Bitter Sweetness

Ok I know it has been a while but I have been in a transition phase and haven’t had much access to a computer. I finally made it to Cape town, South Africa. Leaving Rwanda was definitely harder then I imagined, saying goodbye to the people I had interacted with regularly and had established meaningful relationships with really tugged on my heart. A couple of nights before we left, Jim and I slept over at the University guy’s house for one last farewell get together. Imagine 6 guys staying in one room that is no bigger than a dorm. It was great. Doing nothing different than I would do with friends at home, we simply hung out, goofed off (I taught them the robot arm swing, which they loved), and talked about what we had enjoyed that summer. The next morning they took us out to breakfast, where we shared some last thoughts and then totally unexpectedly they paid for the bill. This may seem like a normal jester, but to Jim and I it meant a lot more. When you’ve spent a whole summer engulfed in a culture where the Mazungu represents money, which many times leads people to take advantage of you, and friends like Felix, Eugene, Prudent, Prosper, Christian, and Emmanuel pay for a bill it takes on a whole new meaning. It confirmed for Jim and I that we were not seen as Mazungu’s but had true friendships in these guys. Throughout the summer these friends had taught me more about myself and my faith, then they know and for that I am forever grateful. After exchanging emails and Skype names, Jim and I were off, thankful that God had placed our university friends into our summer experience.

Every day, for the last three days, I invited Israel over for lunch. This provided us some quality time for conversation, and enabled us to get know each other better. Israel has definitely been put through plenty of difficult times, experiencing a lot of the evil that engulfs this world, but still manages to display a faith and a love for Christ that I can only wish someday to possess. An orphan due to the genocide, that had been on the bottom, poor, lost and hopeless, and through his faith and determination Israel now is on his last year at the National University in Kigali, leads a choir that sings at various churches and is creating a gospel album, which he has written all the songs for, has put his younger brother through school, and enjoys life through the joy Christ has brought him. The morning that I left Israel showed up at 7 in the morning to drop off a gift for me and another gift for my mom, on my gift attached was a note that read,

“Aaron you’ve been a blessing to our country and especially for me. Really your love is from God!! I’ll never forget the way you used to invite me for lunch. I’ve seen and got the Love, not the food! I pray to see you back in Rwanda. You pray to see me in the USA one day even if it is like a dream”

The letter speaks for itself and sums up everything I tried to tell you about this man. I hope that everyone at some point in their life can meet someone like him.

Rwanda definitely exceeded my expectations. The internship, friends, the culture, living arrangements, the food, security, etc.. all made my time in Rwanda exactly what I wanted. The top 10 things that I will miss from Rwanda, in no particular order are:

1. Mazungu Celebertiy Status
2. Samboussa’s - triangular crusted pockets filled with spicy meat!
3. Traveling in the Matatu’s or on a moto, always provided an entertaining expierence
4. The Food for the Hungry staff and fellow interns
5. The children
6. Orange Fanta
7. Felix, Emmanuel, Eugene, Prudent, Prosper, Christian, Israel, Felix (the 2nd one)
8. Hooping it up with the locals
9. Having an excuse to not take a shower
10. African hospitality

Top 5 things I will not miss, in no particular order are:

1. Rice, beans, and bubble gum beef
2. Mosquito nets
3. Poverty
4. Anti-malaria medicine
5. Large amount of methane gas from the food

I am now in Capetown, South Africa with my friend Craig. I arrived a day an a half ago, and other then the fact that it has been pretty much rainy and cold the whole time, I am surely enjoying myself. It is good to see Craig again and kind of debrief with him everything that I experienced throughout the summer. Capetown is definitely different then Rwanda. The first few hours I think I was having a little culture shock. It is hard to believe that I am still in Africa and not in a European City. I haven’t had a chance to go visit any of the townships (poorer areas of South Africa) yet though, and am sure it will be a different experience. Capetown is beautiful; Craig and I yesterday hiked Table Mountain, in which we were able to see a full view of the city with the ocean by its side. Then meeting with the friends I met in Rwanda later that night, we were able to enjoy our night at a couple of the local pubs. Very Nice! Well I think from here on out, since I don’t have a lot of time to be on the computer every day, I will write each day about the “Event of the Day”. I love you all and miss you. Family, I know you are all together in Texas so if you want to meet up someday, message me and we will figure something out.

