Mission Team Visits Urukundo

Mission Team from England stayed at Urukundo for a few nights. Soccer was the favorite pastime!
A team from North Phoenix Baptist came to visit. Their travels to Urukundo were somewhat eventful. The team flew into Johannesburg and missed their midnight connecting flight to Rwanda. So instead of arriving on Wednesday they arrived Thursday night late. On the way to pick them up at the airport our sedan broke down. We were stuck at a gas station with one good vehicle and one not so good. What do we do now? The team is arriving in 30 minutes and we are still trying to get our second vehicle going. We need both cars because the team is too many to fit in one.

We called our friends Isaac and Serrina from Victory Orphanage. They own an old model Land Cruiser that has seats in the back that run perpendicular to the front seats. Finally we got a hold of them and were on our way. Long story short, we picked them up in the "safari mobile" and were headed home to Urukundo (an hour drive). What an adventure!

Friday was filled with laughter and sharing. Andria's junior high youth leaders were Dan and Cindy Snead, so they had fun remembering some youth trips to Mexico and other places that Andria's faith was formed. It was like have family visit. Very encouraging!!

We showed them Urukundo and future spots for a school and clinic. We then took them to the market for a fun, chaotic experience of what it is like to shop for your daily needs. Our final destination was John's farm. A 45 minute drive and we were at his property. Kids came swarming and wanted to meet the visitors. Cameras took some great shots as children crowed around to see what they looked like in the little windows of a camera.

Overall it was a fun day and Saturday came too quickly as we took them into Kigali for some craft shopping, lunch (German Bakery) and to the airport. Thanks to Pastor Dick, Juan, Jennifer, Cindy and Dan!

We also had another team of young people from England. The four young men from their team stayed in Hope House for four days. They spent their time traveling to schools and villages bringing the joy of Jesus. They were from a community church in England. Today, Sunday, we heard from Sam as he shared his testimony. God was so good to us with two teams and some new and old friends!

Secondary School Kids Return

Discor and nine other children returned from boarding school on Friday, July 16th for a month long break. Urukundo has 37 total children for the next 30 days. There are also Papa John and Mama Hope's children (another nine) that are just as much a part of the Urukundo family! Life with the secondary school children home is very good. Boarding schools are the best way to ensure a good education and life skills. We send our children to King David's Academy. A christian boarding school about an hour away. It is the oldest boarding school in Rwanda. King David's Academy has taught our children well. The first morning with the high schoolers brought a list of chores that were completed without us even asking! The maturity between those in boarding school and those in primary is big...not only because of age but because of life experience.

We hope all our children can go to boarding school for their secondary education. It costs much more than public schools but it is worth the investment. The need for quality education is so evident with the return of our children. Education creates opportunities. Christian education empowers young people to be the Christ-led leaders of tomorrow. We hope to see many more schools developing as more and more children seek to further their lives through education.

Babies, Babies Everywhere!

Eight children stay in the nursery. The nursery is located in the boy's dorm. We (Todd and Andria) stay in one of the rooms of the boy's dorm. Do you have any idea what the noise level is at 6AM with all those babies? If they weren't so cute, it would be easy to get a little cranky some mornings!

Our children from Hillie at 3 months to Claude, who is 4 years old the nursery is always filled with great energy. The picture above is what each morning looks like during bath time. It is quite a job giving eight children baths! Vaseline is then smeared all over the children. This apparently is an African thing..it seems to work well for their skin! We love our babies! If you ever want to come and share some of your love, you are always welcome to Rwanda!

Living Water International

Having clean, accessible water is a luxury in Rwanda. Most homes have no running water. Woman and girls are relegated to "fetching" water every day (the picture above is of a woman who filled her Jerry can while we were watching and was hiking up a very steep hill to bring water back to her house). For girls this usually means no school because the distance it takes to go for water takes up most of their day. Jerry cans are the most common container for water. Large or small they are visible all over Rwanda. They are made of plastic and are yellow and look to hold 3 to 5 gallons. Whether it is being balanced on a head or strapped on to the back of a bicycle, Jerry cans are the main container used to get water from the source.

Urukundo is fortunate. They have water from the big company Electrogaz. It is like having "city water". It is piped into our property and stored in large plastic tanks. The water is filtered for drinking. During the dry season the water runs dry (dry season can last from 1 to 3 months). A couple of weeks ago the water stopped coming for three days. We were afraid that we would have a longer than usual dry season. Fortunately the water has come back (usually just in the evenings) and has filled our tanks again. The cost for water is anywhere from $400-$600/month to have Electrogaz as our supplier. This expense increases during the dry season when we have to haul water from the "swamp". The cost of fuel and labor makes water even more expensive during our dry season.

So we started calling everyone we knew to see if they had any contacts with well drilling companies. We recently had Living Water International visit our campus. They are a Christian organization that specializes in drilling wells and sharing Jesus. They came and gave us a bid of $20,000 to drill a well below our property for the community (an estimated 3,000 adults and children will directly benefit from this well). Then a pump will be installed to bring water to Urukundo from this community well.

We are praying to see if this is the best course of action. We need to raise part of the funds to have Living Water International dig.