Suffering in Rwanda

So many people here suffer from poverty, but those who suffer the brunt end of the stick in society are the handicapped, disabled, those with deformities, and children. It seems that every time we sit in the bus park waiting for the bus to fill, we hear a “tap tap” on the window and we turn to see a blind man with a shriveled hand asking for money. Or in town, children whose legs are curled under them, wearing scraggly clothing, drag themselves on the ground amidst the crowds of people, and wait for those who have compassion to give them money. But I wonder, where do these children live? What happened to their families? Who takes care of them?

 In Mexico one of the most touching experiences I had there was working with disabled children for 3 months. In Mexico (and it seems the same here) those who are handicapped have no future, they are not educated, and they are thought to have little value. Working with them showed me how God’s heart breaks for these special children, and how precious and valuable they are. At the mission we gave them hope for their future by educating them, washing them, feeding them, and showing them the greatest gift of all, the love of Jesus Christ.  I think it would be so amazing to somehow be able to touch the children’s lives here, although I feel so limited by time.

Pastor’s children are now on school break, so we have three added members to the house. The youngest is Patrick at 14 years, then Pauline at 16 years, and the oldest is Lillian at 17 years. I’m not sure where they will all sleep, since there is only one free room with two beds.  I believe they shall be here for the next two weeks, which will be fun. It is interesting how families interact differently here. They don’t show as much affection within the family, but ironically you always see men walking down the street holding hands, or women as a symbol of close friendship.

Oh, and Pastor calls us her children as well, and others refer to her as our mother. She is so great! It is so sweet, whenever we go to the store she’ll buy us our favorite foods: yogurt and chocolate bars.  And Auntie too is like our Rwandan mother. Auntie has such a servant’s heart and makes all the meals, except for the Thursday meals we make. We are definitely very well taken care of here.