Back to Kibogora!

Rwanda here we come!  Mackenzie, Paula, Levi, Joel, Lauren, Anna

First fun surprise!  
In the Grand Rapids airport, we found our friend Dr. Katherine! 
She is headed to Niger, where she lives and works as a surgeon.

Hello!  We are back in Rwanda for a short time.  The first week was travel - where we lost a bag and had to stick around Kigali a little longer than expected. We also broke one of Ben's car keys in the car door while trying to unlock the door.  Oops!  We are now settled into the house we are staying, Joel has worked a week and the rest of us are ready to start working at the preschool tomorrow morning.  (Yikes!)  New experiences all around! 

Airplane rides are so fun!
(for an hour or so)

This is us in Detroit, waiting for Joel as he spent 3 hours trying to locate
the 2 bags that we were told were "gate checked" but were really checked
through to Kigali!  Unlocked bags with valuable electronics, lithium batteries
 as well asall the SNACKS! (and Mackenzie's pants!)

Made it to Amsterdam airport - a fun place to explore.

This airport is interesting - you can play the piano, read books from a library, 
play on a playground, see giant tulips :)

The kids are getting to know each other pretty quickly.

Back on the plane for another 8 hours.

Landing in Kigali!

Our first Rwandan meal together.  Vegetable soup & bread.  It was green!

When Lauren reminisces about Rwanda, she dreams of eating fruit & 
drinking hot, milky, sugary tea in the morning at the Good News Guesthouse.
This is exactly what that looks like.

We had a day to explore Kigali with Dr. Ronald.

Having fun at Kibogora on our first day - 
playing Spot It.

We are in the Green house (normally we live in the White house)
so we had to find a new location for hammocks!

Our newest friend, Kellen (Karen), enjoying learning to play violin!

And trombone!

Took an afternoon to visit a tea factory in Gatare.

Tea hills

The steaming process

Fermentation

Huge stack of wood used to keep the water boiler going

Nyungue Forest in the background hills

Joel took some pics of the hospital

The Operating Room (OR)

Goofy girl - Anna eating sugarcane

Mackenzie's first visit to the Tyazo Market

She liked it :)  The lady in the pink hat is Kellen.  
She will be directing our help in the preschool.

Lauren knows what we need to do first 
with the food from the market.

Joel & Levi were invited to go with Dr. Ronald 
and a couple others to visit a Transit Center.  
A place where people can try to be rehabilitated after
committing crimes.  Joel was asked/expected to preach.

Levi was also asked to answer some of the questions
posed by the group at the end of the sermon.  

Levi joined Dr. Ron in a room where men could come
and ask questions, ask for prayer, confess, etc.  
Levi prayed for 3 men after Ron translated for him their needs.

A side stop on the way back home to 
visit a patient.  He is in a wheelchair and 
this is his driveway.