Merry Christmas Eve with a continuation from Rwanda.

It has been four months today since I was in Africa; one hundred and twenty two days since I set foot on that beautiful soil. And I miss it. My heart aches when I go through my pictures or think over wonderful memories. I feel so lucky to have had the experiences I did and I long for more (no surprise there!).

I've wanted to write since the day I arrived home. Life gets busy way too quick and things are put off... and put off... My mind also had to adjust, to make some sense of the past six months. Sometimes I sit down to write about my trip or go through photos and I get too overwhelmed and emotional. That sounds silly, but it's the honest truth. In any case, forgive me and please read on. There are stories I must tell.

I think I have mentioned the Shimwa preschool run by The River previously. Jackie and James have started this school in an area where parents can’t normally afford to send their children to school. The school has two wonderful teachers. These teachers are volunteers at the moment. They love these kids so much that they teach them without any compensation (but The River hopes to compensate them financially in the near future).

Shimwa teachers

The second semester of Shimwa preschool finished while I was in Rwanda and I was able to attend their last day of classes. The kids all got up one by one and sang English songs to show the parents in attendance what they had learned. They don't speak any English so it was so funny and cute the way they pronounced words - wannn, toooo, treeee, forrre, fyyyeeevve, siggis, and so on. Preschool in Rwanda is quite structured and is different from what we picture as preschool but the kids feel very special and important to be attending. Thanks to a donation from a friend of mine in Canada, we were able to put together a little end of semester treat bag for each child and pay up the rent on the school building for the whole next semester!

Update: Shimwa finished their third semester and begins again in January.

One day that week, Jackie and I went to the market to get some toothpaste for our family. The little market stall where we usually buy supplies was out of the smallest size of toothpaste (travel sized tube). I asked how much for the normal sized tube and it ended up being a better deal than the small so I bought one of those for each of our family kids. They also needed lotion and so, again a better deal, we bought the bigger sized bottles. Jackie told me as we were buying this stuff, "You don’t know how the kids will react to this, it will be so special to them". I didn’t really get why? So, we got home, gathered the family into the living room and had them close their eyes. I set each of their full size body lotion and toothpaste tubes in front of them. On the count of three they opened their eyes. Then come screams of delight, laughter and a bombardment of hugs for me. They have never had their very own full sized toiletries before and were SO thankful to have something all their own. Can you imagine?

As I am reading back in my journal in order to write this, I am overwhelmed. Things that I wrote one sentence about back in July seem to have infinite meaning to me now in this country, completely foreign to most Rwandans, which I call home. I wish I could share each and every moment with you. The boredom, the frustration, the elation, the joy, the tears, the smiles, the incredible blessing of being able to help in some small way, the cultural beauty and difficulties, the 'celebrity' like attention, the incredible hardships some suffer and the shared hope for a better future.

I don’t have any more answers now, probably just more questions. But it is settled in my heart that I am changed. God changed my heart even more in Africa. I don’t know exactly what I'll do with my life or how I will do it. I’m thankful that He knows what the future holds and has a plan for me.

And if I have a prayer this holiday season, it’s that every person on this planet would know the unfailing love of the Father and see the results of His love in a tangible way. That we might gain more perspective and world view, might give a little more and ‘need’ a little less, that we wouldn’t feel guilty with what we have but instead feel so blessed that it overflows and overflows and overflows!

A very Merry Christmas to you!


Shimwa Preschool

James with one of the students

James and Jackie Nirere

Getting toothpaste and lotion

Liam too!

Food and Thoughts

Oh Canada. A place where endless choice exists when it comes to food. We have global variety available at the grocery store for reasonable prices. We have too many good restaurants to choose from. We have fast food, frozen food, junk food and fresh food. We are usually able to eat what we want, when we want. As you might have guessed, that isn’t exactly the case in Rwanda. Jackie has said to me many times, “we don’t eat what we want, we eat what we have.” And at first, I didn’t fully comprehend the difference between the two.

Breakfast for my Rwandan family is maize porridge. I eat the maize porridge most days, but sometimes I get oatmeal. Yesterday I got oatmeal, and to be honest, it was a struggle to eat it. This morning, the thought of oatmeal or maize porridge made my stomach turn. Even though I didn’t want to, I had to refuse the porridge and ask for something different.

My brothers and sisters here seem to have no problem with the porridge every morning. Today Jackie asked Frank, “Do you like eating maize porridge every morning?” to which he responded, “I wish we had it every morning!” He was half joking, but I know there have been times when they couldn’t afford breakfast.

A short time later, with a delicious omelet in front of me, I broke down. I cried because I felt unworthy of the privilege of having a choice. I cried because I thought about people here who feel like I do, but don’t have a choice. I cried because every day I see my family here eat porridge and they don’t have a choice. I cried because I understood a bit more of what it means to “eat what you have, not what you want.”

My yummy omelet

Lunch consists of a carbohydrate (rice, plantain, maize) and sauce with a few veggies. They usually make me extra vegetables, sweet potato or something else special.

