27 days!

I simply cannot believe the day is so near!!  I'm very excited to come home, but I can already taste that these next four weeks will definitely be filled with bittersweet moments.  I'll be saying good bye to some people for about 6 weeks (about 12 KICS people are going to be able to come to our wedding-- 5 of those are in one family), wishing so long to others until next August when I return, and then bidding farewell to others who I may never meet again.  It all seems very surreal.  


In all of the craziness that is the month, we are still doing the normal things that we feel so much passion for here in Kigali.  One of the favorite things is our weekly trip to the orphanage.  I know I have written about this on various occasions, but I can't ever step outside of that gate without becoming deeply affected.  I'm grateful that I never become numb to this place, a nice orphanage where children play in rocks, suck on them, and hold them protectively as their possessions.  If they have scored a pair of shoes, you better believe no one is going to get those off of their strong feet.  Yesterday there was a new favorite "toy" to play with.  Picture a smaller hula hoop, only made out of sharp metal. YES!  Let's play with that!  These things would be highly illegal in the States, yet here everyone seems to remain fairly safe.  At times we intervene, but then we remember that as soon as visiting hours are over, they will retrieve their new found treasure.  There's only so much we can do.


Although this is true, there is SO much MORE that others are doing!  God is calling people to adopt from Rwanda and through many miracles they are able to do so.  For the first 6-7 months that I was here, this country wasn't allowing any adoptions to go through.  At Home of Hope there were babies and small children waiting, and families eagerly wanting them, but no chance of connection.  Finally, after many things going through with the government (I wont pretend to know anything about this process) adoption is now possible.  Praise the Lord!  The last couple of Sundays when we go to the orphanage there has been proud parents holding precious little babies.  Extreme excitement is undoubtedly an understatement when I think of orphans having families!  What a beautiful thing that God can provide for all of these people.  It was incredible to witness uniting after many years of prayer and waiting.  


Happy new beginnings are a gift from God!

He is Risen!

He is risen indeed!

Yesterday we celebrated the birth of our Lord!  Last week in school we talked about the Easter story over the four days of classes.  Most of my students had heard it before, but I still loved their reactions.  They were shocked that the disciples disobeyed Jesus when they fell asleep instead of praying at the Mount of Olives.  They were shocked at how they took Jesus even though He did nothing wrong!  Seeing the faith of my children really does help open my eyes.

Although God made the most influential sacrifice of all time, I still am challenged to make little daily sacrifices.  Over the past 5 days or so, the water has mostly been out in our neighborhood.  At first, I could go to a friend's to shower.  However, before church yesterday it was too early to call anyone and I really felt like I should be clean for Easter service (especially since I was singing!).  We had some water in our tank, but my only option was a cold shower.  Now, if you know me well, you may know that one thing I love is hot showers.  I knew I was completely capable of taking a cold shower.  I took cold showers for two months when I lived in India, but I ran most mornings so that I would be nice and hot before immersing myself under the icy water.  But, I still had to give myself a pep talk.  "Kerry-- you live in AFRICA.  You have water without any problem almost every day.  Most people would love to be having this cold shower."  When I got in, I hurried to wash my hair, rinse off, and jump out.  I lived through it and was thankful that our house still had water, something I still take for granted even though I live in the fifteenth poorest country in the world.

In other news... my kids are still cute!

My students earned a pajama party and here they are!  They all wore their precious pajamas and had the chance to curl up with their pillows and blankets to read.  They were most excited, as you can imagine!

I'm sure you remember me writing about the baby we got to name-- Zuri (beautiful in Swahili).  This baby belonged to Douglas' helper Emmanuel.  On Good Friday we had no school so Douglas and I had the chance to visit their village called Ruhunda.  After a crowded matatu (large van) ride and a dusty moto, we made it to his house. As we rode through the town on the back of the motorcycles, people pointed and shouted "Mzungu!!"  Not many white people go to their village.  It was a simple house, 4 rooms, made out of clay and cement.  There was a cow in the front which Douglas and his roommates bought for his family last year.  There was no electricity, so the light came from the two small windows in the front.  The inside walls were made just of clay.  The bedroom had a mattress on the floor, part of which blocked from opening the door all the way.  They had a little living room with a few places to sit, and then two rooms which just had a little bit of food and kitchen supplies.  The rest of the kitchen was out back around the fire, and there was a deep hole for the bathroom.

