Sunday, April 17, 2011

Saturday, April 16, 2011 Kigali Rwanda 8:30 PM

Another day has come to a close of our time in Africa.  Julie and I both had a good night rest for our first night in Rwanda.  We each have a self-contained room meaning we have a bathroom accessible within our room. Otherwise we would be sharing such facilities with other guests which is common in East Africa.  We also have hot water and good water pressure which makes bathing easy.  We have to be very careful because when we see sinks similar to the ones at home for some reason it gives the false impression that we can use the water from the faucets to brush our teeth but we cannot.  Water here can make us very sick so we must be diligent to keep it out of our mouth even when taking a shower.  Hmmm.  I take all these things: bathroom, clean accessible water, hot water, and good water pressure for granted at home. 
We took a trip into downtown Kigali today to make purchases.  Even this errand takes more to accomplish than when at home. First, you find the person at the guest house who speaks English and explain where you are going and ask if he can hire a taxi and what the fair price is for the trip.  Then before we leave we male sure that the return is also arranged.  The Taxi driver does not understand English. We managed well on this and before long we were off to NAKUMAT  Shopping Center. 

Our first stop was to our cell phone service provider to see if they could fix the problem we are having sending texts to the USA.  After working on it for an hour, they said they would try to solve the problem and get back with us  on Monday.  After our purchases were made, we stopped for lunch in a small Western style café then back to the AEE Guest House.
Antoine Rutayisire, the Principle of the Kigali Anglican Theological College, stopped by this evening to give greetings.  We will go to his church in the morning which is in walking distance from where we are staying.  The entire service is in Kinyarwanda  so Antoine will arrange for someone to sit with us to serve as interpreter.
The light is not good in the sitting room and as I type I am holding a flashlight under my arm directed toward the keyboard.  This makes it a bit tiring!  But honestly, I am thankful for any light that I have at night and for electricity.
Time has come for my evening cup of tea.  Julie and I will do a short study, debrief the day and say prayers.  I’ll be sure to give God thanks for you because you’ve taken your time to read this blog.   I hope you will say a prayer for us too.

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