Good Bye Rwanda.....Honey, I am comming Home

Neale with the kids that watched us work today. She gave them candy, but scolded the boys for being grabby.

Me with the kids that sat near the construction site ALL day today and watched us work.

Today was my last work day here in Rwanda. There is a small group that is staying one more day, then returning to America. There is another crew scheduled to return in September to finish the project. I am sure they were hoping we would have completed more, but given the late start, and the effort to make sure everything was set up right, I think we did a fine job.

See, Dan does do a lot of work. Unfortunately, this was MY view.

Only one casualty today. Someone dropped a metal brace from about 15 feet, and it hit one of the Rwandans on the arm. He was cut pretty bad, and had to go get stitches. It was the guy Neale was working with, so she felt very bad for him.

Tonight, about 5 of us are going over to Brad's house to eat and fix a loft that has a pretty unstable floor. After that, we return to the hotel to shower, finish packing and then head to the airport around 1:15. The flight to Nairobi is about 1 1/2 hours, then a short layover and on to London. With all of the time changes, we get into London about 5:00 in the afternoon (Sunday) and leave around 12 noon on Monday. The flight from Nairobi to London is about 8 hours, as is the flight from London to Chicago.

I was working through my clothes last night (as I gave most of what I brought away to the workers today - including my tennis shoes) and discovered I should have packed more socks. I tried to get a pair washed at the hotel, but we will see if they can get them done in time. Otherwise, I am comming home with my work boots on and no socks!

It has been a good trip, but I am very tired, and am really looking forward to seeing my family.

Again, I will do at least one wrap up post upon my return.

See you all on the other side!

Our Fearless Leader! and some candids

No words necessary.

The "whole cow" and a race to the FINISH

Yesterday, we worked very hard, but it took a lot of time in order to make sure everything was straignt and square, so we didn't quite make as much progress as we wanted to.

We ended earlier that normal, because our hosts had planned the traditional "Whole Cow" celebration for us to show us their gratitude. It was a lot of fun, and we saw lots of traditional Rwandan dancing and singing, good food (goat I think........?) and then back to the hotel around 10:00.

The folks that chose to stay at the dormitory have had a rough go of it, as Kibagabaga (the hill the school sits on), ran out of water about 3 days ago. We had planned to check out of our hotels this morning and move into the dorms, but between a long hard day today, and the dormitory folks having gone without showers for several days, prompted us to stay the last night, even though we are going to check out about 1:15 in the morning.

We are moving a little faster this morning, and had hoped to finish all of the walls, but as you can see from the pictures, I think we are going to fall short.

A number of the builders and VBS folks took this morning to go see the wildlife at Rwanda's national park. Neale and Chris had both planned to go, but had alarm malfunctions (they had to be at the car by 5:00 am), and didn't make it. Their help on the building site is much welcomed.

This will probably be my last entry, as we plan to work until dark, and then need to hustle back to the hotel to pack and shower.

Tomorrow night will be spent in London, then home by Monday night.

As much as I enjoy doing this, it has been a long, hot trip, and I am ready to hold my family.

It's a New Day!

It is now about 8:00 Friday morning (2:00 am in Florida). We are hoping to put up all the main support walls, floor joists and primary trusses today. It is another very hot, sunny day in Rwanda, so we are all covered with sun screen. I think I am beyond sunscreen at this point (particularly my calves) so I have opted to cover up with long pants and long sleeves. It will make for a hot day, but probably the best way to go, since the sun was burning folks that had put on SPF 50 and 70.

Last night, the pizza was pretty good. They had cheese pizza, peperroni pizza, sausage pizza and pizza with potato, eggplant and mushrooms - I stayed with cheese pizza. I ate about 7 slices, and will probably pay for it today.

I think it is pretty funny because I have hardly eaten this trip, but Steve loves the food. I think I have seen him going back for seconds a couple of times. He even ate the casava, which had my stomach gurggling just looking at it.

Anyway, here are some of the latest pictures. I will try to send updates this morning and Saturday, but those will probably be the last until I return.

My plan is to do a final update after I get home and have had a chance to process all my thoughts about the trip.

Sleep well!

WALLS, sunburns and numb fingers

Considering we are really only completing our first full day, with yesterday being a little more than a half day, we are making great time.

Today, we finished all of the roof trusses, all of the floor joists and all of the walls. We didn't quite get to standing the walls, as it is a big task and we only have about an hour of daylight left.

We are experiencing some very HOT and SUNNY weather, particularly for this time of year in Rwanda. Even though we are using sun screen (some folks are using 50 and 70) most of us are still sun burned. I am doing fairly well, except for the back of my legs, which now look and smell like bacon.

