced that before... So this morning we get on the Mutatu to go to work and it runs out of gas... the men get out and push us to a taxi stop we get out and a man gets us a special hire... now what happens in the special hire... we get in an accident... a huge truck with Africans that work for the American Embassy (ironically)
side swipes us... so we pull over.. we stand around of a very long time... and eventually we get to work... it was QUITE the experience....But this week i went to the north.. up by Gitirama... we went into communities and interviewed Cell leaders (leaders of the tribe)... church leaders...head masters... families.. and then the FH workers in the community... it was a very interesting job and i got alot of good pictures... it was a very harsh reality the lives some of these people were living...they walk an hour to get water.. and 3 hours to get to the Hospital... These realities became a little more real to us as well when a mother came running up to us asking us


If we would take her son who had just been severely burned by boiling water on his hear , head, and arm.. to the hospital... if we had not been there, the mother would have had to walk 3 hours to get her son to the hospital... it was crazy to see and think about.... The country is beautiful though... there is really nothing like the rural areas of Rwanda.. and these people have no idea that they have the most gorgeous view in the WORLD!! seriously one of the most beautiful places i have EVER been in my life... so a little about some of the pictures... the one on top is a lady we interviewed and she insisted on giving me 3 eggs... she was one of the cutest ladies ever


The children with me are children from one of the villages we went to... and then look carefully at the picture at the bottom with the Eye... if you look closely.. you can see me taking the picture in it... its a pretty Sweet Photo! :) So, valentines was last night... and an intern from last semester (sam) who got a job with FH in Rwanda invited me to go out with some of his friends... we went with a girl from Holland, a boy from Scotland, and an American that apparently knows Erick to a pizza place... it was alot of fun to get out of the house and do something fun... the pizza was also amazing... it has also been fun to get to know
Missionaries from the UK... like when we were in Guitirama we had dinner at two Englishmen's house.... it has been fun to see us all serving... but from different countries as well... it is fun to have friends ALL over the world!

Well... slowly i am getting used to Rwanda... it has been quite the adventure living here... i am looking forward to my project... i have been editing Photos, and working on templates all day... but the time has flown, and i hope i am able to compete this project before my practicum is over!!!

Visuals....

This is our house in Rwanda!!! and below it is our view and my room!! yeh... amazing i know... its a lot nicer outside though.... but i do have my own room... and it is super fun to have this huge house to ourselves... in a few weeks we are having a short term team stay with us in the house...and then the day they leave the interns come... i am excited about it! today we went to church... it was... alright... they were very..."televangelists" telling the people to give money and if they were going to to come up front and tell every one how much you were giving... isn't there the whole give

in secret thing.... humm....
and then....we got home and down town (where i am now) all by ourselves... 2 days!! 2 days and i
know how to get around... that is an amazing feeling... it took a good 2 weeks to get to know Kampala.... and we are now in the most amazing.. and most overpriced coffee shop ever! i love it... me and Jenny decided to make this our Sunday ritual.... tomorrow we start work... and Wednesday is my first trip out to a village to get pictures and stories... so that should be exciting!It really is beautiful here... and it is great to feel like i know how to get myself around here! The picture at the bottom is the picture from the hotel...It still is weird to think about the


Genocide.... i am excited to learn more about it... there are men that work on the streets wearing pink suits... these are men that have committed crimes during the Genocide... it is weird to see them and think of the realities that these men lived through and the crimes they committed... as well in church today they were talking about leaving the past and all the crime and war that happened and move forward to a future where that will never happen again... as beautiful and organized as this country is... it has so much pain and hurt underneath it...it will be neat to lean and see that more...

Welcome to Rwanda...

I am here! in Rwanda... sorry i have no pictures.... we found out when we got here... there is no internet at the guest house... so we will have to make due for now in an internet cafe...it is a weird feelin being here... instead of missing home... i actually miss uganda... haha... i really do miss the other students... and the guards that speak english... and grace our cook.... i love them so much...but it is neat here... everything is clean... and more organized... i do like it... and it will be much easier to find my way around... so all is well.... things are so diffrent here... they speak french to start out... and they drive on the amreican side of the road....to get in a taxi... you JUST push... and every man for himself who ever makes it first gets the seat... it is an interesting system... but it makes everything an adventure...
i really like the people who have been showing us around... (becky and sam).. they were both interns last semester and got jobs...pretty rad.
I WENT TO Hotel Mill Collines today.... it is wierd to see the places i have seen in movies and hear about... this place was in a genocide... weird to thnk
things are so stable here it seems!
i really cannot even imagine a genocide here...
but we went around town as to try to get us aquainted... compared to Kampala it is cake :)
our guest house is pretty nice...not as nice as kampala... but you CANT beat the amazing view

i start work on....monday... so i am excited about that... the girl i am working with seems really cool! i am excited to get into it and start to see what it is like to work here... there are many trips planned too... so it will be a neat experience!

Hope God is blessing all of your lives! i will be praying for ya!

The Nile...

...

The most amazing experience of my life...probably one of the most intense things EVER... rafting down the nile.... the constant feeling like you are going to DIE.... the insane waves you didn't know people went down for fun! The crocodiles and snakes staring at you in your rubber raft... AHH! what an amazing experience! The trip was amazing... going down level 5 rapids.... every time you fell out you felt like you couldn't get air... you could not find the top... and then when u finally did... it sucked you right back under... you go down this one... where because of the damn... 90 percent of the water is going down this pass... it is a 5.5 rapid... after it you go to an island for lunch where they have a paramedic bandaging every one up because you WILL get hurt... we then went back out to this one pass that was too high to go down the waterfall... so we tried to go around it... but... did not make it... we fell down the waterfall and our boat got suck under the waterfall, another raft had to throw a line to us to pulls us out... i seriously thought that it was going to suck us under and we were all going to die... there were many other rapids... and flips.... times where i thought i might die....and then we came to the last rapid... it was called "the bad place"... 100% tipping...grade 6.... i decided i had enough tipping and wussed out...
it was AMAZING though... i loved it.... i rafted down the NILE...ahh.. AMAZING

A movie i made...