Hi everyone! Hope that you enjoy
keeping up with where and with whom I'm at.
After and initial ticketing problem
(apparently my Sydney-Perth leg was ticketed for the day before), I arrived safely in Kigali, got my
East Africa Tourist Visa (a single visa covering Rwanda, Uganda &
Kenya), and met Pastor Aimable who dropped me at the Presbyterian
Guesthouse. I ventured to the CBD (only ½ km away) and dozed for the
rest of the day.
The next morning, I ventured out again,
this time to try and cash some US$ travelers cheques. I went to 6
banks only to find that their was nowhere in Rwanda that cashed them.
That night about 8pm, Pastor Aimable
and his wife Clarice picked me up and we traveled to Butare (150 km
south) with three others, David, Prosie & Aminah, arriving a bit
after 11pm.
Most of the other delegates were coming
in two buses from Nairobi. It should have taken about 24 hours but
ended up taking 53 hours! One of the buses broke down 40 km out of
Nairobi, the Kenyan drivers got lost a couple of times and the border
crossing from Uganda into Rwanda was apparently chaotic and took more
than 2 hours! This meant that we lost about a day of the conference
but everyone was still in high spirits.
The rooms were small but clean and had
an ensuite - I shared with Pieter Snyman, Chairman of Christian
Camping Southern Africa – a great guy. The conference centre was
part of a Catholic Monastery established in the mid-1900's and the
venue for initial independence meetings in the late 1950's. The
grounds were beautiful and so spacious! The conference organisers did
a great job of modifying the program, given the late start and the
fact the every session went way over time.
Many of the delegates did their work
with little or no resources and concentrated almost entirely on the
ministry aspects of their work, unlike their Australian counterparts.
At one stage, a panel shared how they came to be doing what they were
doing – the stories of faith were incredibly inspiring and a great
testimony to God's power and willingness to provide for His servants
when everything seemed hopeless.
The teaching was quite good and
Pieter's sessions were excellent – hardly surprising, given that he
not only manages a large campsite but also does lecturing on outdoor
recreation at a local university.
But the highlight for me were the many
one-on-one conversations I had with these dear brothers & sisters
in Christ. In the main, these people forgo the pleasures &
treasures of this world for the opportunity to serve and serve with
an incredible passion. Quite a few have secular jobs & use what
they earn to subsidise their ministry activities, usually to kids.
Like my Congolese friends, Lucien (left) & Pascal (right). Lucien
works in the legal profession and then after work, helps at a centre
that works with women who have been raped by soldiers, child
soldiers, orphans and those with cleft pallets. The volume of pain,
brokenness & trauma he sees is overwhelming, at least for me just
hearing about it, and he says that only his faith in Jesus sustains
him.
They had a cultural evening on Friday and all the different cultures did some traditional dancing and
singing, the pinnacle being the Rwandan dances. Given that everyone
was leaving the next day, the evening was supposed to end at 10.30pm
– true to form, I I got into bed at 1.30am!
Fond farewells characterised the
following morning and after a 3 hour trip back to Kigali, we visited
the Rwandan Genocide Museum. Reading the information on the posters
of before, during and after the 100 days when 1 million people were
killed in a government-sanctioned and organised slaughter, was
incredibly moving. The scale of the event was such that other than
deep sadness, I don't really know what to do with it – perhaps I'll
let it rattle around in my mind and spirit for a couple of months and
see what comes out.
After taking over a cafe for lunch, the
main part of the group headed back to Nairobi, and after dropping
Pieter and Nyambura at the airport, was dropped at Solace Ministries
& Guesthouse – very comfortable. I'm not sure what Solace Ministries does but I'm sure I'll find out.
It's Sunday morning and I'm having
breakfast with a bunch of Americans and then I'm off to an English
service at Christian Life Assembly church.
More in a few of days!
GT
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