Vacation Bible School

Our church is going to have a VBS from Sunday, July 29 to August 2nd. I am a head coach for preteens, and studying the material like I am studying for a bar exam. Now I know that it is not fun or easy to follow someone else's lesson plan. This year theme is about How Heros are Made.
More info is here:
LifeWay's VBS -- Game Day Central

2007 Summer Mission Photos

As soon as we got back from Africa on July 14th, Chris started organizing photos and editing videos to put on the internet. He sent out the following e-mail to friends yesterday. If you didn't see the photos, here is the link you can go and check out photos and videos..

**Chris' e-mail
Dear friends of Come and See Africa,

I have finally posted all the pictures of our Mission 2007. It was a challenge because there were 4 people taking lots of pictures (344 posted). I hope to fill in some narrative at future date. If you have a slow internet connection, it may take some time for you to see all the pictures.

http://comeandseeafrica.org/pastmissions/mission2007/index.htm

Chris A. Foreman
Come and See Africa Intl.

God has made a way

In Rwanda, a piece of land doesn't belong to an individual. When you buy a plot to build your house, you are actually paying for a title to use the land. We were looking to buy a piece of vacant land right next to the front gate of the university. Last summer, the owner said that the price for the plot is 10 million francs (about $20,000 USD). A friend of ours who shared the CASA vision gave money to buy the land. The owner got greedier when he learned that a missionary wants to buy his land. He raise the price to 30 million francs (about $60,000). We decide not to buy it. We believe that God has a place for us to build His house, so we waited on. When we were in Butare this summer, we found a piece of plot that is perfect for us. It is about 500 steps away from the back gate of the National University of Rwanda, and has a nice view of the university forest. This land has an interesting story. Here is the plot which the CASA is buying. Click the picture to view the plot.




Here is Chris' e-mail to the donor about the land.

Dear friend,

Your generosity has born fruit in Rwanda. As you can read below, CASA has just purchased property in Butare. In all honesty this plot of land is probably better suited for our purposes than the plot we looked at in January. We paid 8 million Rwandan Franks or about $16,000. We are using the money that you donated specifically for this purpose.

We are indeed blessed to have this land. Rwanda is a rock of stability in East Africa and land prices are rising quickly. The university plans to increase enrollment and this newly constructed "Christian Fellowship House" will be strategically situated at the university's back gate. I am posting pictures of the plot tomorrow and will send you a link to them.

The property has an interesting history which needed special handling. This plot once belonged to a president of Rwanda from the former racist government. The man was a professor at the NUR before being president and his personal home was on this plot. He went on to serve as president for only 3 months. At the conclusion of the genocide war, the patriotic army destroyed his house. The land has be vacant since then -- with a very small cinder block building in one corner.

Blessings, Chris

Giving Goats

We bought 10 goats and gave them to two orphans, two widows, and six Batwa families. Our church members gave me money to buy goats. One goat costs about $20. One goat for a poor family is a big thing. Goats will produce little baby goats for household income.

Village people are waiting anxiously for goats to appear. We didn't tell who is going to get a goat. It was a surprise.


We put the donor's name on each goat.


An orphan boy got the goat named Ken D. He is telling everyone saying that Immana (God) gave him a goat



These batwa family gave thanks to Immana and the CASA team with their dance.

What do we eat in Africa?

People ask me what kind of food we eat when we are in Africa. I tell them we eat well, too well. Every time I go there, I come home several pounds heavier. I eat lots of fried food. There is one menu for mujugus (it means "white people") I m not whitle, but they call anyone who is not local, they call mujungus. For breakfast, we eat fried egg, white bread, bananas, papayas, pineapples, passion fruits. For lunch which is the biggest meal, we eat rice, fried potatoes, mutoki (cooked or fried banana), a piece of beef or chicken. For dinner, the same thing we ate for the lunch. I eat much better and more when I am in Rwanda. All these great foods are prepared in this outdoor kitchen by Esprance.


And served in fancy pots. Lots of different dishes. Do you see a big dough like thing on the table, that is a traditional African food called "ugari" It is made from casaba roots. It is a lot like Korean dduk (rice cake) I wish every African family eat like this. But it is not. This is a meal for guests, and Africans are famous for their hospitality. They will go without food for themselves for a few days in order to treat their guests with a good meal.


When we are in Burundi, we cook for ourselves. Paul is preparing tea, Nate is making french toast for a breakfast.



The best fish I ever had was in Burundi. Here it is. Every time we go to Brundi, we go to a beach restaurant and eat fish caught from Lake Tanganyika. Chris is serving to us. I hope he washed his hands.

