* Eva, Chantel, and   their mother

* The progress of the development of ABC

* The progress of the English classes

* Our journey to Uganda next weekend

Eva Mugisha and Chantel Uwase

(Sponsored by Kyle & Michelle Rogers)                           (Sponsored by The Emblers)

Eva and Chantel rush to be the first to greet Pastor Francis after each Sunday service.  They are half-sisters: Eva's father died when she was a baby, and her mother remarried and had Chantel with her second husband. Since Chantel's birth her father has shown great favoritism towards her--to the extent of excluding Eva from enjoying gifts and other privileges.  Despite the inequity, Eva and Chantel are inseparable and their love for each other is obvious.  Over the years Chantel's father has had multiple affairs, but their mother has stayed with him because she has not had any way to support herself.  However, believing that the mother's HIV has resulted in her inabiltiy to bear more children, the father forced the girls and their mother to leave his house last week.  They had nowhere to go until a friend found a small house and paid the first 2 months rent for them.  The girls had always gone to Chantel's grandparents' house for lunch, but since her father rejected them they are no longer welcome there either.  Helen, one of our Child Development Workers, found Chantel crying at school one afternoon and now invites them to her home for lunch each day. Their mother is HIV+ and has no job.  However, she has been learning to make traditional crafts and hopes to be able to sell them to provide for herself and the girls.  Please pray for God's provision over these precious girls and their mother.

Click here to see pictures of ABC kids at school.

Journey to Butare

A Traditional King's Palace

This past weekend took us down south to Butare where the King of Rwanda once ruled the country. One of Pastor Francis' brothers, Robert, was getting married on Sunday so we traveled to Butare with Pastor Francis and his mother on Saturday. We stopped by the museum to see the former monarchy's palaces. The last King of Rwanda ruled for only three months after his brother's reign ended in a mysterious death in 1959. The new King fled to the US at the onset of the 1959 Genocide that drove many families to neighboring countries. The King was building a new palace at that time, which is now the national art museum.

A Traditional Rwandan Wedding

Sunday was a long day. The traditional wedding is preceded by an "Introduction" where the bride's family bargains with the groom's family for dowry. In the past it was a serious and formal event where only the families attended. Now it has become more of a comical and entertaining event for the families. There was a lot of laughter among the large crowd of approximately 200, however, we didn't understand any of it. This event lasted over two hours, after which the groom's family and friends went back to the groom's house for a quick lunch, and the bride's family and friends went to her home. Traditionally, this is when the groom tells his family whether or not the bride's family agrees to give the bride away. The two parties then met at the church for the official church wedding, which also lasted about two hours. Unfortunately, since we had a three hour drive home and it was getting late, we didn't stay for the reception.  Click the link below to see pictures.

Click here to see pictures of Butare.

Our Week at a Glance

 A generous neighbor stopped by one morning with her two children and a gift for us. She set the bag down and reached to pull out out the "gift"--we were expecting bananas or something similar--but to our shock she handed us a rabbit! We accepted the rabbit graciously all the while hoping she didn't expect us to eat it. We later found out that the daughter had been begging her father to let her give us the rabbit as a gift, with the hope that we would keep it as a pet rather than enjoy it as a meal! So the little bunny has become our third pet. What a house full we have now!  Click below to see more pictures from our week.

Click here to see pictures of our week.