The main thing about our trip was the overwhelming hospitality we received from each person we came in contact with.  As we walked down to the lake, we ran into this lady who was somehow related to Emmanuel.  She was thrilled to see us and told us we must come back and she'd make us a big meal.  Now, of course, this means most of the day preparing ingredients, cooking over a fire (weather permitting), and pouring all of her love into it.  On top of all of this, she would undoubtedly be sacrificing other meals to be able to afford to have this feast for guests.  Once again, she blew me away!  

When we arrived at his house, there were many people there to meet us.  There were many people there to welcome us excitedly.  First we got to see Emmanuel's wife and baby Zuri, who didn't like to be away from her mama for too long.  Then, he brought over his sisters (one of whom had her baby tied on her back) who were so happy to meet us! We brought some pictures we had printed of their family, and they shared past pictures with us.  I think they had about 10 pictures, and they really wanted us to take one of them!  We politely declined, as these were very precious to them.  After socializing, we all went on a walk down to Lake Muhaze.  It is amazing how there is a small village with no running water or electricity, and then after you walk down a hill you run into what would be multi-million dollar property in the States.  It really was breathtaking.  

 We spent a bit of time in the backyard, playing with the children.  A friend of Emmanuel's named Telesphore came with us.  He teaches English in Kigali, but he's Rwandan so he helped us translate a bit with the kids.  They were so cute, but a little intimidated by white people.  Curious, but not wanting to get too close.
 

Below are some pictures of when Emmanuel, his wife, Miracle, and Zuri came to visit us!

Sorry, as always, for the long break between entries!

These last few weeks are going to be quite busy-- we leave exactly one month from today!  Since I know we're coming back, it is much easier to be excited to leave. :)

Please pray for my students during these last few weeks as they're already starting to get antsy.  Also, pray for KICS as we seek to fill open positions for next year.  

Thanks, as always, for the love and support!  

With love,

Kerry

PS... I do apologize because I've been trying to post this for awhile now, but the internet doesn't always cooperate here.  

Best First Grade Quotes of the Year

In no particular order...

During a prayer:"And God, we really like You!  You are so awesome!"

After I had a cough for about a month...

"Miss Dembowski... my mom said she can take you to the doctor so your cough can go away and you can get better."

"The FBI is a basketball team!"

"No!  It's a police station!"

When discussing a Wii (not so common here):

"It's a video game.  It's a Nintendo where you hold the remote in your hands!"

"I already know what  I want to be when I grow up: a park ranger!"

"I had a dream about Heaven. Jesus was sitting on a chair and angels were singing in heaven.  I saw a lot of wonderful things.  Also, there was a big, big, huge bird."

When reciting Hebrews 11:6 (And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.)

"...He is a rewarder of those who make him sick."

"Miss Dembowski, your hair is curly!"

"You look like Cinderella!"

"You are the most beautiful girl in the whole world!"

"I don't know where the orphanage is... but I want to take food there.  I just pray that they get moms and dads."

"Miss Dembowski, I already washed my hands, with bubbles!"

"When we sin we have to pray to God and tell Him we are so sorry and He'll come into our hearts and forgive."

"I'm not scared of anything... except hippos!"

"I think you'll wear lipstick when you're married."

"I am done... fa-lish-a-lee!" *offically!

On character dress up day Douglas (Mr. Bryan) wore a Popeye shirt.

"Did you see Mr. Bryan?  He's a chicken pot pie!"

"We had oranges and pretended they were Reeses."

