Spring Break

Okay, it seems like all I ever do is travel about the world these days.  I promise I also teach school and tutor kids and hang out with street boys and friends of many nationalities.  It’s just the everyday things that I’ve already written about, so the abnormal things get first priority on the ol’ blog.  That being said…

Two weeks ago was Genocide Memorial Week here in Rwanda, and everything closed down for the week, including my school.  I took the 10 days off of school (“Spring Break”) as a chance to see a new part of the world.  I flew to Malta on Genocide Memorial Day.  Since KGL and MLA are both small airports, the flights were a bit roundabout.  I flew from Kigali to Entebbe, Uganda, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Rome, Italy, to Malta.  All in all it was 24 hours of travel (which is how long it takes me to get back to America from Rwanda), and while many people would be turned off by such ridiculous flight plans, I was just ready to see the world!

You may be asking, “Why Malta?”  Well, there is a missionary couple from my church back home who live there, so I had a place to stay and my own personal tour guides.  They were GREAT hosts!  Here they are at the Citadel on Gozo (the 2^nd largest of the Maltese Islands).

 The week was just what I needed.  Some time away. Some good food (including but not limited to Maltese rabbit, snails, tacos, cereal, French toast, and THE best thing I have ever tasted:  gnocchi with pistachio cream sauce). Some peace and quiet.  Some new sights and experiences.  Here are just a few of them.

Paul's Prison Cell

Donald's Taller Twin

Grand Harbor

St. John's Co Cathedral

Strawberry Festival

One of Many Wildflowers

Streets of Valletta

Malta from Mdina

Somewhere in Gozo

St. Paul's Island

Dingli Cliffs

Blue Grotto

Megalithic Ruins

The Gozo Countryside and Me

Azure Window

You may recognize some scenery from The Count of Monte Cristo, which is a fabulous movie for those of you who have not seen it.  I watched it one day and then saw all of the sights the next, which was pretty cool.

After 6 days of traveling all over Malta (which is only 217 square miles), I got back on a plane and flew for 24 more hours (this time through Cairo, Addis, and Entebbe) in time to catch up with lots of people over the weekend before heading back to school on Monday.

Now I’ve technically traveled on 5 continents.  Granted, I have much more traveling to do on each of them, but I’m getting there buhoro buhoro (slowly by slowly).  Only one more continent to go…  Who wants to go to Australia?! (And no, I’m not forgetting Antarctica.  I’m just not interested.  And no, Antarctica, it’s not you.  It’s me.)

Nairobi!

So a few weeks ago as I was perusing kigalilife (basically virtual classifieds), I came across an advertisement for a cheap flight deal to Nairobi for Valentine's Day.  My friend and fellow teacher, Elizabeth, was in the office when I made this (verbal) realization.  She said, "Let's go!" and I said, "Okay."

So the next day we ventured into town to buy the plane tickets at Rwandair.  It was not a completely smooth process (never has been), but we received an unimaginable showing of customer service when they told us "It is not possible" to purchase tickets at the advertised rate.  At which point I referred to the fact that Rwandair had given me trouble in the past.  Josephine asked for it, so I gave it to her.  All of the problems I've had with Rwandair.  And you know what happened?  She called her boss, and he gave us the tickets for the cheap price.  What a feat!  For those of you who have never tried to do any business in Rwanda, let it be known that the customer is NEVER right and unwritten terms and conditions exist EVERYWHERE.  Possible things are often deemed impossible, to which I want to tell them, "ALL things are possible."  But they won't hear it.  But that day, in that Rwandair office, the IMPOSSIBLE happened.  Rapture ensued and Elizabeth started counting down the days to our mini-vacation.

Last Thursday, I went to teach my boys English and then scooted home to pack and go to sleep.  Our flight left at 4am (EEK!) so my sleep was frequently interrupted, first by my alarm telling me to go to the taxi and then once I was in the airport by the man telling me to board the plane and on the airplane by my 4:15am full English breakfast then in the taxi by our arrival at our destination:  Milimani Backpacker's Hostel.

