Shouts of Praise

The day began early. I called a driver at 12:30 AM to wake up and start his walk to the home. He was to arrive at 1:30 and then we were to leave for the airport to pick up Liles. Liles is the son of a Roxie with whom I ]worked at Campbell Mithun for many many years. Rox was one of the earliest supporters of New Hope Homes. Along with her husband, they have really made a difference in our kids lives. Their 22 year old son Liles goes to school at Grinnell in Iowa and would like to make his first stop out of college to be the Peace Corps. When Rox was visiting me in NY late this fall she asked if he could come spend some time with our kids and we were more than excited to have him join us. Back to the story. The driver arrived 1 hour EARLY and kept calling me. He only speaks Kinyarwanda and kept calling every 5 mins. I didn’t know he was there yet so I finally woke up one of the aunties to help translate…the poor dear. He was simply wanting me to know he was here and we could go. Since the airport is 15 mins from us I didn’t want to go nearly 2 hours ahead of time so I asked him to wait. Lile’s plane was due in at 2:15AM. We arrived just before 2 and waited. And waited. I asked security if there is was a ‘moozongoo’ (white person)back in security. The reply kept coming back at “yes” so I waited. An American couple assured me that there was an American who had lost his bags. After a while I decided to walk around a bit to make sure I hadn’t miss him. Sure enough, there he was. We must have just crossed paths when I arrived. He had been waiting for 45 mins. But in the end, all was well. He made it through customs with all 5 computers!!! Whoo hoo. We arrived at The Home and again woke up our Auntie and the guard with our noise. These poor dears. Their days are so long and then we added to it again…but they just smile and greet people with such warmth. I had to practically tie Liles down to not go to the classroom to start setting up the computers. He was so sweet, he simply wanted to have everything ready when the kids arrived. Thankfully I was able to tell him that the guard had the key and we shouldn’t disturb him. Morning came quickly as it always seems to. I will make a recording of the birds for you to hear when I return. I can’t ever remember any other place on the planet with such load birds. My father would think that are wonderfully enchanting…I just grrr a bit when they awake me at 5:30 AM, but yes, God did give them amazing voices…I simply wish He would have taught them to sleep a little longer before they started their morning song. The kids arrived promptly at 8:30…as always. They were so excited to meet Liles. He was quick to join in the fun. He did a great with Simon Says, red light green light, and hide n seek tag combo. He ran so fast the kids laughed and thought he was very funny as he slide around the grass diving to tag a child and just barely missing him. (Yes, he is a very good actor too). It’s so nice to have a good man here. The kids are so often loved by the Aunties and Mommies but the men on staff do lots of work like cooking, being guards or fetching water so it’s good to have a man like Liles with whom they can connect. He became a human swing set and climbing post as he generally had a pile of kids hanging all over him ALL day. He quickly grasped the rhythm of the homes and kids. He will find/create his own special games and ideas as he get to know them better. Each person brings their own specialness to our kids. Sarah is such a joy with the kids. She really knows how to connect with them as a group and takes special time 1 on 1 which is such a gift for them. She does reading or helps them with their letters or words. Her gentle spirit is a welcome presence in our homes. Liles gets lots of airtime in the update as he is the new kid on the block and we welcome him. After play time and ‘wiggle removal’ we went in the class room and did a very hard English center. We put words on the board that they had to make into sentences. Then Sarah added some challenge words for the bigger kids. It took lots of focus…especially when they were anxious to learn about the computers. Isaac was the 1st to finish, thus the first to get to his hand on the computer. Until we get the computer lab table made, we are using a coffee table to put 3 computers on and an old fashioned desk. Alas, the big Mac computer seems to have blown from the power. The rest of the computers seem to be working fine. The kids sat at the computers with a sense of mystery, awe and GREAT joy. You could really sense that they knew this was a very very big day in their lives. Liles took special care to look for just the right software to help them learn about all key subjects. Today it was playing some games that taught them some basic key functionality like up down and left right arrows. We next moved to a rousing game of Alphabet Bingo. Liles called the letters and handed them to Betty. The kids each identified words that began with that letter. Some words were quite impressive. Occasionally I think back to the notion that just 2 years ago NO ONE in our homes spoke English. The transformation is breathtaking. More games followed. Then lunch. Then a little play time with the little kids and some photos. I have been completely slacking on my photo opps….but it’s hard when we’re in the classroom for the bulk of the day and we don’t see the little kids until the evening. I’m getting shots, just not nearly the volume that I have done in the past. We headed back up to the 1st house to prep for a big afternoon. The intent was to skype with Marie Rose and Paul who used to live in our homes and now are in America, then Praise session with everyone including the little kids, then our market. Here’s a