Rwanda Update: Half way

This update was from last week:

Hello everyone!

Well, I have reached my halfway point in this trip. Every single day I wake up and thank God for this opportunity because it truly has been life changing. He has blessed with a wonderful roommate, housekeeper, friends and new family! Everyone here has been loving on me just as much as I am loving on them. I can honestly say that I have a Rwandan family now J

I continue to be amazed at how quickly the teachers and girls are picking up English. Before I arrived, Maja (my roommate) informed me that most of the teachers never spoke English. Today I can officially say that all of them can speak and understand English incredibly well. They are still learning each and every day but they are smiling and hopeful because of their new English skills. They soak up everything Maja and I can give them in a day and we go home completely exhausted. Yesterday, one of the teachers, Silivia, took me to get my nails done at a local salon. I was able to get a full manicure and pedicure for less than $2! She has been the most timid with her English but held an awesome conversation with me all afternoon. We are very close in age so it is nice for her to have me around! We’ve become very close in the last two weeks! The teachers have been wonderful to me and today they informed me that they will cry very hard when I have to leave them. They say that they don’t know what they will do at IWE without Maja and me when we leave. I really have made some amazing friends here and look forward to joining many of the teachers for dinner at their homes in the upcoming week!

The girls are also learning a lot of English. However, it is common in many African cultures that when someone asks you if you understand something that you rely yes because you want to please the person. It can become very frustrating as a teacher who doesn’t speak their language because sometimes I never know if they really understand a word, phrase or concept because they tell me they do but then cannot use the words or perform the task. One of our main goals has been giving the girls success experiences in order to boost their confidence when speaking English. Maja and I have been bringing fun games and songs into the classroom to teach them more English words and vocabulary. The girls are definitely much bolder with their English than ever before! Many of them can even hold lengthy conversations with me throughout the day. They have also been teaching me a lot about their culture! I am able to hold small conversations in Kinyarwanda and can even sing a few songs. They are very impressed!

I am looking forward to a long three day weekend in the North Western past of Rwanda this upcoming weekend! I will spend time with some family friends in Gisenyi near Lake Kiva. Celestin is the president of ALARM Inc., the organization that runs IWE and who I am here with, and I will be staying at the home of his brother, Pangress, this weekend. My parents and brother met Pangress back in 2005 when they were here so I am excited to meet him as well! Lake Kiva is a huge tourist spot in Rwanda and I’ve heard that it is just beautiful! Many of the teachers from IWE were born out in Gisenyi and have told me many wonderful things about the area.

Please, continue to pray for strength and wisdom as I move into the last two weeks of my adventure here in Rwanda. I’ve had some trouble sleeping at night because even though it is the dry season it still rains periodically. The rain storms here are very intense, and trying to sleep in a house with a tin roof in the middle of a monsoon is pretty much impossible! And if the rain isn’t keeping me up, the crows are! They are so incredibly loud on the roof and they scare me to death sometimes. So please pray that I will get some much needed rest! Also pray for safety as I travel a lot in the next few days. Finally, pray that God will continue to bless IWE and that the teachers will continue to change the lives of these girls everyday! I truly love every minute of it and am so blessed to see God working in the lives of the teachers and students at IWE.

Thank you all for the support, love and prayers!

Kelsey (Uwitonze Keza)

I wrote this quote on my journal so I see it every day and wanted to share it with you all. It has reminded me every single day that God is my strength and I’m here to be His hands and feet!

“When I fail to pray, the best I can do is the best I can do. I forfeit my spiritual potential. But when I pray, the best I can do is no longer the best I can do. The best I can do is the best God can do.”