We were SOOO glad that our dear friend Chuck could meet us in Africa!! We enjoyed a lot of great conversations together and also shared in some fun adventures!
Before taking off to the Serengeti, we took a sporadic trip out to Moshi, which sits at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. It was spectacular in both the evening light and at sunrise! It was great to be able to observe one of the amazing things God created!
We FINALLY departed towards Rwanda on Saturday (Feb 28th) afternoon. We drove out towards Ngorongoro Crater. After speaking with the park ranger, we decided that there would not be enough time to go through on that night, and the cheapest lodging was around $100 per person per night!! So we went to find lodging back in Karatu, the last village before the national parks. On the way back, we just happened to spot a small sign that read YWAM and we went in to check it out. A married couple from South Korea have set up and are running an outreach center. We spoke to them for some time and had concluded that they were not yet situated to accommodate overnight guests as many of the other YWAM bases do. We said that was fine and just wanted to see their facilities anyway.
They gave us a nice tour of the place, and it was huge!! The main auditorium could seat 500+ people! They also had a loft designated for a library and another loft designated for a cafe! Also it had about 6 lecture rooms and 2 other rooms elected for prayer. As she showed us the lecture rooms, she told us how they need English teachers and had been praying for people to partner with! Maybe it was NOT just shear coincidence that we happened to stumble upon that sign and that they happened to be praying for more workers! (If you feel like you could help there as well let us know!). God was definitely working there! She then said she felt compelled for us to stay, so she showed us the room she did have. It was amazing! It was more of an apartment style with a room with an en suite on each end and a kitchen/sitting room in the middle! It was perfect!
We stopped at a school and Chuck was able to give the teacher a soccer ball for the kids to share. The kids there were really excited and practically grabbed it out of Chuck’s hands!!
It has been interesting to see just what East african people think about "mzungus" (white man). They seem to have this perception that white people only want to eat at fancy restaurants or stay at the expensive hotels. That is not the case with us at all. It’s the opposite, in fact. So, when we go into local eateries, we sure get a lot of looks!! People seem to be a little surprised that us white people like to go where they eat and like to eat the same food. Sometimes it’s quite the spectacle! We went to a local place to see if they served food and they didn’t. When we came back the next day, the same man offered a place for Chuck to sit, and motioned another spot for “mudda” to sit. Yep. I guess that’s me! It’s kind of a term of respect here. And then as Craig was parking the vehicle, he asked, where’s the big one?
We went into town and stopped and saw Pastor Francis. He asked Craig if he wouldn’t mind sharing a short word the next day in church. Craig, of course, said sure. He didn’t know what he was in for!
So we went to church as our new friend David had invited us. It seems pretty common around East Africa, that if you are a visitor, you will be ushered to the front of the church, the VERY front of the church. As in sitting on the stage!!
Now Craig was prepared to share a bit, but as he was called up he asked the pastor just how long he wanted him to share. The pastor responded that somewhere in the range of 30-45 minutes would be good! That was not QUITE what Craig had in mind!! But, he did a great job, expanding on the text that he had picked out. Having it translated into Swahili also helped to stretch it out! They had a time of prayer and they also prayed for us. Apparently, someone thought we were trying to have kids and had not been successful, so they prayed for us to have babies!! Now, just to be clear, we DO want kids, in the future. But it hasn’t been something we’ve been earnestly praying for yet. Hopefully, God will remember those prayers when we are TRYING to get pregnant!
Chuck (or “Jacques” as he was introduced!) and I also shared briefly, and then we were ushered out of the church and into a room, where a beautiful lunch was waiting for us!! It was great to share a meal together! It’s so cool how we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what country we come from! Now seeing it turned into the afternoon, we once again didn’t have time to enter the parks. So one more night in Karatu.
