Sense of Hope in Rwanda

I saw smiles on children's faces that made my heart to jump with joy. What I noticed the most during this visit was a "Sense of Hope" in the air in Rwanda. People are busy going places, with the sense of purpose. Children are becoming children again, they play silly to each other and they giggle all the time to mujungus. I saw more kids are carrying a book bag, in stead of carrying yellow plastic water jug on their head. I saw new buildings are going up everywhere; homes, hospitals, schools are built. The country of Rwanda turned the corner in recent years for better, in my earlier visits, the word I heard often was "We are poor", but I don't hear that word that often this time. I heard the words, "We can do" from the lips of my friends. I pulled out a few old pictures of children which I took in 2002 in Butare, and I put them in this slide show to see the changes in the children's faces. How good to see people's lives are getting better.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Prayers

I am so touched by my brothers and sisters in Africa. They pray, pray, pray. How do we know God's will in our lives? Here it is.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

At 5:30 in the morning, what do you do?

When I am in Africa, I attend the daily devotional meeting which happens at the CASA house where I stay. Around 5 am, still dark outside, I hear the CASA house gate opens, and see Jack takes white plastic chairs out from the living room to the yard. Then soon, mamas and kids enter the gate. These are poorest of poor people in Butare. Most of mamas are widows and some of these kids are orphans. These children often went to bed hungry the night before. And yet, they get up early, walk the dirt road in bare feet, in dark, to get here. They give thanks to God that they are alive for the day. They pray, they sing, they are grateful for each other. Whenever I see the way they express their gratitude to God, I am so humbled by them. I am reminded by them that true joy comes from grateful hearts, not from things we possess.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

NUR Faculty Seminar

Paul Kim from Stanford, Debbie from Multinomah University, and I taught faculty members at NUR. Paul shared mLearning (mobile learning), and Debbie shared cooperative learning and I taught different ways of using web 2.0 applications.

Professors are eager to learn, but the computers in the faculty lab didn't work well. As always, I am happy to share what I know with my friends in Africa. This year seminar was great, we had three excellent presenters who volunteered to go to Africa and provide this seminar. Each of us paid our own ways to get there, and put our hearts into the presentations.

Flock Browser

New Year's Eve and Lighthouse building site

I am back from from Rwanda. I will put photos and slides to share what we (nine volunteers from US) did in Rwanda from Dec. 30, 2008 to Jan 15th, 2009.

We attended an all night service at a local church. Hundreds people attended the service, and they stayed up all night, singing, giving testimonies, reading the words, more singing. Went on all night. We did many different project: construction, teaching, conference, playing with kids, visiting homes, etc.

Here is how we spent on New Year's Eve, and laying the foundation for the Lighthouse on Jan. 1st, 2009.

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Almost Done

This is our third week in Butare. We completed Student Conference which is the main program for this year. Students from Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, and Burundi came. This year's conference theme was "Building your church, building your nation". Also, they gathered in the evening, and the evening theam was "The Call". Rob, Cody, Debbi, and Chris were main speakers for theThis is our third week in Butare. We completed Student Conference which is the main program for this year. Students from Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, and Burundi came. This year's conference theme was "Building your church, building your nation". Also, they gathered in the evening, and the evening theam was "The Call". Rob, Cody, Debbi, and Chris were main speakers for the evening session. Students met 8 am to 5 p.m for the main conference, Chris taught "Building your church and Building you nation", and Rob and Cody taught "Spiritual gifts", and African speakers encouraged students as well.

Debbi, Paul, and I conducted a four-day long seminar for NUR faculty members. Fifteen faculty members attended the seminar, they are so eager to learn about teaching and learning with technology. The evaluation of the seminar indicated that they learned a lot, and we motivated them.

Students from other countries really enjoyed the conference, and also visit to the National Museum.

Now, it is in our third week. There are two more seminars left for our team to conduct; one for the pastors, and another for the pastors’ wives. Paul Kim and Grace Kim are going back to US tomorrow and they will stay one night in Kigali. Amon will pick them up and show him his school and also introduces Paul to important people who make decisions for the country of Rwanda.

Chris and Cody went to Congo to encourage people there, and they will come back tonight. Debbi, Tabitha, and I visited morning devotion mamas' houses this morning.

In Butare, Rwanda

I am done with the NUR faculty seminar, and we are relaxing now. The seminar was successful, professors really like to learn about Web 2.0 applications and teaching strategies. Debbie presented "cooperative learning strategies", Paul presented "eportofolio", and I presented "emerging technologies in education". We had network problem all the time.

Chris went to Congo with Cody. At the last minute, we decide NOT to go to Congo because of the situation in Congo. The rest of the team is relaxing. I am teaching Joanne how to use computer, she created her first blog. Here is her blog site,

We are doning fine

We arrived in Butare Rwnada on Dec. 30th, and had a wonderful worship service at the Pastor Paul's church. It was an all night service; praising, giving testimonies, reading the Words, and preaching. I can't believe several hundreds came to the service, and they stayed up all night. Here are some photos of our activities so far. We, nine of us, are at the Pastor Paul's house for a dinner before the New Year's Eve service. We worked on the consturction site, the future Lighthouse. There are 44 holes for 44 pillars. We also worked with kids at the CASA house. Paul Kim broung little computer game device, and children are amazed with the little thing can do. Tabatha, Cody, and Grace worked with children; playing games, coloring, singing songs in English, playing tatter ball. You also will see what we eat. Jack, the CASA night watchman is holding a cute chicken which soon to be on our dinner table. Internet connection is really slow here.

Dancing at 2 am

Pastor Rob, Lelia, and Grace joined dancers on the stage. They are dancing at 2 am at the all night service on the New Year's Eve service.

 

Dream Team -- 2009

 

Nine of us are posing at the Pastor Paul's house after the dinner. The following activites will be taking place next two weeks.

1. Pan African International Student Conference -- Christian students from Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Burundi will come and share their hearts for Jesus. The CASA is sponsoring the conference, and Chris, Cody, Rob will be involved with the conference

2. National Unversity of Rwanda Faculty Seminar -- Paul Kim, Debbie Miller, and I will be involved with the faculty development seminar. We will focus on technology and instructional strategies.

3. Children's Ministry -- Tabitha, Cody, and Grace are in charge of children's program.

4. Morning Devotion -- Children and widows come to the CASA house at 5:30 in the morning and start the day with praise and prayers.

5. Evening Rally -- Chris, Debbie, Rob, and Cody will preach and teach. The theme for this year is "The CAll"

6. Women's seminar -- Debbie is in charge of the women's seminar, and she will teach on "Prayers"
7 Pastors' seminar -- Rob and Cody will teach

8. Villiage ministry -- The team will visit country side churches, and encourage local pastors. We will also play with children.

9. Visitation ministry -- We will visit widows' homes and pray for them

10. Construction work -- We will work a few hours at the future Lighthouse construction site