I'm not going to share with you a detailed description of each thing we did, but rather a quick rundown of activities we were able to participate in.

We went to Nakumatt where we saw Honey Bunches of Oats and cheddar cheese!

We went to the National Archives Museum and the Railway Museum!

We went to Yaya Center and Sarit Center and West Gate Mall milled around the malls for a bit!

I got my hair cut at a real salon!

We ate Lebanese food with my friend Kim who I met in Musanze last year!

We went to the Maasai market!

We went ice skating!

We ate ostrich meatballs, leg of lamb, lamb sausages, chicken legs, beef, turkey, crocodile, ox balls, camel, pork ribs, and pork sausages at Carnivore!

We bought books at multiple bookstores!

We rode a matatu from city center all the way to the end of its route in some village (accidentally) but then made it back to our destination (Village Market)!

We went to an organic food store!

We read books and drank fresh squeezed juice at a juice bar!

We went bowling!

We watched a movie in a movie theater!

I ate a grilled turkey, bacon, and cheddar sandwich and cheesecake at Java House!

We bought cereal and cheddar cheese and granola bars!

And we made it back to Kigali in one piece to teach our lovely children school yesterday (on International Women's Day).

Some Snippets

Jamie says I need a new blog post, (or technically, I guess she said, “Need new blog post.”)  I guess it is about time.  I have had an idea for a great blog post, but just haven’t gotten around to taking the perfect picture for it.  Therefore, I’ll just give you some snippets today.  Ten of them.

Snippet #1:  Independence is mine.  I got a scooter!  TVS Scooty Pep +.  And it’s awesome (when it doesn’t have a flat tire… which happened 4 times in the first 24 hours that I had it, but hasn’t happened again in the 4 weeks I’ve been driving it).  Moto drivers especially enjoy watching me scoot around town.  A white girl on a “motorcycle” is by no means normal.

Snippet #2:  I have been teaching SAT prep to one of my student’s sisters after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  I think if I took the SAT right now, I’d blow it out of the water.

Snippet #3:  I am learning how to salsa dance.  It’s no contra, but it’s my only option as a replacement here in Rwanda, and I’m having fun doing it!

Snippet #4:  We are doing a jump rope unit in PE, and it is a HUGE hit.  Thank you Katie for the jump ropes!  I also found out, via jump rope unit in PE, that Soulja Boy has a new hit/dance called “Crank Dat Jump Rope.”  Thank you, Soulja Boy, for making jump rope “cool!”

Snippet #5:  One of my teacher friends (and future dentist) bought all of “my boys” toothbrushes and we had a How To Brush Your Teeth lesson before English class on Thursdays.  They asked some really phenomenal questions.  Like, “I haven’t brushed my teeth in ten years, why should I do it now?” or “Ali can’t chew meat since he had those three teeth pulled, can he replace them with goat teeth?”  Awesome.

Snippet #6:  Yesterday I spent $82 and an hour of my time adding 24 pages to my passport.  Apparently, even things on “US soil” in Rwanda take forever and not just Rwandan things…

Snippet #7:  I had to get new pages in my passport because I’m going to Nairobi next weekend with another teacher friend.  She lived there for 6 months, so she’ll be an excellent tour guide.  We are counting down the days!  SIX!

Snippet #8:  I also needed new pages because I’m going to Malta for Spring Break (with all of the Libyan evacuees?)!  I’ve always wanted to see the Mediterranean Sea, and April 8 is the day my dreams will come true!

Snippet #9:  Thursday was “Formal Day” dress-up day at school, so I wore formal attire (with high heels) and stunned all of my students who have only ever seen me in my PE kit.  I received the following comments: “Wow, Ms. Simpson, do you ever really dress like this?  I thought you were a tomboy!”  and “Your dress is nasty and that make-up on your face, ugh!” and “Ms. Simpson, you have a zit.”  Out of the mouths of babes…

Snippet #10:  I shut them all up when I jump roped with a criss cross and a double jump in my stilettos.  So there.

Just Another Saturday in Rwanda...

Yesterday, I had two new and wonderful Rwandan experiences.  First, a dowry giving ceremony and second, a football game.