The Final Days!

Welllll....Hello everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their last few days of summer. Things are really wrapping up here in Kigali. Last Friday Jim, Emily, and I combined all of our efforts on the e-sponsorship project into one final draft report, basically explaining everything. Even though we were pushed for time, making things a little stressful, we were able to finish and send it out to various people for feedback. Overall we have recieved very positive feedback and feel that e-sponorship has a huge amount of potential. For the most part, e-sponsorship has been an enjoyable and exciting project to help draft and has allowed Jim, Emily, and I to feel like we had really contributed. Along with the resettlement camp Jim and I were invovled with, which is still in the Switzerland funding stage, was an incredible expierence. Catering to exactly the types of areas I want to be involved in, these two expierences were both truely, beyond a doubt, God provided blessings that have made my work here in Rwanda an unexplainable expierence to which I have genuinely benefited from.

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Apart from my work, I have only 7 days left and will make them enjoyable. Last Friday, two new members arrived to the guest house, David and Jason. They flew in from Capetown, South Africa where they had been filming a documentary about poverty for over a month. Continuing their documentary, they will be staying for 10 days filming a couple of different keys areas in Rwanda. For those that don't know, after Rwanda I am traveling to Capetown to visit a friend (Craig) for 10 days that will be studying at Capetown University next semester. The crazy part is that David and Jason are returning to Capetown on the same flight, also they will be flying from Capetown to London on my flight. What are the chances? So rather then spending over 30 hours traveling by myself, I now will only be traveling from London to Phoenix alone for 12 hours. Which is still long and will require me to talk to myself, but is not nearly as bad. Also in Capetown they have invited me to tag along in the townships and observe them filming and meet a few of the people they have come in contact with. From the little they have already told me, I am looking forward to contrasting the differences between the challenges faced in South Africa compared to Rwanda. So I am super excited!

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(Mom disregard the next three lines) I actually talked to Craig randomly on Skype yesterday and he proposed the idea of participating with the World's Largest Bungee Jump in Capetown!!!!! Hmmmmm.....if the price is right count me in.

Continuing, Sunday night I recieved a phone call from a friend named, Ibrahim, to come hoop it up (play basketball). Ohhh yea! I figured this was a perfect opportunity to show Rwanda my flawless b-ball skills. After David and Jason expressed interest, we decided that it was time and headed out towards the court. After arriving we noticed that only 1 of the 4 basketball hoops had a rim, forcing us to wait in line for a half court 3 on 3 match. After winning our first game, I felt my old 16 year old self coming back. I felt the jump shot, the dribble, the rebound skills tingling in my fingertips. That was short lived though. Let's just put it this way, the 21 year old Aaron is not nearly in the same physical condition the 16 year old Aaron was. During and after the first game David and I were gasping for oxygen, which allowed the second team to dominate us. But I will say we did represent for Mazungu's everywhere. It was a lot of fun and I think the kids really enjoyed having some crazy Mazungu's on the court. Hopefully we will have an opportunity to play again before I leave.

A couple of weeks ago Jim and I went to work with Karen, another Intern that works with Peace Healing and Reconcilation Program (PHARP). The PHARP office has around 30 women that arrive every week day for a morning devotional, English lessons, and sewing class. These types of interactions provide fellowship to help with reconciling individuals from seperate ethinc groups by encouraging forgivness and unity. This is only one of the many programs PHARP provides to address the emotional effects of the genocide. I feel this is one of the most long lasting and detrimental effects of the genocide that is largely ignored. PHARP is really amazing at addressing those areas and assisting individuals to find closure with what has happened. Jim and I visited to observe as well as to get measured? A few weeks ago, Jim and I purchased African material at the market so the ladies at PHARP could sew us together African outfits. That is right African outfits: pants, a shirt, and a hat. This provides them a little income and for ourselves a way to look good. Today we went back to PHARP to pick up our outfits. It was awesome. After changing in a back room Jim and I came out walking down the hall as if we were on a catwalk. We entertained for a little while strutting back and forth as the women erupted in laughter. The outfits are awesome and are exactly what we wanted (As seen in the pictures). So that made for a excitng and enjoyable morning. We then went back to the FHI/R office for lunch and here I am writing on my blog.

