Rwanda

My trip to Rwanda was an experience I will never forget. Going to Rawanda is most DEFINITELY a learning experience that you can’t get from the classroom or text book (Alicia) and something that is hard to explain in words. I knew very little about Rwanda’s history besides the genocide in 1994. Going there and spending a week learning about the genocide and seeing the effects of it firsthand has been both an eye opening and challenging experience. We had speakers talk about the East African Revival, the genocide, life after the genocide and the gacaca courts’ work toward reconciliation. You can still see the pain and the hurt in the eyes of the people living there and hearing their stories and testimonies breaks your heart. It is SO hard to understand how something so terrible can happen in our world today.

In addition to our speakers we also visited two memorial sites. We went to The Kigali Memorial Center and to The Nyamata Church Memorial. Although the memorials were emotionally draining I think it helped us as students get a better understanding of the genocide and made it more real (I know that doesn’t sound right but I don’t know how to explain it). What is truly amazing is the hope that the people in Rwanda have for their future. Even through all of the hurt the people have been able to work toward forgiveness and reconciliation, with some victims of the genocide living right beside the perpetrators (can you even imagine?). It is so inspiring to see how the people are working together to rebuild their country and become united. God is so good.

While we were in Kigali we also heard from several missionaries living in Rwanda who work through different organizations including, Food for the Hungry, Mission Moving Mountains, and World Relief. One of the women that we talked with has been in Rwanda for 12 years with her family. She does a lot of work in holistic development and also talked to us about business as missions. I really enjoyed our conversations with her because she helped paint a picture of what it is to be a missionary. I realized that we can’t romanticize the life of missionaries; you don’t always see instant success, it takes a lot of commitment and sometimes a lot of time in order to see progress.

To finish off our trip we went Bunyonyi Lake in Kabale, Uganda and stayed on an island there Friday night-Sunday morning. It was so beautiful and was a good time to relax and reflect on the week’s events. We had to travel to the island by boat, mind you these boats are more like canoes carved from trees, it was a little sketchy. I stayed in a cottage there with two other girls that had a beautiful view that overlooked the lake and the surrounding mountains. I spent my free afternoon on Saturday swimming in the lake with friends and trying to get some sun. Sunday we had to get up early to travel back to Mukono and prepare for classes which started yesterday (I will write more on traveling and also classes later).

The trip was a great experience and really helped us to bond as a group. I am excited about the relationships that have been made and the rest of the time we have to grow as a group. I hope to post some pictures soon (it takes a while for them to download).

Thanks for all of your prayers and for taking the time to read. Love you all.

p.s. I also LOVE comments.