Tonight we are all going out for pizza. I have barely been eating because the heat and hard work has really sapped my appetite. However, I think I might give the pizza a try.

Everyone is very tired, and tomorrow will be a very long, busy day if we want to get all of the walls, trusses and floor joist up. That will allow us some time to put up paneling on Saturday.

My ride is here, so I have to go.

More pictures tomorrow.

Her Name is "Perfect"

Before the containers arrived, I got to play with some of the kids. I showed about 25 of them my pictures of Grace and Claire. They all just stared.

"Perfect" was my closest friend today. She would not leave my side, and sat by me at our devotions this morning. I will let you decide whether her name fits her or not.

I gave a bunch of kids "pony rides" on my knee. It was fun for the first 10 to 15.

I have seriously hurt my back, but I keep stretching it out and going on. I hope that my chiropracter has openings as soon as I get back.

Grace, you would have lots of fun helping at VBS. First, however, you have to show me that you can survive on a diet of fried potatos, plantains, peas and fish. That is pretty much the staple that we get at every dinner.

CONTAINERS!!!!!

Well, after all the waiting, and waiting and waiting, the containers finally showed up around 10:30. After some coordination with the drives to get the trucks to a place where we could just toss most of the supplies down the hill, we got to moving metal!

It took until about 3:45 to get all of the containers unloaded, and then we started building trusses and floor joists. There are about 80 trusses, and we completed 25 of them before dark.

I am so impressed with how hard everyone worked. I am sure there will be lots of sore people tomorrow (not just us old folks).

I would like to blog more, but I am exhausted, as dirty as I have ever been, as most of my day was up in the trucks pushing out the metal. Because the containers had to be over 100 degrees, I am sopping wet, covered in grease and dirt, with a fair amount of blood on my shirt. Steve and Tim did a lot of the heavy duty with me, and Wayne coordinated things outside the truck, where the Rwandans were distributing everything to its correct place.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. It would be great to finish the trusses (we are making them on about a 4 minute pace as of 6:00 this evening), all the floor joists, and get most of the walls at least made (but not set). We have an unbelievable amount to get done in our very short time remaining, but we are going to give it our all.

Michelle, kiss my girls. You are my rock, and I am ready to give you a hug (although I know you wouldn't do it right now - given my peculiar odor and filth).

Good Night

It is 8:00 and we are still at the site. We were hopeful that the containers would arrive, but it looks like it will be morning. They have arrived in Kigali, and we have gotten all of the signatures we need, and we are going to pay the required fees tonight.

We anticipate delivery around 10:00, possibly earlier. Tomorrow will be a busy day.

This evening, we ate at the school, and played soccer and football in the dark. There is a big grassy hill, so we got some cardboard and tried to establish the Rwandan Bobsled team. Several of us (including me) took a shot at it, but our runs were less than dramatic. We slid about 10 feet until we came to a stop. I guess Rwanda will have to wait at least one more year for their bobsled team.

Good night.

Get Ready to Watch Some Dust Fly!

As of about 3:00 today, we got confirmation that the third shipping container has made it into the customs yard in Kigali. We have gotten permission from the customs Commissioner to deliver the container directly to the site, and they will come do the inspection as we unload.

Dan, Brad and Luca went into town around 3:30 to see if we could get the containers delivered tonight. Hopefully, they arrive on site before dark, and we can at least hit it hard in the morning.

Tomorrow, I will upload pictures from the end of the day, and you will hopefully see completed trusses waiting for installation and walls on the ground upright and in place.

As for me, I spent the afternoon playing what was supposed to be American Football (but actually looked a lot more like rugby) with two groups of Rwandan kids - each about 50 students. I did pretty well......at first.....okay, untill I had to start running. I am sitting here feeling my hamstrings tighten up. Tomorrow, I will have to do work that doesn't require me to bend over.

There is a young lady here from California, her name is Charlotte. She has a beautiful voice, and I sat and listened to her sing worship songs. On top of that, one of the students prayed yesterday at the end of camp. He prayed for his family, to keep them healthy and safe. He prayed for us, thanking God that we came, and asked God to help us finish our work. He prayed for his teachers, that they stay safe and can continue to work at the school. He prayed for his government, that they make the right decisions. And he prayed for the students, that they stay safe, can continue to come to school, and that God will direct them.

Between the praise songs and the prayer, I am reminded that it really is very simple. We make it all too difficult. They have very little, don't have many toys (if any), there parents struggle to make ends meet, their country lost almost 900,000 friends and family members to genecide, and they are thankful. There are dozens of kids that go up to ALL of us and shake our hands and say, "thank you" before they leave each day.

I need to be more thankful.

