D-Day
Saturday was D-Day.
Donuts. Day Program. Down time. Dinner.
I started the day with the Shelby’s at African Bagel Company. ABC typically specializes in bagels and awesome outdoor seating, but on Saturday mornings they also serve donuts, a novelty here.
Working on shapes and primary colors.
By 9:30am, we were at the Peace House for the boys’ Day Program, one of my favorite things I’ve participated in here. Right now 12 boys are living at the Peace House, but on Saturdays 15-20 additional guys gather in the backyard. Those guys live on the streets during the week. While at the Day Program, they meet in discipleship groups, can bathe, do laundry, and get a good meal.
Art at the Day Program.
Learning some English.
Saturday morning the Day Program guys rotated between stations - English, art, and taekwondo. My friend Louise, one of the missionaries here, is an artist and has been teaching art at the Day Program for a while. I helped her review shapes and colors with the boys. She did a great job talking about God’s creativity and reminding the guys that they are His best work of art.
My big goal was learning all the guys’ names, which is a challenge because there are so many and I’m not used to the French and Rwandan names. Albert. Antoine. Peter. Bosco. Everest. Diodonne. Jean-Something. Jean-Something II. Jean-Something III. Jean-Something IV. I’ve still got a long way to go!
The last couple of Saturday afternoons, I’ve tried to get out and about on my own. Both times I’ve ended up at Bourbon, a local coffeeshop, for some down time.
SoleLuna!
The Shelby’s and I ended the day with dinner at SoleLuna. One thing I love here is that most of the restaurants have open-air seating, usually with a great view. Sole Luna does not disappoint in that arena. They not only serve great pizza and lasagna, but they have one of my favorite views of the city.
Buying Fabric
I’m not sure how to paint a good mental image of the fabric market for you. I even tried to snap a few pics on the sly while I was there, but they just don’t do it justice. Imagine walking down a long hallway that has little rooms that open up here and there, each one packed floor to ceiling with fabric. Panels of folded fabric hang over every inch of the walls. Waist-high stacks of it that you have to maneuver around. Clotheslines of it hanging from the ceiling. Seriously, it’s everywhere.
It’s also overwhelming because the fabric is all “igitange,” the brightly colored and crazily patterned African fabrics. After about 10 minutes of trying to choose fabrics for new Peace House projects, I started to get cross-eyed and the 100s of patterns all started to look the same. Is there such a thing as being fabric-drunk? Because I think I was.
When it comes to buying something, you negotiate with the woman who appears to manage the “section” of fabric you’re choosing from. I’m terrible at negotiating! First of all, I struggle to even know what a good base price is. Secondly, I’m soft and will pay any price that they’re asking.
The fabric market really is a fun experience. And based upon the amount of fabric the girls and I used this past week, I’m going be headed there fairly often!
My New Friend Beatha
The first day I met Beatha, I noticed it was rare not to see her smiling. And, by the way, she has a great smile. I haven’t exchanged many words directly with her, but just by being in her presence it’s easy to get the sense of joy she has. Her face and eyes are so vibrant, as if she’s taking everything in for the first time. Beatha recently made a decision to follow Christ and was baptized, along with 2 other girls from Peace House.
Within the past week, I’ve learned a bit about Beatha’s life before she became involved with Peace House. When she gave birth to her daughter several years ago, Beatha had no place to live. Many of the nicer homes in Rwanda have an outdoor bathroom in addition to their indoor ones. I’ve only been in a few of the outdoor ones myself, but I can verify they are several steps below any port-a-john you’ve used in America. Beatha found a house that left their gate unlocked at night, and so she would sneak through into the yard with her baby and sleep in the outdoor bathroom. Beatha said that because the bathroom was unsanitary many nights, she would stand all night long just holding her daughter. Hoping to remain undiscovered, Beatha would sneak back out of the gate around 4 each morning. She felt it was safer for them to spend the night there than any place else she could find on the streets.
Last week Beatha told me that learning to sew has caused her to gain a lot of weight! Personally, I’ve been thinking that all the hand-sewing for hours every day was beginning to give me carpal tunnel, and the weight gain was coming more from the 4 potatoes I’ve been served daily at lunch! After getting some explanation, I understood that Beatha equates being successful with being overweight. Beatha knows that learning to sew has the potential to help her make more money than she ever has before, essentially making her the most successful she’s ever been.
She was very excited that she’ll be able to fix her daughters clothes on her own and sew on buttons. Currently, she’s been paying a seamstress friend to do those tasks for her. After our first day of sewing lessons, Beatha went straight to her seamstress friend’s house to show off the stitches she'd learned and to say proudly that she would never pay to have it done again. As she was telling me that story, the beautiful Beatha smile that I thought couldn’t get any bigger stretched even wider across her face and she was beaming!
I can barely believe the Beatha who spent those nights holding her baby in a bathroom is the same vibrant, joyous person I’ve recently come to know. She now has Hope. Not just because of what she’s learned, but because the Gospel has given her a new perspective on life and herself.
Broke out the instant camera today, which the Peace House ladies loved!
Some stats I've learned about the Peace House ladies since I've been here...
- Ages: 18-25
- Favorite snack: avocados we pick off the tree in the Peace House yard
- Favorite movie stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme & Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Favorite musicians: Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z, & Beyonce
- English word they try to say most often: "thread"
- Kinyarwanda word they tell me I say too much: "Nibgiza" which means "good"