First:  The Dowry Giving Ceremony

The receptionist at my school’s sister is getting married and she invited our staff to the dowry giving.  Eight of us put on our Sunday best and headed to her mom’s house in Nyamirambo arriving “15 minutes late” for the 11:00 ceremony.  Needless to say, we were among the first to arrive.  After waiting an hour and a half, (the extra time was necessary to acquire a generator because the power went out) the ceremony began.  I won’t bore you with all of the details (though, believe you me, the ceremony was not boring, especially not with it being interpreted to me by William, my favorite guard at school and “Assistant PE Teacher”), but I will share with you the gist of the event and my favorite parts.

The Gist

The dowry giving ceremony is a time for the bride’s family to name their price for their girl.  The groom’s family makes an offer and they debate a little and then eventually present the bride to the groom and everyone eats, drinks, and bes merry.  It’s more for entertainment than to actually agree on a price, but the price will end up being paid.

My Favorite Parts

The first hilarious event was when the groom’s father elaborated on the “cow” he would pay to have the bride join his family.  A group of men went out of the garden to see the “cow” and then returned with a veterinarian who vouched for the health of the “cow” and the shepherd who sang a lovely song about the state and name of the “cow.”  The reason why this was so funny was because William informed us that there was, of course, wait for it… no cow.  The “cow” is actually amafaranga (money). 

Another comical occurrence was when the groom’s family informed the bride’s family that they had a son that wanted to marry a girl from the bride’s family, and asked if they had an eligible bachelorette. The bride’s family then presented this girl…

The groom’s family was of course not pleased and asked for an older daughter, to which the bride’s family presented this girl….

(Still not the actual bride.)  After some more shenanigans, the bride was finally presented and the bride and groom presented each other’s families with gifts, fed each other Sprite/Fanta Citron….

And we all ate a fabulous Rwandan meal.  As we were finishing the meal, I informed William that I wanted to go to the football game.  We looked at our watches and saw that it started in an hour and a half.  (Sidenote:  Now, my Muzungu friends had all been at the stadium for hours, paid 5,000RWF for tickets and surrendered their cell phones to get VIP seats.  I had been communicating with them earlier and was hoping to join them at the game.  But who needs to wait around all day and buy expensive tickets when you have William by your side?)  William informed me that, really, the wedding was finished since we were eating and we should go... which brings us to the second wonderful Rwandan experience…

The Football Game

 I had my doubts about getting into the game since my Muzungu friends had informed me of entrance’s implausibility even hours before, but William “knows the people.” So we walked through the dusty streets of Naymirambo to a taxi stand and got in a 15-passenger van taxi to town.  Then we found a Coaster bus taxi to the stadium.  Now this process takes a bit longer than you might assume with stops here and there to let people in and out of the taxis, and thus we made it to the stadium about 10 minutes before the game’s start time. 

When we arrived at the stadium, we were informed that they were no longer letting men in (as the President had already been seated), but women were free to enter.  The crowd shoved me toward the fence to enter, and I pulled the damsel in distress card and reached out and cried (not literally) for “MY FRIEND!!!!”  To which, they shooed William in the fence as well.  Once we got in the fence, there were no problems, because apparently William used to be in the President’s Guard.  Who knew?!?  He found a security officer he knew for his pat-down, and sent me to the woman (who took the obligatory “the President’s at this event, so we have to take a picture of you with your own camera to make sure it’s not a weapon of some sort” photo....).

We made it through security and ran up the steps into the stadium where we were stopped (relatively unsuccessfully) by the ticket collectors.  We waited about thirty seconds and then entered with another group of people who had somehow finagled their way in as well.  We made it to the front row merely 2 minutes after the game started.  Here was my view…

What a raucous environment.  We happened to be sitting right between Rwanda’s fans and Burkina Faso’s fans, but clearly Rwanda’s fans dominated, as you can clearly see in this guy….

And by the sardinely packed nature of the crowd:

What a fun, fun time!  It was actually my first ever live complete football game, and what better time than the

Sadly, Rwanda lost 2-1, but as it was the furthest any Rwandan sports team has made it in any competition ever, it was still a great day for Rwanda and the U-17 football team.

