a few more photos from last weekend

I wanted to share a few more photos from last weekend... Baraka's home (and her church) are about 20 minutes outside of Kigali, in an area where there is a big mental health hospital. She says that when she tells people that she lives there (I can't remember the name right now) they all look at her a little funny. She has to explain that, no, she just lives in the region, not in the mental health hospital!

Although the area is not too far from Kigali, it's fairly rural in comparison. Baraka's father is a pastor, and he retired here a couple of years ago. Every Sunday Baraka's family would drive into church in Kigali, and pretty soon they were taking some neighbors with them, and after a while they had to organize different shifts of visitors so that everyone had a turn to go in to church in Kigali. Finally Baraka's father thought maybe God was telling him something....so he started a new church out in their neighborhood! It's a great and growing church (it already outgrew its first home and moved into a second!). However, somebody (an American, is what the rumor is) bought the land where the current church is standing, so they will have to move again. They are praying now for a location and a building, or money for a building.

Here's a lovely woman that Baraka and I met on the road, walking home from church to her parents' home. The baby is only 1 month old! This is a common and convenient way to transport a baby over here.



Baraka asked this woman if she went to church, and she said no, so Baraka promptly invited her to come next Sunday and the woman seemed very pleased. Baraka went on to explain to me that many people here don't go to church, since the genocide; many people still remember that often people were trapped and killed in churches. She said that instead, people often visit what she called "prayer rooms," kind of like fortune-tellers with church-like language. This has become a big problem for many people.

After church, I had the privilege of having lunch at Baraka's home (she lives with her mom and dad), and afterward I felt just like a member of the family because I got to sort beans! Baraka's mom poured three huge baskets of beans onto the table and we pulled out the bad ones. I explained to them how it reminded me of how I used to sort through puzzle pieces with my mom (back in the day, wow), pulling out the edge pieces. They all laughed, but then I wondered if they'd ever really seen a puzzle. I should bring one to them if I can find one someplace!



Here's a shot of an adorable little kiddo outside the church. He was so cute!! Like my friend Hilary says, I just wanted to put him in my pocket! :) (Hi Hil!)



Finally, in the "travel-halfway-around-the-world-to-meet-your-neighbor" category, here is a photo of the other muzungu (white) house guest at Baraka's family farm on Saturday night: his name is Dan Prince, he was a guest of JP's, and --although we had never met -- he is a member at my church back home in CA! The fact we had never met was hilarious and unheard-of to the others in this photo (next to me is Baraka, then Dan, then Baraka's sister Mary Paul, then JP). The farmhouse, behind us, has been reconstructed over the past several years, and it's very comfortable and welcoming. Dan and I had a great time catching up; he knows several of my friends (yay!). He's been helping JP out in Nairobi for about a month, while things are settling down from the crises there.



Thank you, Baraka, for a great weekend!