Aim High

Sunday January 11th, 2009 Umbrellas were in order today. Not from rain but from the intense sun. It’s Sunday. A day to praise God for the many blessings of life. I dressed in my fancy Rwanda skirt and sash. I came from my room and Mama said “Miss Donna, Very Smart”. A very nice complement indeed. It took a while to get the kids organized for our journey but eventually we were on our way. 16 kids all dressed in their finest. 2 Aunties and Miss Donna. We are quite the parade. We used to go to a very small church, but this was huge. We could hear the singing as we heading down the final dirt road. The praised the Lord for nearly and hour with song. Adults in the front with plastic chairs, the middle section is wooden benches with a wooden backs and the final section is small benches for the kids. We were properly greeted and escorted to the back section. The kids danced and praised God. I was advised the video camera was not allowed without permission. So disappointed to not be able to capture the glorious sound for you, but also thankful to not have the distraction of the camera. Isaac and Sande are the new photographers so they carry the cameras everwhere. We arrived at 9:15ish and the service ended at noon. I kid you not….these kids were angels. Stirred a bit, but my gosh, I can’t imagine how they do it. Perhaps it the strong presence of the ladies who take turns walking through the section of kids with a small stick/switch in her hand to keep everyone in line. Importantly she never had to come to our section of angels. Marie Rose was amazing. She kept her arm around Anastacia (the oldest of the new kids) and could tell that Dorine was having a hard time staying awake so she had her put her head in her lap while she soothed her head. Such love from a child. You can see how the child as head of household thing works for so many. The rest of the kids sat there and watched the singing or praising. Fabiola and Isaac took turns looking at my bible. Fabiola read a section along with the minister. She read very quietly to me while he preached in Kinyarwanda. My bracelet, ring and necklace kept a few of the other entertained. Isaac and Sande filmed our route home. We stopped at the 1st house and played for hours. Auntie Claudine is amazing. She is constantly playing with the kids. Today she had them all lined up to do leap frog, then she helps them do back bends, she balances them on her legs and she cheers them on as they try to swing or play. She’s 18 years old and is a beautiful minister of love. Suddenly they all yelled and ran inside. “mr bean. Mr bean” The show was on TV. We watched for 3o mins on the tiny scratchy tv but they laughed in all the right parts. Some of the news now is in English. My how things have changed. The big kids got small suitcases for their trip to boarding school tomorrow. Eventually the whole gang came back to the compound for the 2nd and 3rd homes. We played and played. Tag/hid n go seek, jump rope. Sang, danced. You name it, we did it. This evening we colored a bit more and I continued to work on the Kinyarwanda song that I have been learning for the past 3 years. Mama finally seems to think I have it right when she yelled from the other room “bravo Missy Donna” when I finished. Tomorrow Chantal and I take the 4 oldest kids to Boarding School. This is a HUGE deal in their world. Issac is the oldest @ 10 and is very aware of what this opportunity can bring. He now wants to be President of Rwanda and Sande wants to be president of the US. Fabiola would like to drive a car and I’m not sure about Lionel. Aim high dear children. Aim high.