Rach and John in Rwanda

Here are some pictures of the Kigali branch. The branch has been here in Rwanda (the only one) for almost two years now They went from 6 people meeting in a home to about 67 meeting in Hotel Okapi (thanks to one of the members who owns it). Last August Elder Holland dedicated the land for missionary work and now things are really moving. In about two weeks we will have our own chapel and our first missionary couple – everyone is very excited.

Kigali branch Relief Society

The guys - there are a lot of them

Everyone!

My young women with their Books of Mormon from Spokane YW and bags from Mim - I still need to teach them to smile for the camera

There are some incredible people in the branch and we feel honoured to be a part of its beginnings.

We’ve been back in Kigali for a week now and really happy to be here again. We didn’t realise how much we were missed and we had lots of visitors and calls as soon as we landed.

We had a wonderful break. Christmas in England with my family, New Year’s skiing with John’s family, a perfect first year wedding anniversary (skiing and a great night in a very lovely hotel), January in Spokane with John’s family – and medical school interviews for John – and then back to the UK to meet baby Eliza Jane Kear who arrived on 21st January. I was able to spend a week with Eliza and the Kear family and be there for her blessing as well – wonderful. A few days in London (I had my medical examination for my US visa) and then back home to Rwanda.

A number of kind donations from family and friends meant we were able to bring back gifts of clothes, toys and school fees for Angelique and her family as well as Florence and her daughter.

Florence gets dresses for her daughter Sonia - thanks Liz and Amy and Sacha

Esther gets a doll - thanks to the Ford family

Josh gets car - thanks Mum

New dresses for Esther - thanks Liz, Amy and Sacha

It was so wonderful to see how happy they were and how much they appreciated their gifts. It’s great to see that they have some toys to play with (Esther’s first ever doll, and who knows but maybe the first toy of her own) and also some more clothes to wear.

A baby carrier for Angelique to carry Queen - thanks Han

Angelique was thrilled and baby Queen seemed to like it too

So happy

Josh putting his new lego together

Esther's doll goes everywhere with her

A fun day! We’re now busy working again with HDI and Orphans of Rwanda, enjoying the sun and this beautiful country and the community of friends we have built here.

Today we are leaving for Christmas. John will spend four days in the UK and then fly out to the USA for Brandon’s wedding and I will stay for Kirsty’s wedding. We will then meet for New years in the USA and for our first wedding anniversary (which we will spend skiing and relaxing). Then it’s off to Spokane for January to spend some time with John’s family. Back to the UK at the end of January for the birth of Han and Jk’s second (baby Eliza)!

We are very excited about the trip and to see family and friends. It will be a wonderful break.

A while ago John and I accompanied Rob to the village of Bwiza, a community of potters, to see his work there. Rob was over from the USA to work with HDI installing a better way for the villagers to secure water.  The Community of Potters (COP) is an indigenous, minority population of 8,400 in Rwanda.  In 1998 they were driven from their traditional way of life in Nyungwe by the creation of a national park, and from the Parc des Volcans by the creation of a sanctuary for the mountain gorillas. The village of Bwiza is a community of 120 of this group and HDI has a large project working with this village to improve life in a number of different areas. This trip was about water.

One of the families outside their home

For the villagers, who live on the mountainside, it is a long and steep walk to get water  – a trip they take three times a day, scooping water with a cup from the tiny source. Rob came and installed a water collection method, slightly downhill from the water source to make collection faster and the water a little cleaner.

We were joined by many on our journey to the water source

Rob showing John the new water source

Finishing off

It worked and we celebrated (in a rain storm) and then we went to spend some time with the villagers. A good day!

A two year old little girl

Kids from the village

Kigali branch young women

About two months ago at Church I was called to serve as Young Women president for the branch (which means I am in charge of teaching and planning fun activities for the 12-18 yr old girls). it’s the first time Rwanda has had a young womens programme so it’s very exciting to get it started. The girls are great – so much energy, and they love having something at Church especially for them.  The numbers grow every week as each girl brings friends and they in turn bring friends too.

Making treats

At the moment the branch meets in a hotel while a building is being constructed so there is no room for us to have our own class on a Sunday. We meet on a Thursday night in our home and have a short lesson and do a fun activity. So far we have decorated t-shirts, made pancakes (that was a new one for the girls), face masks, played games, made peppermint creams…. there is lots more fun planned for when I return too, including teaching the girls how to swim!

We currently have four people staying with us. Two Drs from the US (one for one month and one for two weeks) and two more permanent lodgers, Jamie and Monique. They are great housemates and we have a lot of fun.

Monique and Jamie - attempting to make peanut butter in the back yard

When we first moved in and realised we had 5 rooms at the back of the house we wondered how we could best use them. Usually the house keeper, gardener and gate keeper would live there but we don’t have a gate keeper (Kigali is very safe), do our own gardening, and Florence already has a house and lives with her daughter and grandmother. John wanted to find someone in need, ideally a single mother……and that’s exactly what he did!

