Monday 21 April 2014

Glass Half Empty


A glass would be anything but half empty if you left it outside these days. The rainy season has arrived and everyone knows it, each of the last 7 days has had it's share of precipitation, deluge even, and it looks to continue that way.



Recently it has become more obvious to me how deep the wounds are here. The British are famed for their stiff upper lip. That ability to grin and bear it and avoid conflict, emotions or generally anything sensitive at all costs. Yet I find here something that goes far beyond that but it is very hard to place. Perhaps it is just a complete de-sensitisation because the people here have seen so much that they have become numb. Maybe it is the ostrich move of sticking ones head in the sand and pretending that it never happened. Or somehow they have just learned to live with the loss of so much, knowing that all is not lost. For they still have their lives, if not their family, if not their dignity, if not their limbs, if not their pride, if not their happiness, they yet have life in them.
Who knows, perhaps no one, but all the same Rwanda still lives in the ashes of its past, limps on with the scars of yesteryear.

For our team to get anywhere in town we have to get a bus. 20p will get you anywhere in the city. This process involves a 15 minute walk down our local high street to the local bus station which consist of a dirt courtyard packed with people and various buses. You wait on the bus until its full and then hop off at your destination. Simple enough.

However, in the 15 minutes it takes to walk to the station you will pass people who are simply lying in the street in 30 degree heat, sometimes half on the pavement half in the road with a hand stretched out.

When you get to the bus station you have to push through the swarm of street vendors who flock to the white people. You learn the word for 'no' pretty quickly. Occasionally you will actually be grabbed (it is quite a tactile culture) by someone begging for money, though it is closer to demanding than begging really.

Once you have figured out which bus you need and get on the blind man will have managed to find his way on to the bus and will do the rounds as the bus fills up. If you turn your face from him to look out the window you will likely see more vendors trying to sell you anything from bread to USB sticks through the window. Occasionally they will disperse as though someone just started shooting at them. They don't pay taxes because none of their sales are recorded so their practice is illegal and they would rather not be caught by the heavily armed police. In their place you will find at your window a woman waving the stump of an arm that used to have a hand on the end of it gently thudding against your window, demanding your attention, your pity, your money. Eventually the bus fills and you pull away, the conductor will at some point ask for your 20p and you will place it into a scarred hand full of tattered cash. Then you arrive at your destination and start your day. There were many survivors of the genocide but none got through unscathed.

Despite all of this life goes on. They press on and most seem unaffected by what they see. In fairness most have seen far worse and the fact that the country is at peace is a blessing that outshines the scars of the past.

My Grandmother had a heart attack this week. She is several thousand miles away and I am at least 6 weeks away from being able to see her again. I am a very long way from home.

The longest Saturday of all time was probably the Saturday between good Friday and Easter Sunday. The one in whom the disciples had placed all of their hope, whom they had lived with for the past 3 years and who they believed to be the one who would win the victory of victories was brutally and publicly tortured and executed.

But Sunday came.



When all hope was lost and everything was at its darkest. After all the commotion and chaos and fireworks the ashes rested and there was the cold bitter taste of grief without a mote of hope to carry them.



Yet the tomb was empty. The resurrection, so far beyond expectation that even its evidence was met with scepticism but slowly it dawned. There was not just some hope remaining. There was the most secure, the most unwaveringly sure hope ever to have graced the face of this earth.
There is a resurrection.



There is hope like African rain that will fill your glass to overflowing. A hope in the new life, a new, unbroken body, a new heavens and a new earth. A hope that we go on beyond the veil.




Not an empty star gazing hope but a living, active and life changing hope that the glass is not half empty but filled to capacity. 


Friday 11 April 2014

Memorial


From the 7th to the 14th of April Rwanda is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsi. As a result the country is operating at half pace this week with work finishing at midday so that everyone can attend village meetings in the afternoon. Here they discuss the genocide and ongoing social conditions with the aim of carving a brighter future for themselves and their children. Somewhat ironically this has coincided with our work starting as we finished up our planning week on Friday.



The Memorial week commenced with a series of national events across Kigali, the capital, starting with a presidential speech and then the 'walk to remember' and finished up in the evening with a candle lit vigil in the stadium.



Our team attended the walk and the vigil to stand by and show our respect for Rwandans who have made remarkable progress in healing from the deep wounds of the past. It was a privilege to be able to attend as thousands upon thousands filled the city to commemorate the tragic loss of their families, friends, neighbours and colleagues.



As we head towards rainy season the down pours will become all the more common but for now they are still a welcome refreshment during the day to cool us off. We enjoyed our first proper rainfall with raindrops like gold balls and decided to revel in it with a walk in the rain.


As the week picked up we went back to the catch up school that we visited last week and helped provide holiday activities for the children in the form of games in the scorching sun. It was a lot of fun to be able to get involved in the community and invest in these kids who are some of the most needy and vulnerable in society.



The following day we visited a local primary school, half of the team looked after the children there while the other half helped in capacity building for the teachers. Half of the staff were given English lessons and the other half we taught IT skills.



The week was rounded off with helping the partnering charity with all of their administrative activities. From filing quarterly reports to maintaining and updating their website.

Time here is now starting to pass by quickly as we have more to fill our hands with. No doubt as things continue to gain pace the time will fly by and it will be over before I know it!