Leaving Rwanda!

The service at Christian Life Assembly church was a good one. The preaching was good and they had a visiting worship team from Burundi – outstanding!

I mentioned that I had traveled down to the conference with Prosie, a 30-ish Ugandan lady. It was she who had invited me to church and who wanted to show me around town. We caught a bus (the bus service is very good) into town for a late lunch and just started chatting. Seven hours later, we realised that it was time to head home! In that time, we shared our stories – hers was quite sad in many ways and in some aspects, paralleled that of my wife Margaret. However, she has developed a strong faith and the wisdom to avoid those situations that would continue to damage her.

Monday morning at 8am, I was collected by Eugene from Compassion and Jean-Marie the driver for the 3 hour drive to Nyagatare – on the way, we bought some maize flour, oil, sugar, soap and biscuits as gifts for Phina's family. Compassion have 75,000 kids sponsored in Rwanda through 384 churches and using 74 staff. We went directly to the church which organises Phina's sponsorship. The church is the Comunate des'eglise lilre Pantacote en Africue au Rwanda which translates to Community of Pentecostal Churches in Africa & Rwanda. The little Compassion office is located on the church grounds & except for the local director, the others are mainly volunteers. Some details of Phina are -

She will be 6 years old on September 22

Her dad is Patrick and her mum Odith. She has two brothers, Gad (4) and Clever (2). Odith is expecting a baby in September sometime.

Phina is urimwiza umukobwa (a very beautiful girl in Kinyarwanda, the local language) and has an engaging smile.

She has lots of friends at school and in her neighbourhood – Peace, Monica, Anna, Pleasure, Mucyo, & Nziza.

She is in Primary 1 at school so gets up at 6am and attends school from 7-12. After that she comes home and does some chores.

She attends Trinity Academy and her class has 42 children. They are starting to study English even though they are still very young.

The father Patrick is a farmer but has just a very small plot of land (maybe 50 x 25 mt) . He crops twice per year and grows corn and beans. He is trying to buy another small bit of land next to his property and has so far paid half the price. He is also an evangelist to his neighbours.

They provided me with gifts and asked that we pray for them (Rivergum people see next weeks eNews). 

After 3 hours visiting, we had to return to Kigali, arriving about 5pm. After meeting Prosie again for a coffee and so that I could get a photo, I returned to my guesthouse to meet Nathan, the Anglican Bishop of Butare. He was suggested as a contact by Vivian Kityo, Director of Wakisa Ministries and was such a nice, humble man, even though he holds a very prestigious and important position. He was so gracious and gave me an hour of his time.

Next day I had to get to Kisoro in the very SW of Uganda, so I caught a Trinity bus going to Kampala and got off at Kabale. I was immediately accosted by a bunch of car owners wanting to take me the 75lm to Kisoro for prices ranging from 100,000 to 150,000 Ugandan Shillings (A$40 – $60). I eventually negotiated with one guy who was collecting two other people from a nearby camp and we agreed on 50,000 which was worth the comfort.

The two others turned out to be a French couple staying at a camp on Lake Bunyonyi. I can't remember their name but the guy had been travelling the world for a year and had a year to go. The young lady had joined him in April and they were eventually looking to settle somewhere outside of France. We had a great chat and swapped email addresses in case they got to Sydney. They were going on a little further north to view the gorillas.

Arriving in Kisoro, I called my park ranger friend Ishmael and he met me at the Coffee Pot (a place that also had internet available). I met him in 2010 and we have kept in touch over the years – we were so happy to see each other. Being a ranger and climbing Mt Muhaburra a couple of times per week, He is very fit but burdened by the cost of paying for his children's school fees as they move into secondary school. His wife grows and sell mushrooms and they also raise goats and chickens to supplement his pay. He is also hoping to be connected to town water very soon and is saving for the A$80 for the connection fee.

I also arranged to have dinner at the home of Bishop Cranmer and his wife Hope. They are a gracious couple who are passionate about their work. Hope is still teaching English and Christian Studies at the local school and has a real heart for the young girls who find themselves pregnant and abandoned – she still holds out hope that Wakisa can establish a small centre in Kisoro. The dinner and conversation were both most enjoyable and it was wonderful to see the delight on their faces as they loved their new grandchild, Adeline.

One more day in Kisoro tomorrow (Thursday) and then it's on to Kampala!

Greg