For my wife, my beautiful girls, my family.
For my job, which have given me the opportunity to do work I enjoy and with people I respect
For freedom
For friends who reach out to my kids
But mostly, to a God who watches out for me

He is God, I am not. But I will praise him regardless of the circumstances.

I am learning that from my Rwandan friends.

Please Give Me....

Today is Tuesday, August 4th at 1:33 in Rwanda. By my count, Claire is out of bed, but Grace and mommy are still trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep.

We were up and on the road by 7:30 this morning, hopeful that we would get early word on the containers. Right before lunch, we found out that the third container has finally crossed the border, and is on its way to Meswerga (which is the neighborhood in Kigali where customs is). We have been told it will take about three hours to get from the border to customs, and if they arrive before 3:00 today, they will clear it and send it on to the site. We are all optimistic that we will have materials on site today, allowing us to start unloading first thing in the morning (it gets very dark here around 6:00). If we can unload in the morning, we will probably have three crews - 1 to unload, 1 to start building trusses and 1 to start building walls.

We have about 50 Rwandans on "stand by" to help us unload, so we believe we can get a lot accomplished tomorrow.

As for today, I have already put the shorts back on, and preparing to play more soccer with the kids. Grace and Claire - the Rwandan kids like me flipping them up on my feet and bouncing them like a horse just like you do! Only thing, there are like 300 of them and only 2 of you.

I did cartwheels for the kids this morning. The all did them as well, but then challenged me to do splits and backwards crab walks. I declined.

Apparently, there aren't many folks over here with grey hair that is very straight. I had four little girls rubbing my head and giggling. One of them said, "this is my head".

After we got organized this morning, several of us went into Kigali to go shopping. Michelle, as you know, my job was to attract all the folks asking me to "please give me", while the rest of the gang shopped in peace. I have that look about me, I guess. The hardest was a mom with a little baby. She was asking for money to buy food. There are lots of kids over here that need a home....perhaps a home in the States?

I have tried to sign on to check my office e-mail, but was unsuccessful. Obviously, I don't remember the sign on. I guess that is just as well. I would like to know if they got the foundations poured, or has the rain continued to cause delays.

I have some photos and will try to post them.

I am looking forward to construction, but am greatful that I am here anyway. I miss you all, and am prepared to eat a big burger on my way home!

One Step Forward....

If it were easy, everyone would do it.

Well, as you can tell, we have finally arrived in Africa. We got to our hotel around 3 am on Sunday morning (about 9pm Saturday night in Fort Myers), and then back up by 9:00 to attend a welcoming and worship service at the school. After that, we ate a lunch prepared by the YFC staff, and then headed off to visit the genocide museum.

Our first evening, we spent strategizing how to prepare for the Vacation Bible School, inflated all the soccer balls, and met with Brad to discuss how to get our containers (holding all of our building supplies) out of customs.

Monday morning, we were up by six, and Dan, Brad, Luca and myself headed off to meet with our clearing agent, shipping agent and customs officials. Long story short, despite being told we would be able to get the first two (of three) containers on Monday morning, we encountered a number of difficulties, and are now hopeful that all three will be released on Tuesday (but we are still waiting for the third, which is in route, but has not passed the Rwandan border).

So, the rest of today has been dedicated to playing soccer with the kids, getting saw horses built, and figuring out how to get connected to the blog.

Lunch was again served at the site - this was a special lunch, including cassava - which looks like a pea stew. As tasty as it looked, I decided to pass so that my fellow travelers could have as much as they wanted. I ate a 100 calorie bag of cheese nips and a couple of handfulls of cashews.

Our hotel is fine. The beds are very firm, but we have all been so tired I am sure no one has had any trouble falling asleep. I laid down last night after dinner to just stretch, and woke up about 2 hours later, still fully dressed with my hands in my pockets. Tim was already in bed and sound asleep.

Hopefully, tomorrow will bring pictures of the containers getting unloaded, and walls starting to get put up. I am sparing you pictures of me playing soccer for two reasons - apparently, my legs are so white that my fellow workers think it is funny, and the Rwandans are afraid of me. Secondly, at 5,000 plus feet, it only takes me about three minutes of running before I have to sit down. I think I am playing soccer, but I think all the pictures will look like I am just sitting.

More tomorrow.

Grace, Claire and Michelle - Dad loves you all. Seeing these kids makes me miss you all. I have decided what I am going to bring home as a gift - cassava!

Michelle - thanks for holding down the fort. I love that you support my crazy ideas. Speaking of crazy ideas....Brad and Kiki are adopting a 2 month old Rwandan girl that was found abandoned in the woods. Her name is Grace. I am thinking perhaps I could be the next Steven Curtis Champan....what do you think!?

Love, Mitch