Clementine’s First Birthday Party

Clementine works in our house, but she is really part of the family. Since the genocide, she doesn’t have any of her own. Tim had the idea a few months ago that we should celebrate Clementine’s birthday to show how much we value her. She was very excited by the idea, as she’d never had anyone celebrate it before. I had a feeling I knew the date without even asking. Like the many people here who don’t actually know when their birthday, hers is… the first of January. Half of Rwandans are about to officially turn a year older.

Clementine helped select the menu. She and I spent the afternoon cooking and cleaning, and thankfully the rain delayed the guests for long enough that we were actually ready when they began to arrive. She invited the people who have been important to her over the years. Two people travelled from Kigali, 2.5 hours away, for the occasion. 

It was a Rwandan party, so speeches were expected. Clementine shared a bible reading and how being with our family has impacted her life. She said she’s happier than she has been since before she lost her family all those years ago. It was very touching. Tim and I attempted to reply. The truth is, she is just as much a blessing to us as we are to her.

When it was time to cut the cake, Clementine walked slowly around the circle building suspense and grins as she decided who would help her cut the cake. In the end it was… her friend Noella.




My kids fell asleep, as they do in the middle of whatever is going on. Their friends partied on.



At Clementine’s friend William’s instigation we finished with a prayer. Then we started the walk home with people, as you do here when you are saying goodbye. Clementine was really happy. She grinned all evening, as she went off to bed, and appeared with one first thing the next morning.

Christmas 2013

A few pics from Christmas, which we spent at Kibogora on Lake Kivu with some very good friends; another missionary family from Butare. Clementine (who works in our house and is part of the family) came too. Rwanda is a strongly Christian country who heads for church on Christmas morning.

‘Twas the night before Christmas…


Fast asleep.

Christmas morning. Celebrating Jesus’ birthday began with remembering the gift He is to us, then sharing gifts with each other to reflect this. We opened gifts from family and Penny (a lovely lady who is a member of one of our supporting churches). Adeline does not care one dot that her gift from us (the walker below) has already belonged to our other two!





Our friends had organised a Catholic mass in French and invited us to join them. Tim was quite sick in bed, poor guy, but the rest of us (except Clementine, who understandably attended church in Kinyarwanda as that’s her only language) passed an enormous stream of people leaving the Kinyarwandan service at church as we arrived. You can see a small part of the stream above!

Kibogora is pretty rural. The ‘akazungu’ (little white kids) began to draw attention as soon as we got out of the car, and an old man promptly asked us for ‘a little Christmas gift’. I was reminded of how normal our presence is in our home town of Butare now, and felt very thankful that we now draw (relatively) little attention there. It can be a bit overwhelming. Especially for the kids.


We were taken to this lovely little chapel, which I suspect the priests in this order use for their own prayer times.


My kids were a handful during the service. At one point I was breastfeeding Adeline to keep her quiet with Hannah wriggling on my other knee and William standing beside badgering me in my ear about wanting to go. You can see the beginning of the mutiny here, before the service even began.

However, it was an important part of our celebration of the birth of our King. It’s pretty cool to think of the gathering of the worldwide church on this day, praising God en mass. It was very nice of the priest who led the service to help (at least most of those present) to celebrate this important day in a language they understand.

We were too busy enjoying lunch to take pics of that, so you’ll have to imagine how excited we were to have lamb, apple tart and French cheese. Merry Christmas everyone! He came. He is here with us. 

Adeline’s Official Village Welcome

We live in one of the dozen hospital houses which together form their own ‘village’, complete with chief. Last night our village visited us to formally welcome Adeline into the community. It was really lovely!

Adeline enjoying making people laugh by flipping backwards.

The guest of honour was soon in bed.

Of course, being a Rwandan welcoming, there had to be speeches. It was a nice one too.

Meanwhile, the kids were all playing in our kids’ bedroom, making quite a din. But we managed to hear.

And Tim’s response speech.

The ‘porridge’ for me, to give me good milk.

The porridge turned out to be a modern interpretation. A very cute outfit, baby biscuits and cooking bananas. Lovely.

Welcome baby Adeline!

A few pics from Lake Ruhondo

 

We spent the weekend at Lake Ruhondo, visiting the Foyee de Charitie, a catholic mission and retreat. It was a great time of refreshment, good food from their kitchen garden, beautiful views, and even a little peace for Tim and Catherine, now and then! The catholic sisters and father made us most welcome, and I attended morning prayer while Catherine made it to evensong. We felt very ministered to, and the surroundings were stunning.