For those of you that want to know exact dates of my traveling here they are: August 8th I leave Kigali at 11:00 and arrive in Capetown at 8:00 p.m. Then on August 18th I leave Capetown to London, where I have a 7 hour layover, and then from London to Arizona arriving on August 19th at 5:45 p.m. The horrible thing is that clases start the next morning on the 20th. I love you all and can't wait to hear about Aubrey and Clint's baby, Grandma it's good to always hear from, Joe and Ashley I will keep the next year of your guy's life in prayer, which is well needed, Amy your awesome, Adam go take a nap, Mom your beautiful, Dad go eat a burger!

Mount Kigali

It is always hard to figure out how to introduce these posts, so for this one I will not. Also, I'm going to stop putting so much time into my blog, cause no one leaves me comments, unless I call them and tell them to (and aunt Debby). So my blog effort is a reflection of your effort to leave comments. Just joking....hhmmmm.....kind of.

Today is Saturday the 21st of July, 18 days left. I am really not looking forward to leaving, but I trying to make the best of the time I have left. This past week one of the Food for the Hungry Staff informed Jim and I about a trail that guides its way up a hill named, "Mount Kigali". We were told that the trail leads to an amazing view of Kigali. Taking interest in this, we decided it was a feat we could accomplish.

This morning Israel (the university student I met at church), Christian, Emmanuel, Felix, Thatius (the students from the Kigali Institute of Education), the other interns, and I went on the footing adventure. Which is actually a hiking adventure, but here in Rwanda they refer to hiking as footing, I know, a little strange. Well as our friends arrived bright and early at 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday, I was hyped up and ready to go. Yeah right, all I wanted was one more hour to sleep, but I guess it's not all about me, how lame! After taking a quick picture of the whole group, we were on our way. After two Matatu rides and an hour later we arrived at a gravel road climbing up the side of a hill, that I guess is Mount Kigali.

Nothing new, but from the large amount of stares and yelling of Mazungu, I believe we were the first Mazungu's this part of town had seen in a while. Seeming though someone had said action, the children start popping out of everywhere, the ground, houses, fields, trees, animals, rocks and followed us from the beginning of our hike to the very end. I love it! Even though there is a language barrier, the children are always one of my favorite aspects of anything we do. They are very easily entertained by any noise or action I make, and are absolutely amazed by my hairy arms. The trip overall took a couple hours, but was a lot of fun. The trip really allowed us to get to know our Rwandan friends and take advantage of our limited time we have left, to really have fellowship with them. They are some amazing people and have battled through a lot, which for myself, has been very self motivating.



After the hike we ended our afternoon with a lunch at the guest house, which Christian showed me he was able to shove a whole fish in his mouth. So then I had to show him up with stuffing a sliced potato into mine, which was quite large. Around 2:30, they all had to get going to take care of their various activities, at which we led them to the gate and departed by telling each other how much we appreciated the morning we had just spent together. These type of experiences is what assures me that I would able to live in Africa, hanging out with these guys was like hanging out with my friends back home.


On Sunday, believe it or not, Rick Warren (wrote the Purpose Driven Life) was here in Kigali A couple of the interns and I decided to go, I mean how many other times in a person's life is their the an oppportunity to listen to Rick Warren in Rwanda. His message was directed towards the youth of Rwanda and their unique individual purposes, as they are the next generation that will lead Rwanda. A couple of years ago Paul Kagame (Rwanda's President) finished Rick Warren's infamous book, "The Purpose Driven Life", and decided to call up ol' Ricky to help shape the purpose for Rwanda. In the past two years Ricky has visited Rwanda quite often to work with churches, government officials, and the people of Rwanda to help envision their future. Needless to say, Ricky has been provided an amazing opportunity in help making Rwanda an example for all of Africa, and the world. Go Ricky!

