Frasier Crane and the Peanut Gang.....

Ok….so what can I say about the last couple of weeks….”whew” comes to mind….

It started with another bout of malaria for me….dang…me and those skeeters…uggg!!  This time around the aches were bad, but not as bad as the first time, but man oh man, the fatigue that comes with malaria stayed with me longer than last time….I felt like my whole body was encased in cement….BUT…Russell , Katie and Christine took good care of me, and by the time Josh arrived on the 16^th, I was mostly good to go….I really just had to suck it up and well, the following is why:

Our final acquisition of the “Musanze Opportunity Center” or  “compound” as I refer to it, is complete…I realize “compound” sounds more prison like than opportunity like, but what can I say…old habits die hard…a seventeen cottage property, in which I mentioned our negotiations of a few posts back, and to get REAL details, you need to read Russell’s blog (www.musanzeinc.com), which details what we are going to accomplish with this property…as well as an aerial view...BUT, what I will say is, it was a FIGHT to get a holt of  (yes, I said “holt of”) the keys, even after having a signed lease from the Minister of Infrastructure…the folks (ok, one folk) at the local level, with sticky fingers, was not going down without a fight, and well, let’s just say he’s never come across the Raineys!! Nuf said!!

Now…those of you who know me, know I am an obsessive/compulsive sort  and I DO NOT LIKE CHANGE…something I should have SERIOUSLY considered when marrying the cutest boy in the world 26 years ago…but…as is the Rainey way (as Josh said…we ARE jump in head first kinda folk), instead of taking a week or two to move from the house we were living in, oh yeah, we attempt to do it in just TWO days…NOW…most of you are probably thinking, what’s the big deal…moving from one SMALL house to another (I have now downsized from a Little Tikes kitchen to a Fisher Price kitchen)…ok…THIS is the problem…the houses in the compound have not been lived in by any humans for over a year…so the non-human sorts had taken over (bugs and such…and let me just say officially that African spideys are definitely bigger than their American counterparts). SO, in these two days, we not only had to move EVERYTHING, but also CLEAN every house we were going to occupy, which was only three, but dirty does not EVEN begin to describe what they were! EEECCCKKK!!! Christine said she had never seen a muzungu clean like I do…and between Katie, Josh, Russell and I, along with Christine and Beatrice, we got the three cottages mostly habitable, although I will say, we have a ways to go! We ARE though, sleeping in our own beds and under skeeter nets…the rest will fall into place…I THINK!! I can honestly say there were a couple of days that I was SOOOO tired, I thought I wouldn’t make it to see another day…and even told Josh….I’m SURE your next mother will be young enough to handle these situations with your dad!

So…we get all our crap from one house over to the compound (in the pouring rain might I add), and in the MIDDLE of all the malay, we had promised Katie that once we got the keys, she could get a goat to attempt to make goat cheese…turns out, you need either a pregnant one or one that has just had a baby, and if you don’t understand why…maybe you should head back to eighth grade sex-ed class…well…we had the word out with one of the locals that we were looking for a goat to milk, and lo and behold, he calls THE FIRST DAY we were moving…. he had a mama and one month old, twin baby boy goats….

OK, let’s recap…a three acre compound with seventeen houses, along with other structures, not cleaned or yard work done in over a year…ME, freaking out over the change, and THREE goats, whom were aptly named Lucy (the mama), Blanket (Katie named him) and Charlie (Brittany named him)…notice the Peanuts theme (because, unfortunately, Katie’s dog, Linus, had to be put to sleep a few weeks ago, so these names are for Linus). Blanket, we have found, is the adventurous one, Charlie, is a mama’s boy…thus far, Katie has gotten a total of 6 ounces of milk, mainly because the night guards hear them cry and put them with their mama, so they nurse, and secondly, we haven’t had time to build a milk stand yet…which we understand will help. And of course, because we didn’t know where the goats “came from”, Katie decided we needed to give them baths, ya know, just to get them clean before she started the milking process…we took “goat roping” to a whole new level…yep…Katie and I bathing goats…and man, are they “slippery when wet” little suckers….the Rwandans thought FOR SURE we had done lost our minds…to which I would have to agree…

Then two days ago, a friend, Bill Boyd, who is a vet, and who is planning on moving onto the compound with his wife, Susan, sometime later in the summer, called and said he had a rescued African Crested Crane, that needed a home with room to roam…okie dokie then…bring him on over we say – and now you can tell we have TOTALLY lost our minds…and by the way…he has been named Frasier…Frasier Crane.

