The first day...Cut short

My Reading Cafe!






This is just one angle of my classroom.



My desk...note the photographs of all the people I love!

On Thursday, KICS opened the school doors for the first time. I was excited and ready to start the year out well. The students arrived from 7:45 to 8:15am, I was in charge of standing on the road to welcome our students. Once all of the students had arrived, classes began.

My class consists of 4 boys and 1 girl. I have an Arkansan, Canadian, American adopted from Madagascar, Rwandan/Finish and a student from New Hampshire. We are quite a diverse little group. The day began with introductions and a "field trip" around the school grounds and classroom. My class willingly participated in many team building activities and the students wrote and signed their own Class Contract. The day was going perfectly!

Unfortunately, sickness in Africa can hit the body when least expected. Just before lunch time, I began to feel quite queasy and tired. Strange thoughts started circulating through my mind. I began to ask myself if being at KICS would always make me feel nauseated and whether I made the right choice to come here. Suddenly, all I wanted to do was run back to America and get a comfy job at a air conditioned candle shop or book store. I could not believe I was thinking such thoughts on the first day of school! I am aware that there will be occasions that all I want to do is leave Rwanda, but on the first day of school? Surely not!

Well, I dismissed the students for lunch and felt pretty good about faking my energetic teacher self. All along wondering how long I could keep this up until I cracked! I wandered around the school checking out how things were going with each class. The nausea was only increasing with every step and when I finally ran into our Headmistress, Belinda Bauman I let out the truth of what my body was telling me. I let her know that I did not feel well, but that I was going to make it through the day. Soon, I was running to the bathroom every couple of minutes ready to vomit. I kept telling myself and Belinda that I was just fine.

Thankfully, directly after lunch my students went to Art class. As my students were drawing and shading possible KICS mascots, I was in and out of the bathroom still denying this ever increasing illness. Finally, Belinda came up to me and said, "Okay, time to go home." I did not put up much of a fight. I jokingly told my students that they had already made me sick and I was leaving them with the PE coach. Only deep down inside was I questioning the reality of this joke. I quickly made my way to Belinda's truck. On my way out, Jana Jenkins handed me two beautiful roses to congratulate me on the first day. I'm afraid the color of my face probably matched the green leafy stems.

Belinda, was an amazing nurse. She gave me Papaya juice and took my increasing temperature and called the Philipino doctor in town. I think KICS is the only school where the Headmistress is also the nurse, hostess, spiritual counselor and mom. My temperature increased and fear of Malaria circulated through my head. The next day, I was tested for a number of possibilities. The result...E coli!

I am now feeling much better. I am taking Ciprofloxacin to kill this mean bacteria. Today, I was able to walk a couple of miles to the school building and I have decided that my negative thoughts were simply the E coli talking. Even though Ecoli is not as romantic and hard core as the tropical disease, Malaria, I am thankful to be free from that possibility.

A friend of mine called the night before my first day of school. She asked me what she could pray for and I listed off several needs for KICS, the upcoming school year and my desire to instill good character into my students. I failed to remember that living in a densely populated city in Africa can make one quite susceptible to sickness. Please remember all our KICS staff as we try to remain healthy and fit for our students.

A few pictures that did not fit below.

Timothy...the Jenkin's youngest child. Timothy was adopted as a baby in Uganda. He is a lot of fun and he loves cars!




A very creative hat!

The traditional Rwandan dance is famous around Eastern Africa.


Gisenyi is a beatiful town on Lake Kivu.

African Perks

I have to admit that living in Africa is not always a breeze. I'm not a fan of losing water in the middle of a shower, eating at a restaurant with only 1 out of 25 items available on the menu or battling through several language barriers. This past week I have been setting up my classroom for the first of the year. I never realized that organization is a convenience. There is no place to find yellow files in Rwanda! Also, KICS has acquired many wonderful posters from generous people. Just one problem...Sticky tack is totally a Western phenomenon. I have been struck with a great amount of guilt for the many elementary years I spent playing with blue sticky tack in class. I treated that precious teacher's gold with such little respect.

While there are challenges to life in Rwanda, Christ's grace is sufficient and filling! There are also, many perks to living here! Last weekend our Christ's Church Rwanda team retreated at a beautiful town called Gisenyi on Lake Kivu. The team is currently made up of the Jenkin's, Beard's, Kyla and myself. We discussed our vision and plan. Kyla and I strongly feel that KICS is our first priority, but we want to be active in ministry and discipleship. Our plan is to hold a Bible study every Thursday afternoon at the local University. Kyle Beard will be joining us and our hope is that as the group grows we can split males and females in order to meet personal needs of the ladies we develop relationships with.

Lake Kivu separates the Congo from Rwanda. One can see the Congolese mountains across the lake. On the drive to the lake I was once again astonished at the landscape of Rwanda. This country truly is beautiful. One evening, at Lake Kivu, Dave, Kyla, the Jenkin's kids and I piled into the SUV to check out the live volcano that towers over the Congolese town of Goma and Rwanda's Gisenyi. This volcano erupted in 2001 and covered the town of Goma killing hundreds of Congolese. Now, the volcano's red glowing ring reminds everyone of the recent catastrophe. While we sat in our SUV gazing at the glow of the volcano, a gathering of Rwandans gazed at the "wazungu" (white people) piled in a car staring at a mountain. Yet, another quirky aspect of life in Rwanda.


Prayer Needs:

1. KICS is growing. We now have 8 teachers and approximately 35 students from pre-school to 11th grade. Tomorrow we will host a Barn Raising for all of the families. Pray that our last minute prep will be smooth and that the first few days will be exciting and formative.

2. Praise!! I am so thankful to be a part of such a wonderful community at KICS. From the five families that make up the board, to my fellow teachers, to the children and families enrolled, God is really blessing KICS!

3. Lauren is a new teacher that is on her way from the states. She was hired a week ago and is leaving the states on Monday! Pray that her quick transition will be smooth. We are very excited about having her!

4. John and Courtney are the couple from Compassion International that I mentioned a while ago. A week ago Courtney gave birth to their second son pre-maturely. Because Rwanda was not able to meet the essential medical needs of the baby, Courtney and son flew to South Africa. The baby died a few days later of a brain infection. The family is now in the states, reflecting on the past few days and making plans for their return to Rwanda. It is situations like these that remind me of the sacrifices people make for the Kingdom.