We've been so busy with GAMES and other activities that we haven't had time to write. Wednesday and Thursday we continued with GAMES and finished cataloguing the books in the Library. We also started working with each individual child on thank you letters to their sponsors. The money from child sponsors essentially funds all the programs for the children, including their food and schooling. I have decided to sponsor Bebeto and my mom has decided to sponsor Divine. We hope to get lots of our friends interested in sponsoring children now that we know the kids first hand.
This morning we woke up and attended devotional. At 9:00, we started GAMES by singing and memorizing Jeremiah 32:17! Juliet and I did a water balloon toss outside with all the kids because the theme of the day was the parting of the Red Sea! It was so funny to watch the 4 year olds toss the water balloons to their partners who were a foot away and somehow manage to get soaked! Overall, the morning was so fun!
After Games, all the mini-missionaries, Mama Valentine, Carolyn, and Sam made our way to the car where we began our hike to pick up three new kids for the Rafiki Village!!!! It was about an hour to get to the first stop where we picked up Eric. We started off on a real street but by the end we were traveling across a rickety wooden bridge and down a street as narrow as a sidewalk!
The bridge we had to cross in order to get to Eric's house.
A rice field we passed on our way to pick up Eric.
We picked up Eric, then Hope, and finished at the hospital with Emmanuel. Mama Valentine is starting a whole new cottage of boys and the first two are Eric and Emmanuel. Hope is joining Mama Marie's cottage because it only has six girls right now. It was truly eye-opening to see where each of these children was coming from. Being in the Rafiki village, where they are all treated so well, makes you forget where the kids come from, and seeing the towns in the Rwandan country side helped me remember what a beautiful thing Rafiki is doing for each of these children by giving the kids such great opportunities! We actually got to walk into Eric's home. It was a mud hut surrounded by a little fence, with a cow in the yard. They were burning their trash, cooking on an open fire, and water bottles were lying around their yard. Eric cried for about 20 minutes, but then his new Mama, Mama Valentine, comforted him and by dinner time he was sitting at a table in the Dining Hall eating Matoki- cooked bananas and beans.
Eric's home
Emmanuel, Eric, and Hope are welcomed to Rafiki!
Keep us in your prayers! We only have a few days left, and we want to make sure to do so many things for these children before we leave.
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