Friday

Up early for breakfast at 0730 and leaving soon after 8am. We were off to visit two parishes, Manyagiro and Ruyange, Both of these are on the SAP programme and both have had Water-Harvesting Projects installed, paid for by DT. However, today was a special day for Jim as his annual count ticked over another number. Yes, the birthday boy was welcomed to the breakfast table with a variety of versions of Kinyarwandan for ‘Happy Birthday Jim’!

Breakfast done, the journey to both parishes was testing for the four-wheel drive vehicle. Up steep inclines, over rough and rutted tracks, down potholes and across log bridges, we rocked and rolled along. But we made it, and the welcome we received was from both groups of church leaders made the journeys worthwhile. 

At Manyagiro, Pastor William is doing a good work of building and developing the fellowship. The recent WHP, installed just before we arrived and being finished off at our visit, has given a real boost to the witness of the church and will provide much needed water.

Whilst meeting the leadership team over a snack of hard-boiled eggs, bananas and bread, accompanied by African tea, we came up with the idea of playing charades to introduce ourselves  to each other. Andy was up first and tried to act out reading from the Bible, teaching/preaching with hand gestures and calling people to respond to Jesus (pointing upwards). It seemed good to him, but the first guess from one of our Rwandan brothers was….a driver?!?! Once the laughter had subsided and with his confidence seriously dented, Andy invited the same member of the leadership team to act out his job. Up he got and acted out the very same sequence of gestures that Andy had done. So obviously we all went for … a preacher, a church leader. But no. He is a tea plantation manager! Again we laughed - and then went on to the next team member. Thankfully the acting improved and guessing became more accurate. It was fun and left us all much the better for it.

At Ruyange it was good to hear from Pastor Donat and his team the plans that the parish have for their development. Their WHP is still in its first year but, with a full 10,000 litre tank, they anticipate some useful income from selling the water in the coming weeks as this is the time when rainwater is scarce. They also shared plans to buy some land and increase their building facilities. However, they still have work to do in making their current church buildings compliant with the new building regulations.

On the way back to Byumba, the car took a bit of a bump on the underside which caused a delay as our driver had to get out, check underneath and fix something back in place. We attracted a bit of a crowd and the inevitable requests for money! Once fixed, we resumed our journey home to enjoy a much needed cuppa.

Tonight we’re off out for a birthday meal at the local hotel.

Thanks for reading and goodnight.