Rwanda Part II: The Harvest

On Saturday we did some of the site-seeing stuff. We started out by going to a basket weaving place, but this wasn’t an ordinary shop. This is the shop where Bono and Oprah special order things and the shop that ships baskets for retail at Macy’s Department Stores. We met the owner of the shop- a very inspiring, strong woman- and then browsed through stacks and stacks of baskets. It will be neat to see them for sale in Macy’s. While there, we unintentionally met with the Gardeners from the Jinja team and a group of Pepperdine students. After chatting and browsing, we headed to the Sonatube roundabout to meet up with a driver that Murphy had arranged for us. Our driver had only been in Rwanda for about 2 weeks; he was a grad student from Harding who had come to Kigali to conduct workshops on improving reading strategies in the classrooms. Instead of leaving after the couple of weeks like planned, he signed a contract to teach at the new international school in Kigali. The only reason I am sharing this is to show one example of just how much people can fall in love with this land, how it infiltrates your life never allowing you to be the same or return to the same course for your life. But, that is a different blog altogether… Anyway, despite still suffering from jet lag, he was a good tour guide. (And, it was really nice to not have to take public all over town). Instead of a “play by play” of what we did, I’ll focus on the highlights. At the top of each of our lists was visiting the Genocide Memorial Center. Many of you know that Rwanda suffered through atrocious crimes against humanity during the 1994 genocide. This memorial center is in honor of the victims and a warning to the future. Walking through the exhibits looking at picture after picture of man at his worst was heart-wrenching, but walking through those exhibits while the victims and their family members led groups through the museum was heart-breaking. You don’t have to look at the pictures on the wall or listen to the stories from the videos, because you can see the effects for yourself by looking at the scars on the guy behind you and listening to the stories being told by the woman in front of you. It was fascinating and disgusting at the same time. Disgusting that mankind is even capable of such violence. Fascinating to see just how much mankind can endure and still move forward. Inspiring would be another very appropriate word for that, but it is better used to describe the state of spirituality in Rwanda. Rwanda is very ripe for the Harvest. Victims and perpetrators alike are working together, loving and forgiving, to move forward as a country. Their drive to move forward and work to ensure that the past does not repeat itself is inspiring. God is working in and among the Rwandan people, and it is exciting and awesome! Sunday at church we worshiped with genocide orphans; from time to time they come together as family because they have no other family. Watching them praise God and praising Him alongside them was uplifting. Sunday night we worshiped with many of the missionaries in Kigali at the Shewmaker’s home. Although our trip to Kigali was short, it was well worth the 24+ hours of being on public on African roads to get there and back. Please pray for the missionaries working in Rwanda and pray for the people of Rwanda. You can find out more info on the Kingdom work there at the following website: http://harvestfields.net/rwanda.php.