Bathrooms in the guest house

I didn't know what to expect. But it really isn't bad at all. We have hot water (for about a 5 minute dribble shower). We have one of two toilet seats on the whole campus! Apparently they don't fit the toilets very well and they break. They cost $50 which is a HUGE cost. The toilets don't flush real well. But at least they flush! The water is actually clean and drinkable but the pipes in Rwanda are not clean. We put the tap water through a little filter and then drink it. It taste very good.

King David's Academy

After the worship service on Sunday we traveled to King David's Academy which is about an hour drive. We (Hope, Andria, Deborah, Oswald and I) went to visit seven students in secondary school (7th grade through 12th grade: Esprance, Anett, Penina, Lucy, Alexander, Tresor, Divine). It is a private Christian school that has a great reputation. Kids this age can go to public schools but they are over crowded (sixty kids to a class) and the quality of education is no where near private schools. Education is the main factor (along with Jesus) that create opportunities for Rwandans to better themselves. Donations to Hope Made Real sponsor kids going to King David's. It is a boarding school so it is a difficult transition for some children but one that is well worth it. One of these children is Hope and John's - Penina...so Hope was extra excited to see this group!
We brought two purses to Esperance and Anett. Joe and Michelle Halonen of Community of Grace Lutheran Church in Peoria have sponsored them in their education. (Note to Joe & Michelle: Michelle, both girls LOVED their gifts! Anett asked how you were doing, and said thank you two or three times! What a great impact you are having on these two girls!)

Saturday Andria and I were treated to a concert from these three little ones: Anna, Natete, Arlene. I video taped them singing and dancing and they wanted to see themselves afterwards. They had so many songs (all in English and done with such passion) I was really moved by how even at the youngest age these kids know so many songs and have such a love for Jesus! This picture is in the living room of our guest house where earlier the girls had tea with Andria and Mama Arlene.

Happy Day

Andria enjoying her time with the "boys"! Their love is so incredible. They have welcomed us into their family and in less than one week we have developed some very cool friendships! There are just over 40 children total at the orphanage. This picture was taken after dinner before evening devotions on Sunday night. They were laughing at Andria because she had just tried the passion fruit (it looked like a bunch of seeds and was very sour).

Birthday Party

Today, before dinner, we celebrated all the birthdays in the month of May. Andria and I brought birthday candles which is an extra treat with the cake that was purchased in the capital city of Kigali. These are the four birthday ....?, Hope, Arlene, Martin.

The Garden

The view from our porch toward the garden. Everything is terraced because the orphanage is on a hill. The garden is a full 10 feet below the guest house.

view

Quite a view from our front porch! In the distance is a volcano. We haven't seen it yet because the skies must be very clear to see it.

New Sign

A new sign was delivered on Friday. It will go down on the road and will help people find the orphanage.

Chipati

This is Saturday morning breakfast (just a couple of hours ago). Fresh bananas from the garden, pineapple, fresh gaucamole that we spread on the chipati (a flat bread that is fried up in a skilet with unions and other tasty things in it). I fried up an egg and put it on the chipati....am I really going to loose any weight here??? The hired workers at the orphange bring us things from the kitchen. They wait on us by doing our dishes and laundry. This kind of service makes us very uncomfortable but Mama Arlene says this is the way the workers make their wages.

garden

This is our front porch (guest house) with the beautiful garden on the right. They planted mammoth sunflowers and they over took much of the garden.

Carrying Supplies

Arlene (pronounce Aleenae) and Andria carry supplies from the supply room to the guest house. This road is one that yesterday had many people working on. The flowers on the left side were all weeded because the President of Rwanda is coming on Wednesday to visit the land adjacent to the orphanage. The city is building a motel on the top of the hill that the orphanage is on. Mama Arlene would love to buy the land herself (infact she had a down payment on it but the government wanted the land for a motel) so that the orphanage can expand. Prayers are needed that God will provide the land (and money) that is needed and that the motel will not be built above the orphanage. Mama Arlene has a vision that this land would be used for education buildings...a secondary school and university someday.

First breakfast on Wednesday morning

Our first morning we were treated by Mama Arlene with scrambled eggs (from there 400 chickens) and freshly picked avacodos. Mama was clear with us that we would not have her cooking for us each morning but that we could go and pick what ever we want. We had fresh cilantro and another green leafy thing (I will have to find out what it was) in the scrambled eggs. Our guest house is very nice. We have a great view on a hill. The house has five rooms, running water, toilets that flush..fairly well, hot showers and a nice kitchen table and living room area. We have fresh cut flowers in each room. They don't believe in watering the flowers so each day they bring in new flowers from the gardens. I feel spoiled!~ On a side note: We don't eat breakfast with the kids because they get up at 4:45am and it is too chaotic for the Mamas to get them ready for school.

Lucky and Andria

Lucky and Andria did some heavy thinking together. He is one of five children under 3 years old at the orphanage. A new nursery is needed desperately! Right now all five children plus to Mamas are sleeping in a bedroom. Three kids sleep in one bed with a Mama! We moved the medical clinic (which was a bedroom converted into a first aide station...Mama Arlene was a nurse at one time) up to the front of the property. This room will now be a larger room for the nursery.

