Another connection...

Yesterday, I drove to OKC to meet with Dave and Jana Jenkins. Dave is a pastor in Kigali and he and Jana helped start the Kigali International Community School (KICS). The church he is a pastor at is on the same grounds as the school. The church is Christ's Church Rwanda. They have five children, two are adopted from Uganda. They lived in Kampala for 11 years(another connection). I am so glad I had the chance to meet them before they return to Kigali. They are due back soon but don't have a set departure date yet. Their kids go to KICS and since they live there and helped start it, I was able to pick their brains! KICS sounds wonderful. It is in Kigali. Jana made a good point from a moms perspective: "If you think Africa is a long term deal, you should start out in your bubble." Meaning that if I see myself working in Africa for a long time, which I do, then maybe starting at KICS in the capitol might be a good place to start. I would be surrounded by more Americans and people my age. The students at KICS are from all over the world. Their parents are there doing missionary work or working for an NGO. Without an American school like KICS, they wouldn't be able to work in Rwanda because there is no good school for their children. But nothing is set yet and I'm working on being patient. 5 months to go...

Here is the website of the Rwandan Outreach Community Foundation. It has a lot of info about KICS.

www.rocfoundation.org

What I'm returning to...

Here are some pictures of my two weeks in Uganda. I'm super pumped to go back!

It's a beautiful life.

Beautiful beaders.

Murchison Falls:the source of the Nile

my friend!

Did you know that the darker the spots on a giraffe, the older it is?

Yes, we were that close to her...

My favorite animal!

The infamous edible cane rat...yum!

Goat Roast!

My dear, sweet friends from Purongo Hills.

Duck Duck Duck GOOSE! This was the Fairway Childcare Vocational School in Mukono. Dan and I attempted to start a game of Duck Duck Duck Goose with these Kindergarten age kids. I started the game and tagged Dan who jumped up to start chasing me. Well, this frightened the kids and they all jumped up and ran away screaming. It was so cute and fun!

This curious little guy followed us through Namuwongo for about 45 minutes. So precious! He is a testament to the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child." He was cared for wherever we went.

We were walking through Pakwach, a village in northern Uganda, and me being the Early Childhood teacher that I am started playing with the kids. I would make an animal sound, name the animal and act like that animal and they would repeat and tell me the animals name in their language. We were frogs in this picture...ribbit!

New Friends at Fellowship

Melissa and Blayne invited Lee and I to Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock on Sunday. First of all, the church is massive!! It's like a mall or an airport in there! We got there a little early to meet Jessica Brogdon and her husband Todd. They lived in Rwanda for a while and are two amazing individuals! We talked a little about their time there and we told them our plans. I am so excited to be meeting all these passionate and wonderful people.

We attended the Worship Service at church. FBC has three services: Worship (devoted to a lot of worship songs), The Edge (for the younger crowd), and another one that is more traditional. There are about 15 or so Rwandan students that go to schools in the Little Rock area. They all go to the Worship Service so I got to meet them. They are all in school studying Math, Chemistry, Engineering, etc... Very bright kids! I met William, who is 36 years old from Rwanda. Melissa told me he was a soldier in the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) during the genocide. He was the driver on their trip when they went to Rwanda and now he is in the states on a scholarship at Arkansas Baptist College. He is amazing. I also had a nice chat with Alex. He is in school at Philander Smith College in Little Rock. He is planning to go to Rwanda for a visit at the end of July/early August and that's when I hope to leave for Rwanda. It's comforting to know that I will already have some friendships including Rwandans and Americans when I arrive.

Also, if you don't know much about the genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994, I recommend you look it up. Here are some websites with information.

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide

www.rwanda-genocide.org

Arkansas: the jewel of America

I am in awe at God's powerful words through His children. He has brought together so many loving and compassionate individuals to perform His works. I am so glad to be a part of his plan in Rwanda.

Friday afternoon, Mom and I drove to Little Rock to meet with Melissa, Blayne and Glenn at the Bridge2Rwanda office. It was a great meeting and I instantly fell in love with all of them! They are so passionate about their work and God's calling to help the people of Rwanda. We sat and listened as they told story and story about what is happening over there with God's love and power. As I was telling them about my incredible experience in DC last week, they started to grin and I felt like they knew what I was going to say before I did! Dale and Judi Dawson (co-founders of B2R) were in DC for the National Prayer Breakfast which was the reason all the African's were in DC last week. They are good friends with Ward Brehm (the man I sat next to during the meeting in Senator Inhofe's office and who signed a copy of his book). It was an amazing connection which just kept getting better...

