Monday, January 19, 2009

Ambassadors and Orphans.

Rubbing Elbows with Orphans and the Ambassador. Kate enjoyed her 1st full day in Rwanda. She has such a joyful spirit. She slept well under that mosquito netting and we had to wake her for breakfast as she was dreaming such sweet dreams. Lots of play time with the kids. Then I arranged to go meet the office of Orphans of Rwanda. It’s a group that sponsors orphans for the University. I met the Director while in NY so I wanted to visit with their local office here in Rwanda. They send over 160 kids to the Universities throughout the country to help them achieve their ultimate best. We’ve got both ends of the spectrum covered now. We’ve got the little ones and they have the older ones. Kate and I did this adventure on our own with a driver so we felt quite impressed with our communication skills etc. Kate is going to help teach the driver some English and he in turn will help with her Kinyarwanda. Next came a very special time. We were invited with about 100 90 other Americans to the home of the new US Ambassador to Rwanda. He in his wife have been the country for about 3 months. He was gracious beyond measure and spoke from the heart about his desire for us to do “Collateral Good” in the country ie when helping someone here, try to grab hold of the person next to he or she to bring them along too. He asked for people to speak about something wonderful we have seen while being here. Two people spoke up. I was one of them. It was lovely to be able to speak about the work that Chantal and her husband are doing here. The Ambassador spoke about the strength of the Rwanda army helping fight the genocide in Darfur. Powerful imagery when you think about it. He said this country can live under the shadow of the genocide or shine a light all the good things that are happening here. The peace corp is coming in 12 days and it is a BIG deal here. They view it as great sign of progress. It was an honor to make yet another powerful connection with people that love this country that I grown to love. To Kate’s family. Your daughter is a gift to these people. Fear not, she is in great hands and is already and asset to our precious children.

1 comment:

Jamie Jo said...

The Ambassador is a dear friend of our family. I'm so excited you all got to meet him. If you don't know, I am the mom who adopted Brenda (Gabby) in 2007. I hope to come back this Spring! I would love to email you sometime. My email address is jamiejo@kanakuk.com. Thanks!