My flight landed last night sometime after 7pm. We gathered all 40-50 of our bags and headed to our guest house in 2 pick-ups a car and a bus! We were greeted very warmly by everyone. And we were served dinner upon our arrival (after getting our room assignments) at 10pm.
The flights were long and exhausting but I did sleep pretty well last.
This morning we were served eggs, homemade bread, watermelon and Rusty's favorite, those small sweet little bananas! We took a walk around Kigali and visited the Mille Collines Hotel. Lunch was delicious too, may favorite was the pineapple. They fruit here is amazing!
We came back to the guest house and then David (William and Ebralie's son) and I went and met another family that has adopted from Rwanda at Bourbon Coffee and then went to Home of Hope from there. We were not able to stay very long but we were very welcomed by the nuns and nannys. The nuns that we talked with so much when we adopted are all gone. The Mother Superior is still the same. There are currently 48 children there. It seemed like many more special needs and older children, even boys. I took my referral pictures of Hope and Benjamin and current pictures (which they wanted to keep). The kids were grabbing them and were very eager to hold them. A boy about 7-8 years old came up and politely asked to see (he spoke English) and very quickly and excitedly started saying BENJAMIN BENJAMIN BENJAMIN... they must of lived at Home of Joy in Kibungo together. It was so sweet. Many of the volunteers recognized and remembered both of the kids. The kids were in the court yard, in the rooms and outside playing. There were LOTS of caregivers there. One room had brightly colored plastic chairs and tables with table clothes for the kids to eat on. We held many of the toddlers and they cried very hard when we put them down to leave. It was funny that some children did not want to interact at all and others begged for you to hold them and give them attention. It really makes you want to adopt again and give these children families. I understand that the government is really pushing foster care (if you have read any news articles you know this too) and that is why he number of kid is lower then I expected it to be.
This evening is pretty free. We will have dinner and then off to Remera tomorrow for worship in the community will be be serving during the week.
I have a comfortable bed to sleep in and a hot shower with decent pressure so I am set. The roosters were crowing at about 4:45 so tomorrow I may just get up and watch the sun rise. today I slept until 8:00.
The view across from our guest house...
The flights were long and exhausting but I did sleep pretty well last.
This morning we were served eggs, homemade bread, watermelon and Rusty's favorite, those small sweet little bananas! We took a walk around Kigali and visited the Mille Collines Hotel. Lunch was delicious too, may favorite was the pineapple. They fruit here is amazing!
We came back to the guest house and then David (William and Ebralie's son) and I went and met another family that has adopted from Rwanda at Bourbon Coffee and then went to Home of Hope from there. We were not able to stay very long but we were very welcomed by the nuns and nannys. The nuns that we talked with so much when we adopted are all gone. The Mother Superior is still the same. There are currently 48 children there. It seemed like many more special needs and older children, even boys. I took my referral pictures of Hope and Benjamin and current pictures (which they wanted to keep). The kids were grabbing them and were very eager to hold them. A boy about 7-8 years old came up and politely asked to see (he spoke English) and very quickly and excitedly started saying BENJAMIN BENJAMIN BENJAMIN... they must of lived at Home of Joy in Kibungo together. It was so sweet. Many of the volunteers recognized and remembered both of the kids. The kids were in the court yard, in the rooms and outside playing. There were LOTS of caregivers there. One room had brightly colored plastic chairs and tables with table clothes for the kids to eat on. We held many of the toddlers and they cried very hard when we put them down to leave. It was funny that some children did not want to interact at all and others begged for you to hold them and give them attention. It really makes you want to adopt again and give these children families. I understand that the government is really pushing foster care (if you have read any news articles you know this too) and that is why he number of kid is lower then I expected it to be.
This evening is pretty free. We will have dinner and then off to Remera tomorrow for worship in the community will be be serving during the week.
I have a comfortable bed to sleep in and a hot shower with decent pressure so I am set. The roosters were crowing at about 4:45 so tomorrow I may just get up and watch the sun rise. today I slept until 8:00.
The view across from our guest house...
4 comments:
oh, i love to hear EVERY word about HOH and the kids and the nuns! thank you for sharing!!!
Hello!
I have followed your blog ever since we were waiting for our kids in Rwanda. (we were number 73) We ended up being one of the 11 families that was unofficially matched with a child and then the government closed down int'l adoption.
When I read your blog post on visiting HOH and holding many toddler kids, my heart ached and leapt all at the same time. We believe our son is still there and to be in the toddler age range now. Thank you so much for going to HOH and loving on those sweet kids. In a weird way, it hurts but helps more to know what is going on there and how the kids are doing. I appreciate you very much blogging about your experience.
Blessings!
Rebecca Wells
How old is your boy again? My son is 6 now- he was at Home of Joy. We actually got to visit there when we went to bring him home. He was at HOH until about 4, then move to HOJ. He's first name was Noel, which is now his middle name. I wonder if they knew each other?... Oh how I long to go back to Rwanda. My oldest son and I are planning a visit next summer- he wants to see where his brother is from. I can't wait for the day for Jonathan Noel to visit too!
Our Benjamin will be 6 in September. He was at Home of Joy for at least 2 years. I am certain they spent time together. Our sons name was Benjamin Habimana and we kept it. I want to take my entire famiy back.
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