So that was a glimpse of my weekend. I think Wednesday the interns and I might be going on a safari, so that should be pretty cool. Also for all you skeptics, I am working as well as participating in all these other activities. I am just trying to keep you entertained throughout the whole blog, becuase the things I do in the office are not always very fun. Welp, love and miss you all. Peace out from Rwanda.

The Memorials

Well hello everyone. I hope everyone’s summer is going well. I have been procrastinating writing another post due to laziness and the fact that nobody leaves comments when I pour so much time and effort into the words I write. I’m not hinting towards anything, just plainly stating.

Last Monday a few of the interns and I went and visited a couple of memorials dedicated to the victims of the 1994 genocide. Prior to 1994 there were several times when the Hutu extremist would go on killing sprees murdering ten’s of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutu’s. In the times of these occurrences the targets of the Hutu extremist would find refuge in community churches. Churches were considered a place of sanctuary and for the most part would be a safe zone. However this was a false hope for the Tutsis and moderate Hutu’s in 1994. In the 100 days that the genocide took place churches all over Rwanda were packed full of potential victims in hopes to escape the killers and stay alive. The memorials we visited last Monday were churches where these types of events took place.

The first church was a rural church called “Ntarama”. Ntarama consisted of three separate buildings: a sanctuary, Sunday school classroom, and a kitchen. In the beginning stages of the genocide all three buildings had become overflowing with families to come to find refuge and turn to the Lord in prayer. The Churches, at this time were not considered safe zones by the murderers, and turned into an easy target to kill thousands at one time. When the interhamwe (the name given to Hutu extremist) reached the Ntarama, the Church was sheltering around 5,000 people, in which were all eventually killed. By launching grenades inside and then covering the building with bullets, the interhamwe wiped out the entire Church. The memorial was very vivid, consisting of a shelving unit that contained the victims personal belongings and hung on rafters around the sanctuary were the victims clothing, most of which were blood stained. At the other end of the sanctuary sat a large shelving unit that stored a large amount of bones, which included skulls, arm and leg bones, and pelvic bone structures. The site was very overwhelming and a visitor could only think about, what the Church must have looked like in the final hours before the interhamwe arrived. All the families crammed inside the church, some knelt down in prayer, while others were in complete panic and unable to remain calm, some surrounded by their families and friends, while others stood all alone, some questioning their God, while others were ready to meet theirs. At this point I walked outside to process all that I was observing, trying to understand it, though knowing I never would succeed. I tried to find comfort with that the people came to God’s house in their final hours, and by God’s grace were saved and are free now from the evil that engulfed Rwanda in 1994.

The second memorial was also a Church that the people went to find refuge. Only after a week from when the Genocide had begun, the Church was overtaken by the interhamwe. As we walked through the Church, blood still stained the walls and the holes created from the grenade’s ricochet were still evident throughout the building. In the back yard, there were two cemented mass graves containing a large amount of caskets, each filled with the skeletal remains of the victims. Both of the graves offered stairs to walk down into the cemented structures to witness the site of the caskets, I simply declined. As we returned to the front of the Church, signing our names and leaving a small donation, everything that I had just experienced seemed so surreal. An event that I have spent a large amount of time studying in school had all just become real to me.

What happened at these two Churches, two locations that were overwhelming in themselves, continually happened throughout Rwanda in 1994. The numbers are impossible to wrap my head around, 800,000 people killed in a 100 days with the sole intention to wipe out an entire ethnic group. With the whole world aware, not a single country intervened to bring an end to the genocide. As I write this blog it's ironic to think that the same circumstances are taking place in the Sudan, and still the international community patiently watches.

Visiting these two memorials only motivated my passions more; the affects of what took place in 1994 are still evident throughout Rwanda. Children live without families, AIDS is rapidly spreading, the pains still exist and the grace of Christ is needed. My hopes and passions lie within such circumstances, that I, one person with the empowerment of Christ, can make a difference and hopefully bring a change to the evil patterns of this world and provide a sense of comfort and joy, for those that have already been affected.

