The story so far

I am heading off on Thursday so I thought I would write another post before I headed off to tell the story so far of how I have ended up going away this summer.

I have been to Rwanda before back in 2011 for 4 months with 8 other people as part of a Tearfund transform trip. The time I spent thee was great. I learnt loads and met some great people. When I got home I would go on about it for hours, explaining what it was like, who we met and the amazing work that the church was doing out there.

The team I got to go to Rwanda with and our incredible translator Fulgence

Since I have been back in the UK I have wanted to go back and do something similar. During the summer between my first and second years at university this wasn't possible due to costs, but I was determined to go the following summer, so I got a job that summer working at Sainsburys to get some money to pay for it.

During my second year at university God thought me even more about how he longs to see the oppressed, the down trodden and the desperate be made whole. That his kingdom is one of justice, where people are treated in accordance with the amazing value he has placed on there lives. Where the church practices costly love towards the world. That we would be willing to sacrifice time, money, and resources in order to seek justice and speak up for those who the world often ignores.

This made me really want to go back to Rwanda during the summer between my second and third year at university. I made plans of what I wanted to do, started to sort out where I would stay, and looking at flights. But God kept saying no. For a long time I didn't listen and carried on making my plans, I didn't understand why would God be saying no to this? But God kept saying no, and things started to come up making it more and more difficult to go and eventually it resulted in there being no plausible way that I could go back to Rwanda that summer.

I decided instead to do an unpaid project at university that summer and stay in the UK. Soon after all my plans to go to Rwanda fell through I became aware that someone close to me was going through a tough time. I am so thankful God stopped me going and forced me to stay in the UK so I could be there for them that summer. He did know what he was doing when he said no!

About a month after I had abandoned my original plans I had started to think about the possibility of going this summer. The big thing in the way now was finances. God had it under control though, the unpaid project I was doing suddenly offered to pay me £2000 for doing it, after a minor accident on my bike I received £1100 in compensation and I got a travel bursary from the university for £950!

And that has made this summer possible. It is amazing how much simpler things become when you listen to God and follow him rather than doing things your own way.

I will try and write an update once a week while I am out there, thankyou to everyone who has supported me this far!

Chris

So... I'm going to Rwanda and Burundi this summer

Hi!

So I am going to Rwanda and Burundi this summer for 2 months and thought I would try to keep a blog during my time out there to let you know how things are going!

I will be spending 1 month in Rwanda teaching English in a children's home before travelling down to Burundi where I will spend the second month working in the lab of a medical clinic that has just opened.

More details about where I am going can be found at the links below:

hopemadereal.org/urukundo-home/
www.burundiyfc.org/shammah-health-center/

I am going to try and keep fairly regular updates, upload a few pictures (hopefully!) and keep you updated with what to be praying for.

The 2 countries are both quite small and sit next to each other in East Africa, sandwiched between the DRC and Tanzania.

Rwanda (and I have been told Burundi is also also) a beautiful country, known as the land of 1000 hills, home of mountain gorillas, tropical rain forests and some of the most welcoming and generous people I have ever met. Many people however probably know Rwanda better for the genocide that happened there in 1994 where at least 800,000 people where killed. Burundi has also suffered from civil war and violence over the last few decades. But in the 20 years since the genocide in Rwanda and 6 years since a ceasefire was signed in Burundi these 2 countries have made huge progress.

I have been lucky enough to visit Rwanda before, it was amazing to see what the church where achieving, and I look forward to spending more time there using skills I have learnt doing a TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) course this year. This will be my first trip to Burundi but I really hope to learn more about the country and people there, see what the church is doing and hopefully contribute towards the work they are doing.

Chris