Ministries: almost there ...

Still adjusting ... slowly. Pray for that - that comfort and peace and familiarity will come SOON!!
___________

Today we had a pretty intense meeting with Jen. She told us in detail about the ministries of IT we could be involved in. I thought you'd be interested, so here goes ... we haven't gotten our schedules together yet, still getting that worked out.

* Ubuzima (means something like hope in Kinyarwandan)
This is the HIV ministry run by Vivante Church. They minister to about 150 HIV positive people. The main part of the ministry is a meeting on Tuesday afternoons – kinda like a support group – but its mostly women who gather to knit. So I think all 3 of the interns are interested in this ... we’ll probably go and just sit with them and learn to knit/crochet. They don’t know English, so its basically just being present with them and communicating in nonverbal ways. Bingo ... that’s me, one of the things I really learned to appreciate in Malawi! :)

They also go out visiting to people’s homes – only about 50 end up gathering at the house. Most of the others either can’t travel, or just are too busy, or simply aren’t strong enough to make the trip. It sounds like the majority of the women look and seem pretty healthy, but there are some who do look weaker, etc.

As Jen was talking about this ministry, particularly the visiting homes, I started to get teary eyed. I could totally throw myself into this ministry. Its on the top of my list. But I knew it would be even before I left the States. Part of our budget here is a "ministry contribution" ... its extra money that we are suppose to set aside to use to bless people we come in contact with or ministries we are involved in. When we see a need, they want us to have money to be able to answer that call or need. Jen said one of the past interns used most of hers to bring food to the people she visited or to help with an expense that one of the families had. Hmmm, I could get into that.

*Women in Action
Pastor Moureen has a heart for those who have found themselves in the sex trade. This program is a basically a home for former prostitutes. I think she's taken in orphans in the area as well. She was given the property by a family member (I think), it used to be a nightclub so there are rooms along the back where about 20 adults live. Mostly they are women. I think there’s one family.

There are about 30 kids involved in this ministry. I’m guessing they are the children of the women on the property and some other "stragglers" she's adopted. But I’ll find out more soon. Several opportunities here. It sounds like ITeams would love for us to help with a kindergarten program for the little ones not in primary school yet. And then also to be involved in a sort of homework club – helping them mostly with their English and math.

There’s also a traditional church service that takes place on Moureen’s property. I’m excited about this because I don’t think I’m gonna get as much “traditional” singing/church at Vivante Church (Vivante has an English service, in addition to Kinyarwandan - they're the church ITeams is associated with). So I’m hoping to attend this service quite frequently. But we’ll see ... I’m told it can get exhausting.

*Street Kids
Sounds like this is a pretty big ministry. Basically like a mentoring program for kids on the street. Some of the kids live with women from the HIV Ubuzima program. The rest use Vivante Church as the home base. They have a feeding program a couple times a week, gather for football, etc. The intent of this ministry is to meet both the physical needs and spiritual by discipling the kids. A lot of the NGO’s in the area try to reach out to the kids but don’t seem to be very effective. Its because the spiritual nurturance isn’t there with the NGOs. So ITeams finds the chiefs/leaders of the street kids for the different districts of Kigali (kinda makes me think of the book Lord of the Flies), and they bring them together and teach them leadership skills and help them succeed. Then, those kids can care for/mentor/lead the rest of the kids. They send a lot of these 'chiefs' to school and help with basic skills before even entering school – some of them have never held a pencil! So it wouldn’t be surprising to find a 15-year-old in 1st grade. But if the kids want to do it, ITeams supports them. One of the kids from their program is now a commissioner in Kigali – sells real estate.

Jen was telling us that a lot of the kids don’t have any goals or hope - their goals are to just live another day. But eventually you’ll hear them aspire to be taxi drivers – to have their own car and drive around the city and be self-sufficient. This is their dream! Yeah, puts our own dreams in perspective. Sometimes we have so many opportunities that we don’t know what to dream or which goal to chase. The thought of having our own car in the States is not a foreign idea. Its kinda the norm.


SO, tomorrow we’re all going to sit down and talk about what we are interested in and get a schedule together. Hopefully when i get in a routine, it will feel more normal.