Visitation Day at the Boarding School

Finally it was Visitation Day...( the 1st Sunday of the month ) 

to go see Kofi, Cynthia and Patrick at school.  I could hardly wait. 

We went to church first and then headed to the school....

There were already lots of cars there and this room was 

full of parents and guardians....

We of course, were ushered clear across the front of the "dining hall"
to find a seat on the opposite side of the room.
The whole parent's meeting was in Kinyarwanda so we
couldn't understand anything... 

 Then the principal asked one of the students to explain to us
what was going on.  You can see in the picture we
are all sitting on the "bottom" portion of the dining room.
We were sitting on the seats/ benches from all the tables
up above... This was a large room. 

The roof was tin and it suddenly started pouring
down rain.  Couldn't hear anything and then the electricity
went off and the mic stopped working.  But it seemed that most
of the parents were only concerned about their children getting
enough food!  No government subsidies here just -- Beans and Rice! 

Finally found these two... but Cynthia had gone home 2 days earlier.. sick.  There has been a really bad bug going on around Kigali... Bruce has had it, Innocent,
and Patrick...too...So far Kofi and I have escaped it... Yes, I'm knocking on wood.
The book that the boys are holding is a new Bible that the
American Bible society just came out with.  
It is Kinyarwanda on one side of the page
with the English text just opposite so they can read and see the text in both
languages!!  We got one for each of the kids.
(At this writing... a week later.. Cynthia is now back at school.... and healthy!) 

We talked to the boys in the car.. until the rain stopped.
Patrick's step-mom, Angel was with us in the car, too.
A lot of the kids didn't have family visiting...due to the fact that
many of the kids are from Burundi....the country just south of
Rwanda. So you see them lined up under all the roofs along the buildings.
Once the rain stopped we got out and took some pics...  Note the volleyball court.
Maybe they need a new net???? 

This is the main building on Campus. The Deutsche Welle radio 
station towers are in the background.

I love this soccer goal ... Doesn't it seem like this would be the soccer field
in the Flintstone's Movie?... Minus the cars, of course! 

It was time for the kids to go to lunch and for us to take off...  I headed to the dining hall with them to see what they were serving. Sure enough...  a ton of rice covered with a ton of beans awaited them.  On Saturdays they do add meat and bread...It does look like a LOT of food ---but every day?  And what am I complaining about???

 
                            Serving was buffet style so I guess they could
                           have as much as they wanted.  Not sure, though.

         The cool guys!   (The houses behind them off in the distance are actually near our
neighborhood.)  The boys are skinny.... These growing boys probably don't get enough food.  But when I asked Patrick what we liked about school he said the studies and the pray time.... I thought he meant "play" time since the r's and l's sometimes get exchanged... but he said no.... it was the Prayer time...  They have devotions everyday.
It's great to know that they are still growing in their faith as well as in knowledge!

Then Angel and I told them to SMILE!!!   Aren't they handsome?
Yes, these are their uniforms and
the girls have the same... but with skirts.
Casual look is the addition of a yellow t-shirt like
the one Patrick has under his uni.


It was great to be with them and in 3 weeks they end their first term
and will be off through most of April.  Then we can be together more!

 It was the end of another beautiful day!
Even with all the rain... because it was so wonderful to be with the kids!

love,
margie