So yesterday…I am working trying to get houses in order, things organized, cook our first meal here in the Fisher Price kitchen, and Josh walks in my door and says, “Mom, the goats are on your front porch, and they are taking a poo”….EXCRUSE ME??? I thought he was kidding, but sho nuf, there they were…I happened to be headed out the door with a laundry basket under my arm, so I grabbed Lucy’s rope and DRUG her (she did NOT want to leave my front porch), as Blanket and Charlie followed….are we having fun yet????  A photo is worth a thousand words, so one is included…

THEN, Katie and I realize we hadn’t seen Frazier Crane all day…we look and look…no Frasier Crane, but we aren’t too worried, until later in the afternoon, Katie comes running in and says she found Frasier Crane stuck in a drainage collection hole that we didn’t even know was there…he clearly fell in, and couldn’t get out, and the last thing one of the vets told Katie when they left Frasier Crane with us was this: “don’t get too close, if crane’s feel threatened they go for the eyes and can take an eye out quick”. PERFECT!!! So…as soon as Russell and Josh got back (they had run into town), we started “Operation Rescue Frasier Crane”, which consisted of lowering a ladder into the muck, but because there was SOOO much muck, Josh had to hold the ladder, while Russell descended into the hole, which was probably 8 feet deep, with his sunglasses and rubber boots on (as not to get an eye taken out), and a blanket in hand (as per instructed by my BFF, Kathleen, who lives in Naples, FL and knows all things birds). Apparently, when you cover a bird with a blanket, it actually calms them down. So, picture it, Russell on a ladder, with a blanket, descending into muck, to try to cover Frasier Crane to grab him (but not just by the neck – don’t want to snap the little feller’s neck), which he does and is able to hold his neck and scoop him and additional muck up and out of the hole…and yes, we got it all on film, along with some pics, which I have included.

So…let’s recap again…I, Cheryl Rainey, live IN AFRICA, IN A COMMUNE (ok, not really, but might as well be), with THREE GOATS, an AFRICAN CRESTED CRANE, LARGE AFRICAN SPIDEYS (and other weird, awful, flying bugs…. AND, EVERYTHING needing repair….wow…THIS is what I always dreamed my life would be!! Yep…I mean, really, who wouldn’t want to be ME???

But…for all the cranky moods, and stress we have had over the last few days, we are still blessed beyond belief and are providing employment to an even larger number of people, and in the months and years to come WILL make a difference in the community of Musanze…and this project is clearly bigger than just the Rainey clan…we couldn’t have gotten here without God, and HIS sacrifice FOR US!! Nor will we get anywhere without HIM, or the countless people that have and will come along side us and after us, to help and sacrifice along with us!

I’m hoping the next few days will be a TITCH less adventurous than the last few, but I doubt it….I’m also hoping the goats stay off my porch, and that Frasier Crane stays on dry land…till next time…hugs and love….

Cottages on the north side of the property

Cottages on the south side of the property

FINALLY...THE KEYS!!!!

Lucy, Blanket and Charlie (the Peanut Gang) visiting my front porch and leaving a little somthin somthin

View of one of three of the volcanoes we can see from the property

Home Sweet Home - Our House - You think the yard needs attention??

Poor Frasier Crane - Stuck in the hole

The beginning of "Operation Rescue Frasier Crane:

The scoop up and out....

The Hand Off

Free at LAST!!!

Who wouldn't want to be ME???

JUST.BE.GRATEFUL!