Global Citizens

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Originally uploaded by come and see africa

NUR is blessed with many talented professors. The talents are pulled from all over the world. Elena and Oleg are from Russia, and they teach physics and astronomy. Jose and Jahwar are from India. Some of these professors are from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya. And yours truly who is a Korean-American came to Butare from SF. Most of these professors speak three or four languages fluently. They are holding a certificate of completion of Web 2.0 workshop. Each of these professors are now have their own blog and their wiki site.

4th of July

Four of us celebrated 4th of July in Butare, Rwanda. We celebrated it as Independence Day, Rwandans celebrated it as Liberation Day.

Morning Glory

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Originally uploaded by come and see africa

These children get up at 5 am, and come for the morning devotion at CASA house. They sing and dance, and hear God's words before they go to school. Many of these children go to sleep without a dinner, and they go to school without a breakfast. And yet, they give thanks to God. Bless are the poor... This picture is taken at 6:30 am, right after the morning devotion.

What can you see when you are in Rwanda?

I have visited Rwanda eight times, and yet I have not seen any animals other than goats and chickens. Rwanda is famous for gorillas, and yet I have not seen one. You have to go to a special park to see it, and also it is quiet expensive to get into to the park. Chris was lucky to see a monkey on his way to Congo.



These two mujungus are enjoying goat meats they bought from a street vendor.

Visiting Burundi

We drove around about an hour to buy gas in Burundi. We paid over $10 for a gallon of gas.


A grocery store in Burundi. We bought goat meats and peanuts for lunch


Queen Leila and Pastor Chris


Spoke to students about January conference. The theme of Jan. conference is Joseph in Egypt, it is about leadership. There are 16 universities in Burundi, these students are leaders from each campus.

Photography.English.Bible.Techology Classes

Twenty students from NUR learned to use 35mm camera. Don collected 10 cameras from his church in Tiburon, and taught students.





Nate teaches English to children and youth.



Pastor Chris teaches NUR students about Christian Leadership


Professor Kim teaches NUR professors on Web 2.0


Last year, Prof. Singleton taught these students. They meet once a week and practice.

Building a house

Students and CASA team build a house for a widow. It took a week to build it, and it costed under $2K.

Praise and worship in Rwanda

Litte children and widows praise and worship at 5:30 am. University students gather at noon to praise and to worship. Instead of partying at night, students gather together from 10 p.m at the stadium, priase and worship.

Richest woman in Africa.

We had a house dedication for the widow with four children. Our team members and local people came out and built the house for the widow. After the completion of the house, we had a party. Students bought her 8 blue plastic cups and 2 plastic bins. The CASA bought her a large bag of beans and rice, and a mattress. Her church bought her a blanket, and many neighbors brought her tomatos, avocados, beans, and corns. Many neighbors participated in building her house, even little children carried water to the construction site. After finishing the house, everyone came to the site and celebrated. You have to be here to see her big smile.

Pastor Daive who was in charge of the house construction shares Words.













This is her new house with 3 rooms in side. She was happy about a door so she can lock up.











This is the kitchen. If you want to remodel your kitchen, here is some idea for your new kitchen.












This is latrine. Do you see the little hole between two bricks? Again, if you have an urge to remodel your bathroom, I can give you a tip. Just let me know.











She is standing in front of her new house with her mother who is in yellow top. The widow is wearing a t-shirt with words printed, "when you look to Jesus, everything look up". I am not sure if she was wearing the T-shirt intentionally. I doubt it. But it is so fitting.

This morning at the CASA devotion, she stood up and blow kisses to God. She said that she is the richest women in this country, she slept on her own mattress, she feels like she is a queen. She gave thanks to God then she blow more kisses to God. This house was built under $2000. She said, she is the most blessed woman in this country. She humbled me with her grateful attitudes.


NUR rector giving out certificates to the workshop participants. He is a dynamite leader who is decisive. He is the new president of this university.










After the ceremony, professors came to the CASA house for tea and coffee







The way to Burundi. These kids are getting a free ride.








Pastor Jeremy's family in Burundi. What a happy family. They have 8 children, three of them are adopted.








I stayed in Rwanda today. Chris left with Frank and Don to go to Congo. He will talk to university students about January conference. Burundi students were so excited about upcoming conference, they want to save bus fare to come to Rwanda. Our deal is that the CASA will provide lodging and food for 4 days and half of their transportation money. Even then many students can not come up with the money to attend the conference, especially those students who have to travel far. However, we want students learn to contribute, not just taking in. Robina informed us that about 300 to 400 students will attend the confernce. We want students to their part. We are talking about $5 to $10 of their bus fare.