Bitay (Hello) from Kigali! I wanted to take the time to write about the day-to-day work that we just finished doing for ministry in Rwanda! In my last post, I mentioned some of the unique cultural traditions that my team has been able to take part in such attending a Rwandan wedding, participating in an Umuganda community workday, and learning about the history of Rwanda. These have been amazing experiences, but we also loved getting to meet people in the day to day of spending two months here!

We worked at an elementary school every day while in Kigali. I was assigned to help teach English to the “baby class”, and I loved spending time with these three- and four-year-old’s as they learn their letters and numbers. The elementary school that we volunteered at is a free school for any child in the community. This school is the only free option for kids in this poorer neighborhood of Kigali. The host that we lived with noticed that none of the kids in this part of Kigali had education access, so he decided to move into this community, fundraise, and open up a free school for kids to learn. It was great to be able to teach in the class for four weeks, and when they went on a school break, we repainted the entire school and made educational posters for the classroom walls!

Another thing that we did while working with this host was church speaking and talking on a local radio station! Throughout these seven weeks, I have definitely improved my speaking skills with the opportunity to lead church services multiple times per week and speak on a local radio station! It has been a fun way to grow my skillset and try something new that I have never experienced before!

The last thing about this placement that I wanted to share is regarding our host relationship that we were able to develop during these two months. We absolutely loved living with our host family here and getting to know them. We quickly felt like we were a part of the family here, and even called our host Uncle Mo! We lived with him, and his five kids and it was such a sweet way to immerse into a family setting. We loved having game nights and getting to know the kids!

Thank you as always for keeping up with my team and I in Rwanda. We would love your prayers for our entrance into our Month 10 country which is Romania. We are anticipating that this will be a challenging five weeks, but also a great opportunity to help the influx of people arriving from Ukraine.

With love,

Claire