Walkabout: June 2014

Grace Creche & Nursery School

A few photos from the new school I’m helping with. Such lovely ladies on the team!

Will & Hannah at School

The principal greets all the students and parents at the gate each morning.

’Teacher Meeting’ before school.

The school day begins.

A Few Moments From Mum’s Visit

ABOVE: Adeline did NOT want to be in a photo right then. But she took to Mum very quickly.
BELOW: In fact, she started having her nap on Mum’s bed, falling asleep while being read a pile of books.

ABOVE: Mum took Adeline over the road to visit her Rwandan Godmother.
BELOW: An after-school treat with Oma.

ABOVE LEFT: The girls with our watchman Nepo.
ABOVE RIGHT: Adeline insisted on trying to ‘help’ the carpenter who was fixing out curtain rails. She passed him all sorts of stuff he didn’t need at that moment.

BELOW: Watching a building in our street go up has been very interesting on walks to and from school each day. People carry concrete up to the top in old containers, on their heads.

ABOVE: We took mum to the local Chinese Restaurant for her birthday.
BELOW: Market shopping with Mum, Lou & Adeline.

BELOW: More after-school treats with Oma at the local ice-cream shop.

ABOVE: Painting pictures to go to Australia.
BELOW: Adeline loves playing with the gate.

BELOW: Mum & Felicite, who works at the new school with me. They have a lot in common.

Will’s (on-the-date) Birthday Celebration

Will opened his presents in the morning while Tim was around. Then he went off to school with lollypops for his class.

His best friends and their parents joined us after school for lunch. Will chose the menu: chips and hamburgers.

After working together to construct the birthday lego, the kids went outside to play with water and eat chocolate milk icypoles.

In the late afternoon Tim returned from Kigali with visitors for the night, and some other good friends (Will’s local surrogate grandparents) popped in and stayed for dinner too. Oma (my Mum) worked hard all afternoon to make delicious soup and pancakes. Happy 6th birthday William!

Sharing Kumbya with Mum turned into quite an adventure.

The kids, Mum and I headed off in the morning. Tim would come later in a friend’s car. The trip to the little-bit-of-paradise called Kumbya usually takes 3 hours. It’s also usually less eventful.

We were stopped for 20 minutes while school children crossed the road to attend a local annual genocide memorial service. Each institution and town holds theirs on their own chosen date.

As we passed through, we noticed how the refugee camp had grown. It covers several hilltops now. We also noticed the brand new classrooms (pictured below beside the soccer field), all with broken glass windows. It must be a tough place to live.

There were the usual pretty colours and impressive loads as people walked along the roadside. I often wonder how far they’re travelling as we zoom past.

As we entered the rainforest we were slowed by roadwork. Then it began to rain. The road became very slippery and we skidded off the side into the forest. Before we’d got out of the car a truck had stopped and the men in it came to help. After ten minutes we had four trucks and three car loads of people helping. We also witnessed several cars slipping on the same corner, and could see track marks in two places where other cards had recently gone off the road. Everyone agreed that God had been really good in that no people or even the car were hurt, and there was plenty of help at hand. We watched in surprise as the men rocked the car until it turned around and then used a chain to pull it back onto the road. Phew! I must say we drove particularly slowly through the rest of the forest.

We were thankful to stop for a tea/coffee break at a beautiful hotel in a tea plantation on the edge of the forest. Of course, after another 30 minutes on the windy roads giving the children hot chocolate didn’t seem like such a good idea after all. Vomit, everywhere.

And finally arrived after over four hours on the road. We were just in time to greet some other arrivals who live at a mission hospital 10 minutes from Kumbya.

We began to prepare for a double birthday party: Julie and William. We had dinner, cake and toasted marshmallows for desert.

Then ensued a great weekend of rest and relaxation. What to do? Eat, read, sleep, chat or swim? We began with breakfast, and Nick’s birthday presents (yes, another birthday).