Yesterday the country of Rwanda commemorated the 17th anniversary of the genocide. Approximately a million people died in 100 days. That was 1994. The whole country was shut down yesterday and even for the next week, businesses will close 3 hours a day to allow their employees to remember and grieve what was lost with the friends and family they have left.

In 1994, my kids were 7 & 9…in 1st and 4th grades…I don’t remember the exact spring break trip we took that year, but since we always got a two week spring break in Jackson Hole, we almost always hit a beach resort of one sort or another…usually the Caribbean or Mexico. My rule was… we live in the mountains, so we don’t vacation there. I VERY vaguely remember news reports of the happenings here that year…and I’m sure I thought…oh, how terrible, and then went on to the fun activity of the day…not giving it a second thought.

Our gardener, Beatrice, remembers today, April 8th, very specifically, as it was the day her father died..on April 9th, her mother…she and her brother were brutally beaten, but somehow survived. She was 18. Christine’s mother-in-law was home alone with her three children. Christine’s husband, Simon, was 15, his sister 11, and his other sister, less than a year old. When their home was attacked, they cut off his mother’s right arm and killed her daughter that she was carrying on her back, as most Rwandan mothers do. Her 11 year old daughter was also killed…she and Simon survived, she, just barely. Cyiza was 18 years old. He joined the RPF, President Kagame’s army, and fought to stop all the savagery. Christine herself was lucky. Her grandparents moved their family to Uganda when Christine’s mom was just 9 months old during similar problems that occurred in 1959, so she and all her siblings were born in Uganda and they lived there until Christine was 9…her mother and father moved their family back to Rwanda in August of 1994. Her parents wanted to come “home” to help rebuild the country of their heritage.

So yes, Christine was 9. She and Brittany are the same age. My daughter was playing on a beach in the Caribbean, not a care in the world. Christine was getting constant reports of family members that had been murdered, beaten or raped.

Seventeen years later, living in this country that has been through so much, I find myself getting frustrated on a daily basis…usually more often than not, about how slow or unorganized or, honestly, how hard it seems to get Rwandans to understand or “get it", whatever "it" is . Things that take 5-10 minutes in the US, take 1-2 hours here. Sometimes I question why we are here and are we really making a difference. Yes, God called us here, but do I REALLY have to follow through…sometimes (most times) it’s just seems SOOOO hard!

Then I look at the people around us…the people we have contact with every day…the people we have the most influence on…Beatrice, Christine, Cyiza, Ronald…these people that have lived through unspoken hardship and tragedy and MY life is hard…REALLY?? And when I look at their precious families, I realize that yes, we are making a difference. Are we changing a country, I don’t know about that…are we changing the lives of the people around us, I believe we are. Am I being changed most of all…ABSOLUTELY!

So today, when your husband doesn’t pick up his socks, or your kids are driving you CRAZY, or your parents are either doing the same (driving you crazy), or needing your help more than they did a year ago…Thank God that in 17 years in April,, 2028, you won’t be remembering this day or month in horror. Be grateful for what and WHO you have!  JUST. BE. GRATEFUL!! I know I am!

Just Jump....

Well… we have settled back in, and are REALLY enjoying having our niece, Katie, for the next four months… she will be helping with some writing that we need on various projects, as well as starting a writing project of her own. We also have Sebastian, a German young man, who has been helping us with website design. He’ll be here until mid-May. Josh arrives mid-April for a month, so we’ll be surrounded, once again, by a house full of kids! Hey… keeps us young, and we’re loving every minute of it!

Katie exploring Musanze...and her new friends!

