Children near Kigali on a highway between villages. Water needs to be carried even in many homes in Kigali

10/10/10: (This will show as 10/11 because the internet was down last night when I wrote this) Day of rest & reflection. Africa is a great teacher. In my last blog I shared some of my process in confronting my initial defensive response to being “paraded” as a source of money. It seems I did not clearly share the almost immediate lesson I learned—that my purpose here is to love & to give whatever I have to offer & the opportunities may come in forms I have not anticipated. I need to remain constantly present & aware of what is possible for me in light of the overwhelming need here or I can feel inadequate & defensive.

I uploaded the rest of my pictures & the pictures of children in the villages & along the road stood out. Most of the children are very thin, & so many are not in school. The government provides a free primary education, but it is not mandatory to attend, & many families need the children to do the work of daily living in order to survive. I have pictures of children carrying water jugs, firewood, baskets, etc. on their heads as they walk barefoot on the rocky roads. I have seen a few one gallon sized jugs, but most look to be either 2 or 3 gallons. Two gallons of water weighs 16 pounds. Children looking to be as young as 6 are carrying these on their heads. Our interpreter said it is a problem as many people have severe neck problems as a result. Children help carry rock for the walls & aqueducts, dig in the garden, herd goats & Rwandan cattle, and work in the rice paddies. One young man at the orphanage (18) works weekends at a rock quarry, hammering out huge chunks & carrying them to a wheelbarrow. Peace (from the women’s coop) said that most families know that beans are the highest protein of any food they can afford to buy, but they take so long to cook that the firewood cost (in the city) is more than they have & there is no refrigeration, so they can’t make a big pot & save it. She is teaching them to rotate foods.

There are also many success stories. Our interpreter that we took out for her birthday dinner started out living with her sister in a tiny room, crying every day & as thin as a rail. Tonight she is healthy, has a job & her sister has a job & they live in an apartment. She has hope to be a full-time interpreter & sing the songs she has written. She has a beautiful voice, & Lori is arranging to make videos of her singing & put on YouTube. Lori found another young teen hiding in a shed in a village with no food, water, sanitation or possessions. Lori paid a local charity to go pick her up & then paid for her to stay there until the money ran out. She is now in another city going to school. You already heard about the young man who graduated from the orphanage & is making films. They really do make the most of what they are given. For our interpreters’ birthday we went to a very nice restaurant (at least 4-star) with a delicious meal including complementary appetizers & soup. The hostess at that restaurant was a beautiful young woman who was an orphan graduate.