Charles and Juliette's church

Today the sun has been shining brightly with no rain so far.
We had breakfast with Jonathan, Ian and Carol before waving them off in a car which was taking them to see the volcanoes. We then sat and waited for Charles to come and pick us up. He was somewhat delayed by the fact that the middle of Kigali had been closed off for a bicycle race.
Charles eventually arrived and took us to his church by a very circular route to avoid the city centre.
The church meets in a tent in their house, the church is quite small but very enthusiastic with lots of wonderful singing and African melodies. We very much felt the presence of the Spirit their much more than any other church, in which we had been. We were fully engrossed in the worship even though it was in a language we did not understand.
Many people stood up and gave testimonies of what God had done in their lives.
We had both been asked to preach so we spoke on the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost sons. Mary used some of the reflections from her Godly play presentation and I also expounded the passage.
After the service we were invited to a wonderful African meal of rice, ugali made with maize flower grown in Charles's garden. Together with boiled cassava leaves, African beans and peanut sauce.
Afterwards Charles spoke about many of the problems he faces as a pastor. He was especially concerned about the rising rate of divorce and abandonment in African marriages even in the church.
Eventually we arrived back in Solace and had a welcome cup of tea and rest.

Saturday Short wildlife drive and return to Kigali

Today we had a more leisurely breakfast before setting out on a short drive in the park before our departure back to Kigali.
We spent time with a herd of buffalow who were fastinting to watch.

buffalo with yellow billed ox pecker on his back

 

Bull giving us a stare

The group on their way home with our vehicle

Friday 3 3 17 Game drive

Today we awoke at 6am for a lovely breakfast and set off on a full day of wildlife adventure. Everest knew all the places to look and was very good at spotting animals and birds hidden in the bush.
The terrain was very varied changing from dense bush and woodland to open plains.
It was exciting going around each corner not knowing which animals we would come across next.

Warthogs who were very nervous

There were flocks of these colourful and noisy weaver birds 

outside the hotel they make intricate nests in the trees to attract a mate

Bateleur eagle a medium sized eagle whose favorite

 food was the ring necked doves

 who were very plentiful

There were numerous hers of zebra with beautiful stripe marks

Bush bucks who live in the dense foliage

African bee eater

Giraffe quite difficult to spot when they are camolauged among the acacia trees

African fish eagle by the lake

Hippo practically submerged in the lake

Secretary bird a large mainly terrestrial bird which is related to eagles

 and hunts it's prey on the ground.

Akagera National park

Today we travelled down to to the Akagera game park which is in the Eastern province. The land is much flatter herewith large plains covered with banana plantations and a lot of grazing lands for cattle. Our guide was Charles's cousin Everest. He was certainly a large and larger than life character;
who was very friendly caring and helpful with a wonderful knowledge of all the animals and where to find them.
We travelled in a long wheel base Toyota land cruiser with a roof which could be raised  so we could stand up inside and see the animals.

The group stopping for a break in our journey outside a lovely clean new fruit and vegetable which the government and providing instead of the ramshackle stalls

 We stayed for two nights in a lovely modern hotel in the park itself. In the afternoon we went on a short game drive, and we saw quite a range of animals and birds.

One of many impala we saw

Two young males

One of many zebra

We saw many more animals and birds in a short time and returned to the Lodge for a meal and a good nights sleep.

Journey back to Kigali and the parting of the ways

!st of May
Today we travelled back through the country to Kigali. We came a different route along the lake which was again very pretty. Unfortunately our regular driver, Modest's mother had died so he was unable to drive us but we managed to drop in on him as we set of to greet and pray for him.

View across the lake

More views

The last supper

This was the last night we were all together so heartfelt goodbyes to Andy Jan and Rob 

as they get the 1 am flight back to UK 

Nkombo Island

Today the whole team went to Nkombo island a very overpopulated island in the lake. It has received a lot of help in the last few years so looks much better. It now has electricity and agronomists have helped improved the soil and removed some grubs which were in the soil and ate the roots.
After a colourful ride down the lake in the diocesan boat  down the lake  we arrived on the island and had a very steep walk up to the new school where they hold a feeding clinic twice a week which helps stave off  malnutrition among the children as do the filters which stops the chronic diarrhoea which was so debilitating. You can see a video of the team at the feeding clinic Here

A passing boat on the lake

  

We arrive on the island

The team feeding the children

After this we split up into two groups both visiting TDF projects the micro-finance initiative  with money from some donors from our church. Also we visited homes which had Aquafilters which Rob had initiated on the island.

This TDF widow was buying wood on a tree arranging for it to be cut down

Seasoning the wood and selling it on

Griffaid aquafilter being demonstrated

This lady had used her loan to learn how to do tailoring

and had bought a sewing machine

We went to the pastor's house for a wonderful meal they had provided, then on to the secondary school where Rob serviced and taught the use of their large community Aquafilter.

Our meal at the pastor's house

Rob teaching on the water filter

Then home for a rest after a very hot day.

Kittens and St Matthew

Today the morning started beautifully clear with views over the lake. Then we went, together with Jan,  to Jill Barham school which is next door to the guest house to help reorganise the library. The library had been moved to a new classroom, with a few library shelves and most of the books in boxes. However we set to work to sort out the books putting two of the sets of books on the book shelves. The rest, which were duplicates, were put back in boxes  We also spent some time teaching them how to use the aquafilters which the school had but were not using. We discovered a nest of kittens hidden among the books.
In the afternoon we went to St Matthew's school and did a tour of the school. We were invited into each classroom and asked to introduce ourselves. We were greeted in each by a chant and clapping.
The school does all ages from Juniors at the top to  seniors down a steep slope of the hill.
We presented them with toys for the nursery school pens and pencils footballs and some posters which were all gratefully received.

Senior girls with posters

The school has two cows which supply milk for the nursery school 

and manure for the school garden

The junior school with posters of body parts painted on wall behind

In the evening Mary did her Godly play session the Good Shepherd. We then went for a farewell supper with the Bishop and Ester, Berta and Ephraim, and some Rwandan friends who just turned up. As it was the tenth anniversary of our visits to Rwanda we were all presented with very special presents in the form of colourful Rwandan clothes.  

Party time