Look, Touch, Speak

It is our third full day in Rwanda, and I can’t begin to explain how much being here is impacting me. It is a trip that is redefining my worldview and our role in how we take care of our brothers and sisters around the world. Breaking me in a very good way. 

Extreme poverty is real. When you see up close the poverty and terrible conditions that kids and entire families are living in, it breaks your heart. We have it so well in America. If you’ve been on an international trip to a third world country, you understand this. But if you haven’t, it is hard to understand. Incredible poverty and literally no temporal belongings, but incredible faith and hope in God and an ability to persevere and live day by day.

One of the things our group has been dialoguing about is the incredible faith that the kids and families we are meeting have. A faith in Jesus that truly guides them and is the only thing they have to stand on. For us in America, we don’t understand this. We have lots of belongings and temporal treasures that distract us from relying on God. Even for those who don’t have alot in America, we still have way more than most of the rest of the world. And it dilutes our faith. It causes us to rely on ourselves. It impedes our ability to know Jesus and rely on God for everything we need.  

Today we visited another project in the northern part of Rwanda. About 2 1/2 hour drive from Kigali, the nation’s capital. We were only around 15 miles from Uganda at this project site. Spent time with more kids, hearing them sing, watching them dance, and interacting with them with hugs, soccer, candy and lots of smiles. We also visited with a group of HIV AIDS victims who are being ministered to through a local group in this part of Rwanda named Friends of Jesus. They shared their stories with us, and we prayed with them and were impacted by their courage, strength, and perseverance to live day by day trusting God. 

We also visited an orphanage, where there are 6 orphans who are cared for by a beautiful lady named Charlotte. Charlotte is a women of incredible hope and grace. She herself was mistreated as a child- beaten, abused, and not given any sense of hope. But she came out of that, and now cares for these 8 orphans by giving them a home and a family filled with love. Hearing the stories from these orphans was truly impacting. In fact, I think meeting the orphans and the caregiver is the most real expression of the Gospel I have ever seen. Amazingly beautiful- redemption and restoration wrapped around grace in a way that for me paints a small glimpse into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Many times when you see poverty and brokenness and hopelessness up close like I am seeing it this week, you start to think “how can I really make a difference?” It’s overwhelming, and it’s easy to think anything I do won’t really have an impact. However, I keep thinking back to something Rick Warren said to me two weeks ago at Catalyst West Coast. I was making a statement regarding how Rick hugs everyone he meets, and Rick backed that up with his theory of Look, Touch, Speak. Based on Jesus’ ministry, when Jesus would meet someone, he would look at them to give that person a sense of identity, touch them with a handshake or hug to give them confidence and comfort, and speak a word of encouragement to give them hope. Look, Touch, Speak. Simple yet powerful. So I’ve been living this out the last several days. I am not sure sometimes how to deal with extreme poverty- most of us aren’t. But I know that Love is the universal language, and in that way maybe one child will be impacted by even simple things like a hug or a smile or telling them they are special. 

So take a trip to Africa. Specifically to Rwanda since I am now biased. Take a trip so you can understand how incredibly blessed we are in America, and how much responsibility we have to help our brothers and sisters in the rest of the world. We CAN MAKe a difference. Especially with children, widows and orphans. And if you can’t take a trip, then sponsor a child. I am seeing the power and beauty of sponsored kids up close, and it DOES make a difference. 

And check out Jeff Shinabarger’s post from today with some great thoughts and great pictures from our trip. 

Marakoze. That’s Kinyarwanda for Thankyou!

Video from Rwanda

A very ROUGH cut video taken from my FLIP video camera. By the way, these Flip video cameras are awesome. Convenient, quality, and easy to upload. 

A few scenes from today in Rwanda. More tomorrow.

embedded by Embedded Video

vimeo Direkt

Rwanda Day #2

Wow. Yesterday we learned about Rwandan history, specifically the Genocide of 1994 that was such a dark period for the Rwandese people. Today, we saw the future of Rwanda- kids. Spent time visiting with kids, staff and families at a Compassion project site in rural Kigali. We also visited the Compassion country office for Rwanda in Kigali, getting to sing, worship, fellowship and meet the 61 Compassion staff who work in Rwanda. 

It’s hard to put into words the change of emotion from yesterday to today. Today was filled with hope, excitement for the future, lots of smiles, children dancing, lots of hugs and really getting to see how Compassion is making a difference in the lives of kids in Rwanda. There are currently over 48,000 kids who are being sponsored through Compassion in Rwanda. We met around 100 of them at a project site just outside of Kigali. The great strategic part about the project is that it is truly a partnership between Compassion and a local Anglican Church and school. This is the essential component to a Compassion project location- there has to be a local church in the area to partner with. 

Working with a local church ensures community involvement, leadership, and a strong connection to spiritual development. And once you meet the kids who are part of the Compassion projects, you see the power of holistic development for these kids. Compassion is about releasing kids from poverty, but also very strategic in developing the child to be a confident and mature adult. 

Muraho- this is Kinyarwanda for HELLO. Said this alot today to tons of kids. They say Muraho and then wave their hand side to side. 

And even with a language barrier, a smile says so much. Meet a kid with a smile and they immediately engage you. Same with all the Rwandese people I am meeting. As Jeff Shinabarger posted today, Rwanda is the land of a thousand hills, but also the land of a thousand smiles. Smiles are everywhere. A sign of hope.

