Rwanda: opening yourself and taking a look

Well, this morning, and frankly, this day, has been a life-changing and perspective-twisting day.

My church, Liberty Bible Church of the Nazarene, took a trip to Rwanda this summer for 18 days with a small group of doctors, kids, pastors, and friends which made up a group of 30 or so.

The history of Rwanda is very graphic and heartbreaking. There was a genocide in Rwanda in which 1 million people where killed in a period of 90 days. It was because there were two different types of people, the Hutu and Tutsi people. They Tutsi people slowly started filing into the land that the Hutu where living, and that's when it all began. People where brutally murdered just because of the way they looked. If your nose was to big and like a Hutu's nose, you were taken aside and killed by 3 methods: either a club (it was free, beaten to death), a hammer (it was free, pounded to death), or a gun (you had to pay a lot of money for a gun, which only few people had, and you would be shot to death). I could not believe this.

The team from my church helped build a school for kids of all ages, they built a clinic and helped start a team of doctors down there and supplied them with plenty of medicine to last. They also brought food. They have a feeding program called " G.R.O.W.", which feeds families, and also orphaned kids. Seeing pictures of the kids as they received woven baskets full of salt, and corn, and potatoes, and seeds to start a garden, it made me realize how much I take for granted.

Watching these little kids smile, made my heart jump for joy, yet become torn in two. They were so happy and so joyful for little bits of food, or new shoes, or even just a wave hello,......this really struck me. I was happy because they were getting help, which they needed really badly because of the conditions they live in. It was also sad, to see what a state they were in, but also, only staying there for 18 days, when you wanted to stay there all your life.

I'm hoping to go there next summer, and join the amazing adventure and journey that this mission trip brings. I'm waiting, and I'm ready for my eyes to be opened. :)