In the Land of a Thousand Hills

I arrived right on schedule, with all my bags (yay!) after chatting in Italian (with the help of a dictionary) to a team of guys on the Brussels-Kigali flight. They were heading on to DR Congo to do electrical projects. They were awesome, and two of them were in their 80s. I hope I'm still working in Africa when I am 84!!

Bishop Joseph & Liberatta met me at the airport and a few minutes later the VFHC team arrived in their new van (new to me!) with about 5 or 6 kids I knew in the back. Everyone jumped out and Louise and I ran towards each other for a big hug - it was amazing! Bob and Debbie are great and not to mention I discovered she is a great cook. 

There are many changes at the orphanage, a big one is that they now have electricity! I keep forgetting though, I was getting something from my room in the dark when I remembered I could turn on the light. So strange. There are new railings at the top of the retaining walls, new chain-link fence all around the property, including the new land; and my fruit trees have grown from about 7 inch starter plants to small trees now. Not to mention other changes like the pigs and lots of good crops growing on the new land (well, it was new when we bought it 2.5 years ago when I was here).

I drove my old ride, the landcruiser into town today. It is now known as "Surambaya" which means something along the lines of "Ugly Face" -- so funny. I guess it is a bit old compared to the newer van (which is known as "Customer Care" for some unknown reason). But I still like it! It smells like the pig they took to get bred yesterday though, perhaps I will wash it when I get home. :)

Sunday afternoon we played soccer at CP (I cheered from the sidelines as I was still suffering from some jet lag), which is the big field up in the village. I handed out the new jerseys that were donated by the Jarrett Value Centre in Sudbury, as well as some soccer shorts for some of the girls who didn't have any. We still have about 25-30 pairs of shorts to hand out and use later on this week or when the kids need them. Here are some photos from the game:

Most of the 2 teams before we headed out:

 Papa Jojo with some of the team (the subway jerseys were donated the last time I was here, the Sudbury ones are new!)

 Loading up for the game

 Arsene and I watching the game

 Game on

 Kicking skills

 Team Sudbury! :)

 Claude waiting to sub in

 And Claude, after waiting too long :)

I am getting over my jet lag, the first day I woke up at 2AM and just stayed up until night so that I could reset... I think it worked! Next Saturday we will have a family feast, courtesy of everyone who donated. It's going to be awesome! I told the kids about it last night at family time and you should have seen them cheer.

One thing that has been difficult is adjusting to the fact that so many of the kids I know are gone. I know some of them have gone to be with extended family, so that is ok. But I wish I could see them! I did see Tuyisenge, she stopped by to say hi to Mama Jojo while I was there and so we got to say hello. Ignace is one of the older kids away at secondary school (boarding school) but I did get to see him Sunday when we had to drop off some forms. I am going to try and get them all to come to the feast, I will see if I can convince the schools to give them permission. :)

It has been great being with the kids and I nearly started crying on Sunday listening to them sing... It's nice to be home.