My Love Affair with Rwanda

At the end of this post I will be making a request.

April 15, 2011.

This is the day when my friend Elizabeth told me she was making a ministry trip to Rwanda. WOW! What a surprise. I was so happy for her, but I wondered how she was going to pull it off. Her life is pretty busy.

Elizabeth is the mother of a handsome teenage boy and a beautiful teenage girl. She is a yoga instructor. She teaches Bible Study every Sunday after Church. In addition, she is my hair stylist at Solace, the salon she owns and operates.

You should have seen the excitement in her face when she told me about her plans.

A group of 20 people from all over the United States would be traveling to Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, for 10 days in early June. They are all volunteers with an organization called Africa New Life Ministries.

Elizabeth had sponsored a young girl in Rwanda about two years ago. She had been writing her and sending her pictures and gifts ever since then. Finally, she would get to meet her.

Her excitement was palpable, her words so heartfelt. It was emotional. My eyes began to well up with tears of joy when she shared her plans with me. Without realizing what I was doing, I reached up and unhooked the clasp on my necklace. It had been a gift to me from someone special. The chain slid from my neck into the palm of my hand. I leaned over, looked Elizabeth in the eyes and placed it in her hands with instructions to give it to her “African daughter” from me.

Elizabeth was absolutely beaming with pride, her eyes were twinkling as were mine.

I was so happy for. I felt foolish telling her that the only thing I knew about Rwanda was what I learned from watching the movie, Hotel Rwanda.

                                                                       
I fell in love with Rwanda at 9am, June 18^th, 2011.

This is the morning Elizabeth excitedly thrust her pictures of her trip to Rwanda into my  hands. It was at precisely this moment that my relationship to humanity changed.

The pictures of the children took my breath away. I got to “meet” her African daughter who was wearing my necklace around her tiny neck. What an amazing world we live in. My heart touching her daughter’s, all those miles away…

I felt as if I could see into the very souls of these children. I caught a glimpse of all the happiness and all the pain they have carried through their young lives. It is difficult to imagine what it has been like for them and their families.

The trip was truly transformational for both the volunteers and the children. The level of participation on both sides was inspiring.

This is a picture of Elizabeth explaining "Bubbles" to some of the boys.

September 6, 2011

I saw Elizabeth this day. She was absolutely glowing and had that familiar twinkle in her eyes. Within seconds she shared the news of her impending trip to return to Kigali. This time she was taking along her two teenagers! What a grand trip it will be. They will be traveling with the same organization, Africa New Life Ministries, and will be there for 10 days as in her previous trip. Her children think it will be cool and they are spreading the word  via Facebook!

They won’t be leaving until November 16^th but Elizabeth has already begun to pack.

As always, when I left we gave each other a huge hug. I told her that at my next appointment, October 17, maybe I could bring in something else for her to give to the children.

September 10, 2011

As usual, I am at Starbucks in the morning for my daily caffeine fix.  From out of nowhere, I suddenly had this idea of something I wanted to do for Elizabeth’s trip.

My idea is to make jewelry for the kids in Kigali. I am going to make the jewelry out of used Starbucks gift cards.

                                                                             

This is the request I am making:

I would LOVE for you to take part in this project.

I am asking you to participate and to invite others to join us too.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it:

1) Go to your local Starbucks.

2) Buy a $5.00 gift card. (That’s the least amount of money you     

    can get on a card.) 

3) Use this card to buy something for yourself or a friend.

4) Save your used card and mail it to me by October 3, 2011.*

5) Have all of your friends to do the same

.

It’s as easy as that!

All it will cost you is $0.44 cents, the price of one postage stamp

If you want to make it really cost effective, collect the cards from your friends, send them all together and split the price.  Imagine how you will feel when you and your friends create a magical difference in a child’s life for perhaps only $.05 cents or less.       

                                                                              

Can you imagine the impact we will make on these children?

YOU can make a huge difference in the life of these children in Rwanda. This is your opportunity to bring a smile to the faces of these impoverished children.

I invite you to do this. I invite you to have your friends join in with you.

This is your chance to generously contribute to something truly magical.

Thank you for who you are and for who for who you continue to be for all people in the world. This is an opportunity of a lifetime. Together we can make it happen.

Much love, gratitude and respect to you all,

Kimberly ♥

* Mailing address to be confirmed and posted here later today.

                                     

A few statistics about Rwanda:

                                                                           

Flag Description: Three horizontal bands of sky blue (top, double width), yellow, and green, with a golden sun with 24 rays near the fly end of the blue band; blue represents happiness and peace, yellow economic development and mineral wealth, green hope of prosperity and natural resources; the sun symbolizes unity, as well as enlightenment and transparency from ignorance

 Location: Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo 

            

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed. Estimates of the death toll have ranged between 500,000 and 1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the country's total population.

Rape was the rule and its absence the exception. Rape was systematic and was used as a weapon by the perpetrators of the massacres. Estimates were that between 250,000 and 500,000 Rwandese women and girls had been raped. The females who survived the genocide were direct victims of rape or other sexual violence.

70% of all sexual assault victims in the Rwandan genocide are infected with HIV.

The Special Rapporteur on Rwanda estimated that between 2,000 and 5,000 pregnancies resulted from war rape (between 250,000 and 500,000 Rwandan women and girls had been raped).

These children are now approximately 16 years of age. 

The US was reluctant to get involved in the "local conflict" in Rwanda and refused to label the killings as "genocide". Then-president Bill Clinton later publicly regretted that decision in a Frontline television interview. Five years later, Clinton stated that he believed that if he had sent 5,000 U.S. peacekeepers, more than 500,000 lives could have been saved.

Official Name: Republic of Rwanda
Capital City: Kigali (pop. 965,398)

AREA:

land: 24,950 sq km (9,633 sq miles, slightly smaller than Maryland) population: 11,370,425 (July 2011 est.) Age structure: 0-14 years: 42.9% 15-64 years: 54.7% 65 years and over (2011 est.) Median age: total: 18.7 years (2011 est.) Infant mortality rate: total: 64.04 deaths/1,000 live births (2011 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 58.02 years (2001 est.) Fertility rate: 4.9 children born/woman (2011 est.) Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 70.4% (2003 est.) School life expectancy, beginning with primary: total: 11 years male: 11 years female: 11 years (2009)

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html

http://africanewlife.org/

Established 2001 Africa New Life Ministries exists to break the cycle of poverty in Rwanda by providing education, spiritual insight and basic necessities to poor children and families.