A few months ago, we became aware of a non-occupied “compound” or campus that was previously occupied by the German road building company, Strabag. It has been a year since anyone has lived there, but consists of 17 small, one bedroom/one bath bungalows, each with a kitchen, and living/dining area, along with a commercial kitchen/dining building and a laundry facility. It’s set on 3 acres and is located just a few miles to the north of where we now live on the road that takes you to Volcanoes National Park. Of course, the cutest boy in the world didn’t have to think 2.3 seconds before he was making plans with all the things we could do with and on the campus. So… wheels started turning and negotiations began, and well, we are now the proud new renters of this campus. We are still waiting on a “move-in” date. Everything has been approved at even the highest level of the government, but as with everything here, even THEN things move slowly, so we make contact with the “powers that be” every day, and pray that we will soon get the green light and have keys in hand so we can open this base of operations to serve the people of Musanze. I will save all the plans we have for one of my future posts, but needless to say, it’s gonna be the bomb!! Photos will also follow in a future post...

I have also started tutoring Christine’s other two children two days a week in English and math… ok… English right now… we’re having to start from the beginning since they are getting so little in the public school they attend. At what point I ever thought I was going to be able to be an ESL teacher, I’m not sure, but I’m just taking it one day at a time, and know that eventually we will all be better for the experience. They will hopefully be able to speak English, and I will not have gone batty trying.

Fanny, Tonto, and Elizabeth

Who ME??

Today, I watched a guy pruning a VERY large tree in front of our house… he was doing so with nothing more than a machete. He was simply standing on one branch, and chopping at the ones above him. He then started chopping on the branch he was STANDING on…. and I was thinking… DUDE… not good… I then thought how much like that we are with God… we find ourselves, in life, standing on the very small side of a very big branch, and instead of reaching out in faith for God, we chop away until we HAVE to reach out for Him in desperation, or worse, we never reach for Him at all, which surely keeps us on the small side of life just waiting for our branch to break. Why is that… why don’t we trust that God is there for every step we take, why do we continue to chip away at our lives, expecting some different outcome? Do we REALLY think we’re smarter than GOD? Clearly, I often do… but today, watching the chop master dude, I pictured myself just walking, one step at a time, to the end of that branch, knowing that God was there… waiting to catch me, should I fall… or jump. That’s what this move and our life here in Africa has been and still is… taking one step at a time to the end of the branch and JUMPING! Did God catch me… He sure did! Do I have that much faith with every step I take… I sure don’t… am I trying to have more faith… I sure am! My prayer is that we can all just JUMP… because when you jump… and God catches you… life is NEVER the same.

Chop Master Dude...

WELL, ARSCHKARTE…

Yowsa… I just looked at the date on my last post… October 25th…WHAT…not possible, but alas it is. Sorry for that… I will do my best to recap our last month here, BLOW through our time back stateside and start to fill you in on what’s going on here now that we’re back. You might want to take a potty break, get some popcorn… a coke… put your feet up… this may take a while…

Late October saw us on yet another travel adventure when we spent a few days in Cape Town, South Africa, where RR had a speaking engagement. We went down a few days early, stayed in Stellenbosch, which is only 20 miles from Cape Town, but in the wine country of the area, and feels worlds away. AWESOME is the only way to describe it! We also drove down the coast to Cape Point, the southernmost tip of Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Stunningly beautiful and a place that is now ranked near the top of places we have visited…we will most definitely return and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who has the chance!! RR stayed on after I returned to Rwanda for his speaking engagement at the Wild at Heart conference.

Viewing the African Penguins on a VERY windy day...

South African Wine Country....STUNNING!

Cape Point - the southernmost tip of Africa

When I did return, around midnight, due to flight delays (go figure), I was whipped… and couldn’t really figure out why… it’s wasn’t a really exhausting trip (compared to the mongo one we do going back and
forth to the states), but at 2 AM when I woke up with aches you can’t even imagine, fever and chills, I was like, hello MALARIA, I’m Cheryl, nice to meet ya! Oh, but being the obsessive/compulsive, anal/retentive person I am, I DID have the malaria meds on hand, so I took them immediately… Africans call it “Bone Break Fever” for a reason, and while the first few days were tough (danged skeeters), by the one week mark, I was 100% back to normal…

Just in time for the wolf pack to arrive (ok, minus the Woodhams) :( …the Braswells, Chapmans & Greenwoods arrived for 10 days of going, seeing, meeting and experiencing the local culture. We SO enjoyed all being together HERE. When I think about what it is I miss most about life in the US, it isn’t things, it’s people, and these are the people I miss the most (along with our families, of course). We got a lot accomplished though… strategizing on everything from housing to education. We couldn’t do what we do without their support on so many levels! It was an AWESOME time of work and fellowship!