The Job

A beautiful day in Kigali, Rwanda, as I sit outside overlooking the rolling hills and am listening to the sounds of people going about their daily lives, i am struck by a light breeze swirling around in a perfect 74 degree temperature, and I think to myself, it dosen't get any better than this (unless Joe was here with some clove's). With a temperature usually ranging between 70 and 85 degrees, having consistently 3 meals a day, helping to develop areas that live without basic needs, expierencing Muzungu celebrity status, and being surrounded by amazing people is going to make it tough to leave on August 8th. I cannot believe it is already half over and I have only a month left. The time is flying by so fast and I still have so many things I want to do. But I am excited for the next month, the projects that Jim and I have been working on are coming together, creating alot of aniticipation and excitement. I know many of you are questioning my work at the office since I mainly have been writing about other events, but I want you to know work has been done and what has come of it so far.

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The resettlement camp project that I have mentioned in the previous posts is really starting to take off. After Dwight read the report Jim and I had written and after long discussions we have now moved to the next process, which is writing a concept paper. The point of a concept paper is primarily to provide a brief overview of a 3 year project plan that: identifies the critical issues, how Food for the Hungry plans to address such issues, and includes a budget proposal. The concept paper will then be sent to the Food for the Hungry National office in Switzerland, in hopes that they will share our vision and provide financial support. If that is true then, in collaboration with the district, we will draft a very detailed project proposal addressing each issue with efforts that will be implemented by Food for the Hungry, in partnership with other organizations, to bring transformational development to the Retete Resettlement Camp. Last week we finished up our concept paper on Friday and sent it to the Country director in Swizterland. Now we wait for Switzerlands response and will then restructure our proposal according to the amont of money that they see best fit. If this is succcessful, Dwight wishes to at one point have these type of efforts in all of the 19 resettlement camps. The whole process has been an amazing learning expierence and is almost surreal that I am invovled in a project that could affect the lives of thousands of people.

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The other project that we are in the process of developing is an internet based child sponsorship program, called e-sponsorship. Even though I have already explained e-sponsorship, I am going to refresh your memories. E-sponsorship is a new way to conduct child sponsorships, in which Food for the Hungry for the most part would be the first to implement anything like it. The program would utilize the internet and various media sources to create a more personal relationship between the sponsor and the sponsored child. Jim and I have basically been left to brainstorm and develop what this sponsorship would look like. The bases of all our ideas derives from allowing the sponsor to become part of the program. We want the sponsor to be fully particpatory in the program and allow, but not expect, the sponser to engage more in the program. Very very briefly the program would include three options, adopt-a-child, adopt-a-family, and adopt-a-community, and the sponor or sponsors would choose according to their desired efforts. Once a person becomes a sponsor they are given a user account, which leads them to their own personal webpage of their adopoted unit. To make the page as personal as possible it would include these features:

• A picture of their child and information pertaining to their childs age, area, family, etc... - A
• refer a friend program, in which everytime a sponsor persuades a friend to sponser a child 10 dollars is credited to their account to be put towards visitng their sponsored child.
• A bi-monthly child video and on altnernating months a community video
• Providing Weather and Regional news updates of the childs area
• An updated list of airline tickets from the sponsors hometown and into Kigali, also offering links to informaiton on fundraising ideas and tips
• Access to email, where the sponsor would be able to provide messages and video and picture uploads of themselves, family, or group.

That is the very brief update of where we are at with the brainstorming process on the sponsor's end of it. We are now working on the child, family, and community management aspect of the program. So that is a look at the working side of my time here in Rwanda for all you skeptics. I have been busy, but it has been good times, great oldies. Anywayz it took me a really long time to sum all that up and I need to do some reading. So I love and miss you all!

Happy Fourth of July! ( I meant to post this last week, sorry)

Good morning, afternoon, evening or night, depending on when you read this. I have had a very exciting past week, so bare with me as I try and catch you up on my life.

