Living in Rwanda Part 1

 It is a rainy Sunday morning. I just got back from church, and thought I would catch up on some of the things that happened this week and give you some more insight into living in Rwanda.

I met with the contractor, Haki Construction, on Friday to discuss the progress on the Chicken Houses, and they are progressing very well. We should be ready to place our first group of chicks in March. But this is the boring stuff for most folks. I know that you would prefer to hear about the daily ins and outs of living in Musanze, so I think I will write about one of my favorite subjects - food.

If you are looking for fresh vegetables and fruit the main market in Musanze is the place to go. There are rows and rows of fresh beans, bananas, pineapples, mangos, tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers… you get the picture. All of these items are available at a very reasonable, and in some cases, very cheap cost. As an example a fresh pineapple costs about $0.40 to $0.50. I bet you can’t find a deal like that at Kroger. However, the market does play with American sensibilities. It is usually crowded, and since the people selling are local farmers they do not speak English. While I would not classify the smell as offensive, it is very different than what most of Americans are accustom to in a farmers' market. I would advise staying away from the meat area. Think open air without refrigeration and you may get the picture. While we do go to the market and prepare some meals at the house, we have not been able to establish a good routine. I usually have coffee and yogurt for breakfast and a peanut butter and banana sandwich (thank you Elvis) for lunch, then go to one of the hotels for supper if we don’t cook. The hotels have very good menus and are very reasonably priced. Spaghetti will cost about $4 to $5 and a ham sandwich with French fries and a salad is $4.35 at one of the hotels. The fish is good along with the goat (hey I like the grilled goat) and beef, but I would advise staying away from the chicken. I have had chicken more than once and it has been as tough as leather every time. I wish there was some way to get Gus’s fried chicken shipped here from Memphis.

I did go to church this morning, and since it was raining attendance was down. I guess it was down - at least it was less than the two previous Sundays. I think I have said before that the service is a unique blend running from liturgical to slightly charismatic. I really enjoy all parts of the service and can connect with much of the liturgy because of my studies in church history. The music would be classified as contemporary if we were in America with many of the arrangements having a definite Mo-Town or jazz feel. We had communion today and it was somewhat different than what I have experienced in the Baptist Church. We heard the familiar scriptures about Jesus taking the bread and the cup, but then went down front to receive the bread and the wine. (Yes, Baptists it was real wine) It was not done with a common cup like you might picture in a liturgical church, but with individual small plastic cups. Overall it was a great experience and a memory that I will take with me when I leave Rwanda.

My week ahead seems to be filling up. I have meetings with Haki Construction, design on the water system at Sonrise, and possible meetings with the maintenance staff at Sonrise to see what building problems they have and where I can help them. I have also become the unofficial coordinator for the Baylor engineering team that is working on water purification for the Sonrise Schools.

Thanks again for you prayers, e-mails, Facebook posts, and blog comments. They all mean a lot to me.


Isaiah 58:12 - Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.