The Wolf Pack girls (Kelli, Camille, me, Lori...minus Lea Angel)

On Nov. 21st, I flew back with the gang to the US… early so that I could get the much dreaded surgery on my ankle. But, it turns out, it WAS broken, and no surgery was necessary, but 2 more months in the
walking cast was necessary – ARRRRR!! Barely got that sucker off in time to head back here! Oh, but that was just the start of my ENDLESS trips to doctors – I’ll run through the list quickly, but know before
I start, everything is fine now, and I’m gonna agrabate (as Brit used to say for aggravate) RR for a long time to come! I had to have a basal cell carcinoma removed from my face (USE YOUR SUNSCREEN PEOPLE and NO I do not love the sun, either – never have really), and plastic surgery to repair the gaping hole in my face (a big shout out to Kris Shewmake)! And let me just say THIS out loud. I’m really happy for folks who choose to have plastic surgery for whatever reason… don’t judge, don’t care, knock yourselves out, but I have decided to embrace my wrinkles… EVERY last one of them! Cause there is NO WAY, I would choose to have any “work done” for fun! That little bit I did have done left me looking like I had been in a bar fight, not to mention the pain (ok, I’m a baby, but STILL)! Yeah… not for me! Also had my yearly mammogram, and well, wouldn’t you just know it… they found a “suspicious spot”… REALLY!?!?!?! So more tests and trips to surgeons, and well, it appears to be nothing… will have it checked again when we are back in September, but holy cow, enough already! All of that was overshadowed though by Thanksgiving & Christmas with our families, and our biggest celebration of all, Brittany and Kelly’s wedding. It was a quiet, intimate affair with immediate family and a few of their close friends, at Cedar Gove Inn in Vicksburg, MS. Russell married them, Josh gave her away, and it was a perfect day. This mama unit loves seeing her baby girl so happy!

Formal Portrait - AR State Capitol

Mr. and Mrs. Kelly Thornton

After 2 ½ months (for me – 2 for RR) back stateside, we left Little Rock to head back on Feb. 7th, but had to spend a week in Germany for RR to have some meetings and get some electrical equipment for here
since we have European plugs and power. We stayed with our friends (ok…they are really like family), the Janata’s. Rene’ is a top executive with RwandAir here in Rwanda, and Jacquie and their four
kids live in Rudesheim… about 45 minutes outside Frankfurt on the Rhine River. Well… it was an AWESOME week being honorary Janata’s… we can’t even begin to thank them for their hospitality! Since the Janata’s had to leave themselves the day before we did, we decided the stay close to the airport in Frankfurt our last night in Germany so that we could get to the airport and make it easy on ourselves the
next morning.