Thank you, William, for making it happen and totally unexpectedly transforming my Saturday into one big, fun adventure!

My Boys

First, let me apologize for the terrible formatting of any blog post of mine with photos.  Blogger doesn't make it the easiest on its users...  Second, I hope you will enjoy a few photos from this weekend when my boys danced and drummed for a party celebrating a missionary couple's 30th year in Rwanda.  I figured you might want to see the smiling faces of the loves of my life.  Enjoy!


 Me and my boys...                                                                             Wearing one of their wigs.

Drumming

 Dancing                                    Post Dancing Meal Daniel and his inanga.

What I Said at Church on January 2

First of all, murakoze cyane cyane cyane!  I would like to thank my church family for all of your support over the past year, both prayer support and financial support.  If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do in Rwanda.  While I can buy the most delicious avocado in the world for a quarter and the most delicious pineapple in the world for fifty cents, a gallon of gas is six dollars and a big box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes is…wait for it…. TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS.  But don’t worry, I never eat corn flakes for breakfast..

Now if you will, turn with me to Ephesians 5 and let’s read verses 15 and 16. 

Nuko mwirinde cyane uko mugenda mutagenda nk’abatagira ubwenge, ahubwo mugende nk’abanyabwenge, mucunguze uburyo umwete kuko iminsi ari mibi.

Oops, looks like I brought my Kinyarwanda Bible with me tonight.  I believe the NIV says, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

Now, if any country in this world knows evil days, it is Rwanda.  One hundred of the most evil days of our time were in the spring and summer of 1994 in Rwanda.  One million people were slaughtered with machetes in one hundred days merely for being a certain ethnicity.  But I’m not here to talk to you about Rwanda’s past; I’m here to talk to you about the present and future in Rwanda, about making the most of every opportunity, about open doors…

I’m sure you have all heard that when God closes a door, he opens a window.  Someone probably said that to you when some thing you really, really wanted just didn’t seem to work out.  I, however, personally think that more often than not, God opens doors and rather than just walk through them, we search for a window to jump out of. Opportunities arise every day; we just need to make the most of them.

Now for a few anecdotes from Rwanda…

Speaking of open doors, one night in February, one of my housemates left the back door open, and someone made the most of the opportunity.  That someone being a thief.  We woke up the next morning and found we were missing 3 laptops, 2 cameras, an iPod, a Kindle, a wireless router, a computer monitor, and season 2 of 24.  I wrote a series of long, in-depth blog posts about the incident if you want all the details, but I’ll give you a quick recap right now.  Basically, we had said sayonara to our belongings and gave up hope after a few days, but then exactly one week later I received an email from my friend Rachel in the US that read as follows:  “Hey Kel, just got this today...maybe has something to do with your computer? I don't know, but it would be a really weird coincidence if someone was trying to scam me and happened to write to me from Gisenyi, though I suppose they could have just gotten my email off of your computer. Weird all around.

Ø   hi rachel. My name is John Isaac i m in Gisenyi Rwanda. So if you can now you can call me on 0788570017. In bref i have some thing you lost. Please if is possible call son as pos. Merci

Now, I’ve always heard that if it seems to good to be true, it probably isn’t, but could it be true?  Could it be???  I called the number in the email which started the covert operation that led to the recovery of all of our stolen goods.  It was a daylong affair involving multiple undercover cops, plenty of time at various police stations, and a newfound friendship with the regional police commander, who is a good friend to have.  It was like the newest episode of CSI:  Rwanda.  Long story short, all of our electronics were being sold on the black market in the Congo, but thanks to one honest man named John Isaac, we got ALL of it back.  Now, if God can help us recover thousands of dollars of electronics from the black market in the Congo, I want you to tell me something God CAN’T do….  So, one of the first lessons I learned in Rwanda was that God truly is capable of absolutely anything and that He really is on our side.

