Christmas Joy

This Christmas we were so richly blessed to be able to spread some Christmas joy to many impoverished Rwandan families. For many of these families, this was the first time they received gifts during the holiday season. It was such an amazing feeling to see the excitement on their faces!

It all started in November when I received an email from Beth Palmer, the Outreach Coordinator at our home church in Texas, saying that the church would like to donate $1,000 for us to use in the community. We contacted a man in Canada named John, who has been to Kibogora numerous times. John works with a non-profit organization called African Community for Sustainable Development (ACSD), who, among other things, provides wood-burning stoves that are up to 80% more efficient and greatly reduce the amount of smoke, thus improving the quality of indoor air. John put me in contact with the Rwanda director, Paul, who compiled a list of needy families around the Kibogora area. I was shocked to find out how far the $1,000 would go.

When I spoke to Paul, I told him that we would not only like to purchase stoves, but also provide
some rice, beans, and other beneficial items. Paul sent me back a list that made my jaw drop... The $1,000 that was donated by the loving members of our church family would be able to provide a high efficiency wood-burning stove, 5kg of beans, 5kg of rice, 1 liter of cooking oil, 1kg of salt, 1/2 a stick (about 3 bars) of soap, and water purification for 50 needy families.

50 families!?! For only $1,000!?! I'll admit that when we were in the States it was difficult for us to spend less than $1,000 on our own family for Christmas. Now we're being told that $1,000 will provide all the above gifts for 50 different families. How awesome is that?

Everything was approved, and on Saturday, December 20th, along with 2 ACSD field managers and another worker, we went to deliver the gifts to 5 of the 50 families.

The first stop was at the home of an elderly woman that was caring
for 2 young orphan boys. Her and the 2 children lived in a small mud house that was owned by a local church. She had an outdoor kitchen that had thick black soot on the walls and ashes all over the floor. She was so appreciative of the gifts and had a smile on her face that was so heart warming.


The next stop was at a small mud house owned by a very elderly woman, who had a 15 year old orphan living with her. The kitchen was inside the home. Unfortunately, the woman wasn't home when we arrived, so we presented the gifts to the boy that lived there. After playing with and handing out some toys to some of the local children that had gathered, we loaded back up into the vehicle and started heading back down the hill. When we got about half way down we passed an elderly woman that was being helped up the hill by two elderly men.

We found out that she was the owner of the home that we just visited! We gave her a ride up the rest of the hill, where one of the men that was with us carried her up to her home. When we arrived, we learned that she was sick and had just left the health clinic. When asked if the clinic found anything wrong and gave her medicine, she said that they told her she is just old and that she should return to her home and wait to die... this was by far the hardest stop of the day.

The third stop was the farthest from Kibogora. After almost getting the truck stuck trying to go up a steep hill, we decided it would be better to walk. There was a flat grassy area where the locals play football (soccer) next to where we parked, so our children all stayed and started a pickup game of "kick as hard as you can then run after the ball" with the local children. We headed up the hill to a small village, and went to a small mud house owned by an elderly woman. She was very excited, as were all the rest of the people of the village that came to see the mazungus! Some of the local children followed us down the hill, and Stephanie noticed one little girl that had shoes that were so small they had to cut the heel of the shoe out so her feet could fit (making them more like slippers). As we rounded the last corner and saw the soccer field, we noticed that our children had drawn in a large crowd as well. We looked around and saw that most of the children either had very old shoes or weren't wearing any shoes at all! We had brought a lot of flip flops that had been donated, and decided this was a great time to hand some out. Jaycee had some sandals and started handing those out as well. In all, I think we gave out well over 50 pairs of shoes!

Our fourth stop took us down a steep hill to a small house with a great view. This house was also
owned by an elderly woman, and she also was taking care of an orphan child. She had an outdoor kitchen that had no ventilation, so the inside walls were covered with soot in this one as well. The ACSD field manager said that they are going to cut in a window when they install the stove.

The last stop took us back up to Kibogora, where we walked a short distance down a hill. This was the largest of the homes we visited, and was owned by an elderly woman. She lived there with her 2 children. They were a happy family, and were very appreciative of the gifts they received.

It was such a great experience to be able to present these gifts on the behalf of Kerrville First United Methodist Church! After presenting the gifts to each widow, Stephanie or I would pray and one of the workers would translate. In each prayer we thanked God for these gifts, and especially thanked him for the gift of Jesus Christ! This was a Christmas that we'll never forget!

Pictures from an amazing day!