Rudesheim, Germany

We arrived at the airport at 5:45 for our 8:10 flight… but had to get our four trunks out of storage (it was easier to store them at the airport than drag them all over the place), which we did without a hitch… got to the ticket counter to get our boarding passes (I had already checked-in online the day before), and check the trunks. So, RR says, we are here to check our bags and get our boarding passes for our 8:10 flight – and the nice, little, German, KLM employee lady says, “we don’t have an 8:10 flight” – EXCRUSE ME?!?!?!? No, we have a 6:50 flight and a 10:50 flight. RR says the look on my face was priceless – I personally felt like I was going to pass out! Turns out, our arrival time into Amsterdam (our transfer point for getting to Rwanda) was 8:10. Now… if you know me, you know I actually pride myself in being the obsessive/compulsive, anal/retentive person I am. It serves us well… especially when traveling. We have NEVER missed a flight due to our own mistake! Cheryl Rainey DOES NOT miss airline flights! Oh, but we did this one… big as Dallas! Well, Arschkarte (a German term that means “that didn’t work out as planned”) So, $500 later, we find ourselves on the 10:50 flight to Amsterdam, but that meant we missed our flight to Rwanda, so we had to overnight there! Not all bad actually, ok… except for another extra $500 for hotels and food and subways and trains, and oh, the battery charger RR found and just had to have for the cordless tools he bought in Germany! No really… we Rainey’s do know how to take things on the fly when traveling, and RR had never been to Amsterdam, so we made a GREAT afternoon and evening out of it, and had a ton of fun! But boy oh boy, was I peeved at myself. Someone jokingly ask me if we went to a “coffee shop,” which in Amsterdam is just a legal place to sell marijuana, and I was like… ummm, that would be a big, fat, NO… CLEARLY, I do not need to lose any more brain cells than I have currently lost! I don’t know if my psyche could take missing another flight – EVER! I’ll stick with Ginkgo Biloba thank you very much!

An unexpected, fun day (and night) in Amsterdam!

So, here we are, back in our little Rwandan home, and settling back in just fine. The garden is beautiful and baby Elizabeth is now SEVEN months old and has 3 ½ teeth. She seems to still be a bit spoiled…
oops… that’s my fault, but she cracks us up daily! I had forgotten how amazing it is to watch babies grow and develop… every day, a new wonder! We are also excited to have our niece, Katie Rainey, with us
for the next few months, and have LOTS of big projects on the horizon, but I’ll save those for the next blog!

Seven Months Old and Three Teefies

A Big Smile....

Laughing at me....

Our garden

Looking good....

Thanks to Beatrice.....

 Till next time – hugs, love and God Bless!!!

Pure Joy......

So… .it’s been a few weeks since my last post… not because there is nothing to tell, but because there is SO much to tell. I’ll try not to go into every minute detail, but suffice it to say, life is full and wondrous, and I can’t remember many times in my life being this content and satisfied.

As always, my days are made most wondrous by my continual awe at God as seen through and in baby Elizabeth. I honestly can’t even describe the joy involved in helping take care of this precious little being every day. I now know what it is to be a grandmother, and it is, as described by those in the know, the best job on the planet… I would hardily concur! She is mighty fond of her CeCe, I can tell you that… I can get her to sleep in record time, and she loves laying on the couch next to me (even if I am not paying attention to her), while I work. Just to look over and see that smile, makes my heart sore. Honestly, the thought of leaving her for 6 weeks when I head back next month is almost more than I can bear, but being back home for the holidays with our friends and family is awfully important to me as well, and so, we attempt to thread the needle that is our life both here in Rwanda and back stateside.

Also in the last couple of weeks, we have rented a car for just a couple of months from friends who weren’t going to be here for several months, to number 1: see if we would use a car if we had access to one, and number 2: get me out and about with a little more success since my ankle injury. It has made getting out and about so much easier. It’s probably a good thing, with my ankle, that I can’t drive here just yet. As most of you know, Russell is a fairly conservative, take it easy, kinda driver… I AM NOT… Yes… the fact that our car is a manual transmission, therefore, I am unable to drive, because of my ankle, is probably a very, VERY good thing… I’m not sure Rwanda is ready for my driving… oh, but soon enough!

As we have ventured out and about a little more lately, we have tried to explore some of the places that have not been accessible to me via walking. The other day, we visited the local deaf school here in Musanze, and oh my goodness, what a treat is was. This school was started by a British man, who had a heart for deaf children. The school has 58 deaf boarding students, as well as 35 "Children Head of Household" day students, who for one reason or another, have found themselves, at their young ages, as heads of their households, having to provide financially (and every other way) for their younger siblings. Here in Rwanda, being deaf has traditionally been associated with being stupid and not capable of learning, much less being a contributing, communicating member of society. Oh, how wrong they have been. We happened to be there on a day that the students were preparing for final exams, so we had the pleasure of watching them go through some of what would be the language part of their testing. At first, they were simply having fun by writing our names on the blackboard. I had to reach WAY back into the very depths of my brain to bring back my very rudimentary sign language skills that I learned 30 some odd years ago in college. And I must say, I did pretty well. As you can see from the pictures, they wrote both my name and Russell’s on the board, along with their own. Next, they read, out loud, from the blackboard, so they are learning speaking skills as well as sign language. These kids are so smart, they actually learn English, French, Kinyarwanda, as well as sign language, SIMULTANEOUSLY! How many of us could do that… I certainly couldn’t… they are smart and funny and LOVE to learn! How refreshing!!