You can check out the full range of photos from the trip so far on my flicker site.

National Day of Prayer

Just a reminder, today is the National Day of Prayer here in the US. Please take a moment during the day to stop and pray. Check out this picture of the President signing the proclamation in the oval office making the day official. Also in the picture is Joshua Dubois, the White House Director for the office of Faith-based and neighborhood partnerships. Joshua is a great guy and becoming a good friend, and doing great things with the office, bringing together many voices to try and create solutions for communities and organizations across the country. 

 

 

 

1st day in Rwanda

Very sobering and quite memorable day here in Kigali. Visited the Genocide Memorial this morning here in Kigali. Over 250,000 are buried at the memorial due to the Genocide in 1994. After hearing so much about the Genocide over the last several years, it was incredibly eye-opening to see the Memorial and talk to those who were survivors of the Genocide. What is amazing is the way the country has recovered from such a horrific and terrible experience. Only 15 years removed, but the country has come a long way in redemption, restoration, and forgiveness. 

This afternoon we visited a church in rural Kigali where over 5,000 Tutsis were murdered in April of 1994. All were inside the Church during the genocide, thinking they had found a place of refuge from the attackers, but instead became an easy target and were murdered- mostly women and children. It is surreal to see tragedy like this up close, even 15 years removed. We actually listened to the story of a women who escaped from the Church- she was 10 years old at the time. Fled into the forest and hid out for several days. To hear her recount the story was numbing. 

I grew up in a town with around 5,000 people. I can’t imagine any situation where all of the people in my community would be murdered and slaughtered together in the same church within a matter of two days. It literally is hard to imagine. Seeing and hearing about this kind of tragedy is both painful and also frustrating, mainly because the UN and the international community at large stood by and did nothing, only sending in troops to assist once the killing was largely over. What a tragedy. Over 1 million Rwandese were killed during the genocide during the 100 days between April and July of 1994. 

But even with such a great tragedy and dark spot in history for the country of Rwanda and the entire international community, this country has rebounded in an amazing way. Hope is the key word you hear. Forgiveness is a key phrase. Putting the past behind and moving forward. This is an amazing story of a country recovering from an atrocity that literally wiped out 20% of the country’s population at the time. President Kagame has done a great job of leading the country and re-establishing national pride and a sense of identity. 

More to come tomorrow. You can also visit Jeff Shinabarger’s blog for updates and perspective from him.

Rwanda Arrival

We have officially arrived in Kigali, Rwanda. After 20 hours of travel and one bag still to arrive (of course it was mine), everyone is here. There are 10 of us on the trip. The flight from Atlanta to Brussels was good, and then from Brussels to Kigali was mostly sleeping. 

When arriving at the Kigali International Airport, the first thing you notice is the banana trees and the quiet stillness of the airport. Very small. Our plane was the only one at the airport. Customs was quick, and then of course everyone got their bag except for me. Classic. The good news though is that i have enough clothes in my carry on for several days. Reminds me of when Ken Coleman went to Zambia and didn’t get his bags- any of them. He had to wear the same clothes for three days straight! 

The drive over to the hotel was about 10 minutes. The sky is incredibly lit up by stars with very little light from the city. Lots of motorbikes, mopeds, and small economy cars. Seems that the roads and feel of the city is pretty peaceful. There were lots of folks walking around the city and hanging out in small little town squares in multiple locations on our drive. 

Just had dinner with the group. Lots of rice, pasta, and chicken, plus some very good dessert. We have a great group here- a musician and his wife, a couple from Minnesota that put on a large music festival, couple of other folks from Nashville, one from Colorado Springs, and then three of us from Atlanta. We got to meet two of the Compassion staff that work here in Rwanda- John and Eugene. They are great, hospitable, and have welcomed us well to their country. 

More updates tomorrow, with pictures and some video. For now, please continue to pray for safety and good health for our group, and a good nights sleep!

Headed to Rwanda

Leaving today for Rwanda. Several of us are going over with Compassion International to experience the country, see the work Compassion is doing, and understand how we might be able to help in fighting poverty and hunger for the people of Rwanda. And ultimately how we can be involved, even in small ways, in bringing hope to children in Rwanda and all throughout Africa. Really looking forward to this trip.

I will be blogging and sending consistent tweets from the trip, so will keep everyone updated with pictures and posts. Appreciate the prayers!

Summary from Catalyst West

9 days after we wrapped up Catalyst West Coast, and I am still trying to get my hands around all that God accomplished during those three days with over 3,300 young leaders. It was an amazing experience. The energy was electric. The leaders in attendance were hungry for a memorable experience. Everyone there- speakers, staff, attendees, volunteers, musicians, entertainers- we all were anticipating something special. God showed up big time. Lives were impacted. Leaders were challenged. Collectively, there is now a group of young leaders who are inspired to make a difference. These leaders were already poised to be Catalysts in their spheres of influence; we just gave them a network and a gathering by which to be inspired. 

It is so hard to thank everyone who needs to be thanked, so I am not going to try. But I am going to post a video later this week with some thoughts- instead of trying to write them all down, it’s easier just to mention the thoughts and highlights in a stream of vocal production. So stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can visit Ben Arment’s blog for summaries, as well as going to the post event website where there are a number of resources and ongoing connection points for the new network of leaders on the West Coast.