Ngorongoro Crater
Monday, March 2nd, FINALLY had us cruising in Pole Poa (translated from Swahili- “slow cool”, as Chuck had named her!) through some amazing wildlife. We approached the rim of the crater and it was a sight to see! It’s a vast area, and there are numerous animals congregated inside! From the top, we could only make out the large lake, the hippo pools, and small specs of animals that were gathered together! Even the drive down into the crater was stunning as the flat-topped vivid green trees contrasted against the intense blue sky lined with pure white clouds. Wow, I LOVE the trees in Africa!
Inside the crater was absolutely amazing! We saw thousands of wildebeests and zebras roaming around freely or rolling in the dirt. There were families of wart hogs and we even spotted some rhinos a little further off in the distance. At the hippo pool, there were several hippos submerged in the water and splashing water on themselves to keep cool. Off to the left side of the pool was an elephant with large tusks also taking a dip. He lowered his trunk into the water and then splashed it onto his back! Slowly he raised his enormous body out of the pool, one large leg at a time. Each move was deliberate and precise. It was quite marvelous!
Serengeti National Park
The park was filled with much of the same types of animals. Here we also saw giraffes really close as well. We were driving as dusk had already begun. There were rock outcrops that had begun to appear in the plains and they were quite remarkable. As we were all contemplating this contrasting landscape, Chuck started to make noise from the back seat . It was incomprehensible. But as I looked in the direction he was pointing, I realized why! Two females lions were walking right towards us on the road! We slowed down and stopped to observe them, and they took no notice of us. They passed on our left side less then 2 meters away, and crossed into the field. One even stopped to scratch her face with her paw! It was astonishing!
We drove on, each of us absorbed with our own thoughts as to what we had just witnessed. A short ways further, someone noticed there was an elephant on the side of the road, so we stopped to observe them. Soon, we realized there was not just one elephant, but there was about fifteen! It was quite a site to see, to have this opportunity to watch a large group of animals out in the wild. At this point, we got out of the vehicle, as the elephants were pretty content and were a good distance from us. It was dusk and there was that stillness in the air that only comes about at that time of day. One small elephant came towards us on the road, and by the way it stumbled, it must have still been pretty young. That group slowly crossed the road in front of us and moved on.
As we looked our right, we noticed a few more elephants. But on a closer look, it was ANOTHER group of almost fifteen elephants! It was incredible! They were a mix of mothers and babies. One with large tusks took notice of us, raised her trunk, loudly trumpeted and even took a few steps towards us! I jumped in the vehicle and the guys moved further behind it! She seemed content that we backed off, and the group slowly passed in front of us. There’s nothing quite like watching a sizable group of large animals as they roam free in the vast expanse that is the Serengeti. We also saw quite a few large groups of giraffes.
We carried on driving on as the light continued to fade. About 30 minutes later, it was completely dark, and we had to stop for a large animal on the road in front of us. On a second look, we realized we almost ran into a big hippo! What a day! After spending the night in a hostel, in the middle of the Serengeti, we got up for another full day of driving. We continued to see animals in large numbers. At one point we thought we had seen a couple of lions just off the road. We turned around and went 4x4ing a bit, and sure enough, a male and a female lion laying in the grass. We drove to within about 20m and at that point the male lion started to crouch in an aggressive manner. We then stopped realizing we were close enough. We continued on, and eventually made it Mwanza, the main Tanzanian port city on lake Victoria. After a wonderful 4:30 wakeup from the mosque next door, we started the rest of the way back to Rwanda. We managed to speed our way to the border and makeit for the 6 pm closing time. The roads in Tanzania are really hit or miss; they mostly switch between really nice tarmac and just plain dirt roads, with the latter being the large majority. In our travels across east Africa, the average speed we traveled was around 40 km\h! On good highways you can go as fast as 80 km but any faster and you are really pushing your luck, especially with all the people who walk on the road. Got to www.flickr.com/photos/crftravels/ for more photos and some videos!
