Play For Hope

Some of you might remember a specific boy that we worked with in Rwanda named Jeune.  He is the boy that went from harassing my team to become good friends with many members of the team.  You can read his story here.  He has stayed in communication with a few of us since we left Rwanda via email and I was able to visit him while I was in Rwanda. When orginially we met Jeune, he told one of my workers that she was not pretty because she had no water to give him.  On this trip, his mother gave me a bottle of water from their small store.  It is fun to see how much has changed! 

Jeune is studying English and wants to come to America one day.  He also has many dreams and ambitions and it is exciting to see that he is able to go to school, eventhough he is sad he will now be in school during our next trip.  I was able to give him a Bible in Kinyarwanda, which he was excited to read.

Jeune took me up a narrow steep incline to his house which is in a poorer area next to a field that we played on at Kimisagara. The trek took us by rows and rows of small houses with a system of steps meant to drain water between them.  It was covered in still water and trash.  Following are a few pictures of his family and himself inside his house and in a small store they run in the area:

Jeune standing in the door of his house.

Jeune with his two sisters in his house.

Jeune's mother, who wasn't too excited about having her picture taken, in her shop.

As I got ready to leave, Jeune walked me to a bus station 30 minutes away and made sure that I got on the right bus.  As we were walking he had a confession to make. "I lied," he said to me.  "You lied?" I asked.  He told me that last summer he had told us his age was 15, when he had only been 13.  He thought that this would ensure in him playing in our tournament.  I busted out laughing as he had played on a 15 and under team, which means if he had lied anymore about the age he though we wanted, he would not have played in our tournament at all!