Manual Labor is good for the soul but hard on the back!

I thought it would be good to be part of the "hard" work so here I am helping haul rock from one end of the campus to the other. We were building a retaining wall that had washed out with the rain. After two hours of hauling rock my forearms felt like they were going to burst. I could hardly hold the sticks on the carrying rack. Benjamin continued to work for the rest of the day and I smiled and said "no more". Many of the men will work well into their forties doing manual labor. Most will die in their early sixties because of all the hard manual labor and lack of nutrition.

Todd with the girls

We brought a basketball and a soccer "foot"ball and gave them to the kids. The younger ones were the first ones to play. It didn't take long before everyone was playing football or basketball. Here is Arlene, Belise, Natete are showing me a little love!

Tikki Huts

John, the business manager, surprised Mama Arlene by building her these two Tikki Huts while Mama went to America for a visit. They are beautiful buildings. The enclosed one holds beautiful crafts from local artists. They are for sale and Andria has her eye on a few items. The second one is an open air ramada where they sometimes have spontaneous choir practice (like they did tonight before dinner) or chapel. The clothes lying on the ground is the way they dry some of their laundry. The whole campus (5 acres) is landscaped like a resort! Flowers, shrubs and trees are everywhere. Mama has hired locals to help care for the landscape that John has designed. The average wage is $1.40/day for day laborers. Huge avacodo trees are everywhere so we have them at almost every meal.

Scruffy Time

Scruffy lead devotions in the evening. Every evening devotions are held in the boys dorm. The children start out by singing. It's not like singing at home. It is full body, full vocal, full Spirit singing. It is hard to describe but I know some of you have heard the African Children's Choirs so you know what I am talking about. A translator spoke after each phrase (as I taught). The children's native language is Kinyarwanda but it is a very difficult language to learn. The first night I told the story of Noah's Ark. Tonight (Friday) I play acted like I was David and I defeated Goliath. Their was "hooting and hollaring" during my drama. It was an incredible experience as everything is very emotional and Spirit-lead. Everyone had a great time as we talked about how God can use a small boy like David to accomplish something big. Children lead much of the devotion time. Prayers will be joined by songs....all at the same time! It is a little chaotic but yet really cool too!

Natete and cassava

Natete shows us how to eat cassava. It is a finger food that seems like it is a cross between sticky rice and potatoes. We dipped it into a vegetable stew like sauce. It was a rather messy meal which of course the kids (Arlene- pronounce Aleenae- is on the right) throughly enjoyed. It gave me gas (which Andria did NOT enjoy)! The cafeteria is in the girls dorm. It has wood tables and benches and lots of hungry flies.....

Mama's new suit

Mama Arlene (Brown) shows off one of the suits we brought for her. She is on her way to a meeting with a banker and was very successful negotiating a better deal with a new bank. It was probably because of the suit! Thanks to all who donated clothes!

David and his white feet

The infants were a little scared of us "white" folks at first. We then showed David that the bottom of his feet were the same color as us. This was the beginning of a new friendship! lol Deborah and Dada help David grow comfortable with Andria.

Anna and Andria

Anna is one of six children whose parents live and work at the orphanage. Her dad, John, is the business manager and is going to school to finish his degree. Her mom Hope, runs the kitchen and supervises the help. Hope is also attending school. Anna and her sibblings blend seemlessly into the orphanage. "Papa" John and "Mama" Hope along with other "Mamas" are like one big family. They sleep, eat and play together and have evening devotions every night.

This is the beginning of the day care/preschool/kindergarten building. It is to be the only two story building in the area. Education is a key component in helping these children to hope-filled, opportunity-filled lives. Public schooling is free, yet too expensive for many neighborhood kids because most don't have enough money for even the necessities (uniforms, paper, pencils, haircuts (manditory), shoes and backpacks. Mama sponsors over 325 neighborhood children to help them with these costs to attend public schools.

Mama Arlene by the boy's forts

On the first day we received a tour of the entire campus. One of the fun things was how the boys had imitated the older men in their construction projects. In this picture Mama is standing in front of their forts. The short one in the front left of the picture is the "dog" fort!

Baby Sarah

Andria holding Baby Sarah. A gentleman was walking by an old abandoned building and thought he heard an animal dying. He found Sarah, naked and alone. The District brought her to Mama Arlene's orphanage because no other orphanage takes infants. They think that Sarah is around two weeks old (because of the healing of her umbilical cord). This is the fifth infant that she has received. Mama Arlene's motto is "God in charge". She never expected to be caring for infants, but because God is in charge he has blessed her with these infants.

The Internet is fixed!

Hey, We finally have an internet connection! The modem broke and it took them 5 days to get it fixed. I have to go to dinner right now, but i will begin posting pictures and information in about two hours (after dinner and devotions--Scruffy is making an appearance!).

Things are going so great. The kids are so incredible! You won't believe the pictures! They are so cute and accepting of us.

Talk to you soon!

Todd

Internet is down!

Our internet connection is down so I asked my friend Mike Ricker to post this update for Andria and me!

