Greetings from Rwanda! (5/18)

written by Michelle Prillaman

Greetings from Rwanda!

For those of you who have not heard yet, we arrived in Kigali yesterday afternoon at about 3:30 PM Rwandan time, (we are six hours ahead of the states). Tired, and a little smelly, we immediately went to a local cafe to refuel, grab a bite to eat, and hit the market. We arrived in our final destination of “Seeds of Peace,” a center about an hour away from Kigali in the place of Gahini at 9:30 PM Saturday night. It was dark when we arrived, so our first look at the landscape of Rwanda had to be saved for this morning.

… and let me tell you, it was worth the wait! Rwanda might be the most beautiful place I have seen on earth. Green rolling hills, covered in trees and plants go as far as the eye can see. It almost reminds me of a fantastic view of the Blue Ridge Parkway, but larger. Our place of stay oversees a large lake, with hills behind it, over which we can watch the sunset. The days are warm, but the evenings are cool, and intermittent rain sprinkled throughout the day to cool us off. It was beyond anything I expected. I have had to be very careful to catch myself before I drink the local water or before I wander off to take a walk by myself to see the beautiful landscape. Rwanda feels comfortable and warm, and it is easy to forget that I am in a foreign place and culture.

Today we had the opportunity to go to Karangazi to experience worship with the sister church of the Church of the Redeemer. It was a sweet morning, full of singing and dancing, prayer and scripture, and a wonderful sermon on Philippians 1:3-11 by our very own Kildoo! Thankfully, the man next to me was bilingual, and was helpful in pointing out to me what was going on so that I could keep up. I was moved by the spirit of the people here in Rwanda. They clearly love the Lord. Their worship was so moving and enthusiastic- it was so cool to see their culture woven into the way that they worship. I heard familiar hymns set to African drums, and colorful dances that went along with it. The church resides next to a school run by Compassion International. Kids ran around everywhere, and their warmth and excitement to make friends was sweet to me. These kids boldly look past boundaries and just look for ways to openly connect with you. Seeing the Compassion school affirmed my affinity for their ministry- they are doing amazing work in the lives of these kids. I believe we might have met a couple kids who are sponsored by families that we know in Greensboro, which was also wonderful. We live in such a small world!

Moving further into the trip, I am excited to learn and see more of the people and the culture. I am so excited to know more about this beautiful place- all I had ever known about Rwanda was purely about the genocide. Today, we heard only a few small words spoken about the genocide. We want to be culturally sensitive to such a tragic event, so we are committed as a group to not bring up the conversation unless we are invited into it. Today, for a brief moment, during a presentation by Hope International, and already it made my heart sad. It is one thing to hear about a genocide in school; it is another thing completely to encounter survivors, for whom the past twenty years have not erased the pain of loss of family and friends. I am grateful to have been invited briefly into that conversation. The Lord has done amazing things in this place, especially in bringing forgiveness and reconciliation, and it is a truly powerful thing to see it in person. I really believe we have so much to learn from these people, and I am grateful to be here.

We will hopefully be posting once a day, so keep on checking the blog. Know that you all are in our prayers, and we appreciate the prayers that we know are going up for us from you :)

Cheers!