The next story is about an open door that I walked through.  After teaching for 6 months at Sonrise School in Musanze, Rwanda, a new opportunity arose for me.  And wanting to make the most of every opportunity, I walked through the open doors of Kigali International Community School.  I stumbled upon an amazing community and the opportunity to influence 220 children from 30 different countries and God broadened the reach of my ministry exponentially.  And through PE, even!  I am having an absolute blast teaching fourth through twelfth grade PE at KICS and I’m enjoying the KICS community as well.  To illustrate just how supportive this community is, let me tell you about my experience with malaria.  I’m sure most of you were kept up to date by my parents, but if not, I spent four days at home in bed with a terrible fever before I was admitted to a clinic for a very strong treatment for malaria.  Then I spent four days in the clinic on a quinine IV, and God provided so much for me.  Not only did he provide a wonderful, competent doctor and healing for my terrible sickness, but he provided a very supportive community to nurse me back to life.  One of the moms from my school saw me looking pitiful in the waiting room of the clinic and I filled her in on the situation.  She said she would bring me food.  And bring me food she did!  Every meal of every day her cook made me something delicious and her driver delivered it to me in my bed.  Another KICS mom brought me tie dyed socks to raise my spirits.  My headmaster did all of my dealings with the doctor and brought me movies to watch in my room.  Another KICS mom came in one day just to wash and braid my hair.  It was an amazing outpouring of love.  I couldn’t have chosen a better place to be, and I am so thankful I walked through the open doors at KICS.

Sometimes, God opens doors for us, but other times, God leads us to a door that we have to open ourselves.  That is what happened to me upon moving to the big city of Kigali.  Back in America, I had been a faithful attendee of LEAF (Lake Eden Arts Festival) in Black Mountain, North Carolina.  Shortly after I moved to Kigali, I received the monthly update from LEAF informing me that some LEAFers were coming to Rwanda and Tanzania in August.  I took the initiative to email LEAF and set up a meeting with the director when she was in the country.  LEAF has an outreach program where they hire local performers to teach vulnerable youth in third world countries traditional music to preserve the arts and help lift the youth out of poverty.  LEAF in Rwanda has a dance troupe of 16 former street boys who learn drumming and dancing from Leonard, a member of the Rwandan national ballet.  I met with some LEAF people at a coffee shop and we shared about what our organizations did in Rwanda, and then the LEAF people were ready to go.  I stopped them and said, I LIVE in Kigali.  Is there anything I can DO to help?  I have plenty of spare time.  I suggested possibly teaching the boys English, and the LEAF representative started to cry.  They had asked the boys what they wanted, and more than any material goods, they said they wanted to learn English.  So every Tuesday and Thursday, I spend two or three hours building relationships with 16 former street boys and teaching them English.  Almost every lesson turns into an impromptu Bible study.  For example, one day I was teaching them body parts.  Now, when I learned body parts in my Kinyarwanda lesson, it was like umutwe, ugutwi, amaso, iminwya, amatoko, amaguru, and I’m done.  These boys are so thirsty for knowledge that we started at the top of the head and learned every possible facial feature, eyes, eyelids, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc.  When I went from neck to shoulders, they stopped me and asked what “THIS” was.  I said, “an Adam’s apple” which forced us to get out their Kinyarwanda bible and read the story of the Fall of Man in Genesis 3.  Adam disobeyed God, ate the apple, and was punished.  So the Adam’s apple represents the fruit stuck in his throat.  After I opened the door to teaching my boys English, God started opening doors left and right for opportunities to share biblical truths with them.  I mean, what are you supposed to do when one of them asks you what the word “forsaken” means but turn to Mark 15 and read the account of Jesus’s crucifixion?  Of all of the things I do in Rwanda, my favorite is by far hanging out with “my boys” every Tuesday and Thursday, and had I not opened the door, I wouldn’t have the privilege to share so much life together.

God has also opened another door to me that allows me to use my passion for writing and the English language to tutor two middle school boys whose father works at the US Embassy.  It is a huge blessing to have a supplemental income for the next five months, but come June, I will be living completely off of support again.  I have recently signed on for one more school year at KICS as middle and high school English teacher and will need to raise $10,000 more dollars to continue doing what I do in Rwanda until June 2012.  If you want to contribute to my ministry in Rwanda, you can write a check to Rocky Creek and mention that it is for Kelly in Rwanda and it will help me survive another year.  I would also greatly appreciate your prayers, for my effectiveness in my jobs, my health, and my boys.