(I'm not the only one who misses peanut butter candy!)

"God has seen in our hearts and He knows that we love Him."

"Suffering is when people are begging for money and they're crying in their hearts."

"My Mom would be embarrassed if I said this, but she's actually at home taking a bath!"

About her little brother who was trying out a preschool:

"When he went to Little Stars, well, he was too little."

"Why does everything have to be made in China?

A student's dad who is a missionary was going to another country and I asked what he was doing there:

"I don't know, he's probably helping people and stuff."

A six year old:
"I lived in America for 3 years and Uganda for 7 years."

They make me smile every day! :)

A little sampling of our engagement pictures...

I guess part of my adventure in Rwanda is meeting my soon-to-be husband!

Hope they aren't too cheesy!  Enjoy! :)

Highlights...

So... I wrote this post on the 9th of March and apparently it never posted...


This weekend I went with some friends to Musanze and Gisenyi... places in northwest Rwanda.
Here's a quick list of how the weekend went...

• Bus to Musanze, 2.5 hours, closed windows (Rwandans don't like cold air), ~$3.00
• Check into our guest house for the night.  2 beds, mosquito nets and lumpy pillows ~$9.00 including breakfast the next morning
• Our friend Jon had to exchange money so we asked the locals for directions.  There is a man in the pharmacy who can change your money, they told us.  We thought they meant NEAR the pharmacy.  NOPE!  Right in the pharmacy, the pharmacist took his American Dollars and gave him a good rate for Rwandan Francs.  Awesome.
• We were looking for a restaurant that Douglas had been to before.  We asked for directions and people kept telling us how much farther (10 meters, 500 meters, 100 meters... in that order.)
• Finally we saw a sign for "PIZZA" and gave up on the other place!  We were so glad that we did.  This place was completely empty and there was a FIREPLACE!!  It was perfect for a rainy evening with pizza and fanta!
• In the morning we went to the market, looked around for a bit then headed to the bus station.  The next bus left in 5 minutes, so 35 minutes later we hopped on a bus headed to Gusinyi.
• We checked into the Presbyterian Guest House which cost each of us less than $3.50 for the night.  We got everything we needed: bunk, sheets, and mosquito net. Pillow? No. No pillow.
• Douglas got food poisoning, it hit him about 3am, and the toilet had no toilet seat.
• In the morning we ate the cheap breakfast, and went back to the nice hotel, and eventually headed home!

More posts to come soon!  We are on Spring Break now so I should have more time.

Thanks for your patience!!

Yes, I'm still here!

Greetings from a busy and tired first year first grade teacher!

I apologize, once again, for waiting so long to update my blog.  A lot has happened so hopefully the stories make up for the lack of news.  It’s a long one so get ready!

Here we go… in no particular order…

I named a baby today!   No, I didn’t have a baby.  I’ve actually never met the baby, or the mother. Douglas (my boyfriend, you may have figured this out by now) has a worker named Emmanuel.  (If you’re thinking… worker?!? What? Are you living the high life?  The answer is no, but you would have a worker too if it was this affordable and you didn’t have a washer or dryer.) Anyways, Emmanuel came the other day and told Douglas that his wife had a big belly and she was 7 or 8 months pregnant.  It’s part of the culture not to really tell people, but to just have them notice instead.  Anyway, on Friday she had the baby (a c-section, which could not have been pleasant in Africa) and Emmanuel told us about it on Saturday.  I, of course, asked about the little girl’s name and he didn’t know.  This is also normal here, and I’ve been told they often wait about a week or so to name babies.  Anyways, Emmanuel’s wife had named the first baby, he had named the second one, and now they were done with names.  He said it was up to us to name the baby.  After me asking many times, “Don’t you want to name her?  Are you sure your wife doesn’t want to?” Emmanuel assured us that we should definitely name the baby and tell him the meaning so he could share that with people.  So, Douglas and I, having no prior baby naming experience, set off to trusty google and found 6 cool girl names with awesome meanings.  We showed them to Emmanuel today, he chose his three favorites, and insisted that we made the final call.  We decided on “Zuri” which means “beautiful one” in Swahili.  Pretty amazing, huh?