The "Children Head of Household" day students are learning a trade… everything from carpentry, to art, to basket weaving, to gardening and/or sewing skills… something that will allow them to go out, get a job and support their siblings for whom they have responsibility. Again, how many of us can imagine doing that at the age of 15, 16 or 17?

It was such a fun afternoon being with these precious kids and the teachers that are so devoted to helping them, not to be outcasts, but contributing members of society. I am in awe of the difference they are making! We should all strive to such…

All the photos this week are from our afternoon at the deaf school. Just look at the smiles on these kids faces… oh, to have such pure joy! I will say that joy has been a TITCH more difficult to come by in the last couple of days, as we woke up Saturday morning to NO WATER. It appears that one of the major water mains coming into the town broke and the whole town has been without water since. And then ON TOP of that… during an afternoon thunderstorm, lightning hit our house and completely fried our internet modem… so we are back to even slower internet than usual… BUT… since it did rain during said thunderstorm, we had every bucket we could find outside collecting water so we could flush our toilet… oh yeah… we Rainey’s are just regular MacGyver’s… I'm happy to report that by yesterday afternoon the water is back on so we are back in business, when they told us it could possible be a week without… whew!!

Next week, Russell and I will be heading to Cape Town, South Africa for a few days. He has been asked to speak at a Wild at Heart conference there, so we are going down a few days early just to check out another part of the continent. I will head back home, while he stays on to speak at the conference. Next post… I’ll let you know what adventures we find to our south… till then… my prayer is that we all find PURE JOY!!

Heytheresweetpeapumpkinsugarbear......

 

Wow….what a big weekend is was for us here in Musanze….baby Elizabeth’s official baby naming ceremony was Saturday afternoon, and boy oh boy, was it QUITE the cultural experience.

A little background on the Kwita Izina (the Rwandan name for a naming ceremony).  It is usually done when the baby is 8 days old, because it not only represents the giving of the name, but the child being allowed out of the house and into the public eye. Russell and I being gone sort of messed up that 8 day thing for Elizabeth (and her family), but they were insistent on waiting until we got back so that we would be able to be present for the ceremony. It’s also tradition for a Rwandan baby to have a first name, a middle name and a last name, just like our babies in the US, and the father is actually the one that picks the middle and last names.  AND, as you also know, I was asked, even before she was born, to pick one of her names…you all have had a huge heads-up over anyone here in Rwanda….we have been calling her ‘sweet pea” and “pumpkin” and “sugar bear” to avoid saying her name out loud….if we had waited any longer, she was going to think her name was “heytheresweetpeapumpkinsugarbear”.



SOOOO….here we go….we were told it would start at noon…only at eleven to be told…”oh, no…we not start till one, my mother is not even on the bus in Kigali yet….she too slow”. Well….at least we found out before we left home. At one, we show up to most all there….except Christine’s mom…yep…she was MIA, and I’m pretty sure starting without her was not cool. So, we (Anna Reed included, since it was she that helped so much the night Elizabeth was born by driving to get us, and then to Christine’s to get her and took us all to the hospital) sit there and make niceties with 20 people, most of whom don’t speak a LICK of English. We honed our charade playing skills, yet some more, although we were extremely fortunate to have Christine’s aunt, Anna, there, who spoke perfect English. For the baby naming part of the ceremony, she was gracious enough to translate for us.  I’m also fairly certain that the baby naming part of the ceremony is what they traditionally start with, and THEN the eating and drinking portion of the day begins, but since Mama was MIA, we ate first….and a feast it was. It really is amazing how most Rwandan families (Christine included), who have no running water, and cook over a wood fire, are able to prepare such a feast to share with friends and family. They had chairs set up all around the fairly small living room, so it was like having an indoor picnic. We know from Christine cooking for us every day, how well she can cook a traditional Rwandan meal…add her sister, aunt and other family members to help…and let me just tell you…us Southerners ain’t got nothing on the Rwandans….they can flat put on a spread!!! Mama finally made her way to the party half way through our meal, which meant that we were now good to go for the baby naming part of our day!!

