Favorite Things in Rwanda: Through the Eyes of an Eight Year Old

Another "guest" blog (aka home-school writing assignment!) - this time, our precious 8 year old will be telling you a little about her experience in Rwanda:

My favorite things about Rwanda are seeing cool places and the activities that I do.

This is me when I visited a tea factory

For example, I went to a place called Akagera; it’s a game park you go to to see wild animals. I saw an elephant, and, get this, I saw lions! I saw lots of flying, swimming, slimy, and furry animals that I had never seen before (or maybe only once)!!

Why did the Grey Crown Crane cross the road?...

Two crocodiles swimming in the lake...looking for dinner

I like to go to see our friend Elson with my family. I like to play with his daughter Aser-Grace; we play a game called ‘’I want. ‘’ There has to be three or more people to play it. All the people have to make a circle and choose someone to be in the middle. Whoever they choose goes into the middle and claps as she/he says ‘’I want, I want,‘’ then the other people say ‘’you want?‘’ They repeat it once or twice. Then the person in the middle chooses someone to do a dance. Then they repeat it over and over again. It is a fun game that makes us all laugh!

My sister and I playing with Aser-Grace (and her
brother) at her house.

There are many places I like to go during the day. I like our yard a lot. It is tucked behind a wall, so we don’t get stared at as much. 

This is all the grass we have in our yard.

I like to go to my friend Heather’s house ; I don’t go alone since I don’t feel comfortable going out alone.

Relaxing at Heather's house (with her husband)

About every other day my dad, Lu, and I go to the shop to get eggs, bananas, potatoes, and things like that.  

Sister love

I’ve had a good time in Rwanda. I’m looking forward to going home, but I hope I come back.

Thanks for reading!

~Beebs

Experience Rwanda: Our Home, in Pictures

Since most of our loved ones have not had the chance to visit Rwanda and will likely never get to see our humble home here in Byumba, I thought a tour might be nice. And, given that whole pictures worth lots of words thing, here we go:

Okay, just kidding. That hut is not our home. But, some of you hesitated.

The front of our home - its a semi-detached, brick house
with a metal roof and concrete floors.

So sorry to disappoint those of you who pictured us in the thatched roof hut.

Panoramic view - back door is by the laundry.
What a lovely garden/yard! (the structure behind the
laundry is the outside toilet and a potato storage room thing)

Our view out the back door (the drying diapers add character!).

The small house to the left (in above picture) is where Prudence lives.  His is a mud brick structure with cement stucco, also semi-detatched, thus the long wall across the middle of the picture is actually the neighbor's cook house.

Stepping inside the back door - kitchen to right,
bedrooms and bathroom to left,
adorable one year old directly ahead

Kitchen - electric/propane combo stove,
sink to the right, storage room straight ahead
(handsome chef not included)

Sink and "counter space" - the sink
was recently fixed and no longer
leaks onto the floor, hooah!

The girl's bedroom, complete with mosquito nets
(which they will NOT miss). No closets or dressers.

I don't have a picture of our bedroom, but it pretty much looks like the girl's room, minus the pack 'n' play, add a peg board to hang clothes on.

The toilet room

The large green bucket in the "bathroom" (sans bath) is filled daily when the water is on so that we have water to use when the water is turned off, which happens daily. The orange bucket is used to fill the green bucket. Don't be deceived by the white tank up in the corner, it does not make water hot. We're pretty sure it is a piece of non-functional art. Ain't it pretty?

To be fair, the bathroom actually does get used for baths...by at least one person!

 And now for our living/family/dinning/school/office room:

Just past the kitchen looking in from the hall

The large cabinet is school supplies on the left, food
and dishes on the right.

Dinning table/computer desk!

Adorable kids on the front stoop

The view out the front door to the front (green) gate,
with our friend, Pacifique

If you step just outside our (red) gate (directly across from our front door), you'll have a tremendous view of the hills around our home. 

Situated directly across the valley from our home, on the top of the next hill, is a large Congolese refugee camp, which is closed to any outside visitors.

Rwanda is called "Land of a Thousand Hills" for good reason.

Its hard to capture in a picture the steepness of these hills.

We have occasionally had the pleasure of hosting guests at our home for either a meal or tea. 

Our friend Shantal (Elson's wife) and her two
youngest daughters enjoying tea and treats.

We were honored to have our sister church pastor, Jean de Dieu, come for a meal not once but twice in the past two weeks. You may recall the road to/from our sister parish, Hunga, so we were quite excited to have him visit our home.

the pastors...and Mo

And there you have it! I will miss the simpleness of our home here - the small number of belongings (hence the house stays cleaner) and the fact that one can just throw soapy water all over the ground to wash the floor (with what amounts to a large squeegee on a stick). 

I will also miss watching these little guys perching on the doors and windows:

These sunbirds are a dime a dozen here but it
never gets old seeing their brilliant colors.

I will not miss the (indoor) latrine smell, the lack of a dresser, or the loudness of the house (concrete floors and walls carry sound like whoa!). 

Thankfully, I get to keep the handsome chef and adorable children.

Coram Deo - The Mrs Dr