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to a Rwandan wedding!  Jean de deiu, from our Bible Study, was getting married so we all got invited.   We took a taxi to the church, where the reception was held.  (We didn’t go to the actual ceremony.)  They sat us in the second row, behind family and we stood out as there were only three mzungus there—Douglas, our friend Jon from California, and myself.  Others who went from our group were from Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, so they blended in quite nicely! J ha. They had a processional where the bride and groom came down the aisle to the melodic tunes of a choir (turns out it was the college choir of Charlotte, the beautiful bride).  Next male representatives from each family took turns talking and giving speeches about the families.  They all spoke about how good God was for bringing these two people together and how they knew that Charlotte and Jean were going to honor and glorify God in this sacred act of marriage.  They had arranged for us to have interpreters, which was really nice since the whole thing was in Kinyarwanda and they had really cool things to say.  Next there were more songs and then the cake cutting.  They passed out the cake (each guest got a small 

piece served on a napkin, no silverware) and a fanta (glass bottles, as per usual in this country).  Next there were more songs and traditional Rwandan dancers.  The most entertaining part was these drummers from Burundi (located directly south of Rwanda).  They were INCREDIBLE.  The guys balanced huge drums on their heads (drums on the side, so that the head of the drum was kind of like a headlight) and they played on the top of them as they walked in.  The most extreme part was that they also kicked straight up and hit the head of the drums with their feet.  It was seriously insanely outrageous!  The pictures

really don’t do it justice.  Wow,  I was just overcome with awe and in a state of wishing everyone I know could see this guys!  The ceremony continued with some ladies reading a sentimental poem, and then a long line of women lined up, all holding practical gifts such as brooms, cleaning supplies, cooking utensils, baskets, etc., etc.  They all said a nice word about what Charlotte’s friendship meant to them as they presented her with gifts.  It was a really neat thing to watch and experience.  After this people were starting to leave, so we followed the crowd and headed home.  It was awesome to get to go to the wedding and also share fellowship with people we usually only see once or twice a week! 

This weekend we also made quite a big discovery.  Zaffron, an Indian restaurant in town, DELIVERS for FREE!  We don’t go out to eat often, since it does tend to be pricy, but we decided to try this out.  There is a little thing here called “Africa time” which is a nice way to say that everything takes forever.  You learn to expect this and thus, rather than being frustrated, you can just be pleasantly surprised if something takes less than an hour.  So, we ordered three main dishes to share between four people and expected it to take at least an hour and a half (Zaffron is 15-20 minutes away from our hill).  We started making our own rice, since part of our bright idea was to not only save money on transport, but also by having our own drinks and making our own rice.  FORTY MINUTES later the delivery guy arrives, via moto, with our warm delicious food!  It was unexpected, but wonderful.

Every few weeks at KICS we have some sort of spirit day.  The most recent one was “Formal Day” AKA “make all the kids look absolutely precious.”  While some of them had a collared shirt as formal, others wore sweater vests and sport coats, and one of my girls wore her fairy costume, complete with glitter and wings.  It was a delight to see them in their Sunday best, and perhaps most funny when one of my girls, who would never choose to wear a dress, asked to change into her shorts as soon as mid-morning recess rolled around.  Adorable.

It is hard to believe that I’ve been here nearly seven months and I have precisely three to go!  I fly into Detroit during Memorial Day Weekend.  I’m excited to come home to see everyone, especially since I know that I’ll be returning here at the beginning of August.  However, next year will not be the same.  Many teachers are returning, including both of my roommates and several of my closest friends, but some are not.  One of my very best and most dear friends, Hannah, is heading back to England to go to Bible School for a year where she’ll take classes and then plans on coming back to Africa (perhaps Chad or Sudan) to be a teacher for missionary families.  She plans on using the talents that God has provided her with (mainly teaching) so that she can serve families who are going to remote areas, where their children can most likely not attend a normal school.  Part of the reason I love being here is meeting people from across the world with the mindset of following wherever God has called them in their lives. 