bit about each. Paul and RoseMary left about 1.5 years ago and are loved by their “2nd Mom” as she likes to be called. The Mommies and Aunties were so excited to see the kids. We had shown them some photos she had sent and they loved them. They were especially curious about the photos from Halloween. Unfortunately we had lots of problems with skyping today. The call kept dropping. But we were able to hear Rose Marie’s voice and we could say hi. She also heard the group since some praise songs in Kinyarwanda and her Mom said she was smiling “very big”. Speaking of Praise. The entire family/staff comes together each Thursday to give Praise. They dance and sing with complete joy. When the opening songs are done one person take responsibility for preaching. That role rotates each week. Mama Bestina preached up a storm today about Seeking 1st the kingdom. Isaac come and sat by Liles, Sarah and me to translate what she was saying. He did a great job and we all enjoyed the experience. At the end they asked if we had anything we needed prayers for so I added some people in my family and my friends the Knights who are grately in need of employment. The clapped and were happy to add my list to theirs. THEN it was a big party celebration. We took the clothes, jewelry and toys that I brought and others donated and layed them all out on a table. Then the adults all drew numbers and lined up to make their picks We went low to high numbers and then backwards from high to low so they each got 2 things. It was fascinating for me to see what they really wanted. Options include baseball caps, necklaces, bracelets, rings, shirts, a tie, scarves, wraps,tshirts and new/used clothes. 90% of them went straight for the clothes. Light sweaters, t shirts etc were a huge hit. Thus function was way more important than pretty jewelry etc. That will help me so much in future trips. The cook guy the time and asked for a lesson from Liles on how to tie it. Eventually the best solution was for him to leave with it tied and put it over his head as is and tighten it up. Perhaps their will be more time to practice. The kids were a different story. The kids (especially the bigger ones) wanted baseball caps, the Little kids loved the stuff animals. There was some serious interest in flip flops too. Shoes are such a big deal. Our kids each of 2 pair of shoes (until we brought more on this trip from so many donors.) Many of their current shoes are falling apart or their toes are so tight in the front. But their 2 pairs are everyday and Sunday so the everyday ones get plenty of wear and tear. Thanks to so many of you that invested in good quality shoes…they will make a difference and perhaps even get passed from one child to the next if we are fortunate enough. In the middle of the market event we got a skype call from Erika. After multiple tries we got to work again. The big kids came to talk to her. Again, they asked about skates. They asked if she skated and could show them some skates. She went to get them and thought they were very interesting. They just can’t seem to comprehend that a lake would freeze and you can skate and drive on it AND then drills holes to fish through. Finally I take it turns into a big ice cube and they kinda got it. We’re going to skype with Erika and her sons tomorrow who will explain it to them a bit more. As we prepared for a big group photo the “envoorah” / rain, came quickly. It poured like a monsoon. Everyone one scattered. Some to the school room and others to a covering that sort of resembles a carport. The roof is covered with tin so the rain dances on the roof so loudly that some times you can’t hear someone speaking to you that is right next to you. Our wonderful Liles used it as a brilliant shower from the Heaven. He ran around the yard to everyone’s squeals of laughter who was sitting under the car port. Then he came and asked for his toiletries so he could wash his hair etc. They all thought he was quite entertaining. Let’s face it, he’s a smart guy…he got much cleaner than we will with our bucket baths tonight. And when I say it was pouring. It was pouring!!!!!! When the rain eased the families went down to the 2nd and 3rd homes. Sarah, Liles and I just crashed from the pace of the day. We also enjoyed another yummy fresh pineapple and got to know each other a bit more. I don’t know how Liles stayed awake all day but he did. It will help re-set his body clock more quickly. Around 7:30 we headed down to join them. We played some games, had dinner and taught more English to the adults. Thank you to those who have offered to skype with us. We haven’t had much power in the house today and didn’t have internet access this evening so we thank you for your patience. As a reminder, you must go into the exercise with a lot of patience. It may take at least 10 tries before the connection holds. And then it is likely to drop a bit more…but eventually we’ll get a good connection. The lag time on the voices is exceptionally long so you want to speak and then pause pause pause for the reply. Video works best on just ONE end at a time, however with Erika we got both sides running. TODAY, Friday is a good day to try to skype with us. We may be able to do it Saturday and Sunday Morning US time as well. Expect the kids to ask you some fun questions. What is your name? Where do you live? Do you have children? What are their names? How old are they? What can you show me there? They simply want to SEEEEEE things like skates and snow and Christmas trees etc etc. Think ahead before you get on the call to maybe have some things for show and tell. It was a long but fulfilling day and with great shouts of joy for Rain, Liles, Computers, Sarah, and God’s presence among us…sleep is the next order of business.