Day 3: Cultural Immersion
We started off our beautiful day with a great breakfast. Then we headed up to New Life Bible (the site of one of our clinics) for church. Everyone in the group wanted to go to the non-english service, so that we could be a part of the cultural worship.
It was a wonderful service….of course Africans know how to sing, dance, and clap at the sametime…which makes for a great experience that humbles us white people who can barely sing and clap at the same time J
We then headed back to the mission house to finish labeling our thousands upon thousands of medications. This went fairly quickly, so we decided to further our cultural immersion for the day and walk up the street to the local market.
Just imagine 15 white people walking into an African market where 1 in 300 might speak a little bit of English. It was a great experience. It is huge and well organized according to produce, fish, butcher, clothing, and more. There is no refrigeration…so you can imagine the smell…and the butcher shops have half a dead animal hanging from the ceiling.
As we walk through everyone wants to pull the white people into their little kiosk. So it takes a little bit of getting used to. Some of us have learned Kinyarwanda greetings very well…so it is so much fun to see the look of surprise when trying to engage people in their own language. We also had to haggle with people for cloth….the tool for haggling is a cell phone where you type out the amount you want to pay and the seller retypes what he/she will accept….this overcomes the language barrier…quite interesting.
We finished up our day with volleyball, calling home, and a team meeting to discuss roles and responsibilities. Try to imagine what we facing: there are about 15 Americans who will have to set-up, run, and train for 5 days of clinics in two locations which will hopefully see between 300-500 people per day. I hope you can all see the necessity of prayer and the faith that only God can pull it together and build the relationships so that Rwandans and Americans are serving together to express God’s love. Linda mentioned that this feels good in a way…because it reminds us of the first Compassion Rockwood (6 people, 4months, no experience, and serving 300 people in two days). God is good…all the time!
July 13, 2009
Our little Church in Yamhill Oregon has 2 wonderful vols in your group. We are praying for wonderful fruit…friendships…and God’s cleansing Glory. May you have such a wonderful, effective, life changing trip! Love, The Spencers from Yamhill Christian Church
July 13, 2009
Love reading your updates - what an exciting adventure! Can’t wait to hear how Day One goes! “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Chirst Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Rm 15:5 Love you guys!!!
July 13, 2009
Wow this is so amazing and so exciting to feel almost like we are there with you, only thing missing is the sound and the smells. Wonder when the technology will get us to that place. Do know you are all in our prayers and as usual our pioneers.
Blessings and hugs to all
July 14, 2009
Hey Brother. Praying, Praying and praying for all of you. I can’t wait to hear about your first day and the number of people who will overwhelm the clinics to see the “light” of the world at their feet. I’m sure everyone on the team (and serving) will feel like the disciples did when they feed 5,000 with Jesus. WOW! Love you guys!