Plantain & Veggies

Dinner might be rice or plantain (sometimes both), bugali (a carb made from cassava flour), along with cabbage and a few veggies in a peanut or tomato sauce, or even rice and beans with a few veggies thrown in. I am certain I am the only one who gets more than one serving of vegetables per day. Their plates are usually just filled with rice or bugali and topped with a little sauce. They also give me the most fruit and will consistently ask me what else they can make for me.

Their typical plate

And, to be honest, I’m still struggling with the food. It isn’t that it tastes bad - the avocado and passion fruit are the best I’ve ever tasted! I just miss the variety I am used to and having meat on a daily basis (a luxury not afforded for this family). Since I have been here, they have eaten goat a couple times (I couldn’t stomach it) and we have had beef a couple times as well. Oh, and we had one of our turkeys butchered for Liam’s birthday over a month ago. I didn’t have any though; I knew it was such a special thing so I wanted them and their guests to eat it.

Passion fruit

Avocado fresh off the tree

Jackie told me she didn’t even realize that some people “eat what they want” until she spent some time in America. She was twenty-something before someone asked her what she wanted to eat. She had never been given that choice before - something we take completely for granted. Again I am humbled by the privilege of my life.

In Kigali there is one decent size grocery store that imports food from all over the world. There is decent variety and choice, but many people will never shop here. One pound of butter from Ireland is $8.00; a large bag of marshmallows from Spain is $23.00; one box of Rice Krispies cereal - $11.00; you get the idea. For many Rwandans, especially those living on less than $2.00 per day, these goods are completely out of reach. They eat what is available to them at an affordable price - typically the foods I described above and not much else. They don’t have a choice if they want to survive.

Beans and maize

I can ‘tough it out’ for two more weeks here. And I could just buy all my own food or eat out at restaurants more often. Things I want to eat are available to me. But I will do my best to eat what is served and let this teach me about the world I live in, you live in, we live in.

Please enjoy your next meal! We will enjoy ours – particularly because we know that some of our neighbors will go without.



Making Rice Krispie Squares over coals (Yes, I splurged and bought the $11 Rice Krispies and the $23 bag of marshmallows, worth every penny!)






A lucky day: omelet, cabbage & veggies, rice


Frank making cabbage


Jackie and I enjoying some maize roasted over the fire - a delicious treat!

Swimming, Hope:Rwanda and My Birthday

A couple weeks ago I took my Rwandan family out for the day to the swimming pool. The first time most of them had ever been to a pool was last year (they were taken by some friends of James and Jackie). This time, dear family friends of mine offered support so we could go. It was very special. Diama told me it made her so happy; she said she felt like a rich kid. The swimming pool isn’t expensive ($4 per person) but many families here can’t afford it.

Since the kids have been to the pool only a couple times in their lives (it was actually the first time ever for Delfina), they don’t know how to swim. But they really want to know how and begged me to teach them. I tried, but I’m no swim instructor. I barely made it through half the levels when I was younger. Yet, in their eyes I am a professional swimmer and might as well be in the Olympics. And until this day, I took for granted knowing how to swim.


Eric, Sylvan & Matthew



Eric learning to doggie paddle



Teaching James to float



Diama & little Eric in the kiddie pool



With little Eric








While at the pool for the day, we had a nice lunch of fish, potatoes, soda and veggies – the kids really enjoyed it since they rarely get to eat out. The day was an absolute pleasure, one they won’t soon forget.




Early last week I had the privilege of joining up with an Australian team of teachers who come each year and help out an organization called Hope:Rwanda. For two weeks they run conferences for Rwandan teachers, produce and distribute teaching materials, meet with government officials and support activities the organization is involved in year round. I had contacted Hope a few months ago to see if I could help them out with some photography. The team was a lot of fun and I enjoyed taking a few pictures for them. I was even able to tag along and photograph a meeting with the Rwanda Minister of Education! This organization is doing great things here.




And the other news this week is that I turned 27. I can’t believe it, but it’s true. Jackie’s brother Eric had been telling me for the past few days about a place nearby that he wanted to show me. We decided in the late afternoon on my birthday to walk there and Sylvan joined us. After about half an hour along dirt roads, passing school and homes, we came to this beautiful vista overlooking an open valley. There were big African trees and distant green hills; the familiar noises of daily Rwandan life had faded away. This is not the Rwanda I normally experience, so what a treat!


















Before I visit a new place, a new country, I have a picture in my head of how it will look and what it will be like. This picture I have is usually not how a place turns out to be; I think this is especially true in Africa. Yet, there are moments when the picture I had does meet up with what I’m now seeing, hearing and experiencing. The walk on my birthday was like that. This big open valley felt like Africa, the Africa I had thought, pictured, dreamed about.

















So back to my birthday… I went to an Italian restaurant with James & Jackie for pizza. Then, since we couldn’t take all the kids to dinner, we brought back some treats so we could celebrate with them. Pop, candy, popcorn and the movie Avatar made for a perfect evening. They sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me over and over, gave me homemade cards and giant hugs, and made me feel so loved. It was awesome.