They were telling me about my options in Rwanda and how we are waiting for the Bishop to say yes or no as to my working at the Sonrise school. Melissa, Blayne and Glenn were telling me of some other options I have in Rwanda like working at the Kigali International Community School which was founded by some Arkansans, Mary and Dabbs Cavins. They were doing missionary work in Rwanda with some other people and needed a good school to send their children to. Well, as it turns out, Mary was one of the organizers of the National Prayer Breakfast and is also a friend of Ward Brehms. Mary has helped me get in touch with some girls who have been in Rwanda but are now back in the states.

Congresman Boozman has announced he is running for Senator of Arkansas. The chairman of his campaign is Stanley Reid. Mr. Reid's daughter, Anna, is in Rwanda at the Sonrise school! If the Sonrise school works out for me, we would be working together! In DC, as I was talking with Boozman about Africa, he was telling me that he knows some people in Rwanda and I'm pretty sure the young girl he was referring to is Anna! Lee met Anna over Christmas break and she sounds AMAZING!

All these connections are incredibly powerful that I am almost having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. But as I sit here thinking about it, I don't need to wrap my mind around anything-God has done that for me already. It is all in His hands. He knows what will happen and it will be wonderful! Wherever He takes me, whatever I am doing, whoever I am meeting will all be from the grace of God. I have learned to let go and let God!

So as of now my options for next year are:

*The Sonrise School. We are waiting for Bishop John to say yeah or nay. He might decide that he doesn't want anymore mzungus (foreign people) at the school. Which is totally fine and understandable--keeping is Rwandan is awesome! (But, please pray that he doesn't say no!)

*International Education Exchange. The man who founded this organization works close with Dale and Judi and B2R. Dale is going to see if there could be a position for me in Kigali. Rwanda has recently changed their native language to English and so many educators don't have strong English skills to teach their students in English. IEE helps train and teach teachers, especially at the primary level, how to teach English. That would be a fun and amazing experience!

*Kigali International Community School.

*Cornerstone Academy. For 10th, 11th, and 12th graders who are working on their English proficiency to pass the TOEFL exam to attend school in the US.

Epic

It's amazing who you meet on an airplane. My flight from D.C. to Atlanta yesterday was packed. I am currently reading "Stones into Schools" by Greg Mortenson. This is the sequel to "Three Cups of Tea". I had noticed the man next to me was reading a book by John Eldredge, a Christian author who I am familiar with. He asked me about the book I was reading and we chatted about what we liked and didn't like about my book (Megan and I had just had this conversation as well!). He told me he was finished with the John Eldredge book and asked me if I wanted it. I graciously accepted it and as we continued to talk, I found out who this man is. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Executives Without Borders. ExecWB's goal is to recruit businessmen to serve as the link between individuals in the global community and humanitarian projects around the world. So basically, if I were to start an NGO in an education related field I could contact ExecWB to help on the business side since I don't know anything about business. The website is http://www.executiveswithoutborders.org/ and go to About Us then Board of Directors and the first biography is the guy I sat by. He has done some remarkable things.

The book is awesome! I started reading it on my next flight and I'm just about finished. It's called "Epic" and it is about God's story for us. Sometimes our story is wonderful and sometimes its terrible, but the Author is God and He has it written out where we succeed with Him in the end. We all have a true Epic to be told about us and there is a Larger Story and we are playing a crucial role.

It's amazing how God sets these meetings up. I am still in awe of how he worked through me the last few days. The things I experienced and the people I met will be with me forever. If it weren't for my amazing principal who assigned me to the Better Together grant where I met Jan Wetsel who asked me to be on the ECEO Public Policy board, none of this would have happened!

Green Lights

I figured that my recent events should be recorded so this is it-the first of many entries!

First, I would like to dedicate this next chapter of my life to two wonderful young people whose lives were taken too soon: Brandon and Keely Trusell. Both were on a path to save the world and achieve greatness. I will take a small part of Brandon and Keely with me whether I am teaching in a remote village in Rwanda or studying International Education in Grad school. Hebrews 12:1 "Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us! So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just won't let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us."

I arrived in D.C. last Saturday and played with Angie and Megan. We had a BLAST! This was my first time in this incredible city and I am in love. There is so much culture and history and I have decided that when I return from Africa I will move here. I am looking at going to graduate school for International Education (or something in the related field) and I think DC would be the best career move for me. Monday morning we had a fantastic tour of the Capitol. We sat in the joint chief of staff's seats on the House Floor and took pictures on Nancy Pelosi's balcony.

