Ubuzima (life)
So I have amazing news. I have been granted a one year visa to stay in Rwanda . It's not the two years I hoped for but I am reassured that to apply for an extension of a visa is much more straight forward and easier process than what I went through to get my initial visa. It was definitely not a guarantee that I would get this visa. In fact on my second to last visit to immigration the immigration officer had my whole pile of paperwork and untouched passport and was preparing to hand it back to the director of my organization saying there was nothing that they could do for me. Thankfully the director Jean Claude is a lawyer and a good one at that and negotiated until they agreed that he could write a (third!) Letter of support.
Even though it seemed impossible and my situation did not seem to match any of the visas that were on offer, I tried to have faith. There were days where I thought " oh well if I have to go home, so be it" Those were the days when I had some sort of setback. However other days I woke up and the first thing I did in the morning was to beg God "Lord please can I stay here, Lord make a way."
I was invited to church by a friend and was pleasantly surprised to go to an English service with a "non shouty" sermon. The preacher preached on faith and waiting on God. God makes us wait in order for us to increase in faith. If everything happened straight away we would not be totally reliant on God. This was all the assurance I needed that everything would be totally fine. My visa was due that Friday. I boldly decided to make plans for the following weekend and even the next one after though my passport said I could only stay til Friday. On Wednesday I woke up knowing that I would hear about my visa today. I got a text message at 10am from migration and knew straight away that it would say that my visa was accepted. I found that it was.
I was so thankful and relieved as you can imagine!
Even though my visa has now been granted I still wake up every morning thinking "I have to leave" or when I meet a new friend or make plans I think I have to leave soon so can't commit... but then I quickly remember that I am here for a long time. That just as God provided a 1 year visa, He will provide a 2 year visa and so on and so on. I feel so relieved that I can actually live here and not just hop in and out of the country . Right now, I honestly feel just so so so happy to be here. I feel so overwhelmingly blessed. However I haven't been feeling like this all the time - A few weeks ago I had a weekend where everything went wrong and a few people spoke negative things over me and my (past ) behaviour and I started doubting.. Doubting in myself and my suitability in helping people, doubting that I was actually doing more harm than good and most of all doubting in God's calling on my life. But after a good talk with my beautiful sister Claire who I live with, and prayers from some of my friends I was reminded not to take to heart people's words , that people have their own vulnerabilities and sinful nature which causes them to speak things which are not true. I was reminded of what I can bring and have brought to people's lives here in Rwanda and also to friends across the world.
I just love my life here. I love that every day is random and simple and fulfilling. I have experienced so many amazing things in just one month.. from a tour of the macadamia factory next to my house, to seeing monkeys on the side of the road, to killing a scorpion, to surprising a nun for her birthday and spending the night at a convent, to giving out solar lamps to people with no electricity, to learning to cook traditional Rwandan food, to helping set up a shop for our sewing social enterprise , to getting asked my number by a local Rwandan celebrity, to baby wearing etc etc.
I think my favourite things so far however have been just settling down and planting roots. Opening a bank account, paying rent 3 months in advance, driving myself around the city for the first time, learning the bus system and investing time into new friendships. I'm not just running around like a headless chicken but I am taking time to just be. To read , to spend time with our beautiful landlords and neighbours, to relax and to spend quality time with Claire.
I'm learning so much more about the culture and the protocols that come with the culture. It's been hard at times.... in the West we say "there are many ways to skin a cat" but in Rwanda there is only one way to skin a cat and any deviation from this way can be seen as offensive. I am very easy going and relaxed about a lot of things so I do find it very frustrating that in Rwanda everything is more complicated than it needs to be. For example just a simple action of catching a bus somewhere might mean a half an hour discussion around where best to take the bus and what the price might be and what the best option is. This had been hard getting used to and I really do struggle to be patient. But it's probably good for me as I do need to slow down a bit more and think more about things before doing them. My friends here however love my easy going nature "Keza for you everything is so easy " and "Keza I love that for you everything is not complicated"
Furthermore I feel exceptionally blessed in my job at Best Family Rwanda. I have beautiful colleagues and I get to do some pretty awesome things. I have been on home visits, assisted the staff of the sewing business, trained staff on different things, helped our paperwork to go from physical to electronic , helped revamp the home visit reports , hung out with the kids and so much more. I have a lot of freedom and it's an exciting organization where so many new projects are being suggested and started all the time.. We are only 11 staff and I am the only mazungu volunteer. It's well run and everyone has a real heart for God and people. The leadership are exceptional and I truly love them all. It's not like other work places where there is a home/ work divide but we are all family and look after each other .
