Camp Gahini

Greetings to my Facebook faithful!!!! Apologies for my absence, but it is near impossible to get on the internet consistently here in Rwanda!!! I will try the best I can.


My thoughts, when I can get at them, will have to be shorter - like myself. So bear with me.


Africa is already changing my life. It is very difficult to narrow myself down to one "topic" or "issue" or "experience" while being here. So much is different. So much is happening. I am changing. The kids we meet are changing. God has been soooo good and faithful to us.


I will begin with an update I suppose. I am on a team of 11 people here in Rwanda, Africa and we are running 4 separate, 4 day camps in the month of November. Each week, we get a separate group of kids, all from different villages. Each camp, another 100 smiling, energetic faces show up to learn, live and enjoy life with us. It is awesome.


I suppose the first thing that sticks out in my brain is the simplicity of things here. This is really magnified when we play games with the kids. You wanna here the list? Ok. Musical chairs, dodgeball, frisbee, Simon says, what time is it Mr. Wolf. Shall I go on? Most of these kids are teenagers and they have an absolute BLAST when we play these games. I couldn't even imagine trying these games for Moose Lake in Canada. There is seriously an all out RIOT everytime we play musical chairs - with the winner always being hosted above their respective teams heads, carried across the room amidst cheering and chanting their teams name in victory. Simply stunning. The joy on their faces humbles me each day.


Joy. That is the next thing I'm learning. I realize that many of these kids probably come from hard places. Tough homes and at times, tough living conditions. And in Rwanda, everybody, no matter who you are, or where you live, continues to live with some sort of pain and scar from the genocide here in 94. Yet amidst these conditions, when I watch these kids worship their God - well, I am simply in awe. I realize as they sing, that nothing, absolutely nothing can take away their hope and their joy that they find in Christ Jesus. They sing with passion. They sing with purity. They sing with everything they have. I can see it in their eyes and on their faces. That is who they live for. I must say it is miles away from what I see and live in in Canada. I realized that no matter what happens to them, what they live through - no food, no parents, murder, diseases....the list goes on and on - NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY nothing can grab or snuff that joy, that hope, that they have. It is theirs. Nothing, not even the devil himself can take that away.


Thirdly and lastly. I am seeing that we truly are planting seeds in the lives of these kids. I see hope being sown, joy being renewed, love being lived and truth being proclaimed. They trust us. They love to listen to us, play games, sing with us, and even just hold our hands (Something I'm trying to get used to, especially with males). We are making a difference. We are planting the seeds, and scipture reminds us....the Lord will faithfully water them - even while we are away.


But, like I said, they are teaching us as much as we teach them. I have seen that things here are not what I expected. It's not what you see on TV. Life here....isn't absolutely terrible. What I'm finding is that....it's different. Sometimes I think, we in the West, are all to quick to force or shove our way of life on the people over here. I'm not so sure that is the way to go about things. What they have here is special. There culture is rich. Sure, maybe a man takes all day to haul bananas on his bike to his destination, but they put a premium on family, on community, on relationships, being fair and kind. It is so refreshing. Things are slower for sure. We still haven't gotten our volleyball court done!! It takes a week just to organize a shovel or rake, let alone a load of sand!!!! So perhaps some things need changing, but not as much as we first perceive. Progress, success and pride do not have the hold it does on peoples lives in Canada. Work does not come before family. You will not find the love of money consuming people and replacing the love of God. Sure there is some here......but not the epidemic we find in North America. In so many places, they are far richer and further ahead than us.


I love my country. I already can't wait to come home and visit family and friends, talk hockey and snuff Vegas, and eat bacon and eggs and roast chicken!!!!! But they are teaching me heaps here. As it turns out, I am realizing.......I am much poorer than I think.