At Church one Sunday a friend asked us if we knew anyone who was hiring a housekeeper. Angelique and her three kids were struggling to make ends meet and she badly needed a job. We found her a job with the help of the Branch President (someone who was working at the embassy needed a housekeeper) and offered her the rooms at the back of the house. I cannot describe her gratitude – she cried and told us she prayed and knew God would help her and he had. We later learned that she was going to give up her three month old baby girl for adoption because she couldn’t afford to keep her. After a lot of cleaning Angelique and her three children moved in last Friday.

Cleaning

Angelique’s expresses her gratitude to us every day and has now started work. We love having them with us (and our lodgers do too). Hers is an amazing story and I am learning so much from her and from having her family with us. If you see me, ask me about it.

HDI finally has the van….. the new mobile clinic! John is a happy man – he has been spending a lot of time negotiating for the van and on the mobile clinic project.

The van - the new mobile clinic

It was perfect timing because we have two Drs visiting from the US at the moment (staying with us) and they have been able to go on a number of rural clinic visits.

The following day was also the first of a two-day training course for midwives held at Nyamata hospital, the only hospital that serves Bugasera district with a population of 300,000. During some of the training I met with the director of the hospital to learn about their needs and to plan to write some grants for them. The hospital is doing a good job but with limited funds and resources and a huge population to serve it is struggling.

Meanwhile the training was a success. 19 midwives attended from hospitals all over Rwanda and the training covered family planning complications,  difficult deliveries and neonatal resuscitation.

Dr Dan (HDI) demonstrating a breech delivery

Practicing neonatal resuscitation

Demonstrating deliveries (with Nadja as the prop)

More practice

The feedback and evaluation from the training was excellent. Midwives in Rwanda, once trained, receive no further training, so it was great to be able to bring them up to date with new proven methods and techniques with the aim to improve maternal and infant mortality rates.

John and I also learned a lot…. including that we don’t want to have a baby in Rwanda!

Yesterday was a wonderful day. The branch had six baptisms! Because the Church is so new and just becoming fully established the Branch President has been asked not to baptize anyone until all the structures are in place…. unless they really ask (beg)! Many of the people that attend Church on a Sunday have been attending faithfully every week for many months and sometimes years and have a strong desire to be baptized. A couple of months ago 10 were baptized and yesterday 6 more, most of whom have been waiting patiently for a long time.

Marene and Christine dressed and ready

We all went to Lake Muhazi, a lake about 40 minutes outside Kigali. It was a stunning setting and there was an exciting yet reverent atmosphere. We held the service by the water and John conducted the meeting.

All ready

The baptisms were wonderful and all that were baptised came out of the water so happy.

Rogers baptising Christine

Titus and Marene

Titus and his wife, Marene, were both baptised. Titus had been attending faithfully for almost a year and was previosuly a pastor of an Anglican congregation. He waited patiently for many months to be baptised.

The next day on Sunday was testimony meeting and all baptised were confirmed members of the Church and bore strong testimony. It was a great weekend.

As most of you know John and I are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church is very new in Rwanda and the one branch has grown from 6 to around 60 in the last two years. It’s very exciting for us to be here and to serve in the branch while it is so young. There is a church building being built and we hope to get missionaries in Rwanda soon too!

Last Monday we held a Family Home Evening meeting for the branch. We didn’t expect quite so many to come (about 45) but it was a lot of fun. We split into teams and acted out stories from the Bible and Book of Mormon and had a judging panel.

The members that came for Family Home Evening

For the treat we roasted marshmallows on the BBQ that John built for Thanksgiving. I don’t think anyone had seen marshmallows before and so it took some explaining.

Explaining how to roast marshmallows

It was a big hit! The kids loved it especially and it was a good job we had a big bag.

Roasting the marshmallows

Thanksgiving arrived and we wondered what to cook without an oven. For John the answer was simple – we build a BBQ – and we did! With a pile of bricks that happened to be stacked in the corner of our back yard and  some wire mesh we secured from the market we were away.

John built a BBQ

The usual market shop for food for dinner brought with it the usual fun. John is a kid magnet here, they love him and his sunglasses and we always have a lot of fun.

Kids at the market

For dinner we cooked mashed potatoes (both standard and sweet), green beans with onion, and a great gravy. On the BBQ John cooked a chicken (no turkey for us this year – they import them especially for the US ex-pats and charge about $100 per turkey), carrots with rosemary and pineapple – yum.

It worked a treat!

We had Lauri and the boys, who were staying with us, Eddy and Nadya, Dan and Kate and for many it was their first thanksgiving.

Rach's first attempt at cooking Thanksgiving

Kate made dessert – a chocolate delight and a really nice treat because we don’t usually have dessert here. A fun evening and a delicious meal!

The gang after dessert

John is proving to be far handier than he thought and being here in Rwanda is teaching us many skills we may otherwise not have learned.