People are probably not reading this any more but thought I would post some thoughts as I have been trying to debrief myself since I have returned home and reflect on some of my experiences.
It is my prayer that I can bring what I have learned and how I have changed from my time in Rwanda back to the United States and truly have it affect and infiltrate my life here...I want it to impact everything from work to relationships to my view of life. I really do not think that I have seen that yet but maybe my expectations are higher then it should be. Maybe it will just be more subtle differences...I don't know. I want to integrate my life and experience in Africa as much as I can with my life here in the U.S. but I am unsure how to do that. I know that the Lord brought me there for a purpose and has brought me back for a purpose and I pray that my change and growth has and will make a difference.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Home
I am home. I have returned to the states and to Lancaster, PA. So everything went smoothly with my arrival home. I had two long plane flights and a long lay over in Belgium but I made it home without any problems. It was a good last week in Rwanda saying goodbye to friends and finishing up the last bit of work that I was doing which included a couple ministry proposals for YFC. So now that I am back hopefully I can take some time to truly reflect on my experience and the work that I have done. I want to be changed and believe that I am but hope that it is reflective in my daily life here at home. What is the next? This is a question with out an answer at this point but we shall see. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. It was great having you with me in my work over in Africa. It could not have been done without you. please continue to talk to me if you want to no even more about the work I was doing, my experiences, or what it has been like being back. Thank you
Thursday, April 24, 2008
BuRunDi
Upon from my return from Kenya, I woke up early the next morning for a 6 hour bus ride down to Bujumbora, Burundi where I would spend a week visiting and working down at the YFC office there. I also brought along my two friends Jenny and Liz to go down and help at the orphanage that 
we were going to be working at.
After getting stuck at the Burundi boarder for two hours because our bus broke down, we finally made it to be happily greeted by 3 yfc workers. Two were staff members names Esther and Eve and the third was an American volunteer names Jackie. They took us to the rainbow center where we would be sleeping for the week which was an orphanage and guest house all wrapped into one. We ate dinner and talked to with Jackie for awhile until the country director Freddy showed up to to say hello.
We had a wonderful week there working and seeing the sites of Burundi including a very short step into the DRC(that a separate story in itself). Burundi is a very small but wonderful country that was in the midst of a civil war just like Rwanda's.It is Rwanda's sister country and they were once the same before splitting in colonization. While Rwanda's story has become well know, Burundi's story of conflict has become some what forgotten and as a country it is far underdeveloped compared Rwanda. While Rwanda's war lasted a few months Burundi's war has gone on for over ten years and officially ended in 2005. Now they still to this day have not come to full peace as there is still an active rebel group but had not seen a major attack since 2005.
The second night we were There we were sitting having dinner at the rainbow center and talking with a YWAM group from Northern Ireland doing their ministry in Burundi when we heard what we thought was something like fireworks. We realized quickly that it was not so when shortly after the sounds of machine gun fire rang through our ears. One of the guards ran in to tell us to come look outside. We ran out to see the red light of missile grenades flying through the air in different directions along with the flash of white light as they landed in the hills. After spending some time in prayer for peoples safety and for the country we sat and listened to the sounds of gunfire and exploding bombs until we fell to sleep.
The fighting continued through the night and the next morning we came to find out that the rebel group had decided to make their biggest attack in 3 years. We were never really in to much danger where we were because their attack was for the most part a political statement as they spent most of their time trying to bomb the presidents compound in Bujumbora. After breakfast we packed up our things and our friends Basco and Eve (yfc staff) took us and Jackie two hours east through the mountains and the most dangerous road in the country (only really at night) to a town called Gitega where we would be doing our work at the orphanage. Kinda funny but on the way in we bought grilled corn on the cob from boys as they ran beside our bus winding through the hills so we decided to do it again as we headed across to Gitega. We enjoyed it so much that every time we took that road (which was 4 time in the week there) we would
enjoy the snack of a little grilled corn on the cob to satisfy our appetite.
We spent some time working at this yfc orphanage in Gitega. We spent most of our time doing physical education activities with the kids since this was quite the need at the moment and tried to teach some of the staff at the school there so they could continue to do this activities with the kids. Their were 23 kids at the orphanage between the ages of like 5 and 12. It was a wonderful experience to spend some time just having fun and loving on some pretty spectacular children.
Once back in Bujumbora, we had one final big dinner put on by Freddy with the yfc staff my group and the YWAM team since they were going to be spending some of their time working with yfc. We had a wonderful dinner that began with a traditional Burundian drum concert and some traditional foods and ending in splendid fellowship.
The next morning we packed up our things...went to one of the local churches and headed home.
we were going to be working at.After getting stuck at the Burundi boarder for two hours because our bus broke down, we finally made it to be happily greeted by 3 yfc workers. Two were staff members names Esther and Eve and the third was an American volunteer names Jackie. They took us to the rainbow center where we would be sleeping for the week which was an orphanage and guest house all wrapped into one. We ate dinner and talked to with Jackie for awhile until the country director Freddy showed up to to say hello.
We had a wonderful week there working and seeing the sites of Burundi including a very short step into the DRC(that a separate story in itself). Burundi is a very small but wonderful country that was in the midst of a civil war just like Rwanda's.It is Rwanda's sister country and they were once the same before splitting in colonization. While Rwanda's story has become well know, Burundi's story of conflict has become some what forgotten and as a country it is far underdeveloped compared Rwanda. While Rwanda's war lasted a few months Burundi's war has gone on for over ten years and officially ended in 2005. Now they still to this day have not come to full peace as there is still an active rebel group but had not seen a major attack since 2005.
The second night we were There we were sitting having dinner at the rainbow center and talking with a YWAM group from Northern Ireland doing their ministry in Burundi when we heard what we thought was something like fireworks. We realized quickly that it was not so when shortly after the sounds of machine gun fire rang through our ears. One of the guards ran in to tell us to come look outside. We ran out to see the red light of missile grenades flying through the air in different directions along with the flash of white light as they landed in the hills. After spending some time in prayer for peoples safety and for the country we sat and listened to the sounds of gunfire and exploding bombs until we fell to sleep.
The fighting continued through the night and the next morning we came to find out that the rebel group had decided to make their biggest attack in 3 years. We were never really in to much danger where we were because their attack was for the most part a political statement as they spent most of their time trying to bomb the presidents compound in Bujumbora. After breakfast we packed up our things and our friends Basco and Eve (yfc staff) took us and Jackie two hours east through the mountains and the most dangerous road in the country (only really at night) to a town called Gitega where we would be doing our work at the orphanage. Kinda funny but on the way in we bought grilled corn on the cob from boys as they ran beside our bus winding through the hills so we decided to do it again as we headed across to Gitega. We enjoyed it so much that every time we took that road (which was 4 time in the week there) we would
enjoy the snack of a little grilled corn on the cob to satisfy our appetite.We spent some time working at this yfc orphanage in Gitega. We spent most of our time doing physical education activities with the kids since this was quite the need at the moment and tried to teach some of the staff at the school there so they could continue to do this activities with the kids. Their were 23 kids at the orphanage between the ages of like 5 and 12. It was a wonderful experience to spend some time just having fun and loving on some pretty spectacular children.
Once back in Bujumbora, we had one final big dinner put on by Freddy with the yfc staff my group and the YWAM team since they were going to be spending some of their time working with yfc. We had a wonderful dinner that began with a traditional Burundian drum concert and some traditional foods and ending in splendid fellowship.
The next morning we packed up our things...went to one of the local churches and headed home.
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