Play For Hope

Well I am Back onto Blogs!  Thanks for being patient with me as I was away for the weekend.  :)  

Day 9:

Today was a very eventful day! We got to sleep in a little, which was nice, and we had porridge and bananas for breakfast!  Yum! ;)  After breakfast we headed out for the market.  The market is the place where many street kids make a little bit of money to buy food.  It was about an hour and a half walk over to the market.  We made it, and well, it was like nothing else I had ever seen before!  There was a covered section with all the food, such as fruits and veggies as whatnot.  There were very small little rows with food sitting in them and tons of people everywhere!  It was like a maze trying to get through.  Then, there was an open area where they sold things such as shoes, suitcases, and other odds and ends and such.  It was basically their wal-mart.  One place for everything, and lots of people!  Here, there were many kids with yellow vests on who would bag up items and carry them places for people.  This is what the street children do to try and get a few hundred francs so that they can possibly buy some bananas or other type of cheap food to be able to eat.  It is crazy that they may work for several hours and only get a couple hundred francs, which would be the equivalent of about 35 cents!  After a little bit I had to head out. This was the first place I had experienced it, but I was starting to feel claustrophobic.  I usually don't have that problem, but there were just people everywhere, and I was not sure where to go, and there were different smells, and small spaces.  I just got a little overwhelmed.  

After the market, we went for some sambosas for a snack.  These are like Fried bread triangles with meat inside!  SO good!  They make a great snack because of the meat when you start to get hungry.  :) Then, we went to take a rest break at the New Life Mission house.  It was a very nice place!  There was a large gazebo in the yard with lawn chairs and stuff that we sat in for a little while.  The house was up towards the top of the mountain, so the view was really pretty, and you git a really good breeze sitting there!  It was great! :)  Then, we headed out for a quick lunch at our favorite restaurant, the Olympiad, and met up at the office.  Jena and I headed out to talk with another girls team.  The girls were very interactive!  Everything went very well!  I love having the opportunity to feed into these girls lives and remind them of how great they are and how much God loves them!  I have realized that I really miss ministering to other girls!  Every girl needs that encouragement and love in her life, and it is so sad to see that many girls are not receiving that!  I just want every girl and woman to see how beautiful they are and precious and treasured they are by the Savior! :)  

After returning home, we quickly changed, and we all went out to the Almond Tree film show.  This was a film festival that ran a few short films about Rwandan society.  The first film was about a girl who was struggling because she lost her father in the genocide.  She was in school with the son of the parents who murdered her father.  In the end, she is able to forgive the mother who killed her father.  It spoke a very powerful message!  The second was about two boys who were musicians, but were struggling to make it in society.  One boy was about to be evicted from his home, where him, his sick father, and his younger sister lived.  He was made fun of and went through many other hardships with one of his friends for pursuing music.  In the end an opportunity arose for them to be able to play in a competition, which led to them getting on the radio and making themselves known.  The third was about a boy who lost both of his parents due to the genocide, as well as one of his legs.  Also, he was not sure whether his sister was still alive or not.  He went through many struggles, as one of his relatives tried to continue to raise him and provide for him.  He struggled a lot with self identity.  In the end he was reunited with his sister at the graveside of his parents.  I thought it was so cool for this company to form movies such as this to speak such powerful messages to the other people of Rwanda, as well as people around the world.  This culture is so forgiving of the past and hopeful for the future!  I love it! Lastly, Harvesters, a dance group that Serieux helps run, performed.  They were really good!  I wish I could have video taped it!  After this, it was about 10:00 at night.  We walked back to the house, ate dinner, and we all crashed!  It was a great, but very long day!  I am very excited for tomorrow because it is one of the coaches' weddings, and we were invited!  I am very excited to see a Rwandan wedding!!! :)  Can't wait!