Descent

Last week we finished our month of traveling around Rwanda and returned to Cyakabiri, which was our base for the first 2 months.  In many ways it felt like coming home and it's been good to see our friends here again and to get back into jobs we know we're good at, like labeling juice and jam!  Since coming back we've also visited a rice plantation (or lice, as Rwandans say!) and a cassava flour production plant, renovated a kitchen garden, taught another 2 lessons at Compassion (it never goes well but it's not awful either) and survived an 8 hour session at church/ a CD launch at a local high school (and that was with leaving early!).  I realised this week how terrible I am at languages (including English) when we sat in on a German lesson and I could hardly remember a thing, despite studying it for 5 years .  To be fair I did leave school 9 years ago and haven't used it since, but it doesn't excuse my appalling knowledge of English grammar.  We constantly meet people here who can speak at least 2 or 3 languages, compared to us who can only really speak one.  The highlight of the past week was gate-crashing a wedding last weekend, held in the conference hall just beside our compound.  We heard lots of cars driving past so went out to have a look and ended up being invited in, despite being in our jeans, pyjamas and hoodies!  We sat near the back with all the children who'd sneaked in and enjoyed the traditional dancing, acrobatics, 12 piece wedding cake and indoor fireworks!  It was a surreal evening.  A low point of the week was witnessing a crash between a car and a motorbike taxi.  Everyone survived but the 2 people on the bike were potentially quite injured so were bundled into a passing car and rushed off to hospital.  I felt very grateful for the NHS and ambulance service we have at home, but wonder what will happen to the driver of the motorbike.  It looked as if he might have broken his leg but I'm pretty sure he won't be receiving any sick pay or benefits while he's off work.

I've been feeling a bit all over the place this week and can't figure out what's going on in my head.  My time in Rwanda has been both amazing and challenging, and I really want to enjoy the remaining 3 weeks of being here.  I'm very aware of time running out and I know I'm starting to prepare myself in my head for going home.  (I'm managing to resist starting to pack/ sort my things out... just!)  As much as it will be good to go home, I'm also beginning to feel quite nervous about it.  There are a lot of uncertainties about life after Rwanda and I find it hard not to worry about it all.  I suppose I'm putting too much pressure on myself and just need to relax and take each day as it comes!

Prayer points
- That I would stop over-thinking and just enjoy!
- Thanks for continued good health and great relationships on the team
- That the next 3 weeks wouldn't go too quickly!