The Greater the Darkness the Brighter a Single Light, A Rwanda Update

As most of you reading this know, I traveled to Rwanda, Africa last September for some time to provide therapeutic care to numerous young adults who survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide but nevertheless were left severely traumatized by its devastation.

Not to be overly sentimental or engage in undue hyperbole, I can say with full honesty that I am not the same man I was before traveling to the land of a 1,000 hills and a 1,000,000 smiles. I left that place humbled, tenderized, more keenly aware of our humanity and what really matters in life.

Perhaps it was hearing heart wrenching story after heart wrenching story of loss, of pain, of suffering that you and I can't even begin to understand, let alone come to grips with.

Perhaps it was seeing so many of those gentle souls, with strength of character the likes of which I have not born witness to before, persevere through such a great tragedy, making due in abject poverty with a lack of material resources that would make most people flinch.

I'm reminded of being offered lunch by a young family of orphan children who lost both parents and much of their family in the genocide. Their lunch offering would have caused them not to eat for several days.

When was the last time we gave until it hurt, like Mother Teresa recommends?

Upon returning to the US, I was so affected in this regard that I had to sell my bed and now sleep on the floor, as I realized I didn't need such luxury when I have friends overseas, no less capable than I, making due with far less.

The orphanage where we worked in Kigali, home to 500+ orphans, is said to be the poorest in all of Rwanda. In the dorms there they sleep two (or more) to a bed, have no formal plumbing system, no showers, and until recently, no electricity.

Yet the spirit and aliveness of those living there, might rival and even trump our own.

Thanks to the determination of my good friend, Lori Leyden, as well as many of her donors and supporters, Lori's latest fund raising effort raised enough funds for electricity to light up the class rooms at the orphanage.

If so little was giving so much before, you can imagine the reaction of the students who now get to enjoy something you and I take for granted on a daily basis.

 

Imana Iguwe Umugisha (God bless you).