To begin, last weekend Jim did not manage to ruin, which is always a plus. After work on Friday the four other interns, staying in Gitarama, traveled to Kigali to stay for the weekend. Therefore, my Friday afternoon consisted of telling stories, hearing about their internships. and napping. However Friday night Jim, Karen, Emily, and I walked to a nearby hotel, the hotel is pretty high class and has a back area containing a pool, tennis courts, a patio, and restaurant. So we were able to sit back, drink Fanta's, and play cards as a band played for a few hours. Very nice!

Saturday morning a local friend that I had met, Israel, came over to hang out and joined all of us for lunch in town. "To add, at lunch for some stupid reason I ordered a hamburger hoping for a better outcome then the last, and it was actually very good." Israel is involved in the church's choir that we have been attending, leading me to meet with him afterwards one Sunday. A little bit about him, he has been blessed with the opportunity to attend the University in Kigali through sponsors living in England. His studies pertain to administration management and he is fluent in three languages, Kinyarwandan, French, and English. The choir that he is involved is currently putting together an album and will be traveling to London in November to perform in a few church's. It's always fun to talk to him and get his perspective on a lot of issues, and share mine as well.

Also, for the past couple of weekends a few University students (Felix, Christian, Felix, and Emmanuel) that we met have been coming over and hanging out at the guest house. So this weekend we decided to visit them and get a glimpse of a students life in Rwanda. We ended up getting a grand tour of their campus, which is very nice and is steadily growing. They all seemed to be really thankful for the opportunity to attend a university and took their studies serious (another lesson I learn about myself). We then visited their apartment/house, no bigger then a dorm room, where four of them are currently living. Their cost of living for each is 5,000 francs (10 dollars) a month, quite crazy, after then explaining to them how much we pay each month for rent I decided it would be financially beneficial to finish my studies here. So that's what I am going to do starting next year. Just joking mom, but it would be a money saver. All in all it turned out to be a very enjoyable day, especially because the students know English, but also there a fun group of guys that remind me of my friends at home.

Then here comes Saturday night, oh yea!!! So after hearing about a dance club called, The Cadillac" that is in walking distance of our guest house, we decided there is no way we can pass up an opportunity like this. The clock strikes 10 o'clock and there we go, 12 Muzungus on their way to a dance club in Kigali, Rwanda. Tickets to the club 1,500 francs, a Fanta at the club 500 franc's, and a white man taking over dance floor in an all African Club.....Priceless! Upon our arrival there happened to be nobody on the dance floor, did that stop us from dancing though, sure did not. Around 5 of us showed Kigali how the Muzungu gets their groove on. Though it did not take long for the dance floor to become packed and for the infamous circle to form and people to take turns inside strutting their stuff. I must admit something. As everyone is entering the circle and performing all these crazy dance moves, the crowd is starting to get hyped up and a little crazy, and then I decided to enter. Oh yea I entered and guess what move I pulled out, the arm swing. I slowly creped my way towards forward with my head down, then I come to a complete stop and after a couple seconds of not moving, it begins. The robot arm sways back and forth back and forth and the crowd loves it, a simple move but always a pleaser. Then the arm swings around pops me on my head which knocks me slightly down, in which i pretend to be a puppet by grabbing invisible strings that pull me back up, and the cheers begin. OHHHHHHH I love it! That was my shining moment. Then the night started to slow down around 12:30 as we come to discover it is totally acceptable in their culture for men to dance on men. And after Jim was approached a couple of times with open legs we decided that it was about time to take off. But the night was a blast and definitely will be something that I will remember for quite some time.

