Great day in Nyamata visiting Lisa (my sister) and Don's sponsor child through World Vision

This is Mark and I with Elie, (sponsor child)  his big brother Pacifique and their mom Taciane. We are in front of their home in Nyamata (a little village about 45mins from Kigali)

This is the kitchen they use to cook all their meals.

Elie!  He was pretty proud to show off the school he goes to.  (thanks to Lisa and Don who pay for him to attend school)

Some of Elie's friends coming to visit.

This was such a neat experience to be able to take Elie and his family out for lunch to a restaurant in the nearest town.  (I think it was probably his first time to eat 'out')

Elie and I, right before we had to say goodbye.

A few more pictures

Cutest bum I've ever seen in my life!

This is at the Refugee Camp. 

A group of kids followed us around most of the day at the Camp and wanted their picture taken so that they could see themselves on the camera.  Pretty cute!!

This is at a wedding we went to (Vincent, the first street boy to get married)  Kids seem to love being near Mark.  It's pretty adorable.

We spent a day painting a house where 4 of the former street boys live. 

Kayonza 'water walk' and Refugee Camp

In the village of Kayonza this is where so many people walk to get their water to cook, clean and wash with. For some, the hike is over 45mins one way.  A well has been dug within the village, but funds are needed to bring electricity there so that the well can be used!

Refugee camp!  There are over 10,000 children that live there, and as you can see they all love getting their picture taken :)   They have free schooling until grade 6.  After that, most kids never get to go to school again because they have to pay their own way.  There is a large amount of child  prostitution that goes on within the camp.  Many families don`t have enough food and are forced into awful circumstances. 

A month and a half in Kigali

Kim and I have now been in Rwanda for a month and a half. It has been an incredible beginning to our time here. We live in a house and are blessed to usually have running water and electricity. There has been much we have been a part of but the majority of our time has centred around working with youth who are a part of a street boys program as well as working with a group called Ubazima (life) which is a group of people affected by HIV/AIDS who gather together to make jewellery and artwork in order to buy food as well as antiviral medication.
During the past few weeks we have been spending time with a team of fellow Canadians who came to Rwanda for a few weeks. This has been an awesome blessing and we are very thankful for the time we have spent with them. Two of our highlights during the past weeks included:
- Visiting a village called Kayonza where we walked with some of the local people to get water and then spent time visiting
- Spending a day in a refugee camp for people who have had to flee from the Congo (over 18,000 people live in the camp and aprox 10,000 are children)  Totally overwhelming, but incredible at the same time. 

We hope to add some pictures soon.  (It can take up to 45 mins to upload 1 picture.)