Well, by now you’re thinking, “I wish Kerry just wouldn’t have updated her blog.”  Sorry for the lengthy entry!

Thanks, as always, for the love and support.

Blessings, hugs, and prayers from Rwanda,

Kerry

Ministry in the Village

I'm sure Kigali is hard to imagine unless you've been here.  The city is made up of many hills (all with different names) and then the villages are scattered on the outskirts of the city.  On Saturday I had the awesome opportunity to go to Gatega, which is only about 20 minutes away from our hill of Gachuliro (or Gachoriro, since Rwandans use r's and l's interchangeably... as in I'm either Kerry or Kelly... it is the same to them!).  Douglas and I got to go there with Eddie, who is a pastor at our church.  He is Rwandan, but has spent time in many countries in East Africa, along with Canada (his wife is Canadian and used to be the kindergarten teacher at KICS). 


So we started on our journey not knowing what to expect.  The three of us, plus Justin (don't you love how American sounding names these Rwandans have?), who is sometimes involved with worship band, went off in Eddie's car.  We really didn't know what to expect, except for the fact that Eddie and his family had kind of adopted this village and started soccer teams there.  We drove out of the bustling city and onto horrible dirt roads that would have made me carsick, had I been riding on them for an extended period of time.  We came to a clearing in the trees where Eddie pulled in and we could see that part of the land had been cleared and sure enough... there was a dirt soccer field with bunches of kids on it!  As we came up, some of the kids called out "Manager!" because that is precisely what they call Eddie, who literally manages many things in their village.  Many of the kids came up to the car to greet us, but the ones who were in their practice remained with their team.  


We met a few of the kids, and they mostly went on with their routine.  Eddie showed us around this community property, which consisted of the dirt field and a wooden structure with benches inside.  Eddie talked to us while we watched the soccer players, the very young children who were siblings to the older kids, and many supporters (all children) on the sidelines.  He told us how he had come to this village and the children had nothing to do and hardly anyone to care about them.  Only 3% of children in this village come from families with two parents.  They are all very poor, having an extremely difficult time paying for food, school fees, and uniforms.  One of the first times he came, he brought a soccer ball and the kids were stoked!  They were excited to play with a real ball, but skeptical about why he was coming to spend time with them and help them.  He faced a lot of that before they began to trust and respect him.


Eddie started his ministry with soccer and showed the kids that he really cared about their well being!  He found a Rwandan guy who used to coach soccer and quickly got him involved.  In the months following they had four teams, including one for just girls, made up of kids from the village.  They have really come to depend on Eddie and trust him.  He also shares God's Word with them and is in the process of buying each family a Bible in Kinyarwanda.  They listen to him and are interested as he talks about Jesus, which is so awesome!  Now, on top of soccer practices, they have worship and ministry time each week.  They built the temporary structure for this purpose because the government wouldn't let him build any permanent buildings on the property.  It is awesome the way that Eddie listens to God's calling and he truly discerns how God wants him to do things.  Eddie is not at all a sports person, but through prayer and listening, he knew that soccer way the way to teach them about Christ.  


So, sorry that this is all over the place, but it was an overall really cool experience.  I've been praying about what my role should be in this place.  Currently, three of their teams have jerseys and many kids have soccer shoes.  These all have been donated by people who have come over to visit Eddie and support his ministry.  They still need so much but it  awesome to see what God has provided for them over the last year and a half.


This is a good reminder that we can be disciples, no matter the situation.  I know in the States it is not okay to talk about in schools and many workplaces, but that doesn't mean we aren't allowed to show God's love wherever we go.  So the challenge for today is like the song... "They will know we are Christians by our love!"   


Will they know?