One exciting project which we just started talking about today is giving 50 of the most vulnerable families in a poor rural community called Rwamagana, a goat. With the money I raised at the fundraiser market I am going to use a big chunk of this to totally fund this project where we will bless 50 families. There will be some conditions to the gift such as the family will need to gift a baby goat back to Best Family which we will then use to bless another family with. Also there will be restrictions like they can't eat or sell the goat but they need to breed the goat in order to generate a profit. Goats are the perfect animal because Rwanda is luscious and green and goats eat everything in their path and dont generate any costs. Goat meat is populae in Rwanda and if a family can continue breeding their goats they will have an endless income stream.
I personally think that this idea (it wasnt mine) is an amazing idea and the timing is incredible.
Yesterday I had the privilege of reading the true life story of a beautiful young Rwandan friend. The things I read in there was so so sad. No child should ever be so desperate that they are willing to exchange sex for medicine for a sick parent. No child should be so desperate as to beg for rotten food just to survive. It made my heart so sore and so burdened that maybe the children who ask for money on the side of the road and who i meet every day are in the same situation as my friend was ..and I am just ignoring them and doing nothing for them (I don't give money to beggars as a rule as I dont believe this is empowering or helping them in a sustainable way).
It made me so sad to think that in my house we have too much food yet families in my community sometimes don't have food for 2 days in a row. How can I eat knowing that my neighbour's children are starving? This morning I burst into tears burdened for my young neighbours and asked God to show me how I can help, how I can stop starvation, how I can stop child prostitution and how I can stop children from feeling responsible for things they never ever should feel responsible for.
The goat project was suggested to me today and I really feel that this is an answer from God.. It's a starting point and definitely not the solution for all the problems that face the poor in Rwanda.. But if it can lift one (or even all 50) families out of extreme poverty then it's something I obviously need to do.
I get to name the project and l really like the name "ubuzima" which means Life. For me Life means thriving and surviving, it means hope , it means prosperity, it means growth but mainly it is summed up for me in John 1 v4 "In Him was life and The Life was the light of man"
Thanks for all your prayers. They are being answered for sure. If your heart is burdened for these children too please don't hesitate to contact me. I have the funds for this goat project (thanks to the approx $4000 I raised at the market) but this is just the beginning .. and who knows how God will use me.
In Him who gives Me Life.
Ps my organization has a post box so if you want to send me some snail mail or treats please send to Best Family Rwanda P.O Box 5779 Kigali, Rwanda and write my name somewhere on the package/outside of the letter too- so they know it's for me.
Even though it seemed impossible and my situation did not seem to match any of the visas that were on offer, I tried to have faith. There were days where I thought " oh well if I have to go home, so be it" Those were the days when I had some sort of setback. However other days I woke up and the first thing I did in the morning was to beg God "Lord please can I stay here, Lord make a way."
I was invited to church by a friend and was pleasantly surprised to go to an English service with a "non shouty" sermon. The preacher preached on faith and waiting on God. God makes us wait in order for us to increase in faith. If everything happened straight away we would not be totally reliant on God. This was all the assurance I needed that everything would be totally fine. My visa was due that Friday. I boldly decided to make plans for the following weekend and even the next one after though my passport said I could only stay til Friday. On Wednesday I woke up knowing that I would hear about my visa today. I got a text message at 10am from migration and knew straight away that it would say that my visa was accepted. I found that it was.
I was so thankful and relieved as you can imagine!
Even though my visa has now been granted I still wake up every morning thinking "I have to leave" or when I meet a new friend or make plans I think I have to leave soon so can't commit... but then I quickly remember that I am here for a long time. That just as God provided a 1 year visa, He will provide a 2 year visa and so on and so on. I feel so relieved that I can actually live here and not just hop in and out of the country . Right now, I honestly feel just so so so happy to be here. I feel so overwhelmingly blessed. However I haven't been feeling like this all the time - A few weeks ago I had a weekend where everything went wrong and a few people spoke negative things over me and my (past ) behaviour and I started doubting.. Doubting in myself and my suitability in helping people, doubting that I was actually doing more harm than good and most of all doubting in God's calling on my life. But after a good talk with my beautiful sister Claire who I live with, and prayers from some of my friends I was reminded not to take to heart people's words , that people have their own vulnerabilities and sinful nature which causes them to speak things which are not true. I was reminded of what I can bring and have brought to people's lives here in Rwanda and also to friends across the world.
