Transitions and Tears

Another transition. Today we awoke knowing that we would be saying goodbye to Sarah. We tried to make it a happy day but we were all sad that she was leaving us. Liles got up early and again made his wonderful presence known. He has been helping haul water from the 1st home to the compound at the 2nd and 3rd home. It’s a VERY VERY hard job as he and Pascal fill each jug from the big tank and carefully place them in the wheelbarrow. Tomorrow I will ask how many he puts in at a time. But each jug is like a big big gas can, except that it is yellow. When the wheelbarrow is full he lifts and pushes it down the road and down the big bumpy hill. It is very very very hard work and he is really making a difference. He has the calluses to prove it. He said that are bringing 30 big containers down each day. Our homes use the water for cooking, doing dishes, bathing the kids etc etc. So the water goes fast. The kids arrived a bit later than usual…9 am vs 8:30 in the morning. They were fully of crazy wiggly energy and were ready to play. We asked that since it was Saturday did they want to have school or would they want to play all day. “School please”. Hey you kids that are reading this blog every night…is that what you would choose? These kids love love love to learn. We again divided the class into 2 sections drawing a line down the center of the board to to divide the little kids from the big kids. The little kids got to work on some math, and some spelling. I wrote words for the little kids and they had to figure out the word and draw the picture to match. They did a GREAT job. The big kids got math…one problem that was super doper long so they had to use my iphone calculator to figure it out. It was all for the good fun of it as they think it’s cool. They also had to write 5 sentences about why they loved Sarah and also what they wanted to be when they get “tall”…which for them means, grown up. The notes about Sarah were so sweet. I will write them tomorrow as they are in the classroom and it after 10pm with the rain pounding down. The chosen professions were: doctor, driver, pastor, pilot and teacher. Fabiola wants to be the President of Rwanda…thata’ girl! Did you know that Rwanda has more women in the Parliament than any other government in the world. I think they should have a woman President named Fabiola at some point too. As the kids turned in their papers to be “marked” by Liles, Sarah or Donna they were each given challenge things like more math. Each time they were given a challenge their eyes lite up with the joy of getting to learn another thing and proving that they could do it. Their learning spirit is contagious. After all the assignments were done they got to work on the computers. The rules were each big kid needed to work with a little kid and show them the ropes. Of course that meant that they got to be on it and the little kids watched. After about 10 check ins with me, they finally got it. “No more big kids hands on the computer…only little hands!” Sarah, Liles and I had a little more time to chat as Sarah began to make the transition. She used the down time to write the names on the clothes for the kids going to Sunrise Boarding school and to write little notes in the backpacks from she and Kelly that they can read when they are at school. Lunch was a feast in honor of Sarah. French fries, some noodles and some beef. Whoo hoo. The kids got a big treat today as did Sarah who needs a healthy supply of a big meal soon. We played with the little kids for a long time and Sarah and I again prayed over Desami’s foot. Desami has a twin brother named Dasami (ya, I know…go figure). One runs and plays and laughs. The other has a bit of some challenges. When he came to us his head was very swollen and his eyes crossed due to malnutrition. NOW his head is a normal size and his eyes look pretty darn good. He can also sit up which we was not able to do a year ago. The remaining challenge is that his left foot if all twisted up. It turns in and under thus he cannot stand…yet his twin can freely run. I have been working on it to see by moving the foot up and down and left and right. It seems to move freely when he is relaxed. If I do it along time and distract him by making him giggle etc I can get him to hold it straight…it appears to be without pain. If I keep doing it, and toss him up in the air a lot and some point put him to a full landing with both feet, he can do it. Within moments he realizes it has happened and he curls it up again. We have made a doctor appointment for Monday and hope to see if we can get him fitted for a brace of some sort. I believe this child will walk. I do believe it. I believe God can heal it and the Doctors can help. He spends a bit too much time alone as the Mommies and Aunties are so busy. We’re going to make a point of giving him a lot more contact over the remaining 8 days that I am here. We again had some fun on skype today. The kids now ask in the morning… WHO WILL BE CALLING US TODAY? Did we get any questions? Did anyone answer our questions? They like going to my facebook and page and seeing their names there with people writing about them…so join in the fun if you are able. Today they got to talk to Martin and Alice in Mn two times. Martin and Alice love our kids here in Rwanda very very much. They are part of the lemonade stand kids that helps send 3 kids to school. Alice also donated ½ of her 1st