The Rainy Season is Upon Us!

Sorry, to have not posted in quite some time. Things have been pretty busy here. We have been engaged in working on a special project, one that was unexpected. As a marketing project, our main office was hoping to sell “Made in Rwanda” ceramic clay mugs at an upcoming Christian leadership conference in the U.S. I only received a week’s notice about this project before one of HOPE’s senior grant writers came to Rwanda to help oversee this project. Fortunately, the number of mugs we wanted crafted went from 13,000 down to 1,200 in a short period of time. While this project kept me fairly busy in tandem with my other tasks here, it was a fun time to explore different parts of Kigali and the country and meet a number of Rwandese craftspeople. It was also very fun to host and get to know Hope grant writer, Becky Svendsen as well. The project went as smoothly as is possible for Africa. The mugs turned out great (see pictures) and are now on their way to the U.S. We are now praying that they arrive intact and on time (need to be in the U.S. by the end of the month).

This past week the Country Director, Erisa, my boss, was out of the country in Zambia for some training. That left me by myself to man the office. Needless to say, work was a lot busier this last week. I’m now exhausted. No rest for the weary though as we are now hosting five (three from the U.S., one from Belgium, and one from the Philippines) HOPE visitors this next week for a conference and retreat. This will mean back and forth from the retreat center (one and a half hours away) every other day. Let the games begin.

As the title of the post may suggest, it is also rainy season. This brings a nice relief from the summer heat, but it also brings crazy and unpredictable thunder and lightning storms. I was foolish enough to take my first moto (motorcycle taxi) ride this past week. It was fine until it started raining at which point we (the driver and I) got soaked, we stopped and waited at a gas station with 30 other motos/passengers for an hour, then proceeded again before it stopped raining and got soaked again. Fortunately, I didn’t have any meetings after this event and was able to dry off sitting at my desk. Just another day in Rwanda!

I took a survey taken by the Graduate Management Admissions Council the other day. Some of the survey questions asked about my financial satisfaction. Has you graduate degree increased your earnings potential? How much has your salary increased since your previous job? How much of your student loans have you been able to pay off? These questions recalled a sarcastic comment by one of my relatives before we left, “you got an MBA and now we’re financially supporting you?” That stung, still stings. It now is hitting me that I haven’t made a temporary sacrifice, I’ve made a lifelong one. I’ll never be a captain of industry. I guess that also means I’ll never be a robber baron either. A verse that has been a key part of being here is Matthew: “Whatever you did for the least of these…” yet I constantly need to be reminded that the verse does not end with “I’ll do for you also” but with “you also did for me.” I need to tell myself that my response to that shouldn’t be “that’s all?” but that is all. In our Sunday night Bible study we keep singing the song “Heart of Worship.” I don’t know if any song captures it better: because "it's all about you, Jesus.”

Perhaps my last post left you wondering if I still enjoy being here. The answer to that is yes. I work long hours and there aren’t western conveniences that take the edge off life. However, the community here, both expat and Rwandan make up for it all. I’ve talked about the expat community, but not enough about the Rwandan one that we experience. Our guard and housekeeper, Bernard and Adrianne, are two wonderful and amazing people. Both have families and children (our guard’s family lives two hours away). Yet day in and day out they diligently work hard to provide a better life to their loved ones. Our guard is even enthusiastically taking English lessons now! I’ve also hired an intern at work. Danny is a student with a program called Bridge to Rwanda, which is a select program that is preparing him to gain entrance into a U.S. university. This program also provides logistical and financial support to help these students go have a completely unimaginable experience. Danny, however, affectionately known by his peers as “Pastor,” comes from a small village. It is only through the grace of God and his own hard work and ingenuity that he has this rare opportunity. Danny though refuses to take any of this for granted and took this internship to improve his knowledge and skills. Through it all he has an incredibly gentile spirit. Without this community, God knew that we could not make it here. Yet the Father of Lights, knows all and hears our prayers.