So that was my weekend, tons of fun and full of excitement. I hope everyone's Fourth of July went well. Here coincidentally the fourth of July is considered there Liberation Day, which marks the end of the genocide (this is the date the government was overturned). Around 40,000 people, including us, took part in a huge celebration the government held at the National Futbol Stadium. We planned on meeting Felix (one of the university students) in the morning at 6 o'clock a.m. (it was horrible), the celebration began at 10 o'clock but he told us to obtain good seats you had to get their early. So I wake up at 5:30 a.m. and we arrive at the stadium around 6:25 only to discover Felix is not there. After calling him, we discover that he was still in bed sleeping, he said he was unable to get up that early. ohhhhh......Felix. So anyways we waited in line outside of the gates, and as soon as the gates swung open it was a free for all, basically a stampede. Everyone ran in every direction trying to get the best seats, we ended up getting a prime location at the 50 yard line. The celebration was very entertaining, it started out with a parade led by a marching band and following was the Rwandan Army. The parade went on for about 45 minutes as several groups paraded around the stadium, marching to the music. Then the best part was combat role playing by the army. The army showed different scenarios and how they would react using trained combat skills, it was sweet. Then they showed their skill in throwing knives, machetes, spades, and pick axes at targets. The crowd loved it. And the whole celebration ended around 1 o'clock with President Paul Kagame's speech. It was definitely a cultural expierence and I guess it was worth waking up at 5:30 for.

This weekend we are taking a trip to Lake Kivu, which is suppose to be a beautiful Lake on the western side of the country. Also, I guess we are traveling to a bat cave??? I don't know should be pretty interesting. But as you can see I am really enjoying my time here in Kigali. It's crazy to think that it is July, 5th and my internship is half way over. But if it was to stop right now, it would of all been worth it. I have built some great relationships and am thankful that God has blessed with such an opportunity. Thank you guys for your continued prayers, they are definitely being answered. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful weekend.

I Am Pretty Much A Big Deal!

Holla mi amigos, Bonjour mis amis, Hello my friends (I'm slick). Life in Rwanda is getting more and more exciting every week. The guest house is filling up with some permanent guest for the summer and is creating a lot of fun. Currently there is Nathan from Seattle, who is teaching English at a special needs orphanage, Andy from Australia, who is working with some AEE (African Evangelistic Enterprises) Austin a grad student from Texas who is working with International Justice Mission (IJM), an older couple from the UK that will be living in Burundi for the next three years as Hunger Corps, Abby also an Arizona State Student who manages the guest house and monitors our internships, and then the two other Interns and Myself. People like this having wide ranges of expierences and listening to their experiences privides not only a great learning expierence but some good stories as well. Should be a fun and entertaining summer.

Jim and I finished our report on the resettlement camp this week. The report included efforts that were currently taking place, issues of concerns, and potential programs and projects Food for the Hungry could implement. It turned out really well. We are just waiting on some feedback from Dwight, which is exciting but scary as well. If any of you are interested in reading it, tell me, and I will email it to you.

Food for the Hungry is now in the thought process of expanding their child sponsorship program and is mainly looking at e-sponsorship as a solution. E-sponsorship will be a internet friendly sponsorship program that will provide sponsers with videos, e-mails, webpages, etc.. of their child. It is largely a new method of how to conduct Child Sponsorship Programs and Food for the Hungry will be one of the first to widely implement it. Very exciting! My role is to brainstorm and write up different ways that Food for the Hungry can approach this. How can it be marketed? Where do you market it? How will it be setup? How can we reach certain places (keeping in mind it will be international)? These are some of the questions I am trying to answer. So that is one of the projects they have me working on.

In addition, Food for the Hungry/ Rwanda is collectively creating a regional office (including Burundi, The DRC, and Uganda) by expanding their present office. And When you have new offices you need new furniture. This is where I come in. Yesterday I was given the mission to design and furnish these offices with desks, shelves, chairs, tables, etc... So there I went to the market by myself to compare prices. Oh and I love language barriers, they make everything so much easier, NOT! But I managed to find a few furniture stores and collect quite a bit of different prices. So I am still in the process of the furnish office assignment. Good times, great oldies!

So there is my update on my life in Rwanda. Hope you guys are not becoming bored and are still reading, i'll try to spice the next one up with a good story. Also, thanks for all of you that are leaving comments and updating me on your lives it's good to hear form you. And for those of you who are not, I'm disappointed, and expect more out of you. Love you all