Communion money to the kids and had kids bring gifts for our kids to her birthday party instead of presents for her! How’s that for cool? They had a good long talk despite some tough connections. It was great to hear them just have kid to kid talks as I only step in to translate if one side can’t understand the other. Martin is 10 and some of the kids are 10 here, so they thought that was really great. Alice asked them lots of great questions too. Our kids wanted to know a lot about them. What books do they read? Can they sing them a song? Do you skate? Do you skate today? Where do you skate? (As you can see they are fascinated with skating and the concept of ice.) They asked them what subjects they like in school. When one replied recess…we had a long discussion about what it is. I wish the connection would be better as these kids could learn so much from your kids and they want to know where everyone lives what it looks like at their home. Next they talked to my boyfriend Jim. He showed them a shovel that he used to remove the snow this morning. They asked him a ton of questions and liked his answers a lot. We also just had some chill time. Esther again spent a portion of the day crying as she did when Kelly left. This poor girl just breaks to pieces when an important person in her life leaves her. The orphan life leaves such a strong imprint on so many of their hearts…Esther is especially hard hit. I found Sarah just trying to soak it all in as Esther wept in her lap and the other kids just stroked her hair and touched her arm. After a day or two here you get used to always having hands on you. In the middle of the day Liles when on and adventure to get more water for the 3 of us. He walked with Claudine down through the market and found the place that sells the big containers of water. Claudine took a motorbike back and Liles walked to take in a bit more texture of the country. Later he caught and trapped a chicken under a basket for one of the Moms. Boy oh boy, it’s nice having a man in the house! Sarah zipped to the other house to get ready to leave and returned trying to steel herself to not fall into a million pieces. The kids gathered around her and sang some songs. Then they put Sarah in the middle of a big circle. And sang a sweet song with motions. Sarah knelt down on the ground and the sang “Goodbye Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Goodbye Sarah we shall meet again”. The rhythm is very sweet and their goodbye signs each time. Then we all put our hands on Sarah and prayed that God would bless her trip back and always guider her where He wanted her to go. That was it…She was a pile mush. Then the kids started to cry. As did I . Sarah turned her back so they didn’t see and I tried my best to lead them in more songs. Thankfully Liles jumped in too. Lastly they made a big line and she went through it, hugged everyone goodbye and left with Liles and me. Many of the kids kept wiping their eyes with their shirts and it’s especially hard when boys like Isaac break down. The three of us walked the hill in silence. Then I talked to Sarah about how much she had blessed our kids and that she had made a real difference. After saying goodbye Liles and I went back to the compound. Thankfully we were met by Esther who was about to take her bath and giggled as she showed us she was all wrapped up in a towel ready to go when she opened the gate. I could just pack that girl in my suitcase and bring her home….as could every other visitor. Without saying it Liles and I both knew that we were missing the 3rd person on our team and kinda felt longly. We knew another routine would emerge tomorrow with the arrival of our next volunteer. More about her tomorrow. Liles played with the kids for a long time before heading up. The bigger boys are especially found of him as he plays like boys play not girls. Sorry, not being stereotypical here, but boys connect. I spent some time trying to teach Esther and Alice how to skype with me when I return to the states. There are a lot of steps but hopefully they will figure it out before I leave. We also talked to Tina’ s Mom and Dad. They are fascinated with Tina. I think they like her picture and like that she has written when we write back. They showed them lots of snow in their back yard. Lastly we talked to Sue Whitehouse who is paying Isaacs school fees and hopes to visit them again soon. We used google too look at a map of the world and find Africa. They were so surprised to learn that Rwanda is the smallest country in Africa, but so proud when they learned that Africa was 4x the size of the US.. There was a whoo hoo…when I told them. They saw a photo of Obama that came up along side my facebook page they all pointed to him “this is your President”. “Obama”. The people are so proud that we have a black President. We then looked at a US map to try to figure out where everyone lives that has come to visit them. It was a big job and not sure we got all right, but they love to learn. Lastly we googled Hockey photos as Martin told them he plays hockey. “What is hockey”? was the reply. We had to look at lots of pictures to get the idea, but they thought is was great fun. The rain has begun to fall as I write the final words for this update. We wonder how Sarah’s heart is as she try to take a piece of her heart with us as she returns to America, her boyfriend, school and God’s work for her life. Transitions are hard sometimes.