I just love my life here. I love that every day is random and simple and fulfilling. I have experienced so many amazing things in just one month.. from a tour of the macadamia factory next to my house, to seeing monkeys on the side of the road, to killing a scorpion, to surprising a nun for her birthday and spending the night at a convent, to giving out solar lamps to people with no electricity, to learning to cook traditional Rwandan food, to helping set up a shop for our sewing social enterprise , to getting asked my number by a local Rwandan celebrity, to baby wearing etc etc.
I think my favourite things so far however have been just settling down and planting roots. Opening a bank account, paying rent 3 months in advance, driving myself around the city for the first time, learning the bus system and investing time into new friendships. I'm not just running around like a headless chicken but I am taking time to just be. To read , to spend time with our beautiful landlords and neighbours, to relax and to spend quality time with Claire.
I'm learning so much more about the culture and the protocols that come with the culture. It's been hard at times.... in the West we say "there are many ways to skin a cat" but in Rwanda there is only one way to skin a cat and any deviation from this way can be seen as offensive. I am very easy going and relaxed about a lot of things so I do find it very frustrating that in Rwanda everything is more complicated than it needs to be. For example just a simple action of catching a bus somewhere might mean a half an hour discussion around where best to take the bus and what the price might be and what the best option is. This had been hard getting used to and I really do struggle to be patient. But it's probably good for me as I do need to slow down a bit more and think more about things before doing them. My friends here however love my easy going nature "Keza for you everything is so easy " and "Keza I love that for you everything is not complicated"
Furthermore I feel exceptionally blessed in my job at Best Family Rwanda. I have beautiful colleagues and I get to do some pretty awesome things. I have been on home visits, assisted the staff of the sewing business, trained staff on different things, helped our paperwork to go from physical to electronic , helped revamp the home visit reports , hung out with the kids and so much more. I have a lot of freedom and it's an exciting organization where so many new projects are being suggested and started all the time.. We are only 11 staff and I am the only mazungu volunteer. It's well run and everyone has a real heart for God and people. The leadership are exceptional and I truly love them all. It's not like other work places where there is a home/ work divide but we are all family and look after each other .
One exciting project which we just started talking about today is giving 50 of the most vulnerable families in a poor rural community called Rwamagana, a goat. With the money I raised at the fundraiser market I am going to use a big chunk of this to totally fund this project where we will bless 50 families. There will be some conditions to the gift such as the family will need to gift a baby goat back to Best Family which we will then use to bless another family with. Also there will be restrictions like they can't eat or sell the goat but they need to breed the goat in order to generate a profit. Goats are the perfect animal because Rwanda is luscious and green and goats eat everything in their path and dont generate any costs. Goat meat is populae in Rwanda and if a family can continue breeding their goats they will have an endless income stream.
I personally think that this idea (it wasnt mine) is an amazing idea and the timing is incredible.
Yesterday I had the privilege of reading the true life story of a beautiful young Rwandan friend. The things I read in there was so so sad. No child should ever be so desperate that they are willing to exchange sex for medicine for a sick parent. No child should be so desperate as to beg for rotten food just to survive. It made my heart so sore and so burdened that maybe the children who ask for money on the side of the road and who i meet every day are in the same situation as my friend was ..and I am just ignoring them and doing nothing for them (I don't give money to beggars as a rule as I dont believe this is empowering or helping them in a sustainable way).
It made me so sad to think that in my house we have too much food yet families in my community sometimes don't have food for 2 days in a row. How can I eat knowing that my neighbour's children are starving? This morning I burst into tears burdened for my young neighbours and asked God to show me how I can help, how I can stop starvation, how I can stop child prostitution and how I can stop children from feeling responsible for things they never ever should feel responsible for.
The goat project was suggested to me today and I really feel that this is an answer from God.. It's a starting point and definitely not the solution for all the problems that face the poor in Rwanda.. But if it can lift one (or even all 50) families out of extreme poverty then it's something I obviously need to do.
I get to name the project and l really like the name "ubuzima" which means Life. For me Life means thriving and surviving, it means hope , it means prosperity, it means growth but mainly it is summed up for me in John 1 v4 "In Him was life and The Life was the light of man"
Thanks for all your prayers. They are being answered for sure. If your heart is burdened for these children too please don't hesitate to contact me. I have the funds for this goat project (thanks to the approx $4000 I raised at the market) but this is just the beginning .. and who knows how God will use me.
In Him who gives Me Life.
Ps my organization has a post box so if you want to send me some snail mail or treats please send to Best Family Rwanda P.O Box 5779 Kigali, Rwanda and write my name somewhere on the package/outside of the letter too- so they know it's for me.
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