We had a great flight with absolutely no problems. We were so fortunate to have our bags checks all the way through so we were able to avoid any extra charges for our HEAVY bags! Nearly 50% of our bags were packed with clothes and supplies for the children!

We arrived at the orphanage around 1:00 p.m. Arizona time on Tuesday but for us it was nearly 10:00 p.m. with the time difference. It was a good thing since we were both really tired from the 30-hour trip.

We had a great breakfast and then got right to work. We helped move part of the medical clinic to a new building today. Lots of hard work and since I did not sleep so well I was forced to take a couple of naps today!

Mama Arlene is an incredible woman. It is really awesome to see the care and compassion she shows to those in her care.

One small thing that struck me was the avocado trees. They're everywhere, they're delicious, and we'll be eating them at every meal!

I look forward to keeping you updated daily and both Andria and I are grateful for your prayers and support.

Todd & Andrea

Andria and Jesse go shopping for 40!

When Andria and Jesse went out to the thrift stores this morning I figured that they would pick up a few things for baby Sarah and something for Mama Arlene. But was I wrong! Six hours of shopping and numerous thrift stores equals a ton of clothes, bottles, nipples and supplies! Now Andria is washing all of the clothes and she is guaranteeing me that everything will fit into a suitcase! Andria has tried to buy enough clothes for each of the 40 plus children at the orphanage. We will see how good she has estimated the size of the children!

Baby Sarah is found naked and crying!

Here is baby Sarah (& Mama Arlene) who was abandoned at five days old! (read her story below)

The Story of Baby Sarah....

Here are the emails that I sent and received tonight from Mama Arlene at the orphanage!


Todd Ellingson wrote: Good morning! Ok, here’s the deal. I still have room in my suitcase. What is one item that you would like for yourself? Something special that you could use. It can be anything! I know you probably put the children’s needs before your own so it may be difficult for you to answer….but I know there is probably something that you want.

Arlene wrote:
Todd,
This is totally selfish and probably to expensive. Andria may help you on this. I need a business suit for government meetings. Black is always good here but any suit will do. This suit would be worn when the occasion requires I dress American. I really like African cloths. I think a skirt and a jacket, blouse size ( ) might fit. If there is a thrift shop near you go there for it. If that is not possible. I have long hair. Any thing that would help tie it back would be good. Thanks.
With the arrival of a new baby girl. Infant stuff is needed more than ever.. bottles, nipples, cloth diapers etc.
The time is so near for you to come. Can't wait.
mama


Arlene wrote again:
Story about the infant girl
The Muhanga District called early this morning.
While walking to work this morning a man walking through a deserted area heard a strange sound coming from a falling down mud house. He listened and heard it again. It was a very weak cry from a hurt animal he thought. We walked to the door of the dilapidated mud house and peered in. There on the floor lay a tiny naked baby. He took up the child in his hands wrapped it in his shirt and went to the cell leader. He then took the baby to Alice,Vise Mayor of Gendre & family for the District.

She has only us in the district who can not say no and will accept these through away babies. The baby is beautiful and maybe about 5 days old.
Yes we have a baby girl. Claudine, David, Johnny, Laki now share the nursery with this little gift from God. She has quite a family 40 in all and mama's. She will share the love and space. As of now her name is Sara.
The nursery needs to expand. We need to expand. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
mama

Jeff donated $50 last night and this is what we bought (Mama Arlene said that the orphanage needed these items). Apparently with all the kids there they have run out of gauze and medical tape for scrapes and cuts. Community of Grace also donated a bunch of band-aides and medical stuff.

Shots and More Shots!

Here's a list of shots that we have had for the trip: Influenza vaccine, Tetanus & Diphtheria, Hepatitis A (2 shots), Hepatitis B (3 shots), Typhoid, Polio, Yellow Fever. Then there is the malaria pills- 2 days before we go we start and continue until 7 days until we get back. Total cost is $675 per person! I feel like a pin cushion.

Scruffy is ready for a safari!

Scruffy is Going to Africa!

Scruffy, the lovable dog puppet, is coming along to Rwanda. Scruffy is the hand puppet that I use for children's messages. The preschoolers go nuts whenever he shows up. He has a special compartment for his heart where you can store objects for lessons. I plan on doing a "flat Stanley" type trip with Scruffy. I hope to get pictures of him all over Rwanda. I shared today with a group of preschoolers & kindergartners that Scruffy will be traveling to Africa and that they can follow his travels on this blog.

Trip Preparation

We will be staying at an orphanage in Rwanda Africa founded by Mama Arlene (Brown) from Pennsylvania. My former church has taken numerous trips to Rwanda and were captivated by Mama Arlene's love of the Lord and love of children. She is changing lives! Her website is http://www.hopemadereal.org/. Mama is in the process of building an education center where they will have preschool and kindergarten classes. Many of the children were abandoned or lost their parents from Aids. Through this ministry many young people now have hope and are actually able to attend college! I would encourage you to read Mama Arlene's story on the website. If you feel led, please make a donation (you can do this on their website). 100% of the money donated goes directly to the children!

Rwanda Trip

Andria and I will be leaving for Rwanda May 25th and returning June 10th. We would appreciate your prayers.