Of course after spending an entire year serving in Rwanda, I have hundreds more tales to tell, and I’d love to share them with you.  But more than tell you my stories, I want to encourage you to make the most of every opportunity.  Stop looking for windows to jump out of and just walk through the doors God opens for you.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Malaria Part Two

I have been out of the hospital for a few weeks now, and as I look back at that experience, it seems so surreal.  Yesterday, I pictured myself wasting away in the crisp white sheets of my hospital bed, yellow eyes and skin, attached to my quinine IV, surrounded by all of the apple juice people brought me… and laughed.  At the time, it didn’t seem so serious.  It was just what I had to do.  Now, I realize, it was pretty serious.  Dr. Tommy did say I was in serious condition.  But in my state, I couldn’t truly comprehend just how serious my condition was. 

The only times hospitals have been graced with my presence are the few visits I have made to other ailing people, or the plethora of times I took little boys to the emergency room as receptionist at Camp Ridgecrest for Boys.  I have never been for me.  And what a first trip to the hospital!

People took VERY good care of me, and for that I am forever grateful.  My headmaster took me to the hospital, did all my dealings with the doctor, and came back multiple times to bring me more movies and just to check on me.  Two KICS moms saw me in the waiting room when they were bringing their own children to the doctor and ended up bringing me EVERY meal while I was there.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 4 days!  (Because African hospitals don’t feed you.  As a matter of fact, on the first day they gave me some nausea medicine in tablet form, and Ellie asked if they had water for me to take it, and they said, “No water.”)  Ellie got me some water and came to keep me company every day.  Some KICS teachers brought me books.  My roommate, Emily, brought me a hysterical video and homemade cards from her entire 4^th grade class.  Jadot brought me more fruit than I could ever hope to consume.  Innocent and Emmanuel visited me multiple times and brought me more apple juice than you could shake a stick at.  Another KICS mom came and washed my hair in my bathroom sink and French braided it, so I didn’t look like quite as much of a disaster as before.  Another KICS mom brought me some tie-dyed socks to cheer me up.  The pastor of my church and his daughter, my student, dropped in while they were at the doctor one day.  And I’m probably forgetting even more visitors.

While I didn’t have visitors, I watched movies… and the whole first season of Modern Family.  I did Sudoku puzzles and crossword puzzles.  I slept off and on.  The second night in the hospital, I dragged my wheel-less IV stand one meter over to my private bathroom every hour, if you know what I mean.  I told my nurse of my issue, and she brought me a container for a sample to run in the lab in the morning.  Sure enough, it was a bacterial infection… from something I ate.  Probably those two bites of pizza I ate.  Seeing as that was all I had eaten in 8 days.  The plus side of said infection was that they could just shoot some cipro into my IV and eradicate it rather quickly.

I improved a little every day and was finally released after 4 days.  My liver enzymes (normally below 40) were at 299, and so Dr. Tommy put me on bed rest for a week.  At least now I could just lie around at home instead of in the hospital.  I went to stay at Ellie’s for 4 days, because she has a much more comfortable couch than I AND CNN and MNet on TV!  I watched Oprah, Ellen, The Bachelor, etc. for a few days before I went to my uncomfortable couch and my Sudoku puzzles.  After one week, I went back to the doctor, and my liver enzymes were down in the 50s.  I got to go back to work last week.  In the whole month of November, I only worked for 6 days! 

I’m STILL not at 100%.  I lost 18 pounds and ALL of my energy, so it’s a long recovery.  I am slowly by slowly gaining back weight and energy, but sometimes I still go to bed at 7:30.  I am looking forward to Bojangle’s and Moe’s and Taco Bell and McDonald’s and Chick-fil-a to help me get back to my normal size when I come home in 12 days!!

I will be in America from December 19 through January 6.  Let me know if you want to see me, and I’ll try to make it happen!