I was here representing Oklahoma Early Childhood Educators through the national organization NAEYC. We spend Tuesday learning the ins and outs of the Administrations budget proposal for education. Wednesday morning we took a bus to Capitol Hill. Jan, Susie and I met with Mary Fallen and John Sullivan's aids and had some nice discussions.

That afternoon we met with Senator Jim Inhofe from Oklahoma. Senator Inhofe is a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations and has special interests specifically in African affairs. He has traveled to almost every country on the continent and has close personal relationships with the Presidents of those countries. His granddaughter is adopted from Ethiopia. Needless to say, I was stoked about meeting with him. (He was also the only Senator/Congressman that we personally met. We met the aids of all the others.) The first ten minutes he and I talked about Africa, our time spent there and our love for the culture and people. I was telling him about my hopeful future of working with Bridge2Rwanda in Kigali and how it is an Arkansas based organization. He told me to go look behind his office desk where there was a picture of his two daughters as Arkansas cheerleaders. We talked about Northern Uganda and the sadness that happened there years ago. He was telling me that there was an African dinner the next night for the representatives from all the countries and he had meetings the rest of the day with Africans. He then invited me to his 3:00 meeting with representatives for the Presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Malawi. I was so floored and excited and experienced about 10 other emotions! Of course, I said yes! I had a 3:30 meeting scheduled with Congressman Boozman from the third district in Arkansas so I called and pushed that back to 4:00.

At 2:50 I went back to Inhofes office and waited in lobby with the men and women from Malawi, Benin and Sierra Leone. Listening to them speak in their native languages was amazing and I felt a great connection to the continent I fell in love with just 6 months ago. Erica (Inhofe's Legislative assistant) came and got me and we walked into Inhofe's office. I met two men who work with the Africans and who have done extensive traveling there with the Senator. The meeting began with greetings and soon the men began speaking about their countries. Inhofe is a strong Christian man and he referenced the Bible multiple times along with speakings of Jesus. The men from these countries are also Christian so they replied with praise and thanks to Jesus and Inhofe for the work that has been done to help their country. Tears came to my eyes more than once as they shared personal stories about people who have benefited from the Senators work. As the meeting wrapped up, the Senator asked us all to gather in a circle as he prayed for us. I held hands with Senator Inhofe. After the meeting, I med Ward Brehm who wrote "White Man Walking: An American Businessman's Spiritual Adventure in Africa". The Senator had many of his books on his desk and Erica grabbed me one and Mr. Brehm signed it for me. He wrote, " To Betsy-so excited about you wanting to be a voice to those with none. Proverbs 31:8-9." Proverbs 31: 8-9 says,

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;

ensure justice for those being crushed.

Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,

and see that they get justice.

Senator Inhofe invited me to his meeting the following morning with the Rwandan's and to the African dinner. Unfortunately I had to decline since my flight was leaving the next day. Deep down I know that this will not be my last meeting with him and I will share more exceptional moments with him and the amazing people from Africa. Standing in that circle of 11 people from all over the world who work with all peoples made me realize that we are all human. We are all brothers and sisters under Christ. It's okay to not agree on every political issue but if we find common ground and work together we can achieve great things.

After I left this meeting, smiling from ear to ear, I headed over to Arkansas Congressman Boozman's office. Kathy, his Legislative Director had called me earlier in the day saying that the Congressman was excited I stopped by and would love to meet me. I was a bit surprised by this but was very honored. Kathy told me that the Congressman was on the House Floor voting but only had 4 votes left so we walked over to the Capitol and waited in the Rayburn room for him. After a short wait, Congressman Boozman walked in and introduced himself to me. He asked me if there was anything he could do for me. I told him that I was up on the hill and just wanted to stop by and say hello. I told him about my meeting with Inhofe and he has done some traveling with Inhofe in Africa. Boozman's daughter has been to Zambia and he knows of some people who are working in Rwanda. Kathy is going to get me this list so I can contact some of them. We had a nice chat and he is one of the nicest person I have ever met. He is sincere and honest and you can tell he loves what he does. Boozman told me if there was anything I needed to let him know and he would be praying for me. I told him I would pray for him as well. I took a picture with the Congressman then he and Kathy helped me get into a cab and off I went.

Yesterday was a great day and as Susie told me, "You have hit all the Green Lights!" God has something major planned for me and He created these fabulous contacts I made yesterday. I am so excited for my future and happy to know that Africa and Washington D.C. are involved. God is Good!