Oral Exam Day

SCHOOL DAYS

School days, good old fashioned school days. What is an old fashion school day anyways? Looking back I can remember the excitement in the air of buying school supplies. Of course then report card time which could come bringing dread if you did not do well or a special treat if you did. Myself, never the best student. I never really knew how to study or maybe I did not care enough . I did like to learn, but did not appreciate the opportunity granted me in attending school. For sure, I loved the snow days ,summer vacation and the vacations in between.

In Rwanda, and probably other countries as well school means something totally different. To sum it up in one word-HOPE. Hope for a better future.Hope to possibly get a job. For parents if even one child in their family can become educated there is hope they will be taken care of in their old age.

Living in Rwanda for over two years we have seen many things first hand. Adjusting from our culture we began to hear, see and learn. Poverty is not just a lack of money, it is a lack of resources. One can have all the money in the world, yet if you were out in a desert some place with nothing around you, what good would it do you? Even once educated; jobs are slim. Especially in more rural areas. But one must first hurdle getting to school and staying in school .

The hearts cry of every parent and every child is school. Their dream, desire, reason to live is to attend school. When a parent cannot send their child to school they feel as if they failed. But what happens when a child cannot attend school?

The child needs supervision, yet if the mother and father have any type of small job it means the child stays home with other relatives or even other siblings not in school. Children running all over the roads, far away from their homes is not uncommon. Many children get hit by cars and can be prone to be used in sexual situations. Even if nothing "bad" happens, the child is lonely, alone with no one to care for them. Their day can consist of cleaning house, getting water, eating very little, fighting sickness and worst of all-no hope.

The videos and photos we show above are from our early learning program. A program we began to be a help for those who could not afford school fees. Thus the name "The Help Program". We have some funny stories of when we handed out registration forms since we could only have 25 students and how the Mamas cornered Les to get one. Just to register, knowing over 100 Mama's were there yet only 25 slots could be filled.

Our first year we were to start with 24 and had 55. The second year 15 graduated and are now attending a good private school. The government primary schools are less expensive but may have 80 children in one class. The second year of the program we felt we could replace the 15 graduates and had maybe 10 more, this the 25 openings. We ended up with 98 children.

One can not explain the need. Having mother's knock on your gate saying "Kwiega Mama Muto" over and over. Kwiega means to learn. Tears, sometimes anger, lying pushing. Anything to give their child a chance for hope. Some mothers disabled, raped and are young children themselves with children. How many times did my heart break. I have lost count. Yet knowing what you do is only a drop in the bucket compared to the need. Yet if everyone does their drop the bucket would eventually get filled. Although we could not continue this program when we moved to another area due to some technicalities we know for a short time these 98 children learned and receievd hope for a sorttime at least. Out of the first 55 students 33 of them now attend private primary schools in our child sponsorship program.

So, school days in Rwanda. Different than our childhood memories. What is your favorite memory? Did you ever look at going to school as a burning desire for -HOPE?

Children's Day

Children's Day started almost immediately. We arrived in Rwanda on March 29,2006. Our first month we lived with Pastor Ngondo's family. When we had visited Rwanda back in 2004 we stayed with him, his family and the orphans of the Mpore Pefa Orphanage. Our beloved Pastor went home to be with the Lord in October 2005. Just a few months shy of when we would arrive. We worked with Pefa as Elim Fellowship missionaries for our first two years. We now attend Celpar Church and have relocated to Kanombe in June 2008.

After a month the orphanage moved to it's new location and we rented the property the orphanage had now vacated. We lived there and began hosting mission teams and got to know our neighbors. Many of our neighbors happen to be 12 and under. Many of them stopping in at all hours of the day or following us home from church.

We had wonderful visits with the children. Singing songs, sharing tea, telling stories and just hanging out. We realized we could not continue this as many visits in a day and came up with the idea of Children's Day. We thought about calling it Bible Club, however we had many Muslim neighbors and those of traditional religion. We did not want any children to be left out, thus the name Children's Day.

Every Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:30, rain or shine children would come. First the children came from just our own village. But soon the word went out over the hills. "Kuwakabiri, saa kumi nigichi, biscuit at Mama Muto's." Translated as Tuesday, 4:30 at Mama Muto's and you get a biscuit. Of course a biscuit really is a plain milk cookie. Sort of like a bigger animal cracker in square form.

We would play soccer in the field below, sing songs, have a bible story and then of course each child received a biscuit on there way out. It became more difficult though as more children came. First there was 10, then 15, then 30. When the numbers reached over 30 we realized without a translator it could get a little dangerous. So we stopped the soccer and just went with singing, dancing, bible stories and of course our famous biscuit. At Christmas time we did gift bags. Thankfully God provided us with a translator, Eric who is now part of our family.

We saw God work miracles. After 30 children, the numbers grew every week as word carried through the hills. In the end we had on a regular basis 200 to 250 children. At Christmas 325.
There were many testimonies of children giving their lives to the Lord. You could hear the children sing the songs they learned every day, every where. You could see a difference in them the more weeks went by. Tuesday became a very special day for them. A time and a place just for them. A place to laugh, dance, sing and share. It was a safe place. Parents, thankful their child had at least one hour a week of "something special".

One of neighbors who is of Muslim faith told us all her children sing the Christian songs. They even changed the day at the mosque since all the children were at Children's Day.

We thank the Lord for all our special memories. When Children's Day came to a close since we moved and thought we were coming back to America on a more long term basis; sadness is all we saw and felt. In our hearts we pray somewhere, someone will begin a special day for these children. If not we know for over two years Tuesday became special for them. A day they will tell their own children someday.

As we live in Kanombe, Children's Day will be one of our first events to begin. We look forward to the day it will begin. It probably will not be on a Tuesday, but we know it will be special, for all the children, for us and more importantly for the Lord.