Now, the baby naming ceremony is just that….a traditional ceremony in which they place the baby in the middle of the room, with the parents sitting there, and each and every person (including all children) approach the baby and says the name THEY think the child should be named. After everyone in the room has done this, the parents then go off in a room by themselves to powwow over what the baby’s name should be. They pick one of the names presented to them, and then the father will pick the middle and last names. Interesting point here….most Rwandans do not use the same last name within families. The father chooses names he thinks appropriate for the child. So, mother, father, and all children will have different last names…..for you folks who are into genealogy, go on, put a wet rag on your heads so you don’t pass out…this country would be a NIGHTMARE for you!!

Christine had already given us a heads up about the process least we not look like complete fools, so when our turn comes and we both say the name “Elizabeth”….and there were all sorts of beautiful names thrown out there….and after the last person “approached” the baby and parents…mom and dad go to the back room to decide, and after a few, back they come and announce her name is Elizabeth!! Oh…everyone claps and carries on….whew….no more “heytheresweetpeapumpkinsugarbear”!!

 Then the speeches begin, made all the more complicated by the fact that Anna, the aunt, had to translate for Russell, Anna and I after every few sentences. There were prayers and congratulations, but frankly, the most touching came as a complete surprise to Russell, Anna and I, because they were thanking US, for taking Christine and the baby in, as our own family…being there to get her to the hospital, being with her at the hospital and generally being parents and grandparents to her and her kids…this coming from the ACTUAL parents and grandparents, and other family members.  And then Christine gives a precious speech about how much she appreciates being part of our family and how much she loves us!! OK…Kleenex please!! Those of you who know Russell and I know we HATE being in the limelight…what we do, we generally do under the radar, anonymously if possible, so this type of attention was a titch uncomfortable for us, but it was SOOO coming from their hearts, we just felt honored and blessed to be a part of the day, in such a special way, and to be able to call these people family!! Christine then proceeds to give ME a gift, which you can see from the photo is some traditional Rwandan material (pink OF COURSE) so that I can have made a Rwandan dress….something Russell has been trying to get me to do since we moved here and which Christine overheard us talking about one day! Sly fox, that one!!

It was just SUCH an amazing treat to be part of such a day. In the end, Christine’s husband decided the name Elizabeth was the only name she needed other than a last name….and the last name he chose translates to “queen” in Rwandan and is Kamikazi…..yep…pronounced just like it looks and when she told me that, I seriously laughed out loud, which gave her a puzzled look until I explained what Kamikazi meant to us….fairly appropriate, I would say, to go with the name Elizabeth, which in our family is synonymous  with strong-willed and hard headed, but such loving hearts….so we are proud to formally introduce, Elizabeth Kamikazi!! When Russell heard the name, he said “That’s perfect!” with that grin  he gets when he’s imagining trouble. I wonder if I’ll be able to talk one of my kids into naming one of our granddaughters (God willing)…Kamikazi….Brit?? Josh??

In all my wildest dreams, I could have NEVER imagined, not only attending, but being such a integral part of, such a ceremony. What a joy and blessing!!

Enjoy the plethora of photos …a picture really is worth a thousand words!!

The Spread

Russell

Dad's sister

Mom's sister

Mom & her mom

Mom and Dad

Dad

Maternal Grandmother

Big Brother

Big Sister

Paternal Grandmother

Cousin