Worship and Praise

Joanne ~~ Sunday Worship

We had taught the kids the signing motions for "Jesus Loves Me" and also "Hallelujah Praise Ye the Lord" action songs during choir practice Saturday. They sang those and many others during worship and Kira joined them in "Dancing for the Lord". Fun!!

Paul really connected with Pastor Antoine last week when he (Paul) gave a message at devotions. He was then asked to speak on behalf of the team during worship.

Carol ~~ Visitors sharing their faith, their heart for missions and love for children is an important gift we bring when we are at Urukundo. It is more than what we accomplish in the "doing." It is about being present in spirit and being humble as we serve. And telling the children they are loved and are the light we bring back with us when we share our stories with our families, churches and friends. Their love travels the world with us!!!

Joanne Sharing

Tuesday was spent in Akagara Park, which was awesome. We saw a LOT of animals, and many birds. We had a very knowledgeable guide with a good bird book. We were in the park for about 8 hours and made it from the south to the north. The roads were very rough but no problem with Oswald our driver and a 4-wheel drive land cruiser. The only problem was the many many horseflies inside the vehicle making a meal of us.

This Wednesday the pit silo was finished - filled with grass and covered with several feet of soil. Exciting and we hope it will work as planned.

Day 5 for the incubator and it seems to be working well and keeping the eggs at 37.5 degrees Celsius / 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

****But the most exciting thing about Wednesday was that Mama Arlene arrived home today. All the kids dressed in their nicest clothes, sang a "welcome home" song for her and showered her with flower petals. And hugs. And kisses. She is happy to be home. And what a blessing she is to these children!

READ Tomorrow about the cow water trough and the chicken tiller.

*Dave and Kira talking with the kids about regulating the temperature for the incubator.

*Mama Arlene the day she LEFT for the US as I don't have a photo of her coming home yet. But the prayers and the love are the same coming and going!! Notice the flip flips and crocs the kids are wearing that St. Paul's sent.

*Dave and Eugene the farm manager conferring with farmers and vets.

Rabbits

Work continued throughout the week on the rabbit hutches. All the doors were fixed. Several Water bottles that were sent last fall worked so another 20 will be needed. These are ones that we use for pets in the US. Talia, a soon to be PSU student from Bloomsburg, will hopefully take them when she goes this July.

Another process they worked on was tattooing the rabbits for breeding purposes. The first photo shows them doing this. The tattoo kit was sent by Dave with a previous team but unfortunately the identification numbers were not included. They realized the farmers would not do this unless they showed them in person. Back home I quickly bought what they needed, sent them FedEx to Arlene in Virginia so she would have them a day before she left for Rwanda. It was the last set at the store. As you can see they arrived!! We make thing happen even across the world.

And of course the children are so very curious about all that is happening at the farm. Here Paul and Kenny discuss raising rabbits. Teaching goes on all the time.

Akagara Park 1

This national park is in the eastern park of Rwanda bordering Tanzania. It was founded in 1934 to protect animals and the vegetation in three ecoregions: savannah, mountain and swamp. It covered 1,500 sq miles.

In late 1990's much of the savannah area of the park was given to former refugees of the genocide returning from the war. The park was reduced in size to 750 sq miles. Although much of the best savannah grazing land is outside the park,what remains of Akagara is some of the most diverse and scenic landscape in Africa.

There is also a fishing tribe living in the park and a new safari lodge. Over the next 5 years there are plans for a western boundary fence and the reintroduction of lion and black rhino.

*Looking across the Akagara River to Tanzania
*Boats at the fishing village
*Sunrise
*Baboons making themselves at home
*Arriving at the north entrance to the park

Akagara Wildlife 2

Traveling through through the southern part of the park at 6:30am allowed us to view an array of birds, cape buffalo, wart hogs and an impala. As we were in the road heading out to go to the north entrance we finally spotted a giraffe. Little did we know how many beautiful animals we would see in the north.

There in the north we saw several types of impala, cape buffalo, one hippo out of the water and many hippo heads bobbing in the water, a croc, stork, zebras, and a field of giraffes that we drove right into the middle of. We heard elephants are hard to find as well as leopard.

Akagara Visit 3

In a developing country things don't always work out as planned. Weather, inaccessible roads and the wrong vehicle can make for a quick change.

Last August our team of eight planned a day in the park only to realize that the vehicle we were in was barely able to make it to the entrance. We knew we couldn't travel the dirt-packed back roads in the park. So we aborted our trip and prayed we would reach the main road, which we did. But it was a white-knuckle experience.

This April we decided to try again with a better vehicle. We planned well, but upon arrival at the park were told we could not travel from the south to the north as there was flooding on the dirt roads throughout the park. So we would see the southern part of the park, travel 2 hrs on dirt roads to the south entrance, travel 1 1/2 hrs on the main paved road, then 1 hr on a dirt road to the north entrance. That is where we would see the majority of animals.

Yesterday I received a photo of a giraffe from Paul which means they were visiting the park. We had heard the north entrance was closed as the dirt road, which we travelled on 2 months ago, was destroyed by heavy rains. I am waiting to hear how their adventure was.

In the meantime here are some of my photos from last year.

Worship and Playtime

Staying at the Urukundo Children's Home and Learning Center means being part of a large family. The children 3 months to 18 years old make up this huge family of 45 that loves to receive many hugs from visitors. They teach us and we teach them about loving Jesus, loving each other and singing praises to our almighty God.

Worship is a special experience as the children sing, little ones and big ones, they pray together and worship with others from the community that are coming to Urukundo. Yes, Mama Arlene has asked Pastor Antoine, a Methodist pastor that had no church, to lead Sunday worship at Urukundo for the children and others from the community. He now has an income to support his family.

Mama Arlene continues to reach out to people in the community. To empower them to reach their full potential. Whether it is those coming to the sewing center, farmers, pastors, parents wanting to learn English or female university students receiving personal hygiene products she touches many lives. Arlene knows God has plans for healing the heart, the soul and minds of the people of Rwanda.

Here are great photos of the precious children we all love.

*Kira singing and dancing at worship.
*Kira with Rebekkah and Joanne with David.
*Dave with David
*Paul with Agide and Kenny