recollections from rwanda

I am back from my 10-day trip to Rwanda. It was awesome, difficult, a blessing, and fun! I am glad to be back in Uganda, where we have a semi-routine, although we are leaving for home stays this Friday! J I will try to sum up what I saw and learned in Rwanda, but there was SO much that I can only try to give you a small piece of what occurred there….

When we left early last Saturday morning I had butterflies in my tummy.
The night before when we were supposed to cram everything into a tiny backpack, there was a power outage for most of the night!!
Thankfully by the grace of God we had a small amount of electricity and were able to SEE what we were packing…
Our drive was about eight hours, across the equator and into Rwanda.

What a difference between Rwanda and Uganda (see my blog for my comparison list!)

The trip was AWESOME in so many ways.
It was a great chance for all of the American usp students to bond!
I feel like I can integrate into the ucu community much more confidently now that I have formed good friendships and am comfortable that I am supported here!

I can’t believe all the cool people that I was able to meet and the places I was able to go!
What a BLESSING!!
I went across the equator; was welcomed into a rural church in kibungo; met the Bishop of Gahini (where the East Africa Revival began); visited the national genocide museum in kigali and a memorial site of a school massacre outside Butarre; went to a lecture at the national university of Rwanda; listened to the stories of two genocide survivors who had amazing testimonies and even ate dinner with one; went to awesome ministries like an orphanage, a women’s center, and a missionary business called “cards for Africa;” heard from lawyers from the gacaca process (of reconciliation post-genocide); and lastly the mufti of Rwanda about inter-faith dialogue. WOW!
I never would have learned so much nor had such amazing contacts if I had not come as a student… I felt so blessed to have such opportunities.

The trip was DIFFICUILT in that I stopped feeling ecstatic about being in Africa, and realized that it was to be my daily life for four whole months. The laundry, clothes, food, and bugs weren’t going away anytime soon! J I felt homesick a lot, especially when I felt most out of my comfort zone. I miss my family… I love each of you… more than I thought I did!! J honestly, one of the hardest personal (and yet most insignificant and lame) struggles that I had was with how much I wish I had packed to Uganda and especially Rwanda. I had only three skirts and three shirts for ten days… and did no laundry. My clothes were awful and dirty (actually my roomie and I did laundry tonight and we saw the BROWN water!), it was very easy to start complaining and fantasizing about food or clothes that I wanted from home. But I realized that I consciously had to hold my tongue… because how selfish is it to think so much about myself in light of what I was learning and seeing.

The trip was FUN because I got to hang out with forty awesome people. And I formed some really great friendships. I got especially close to Sarah and Kimberly (my roomie), and we shared lots of good laughs and conversations. “11 touches”- it is psychologically proven that it is necessary to have 11 physical touches from people in one day to be right in the head J … before I was lacking this, but many girls filled that gap for me this week!! From sharing a bed with someone to simply getting a hug, or a sweet back rub, it was very great!! Plus shower times… always a way to bond… washing each others hair and taking swimsuit showers in an african thunderstorm. BONDING!! J


i love you all. and would love to hear from you, although it is sometimes hard to reply!! :)
God Bless!