We made it back to Rwanda safe and sound and settled back into life here… for a little while. The three of us toured around the city a bit, going to the major points of interest, like the Hotel de Milles Collines (Hotel Rwanda), and the handicraft market. We also paid our respects at the Genocide Memorials, which is really quite difficult, but necessary if one wants to understand the history of this nation.
On Sunday, we attended church with a friend of mine. The service was all in Kinyarwanda, but they had provided 2 translators for us. We came in during the singing, which is a lot different from back home. Group singing is typically upwards of 40 minutes. I liked the songs in this church because there were a couple of songs that were old hymns, so I was able to sing along in English. It’s pretty active, with almost all the kids dancing, a lot of clapping and a lot of random percussion. It was nice to attend church with the local service, but in the end, it went on for more then 5 hours! It’s a little tough sometimes to understand things even through a translator, and I think that after 3 hours, your brain just doesn’t comprehend so well! We DID enjoy it though!
The final week of Chuck’s stay, we cruised around the countryside of Rwanda. We went to a few different places; Butare, Kibuye, Gisenyi, and Musanze. All of these places are just stunning, and the drive between all of them is just as beautiful! The striking scenery that God has created here constantly amazed us.
On the last full day of Chuck’s stay, we tried to arrange for some traditional dancers to perform for us. Being wedding season in Kigali, it was a little difficult to find a troupe that was available. We contacted a friend of ours, and she actually knew of some people who would be able to perform. Seeing Chuck was leaving the next day, and it was both his & my (Ruthie’s) birthdays next week, we thought it was a great time for a party!
Saturday evening rolls around, and it’s just the 3 of us, so we’re beginning to think that we will be the only ones there! But we’re in Africa, so sooner or later, people will come! We had called almost all of the Rwandese people we had met in the 2 months we had been here and almost all of them showed up! The dancers and singers did a superb job! Fantas and snacks were enjoyed by all!! It was kind of fun to bring all of our random friends together and also introduce them to on another. One of the guys had a guitar and as we were visiting after the performance, he was playing. It was cool because it spontaneously became a time of worship!
Our friend told us later that our wanting to hire some dancers was actually an answer to prayer! When we had called her on Friday night, she was actually at one of the dancers houses and trying to convince the landlord not to kick him out. We were just wanted to watch some traditional dancing, but it turns out that because that one particular guy could perform, he would now have money to pay his rent.
I also really enjoyed playing hostess and walking people out. It’s kind of just what they do here. As your guest leaves, you walk them to the bus stand or to the place where they can catch a motorbike taxi. Somehow, as I walked with people out, it just felt right. I realize that’s not very profound, but that’s the best that I can describe it right now.
Well the last few weeks have been of re-adjustment again. We had put a lot of our thoughts and planning into the time when chuck was here, and our now starting over again. Well not completely starting over as we have connected with people from Ywam. We also know a bunch of friends of friends who are working on the base as well. Because the project we originally came out here to help is somewhat on hold, we have been looking for other areas to help out in. We now have moved out to the Ywam base here in Kigali. We were well taken care of at the guesthouse we stayed, but this will be a good change as we can help here and they also cook 3 good meals a day! So for the next while we plan to mostly stay put and help out with some of the different ministries here. And some much needed plumbing help of course! So the natural questions that come up, like, what are you doing here? How long are you staying? Aren’t exactly answered but we are working on them I guess. We probably will head to Goma (democratic republic of Congo) for a couple days this week, and then to Burundi later on, for a short time as well.
Next week is the main genocide memorial week. Officially it is only one week, but unofficially maybe a month or more as people grieve and continue to deal with what happened. It is a real difficult time for the whole country on an individual and corporate level. Please remember us but especially those here that have gone through such terrible experiences. Many relive the trauma over again.
It’s hard to believe it’s now almost April, and we have been gone over 9 months! We really don’t know where the time has gone, but we feel very blessed to have been able to go to all the places we have gone to. Feel free to email, skype or even call we always look forward to hearing from old and new friends!
