Sonrise School...."A Light on a Hill"

I was warmly welcomed into the Sonrise School community last week upon arriving in Musanze. Sonrise School is a boarding school that sits on top of a hill in Musanze and was started in 2001 by Bishop John Rucyahana, the Bishop of the Shyira Diocese. Sonrise was originally started by Bishop John to provide hope, education, and a future to the orphans from the genocide. In his book The Bishop of Rwanda, he states that he wanted to “get as many of the orphans together as we could, heal them of their trauma, teach them about the history of the country, give them the best education we could, help them to build wonderful character, and develop them as the best citizens we could possibly make them.” And no, this is not a typo....Sonrise was appropriately named this (and spelled this way) because it was said "the Son of God must rise into this problem". When I met with Bishop John after arriving here, he described in detail his hope to prove that even the orphans and neediest of this country are redeemable, worthy, and capable of having a future. He said that when he returned to his country after the genocide, he could not just simply pass by all of the children on the streets who were left without family. Many of the Sonrise students are genocide/AIDS orphans and chosen from all over Rwanda because they are the neediest in their village. Shortly after Sonrise opened, it proved to be one of the top schools in Rwanda based on National Exams. It still is considered one of the premier schools in this country. Although the majority of Sonrise students are on a sponsorship, it also has some fee-paying students, as many of the affluent in Rwanda want their children educated at this great school. Sonrise started as a Primary School only, and then as the students progressed, the Secondary School was built. They have been adding a grade every year, and are now up to the 11th grade level. Next year Sonrise will graduate its first senior class.

This simply amazes me, as it is such a testament to humanity and the thought that anyone is redeemable, anyone can prove worthy if they have the will and if given the chance. I love when Bishop John says that he wanted to prove that you could take the children who had lost everything and make them into something. And that is exactly what he is doing. An interesting social experiment....and it paints a beautiful portrait of how our God loves us as well.

I am spending most of my time teaching Advanced English at the Sonrise High School, and will also spend some time with the little ones at Primary. I have loved getting to meet the students so far. The teenagers here are much different than most teenagers (even myself as a teenager)…..they seem much younger in some ways and much older in other ways, as Tom says. They seems younger because they still have this innocence about them that has not been influenced by the material things of this world or shaped by the overbearing media that our own western culture often falls prey to. They have no concept of what “spoiled” is. However, they have a maturity that far outnumbers their young years, as they have lived through this terrible tragedy in their country, many of them have lost their parents and/or other family members, and they have realized that, if they are to become anything in this world, it is solely on their shoulders. The only things in life that most of them have been “given” are food, shelter, clothes, and education…all thanks to Sonrise and its sponsors. However, it is also apparent that they have been given much love and hope, and you can see this on their faces. You can see it when they sing and worship God, when you ask them what their goals are in life, when they tell you about how they want to make a better country for themselves and their families. I have been amazed at some of the student’s leadership skills exhibited here. The student leaders of this school address their classmates like they are leaders of their country addressing their nation.

I love all of my new teacher friends at Sonrise as well. Sweet Charles, a history teacher, wants me to teach him all about the history of America. Last week he got out his map of the US and kept returning to me with questions like why there are two states called Washington, where the Boston Massacre occurred, and do all the Indians live in Indiana:) John, the French teacher, is dying for me to help him improve his English, so he has graciously offered to teach me French in return (even though I did not really request it). He often brings me his textbook and suggests new vocabulary words to work on. I am also attempting to teach some English to Emmanuel, the little old man who is the guard at the Secondary gate. He does not know a lick of English, and so far we are still working on “hi, how are you?”. That might be all we get to this year. But he just talks away to me in Kinyarwandan like we are long lost best friends. Above is a picture of Emmanuel....I had to work hard to get him to understand that you are supposed to smile for a picture. I don't know if he has ever had his picture taken.

My teacher friend Penelope has been so sweet to take me to the market, show me around town, and even invite me into her home. Here is a picture of her most precious daughter, Lynette, who now calls me "Auntie Anna". How cute is she!! Her mom says I am the first white person she has ever seen, and she loves to give me sweet hugs and to kiss my white skin. I guess since I left my own neices and nephew at home, I will just have to adopt a few here.

Last week I attended my first chapel service at Sonrise Secondary. What a sweet and precious time. I vividly remember when I spent a summer in Thailand and heard the Thai people singing praises to God in their language for the first time. It was a memorable moment when I truly grasped that, although we were different in so many ways, we were praising the same God. And I felt that exact same emotion when I heard the students singing in Kinyarwandan. Tears filled my eyes as I saw these sweet faces praising their God...and my God.

Short clips of the music in chapel....

"God roams the earth during the day, but returns at night to rest in Rwanda" Traditional Rwandan Proverb

Muraho from Rwanda! In as little as a week, I have come to fully understand the meaning of the above statement. This beautiful country has welcomed this little American girl with open arms, and I have instantaneously fallen in love with it. I knew Rwanda was a special place and I knew Rwandan people were special people…I just didn’t fully grasp it until I stepped foot here. Rwanda is a beautiful country justly called “the land of a thousand hills”, (I would refer to them more as mountains!) and it is easy to see why it is worthy of being compared to God’s resting place on earth. The weather has been perfect, (about 75 degrees every day, which is pretty consistent year-round)....not to make all of you jealous in the hot Arkansas heat. The people are so friendly and precious, full of joy and life. When I meet someone new, I am always greeted with the gracious words of "you are most welcome here." Perfect weather, beautiful landscape, friendly people....not bad so far!



I arrived in Rwanda last week and was greeted by Bridge 2 Rwanda’s country director, Tom Allen. Tom has graciously shown me around and adjusted me to life in Rwanda. He is full of facts and knowledge about this place, and I am convinced he knows everyone in this country. We can be driving down an isolated road in the middle of a village, and he is sure to find someone running behind the car to greet him. Tom’s house is in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, and hosts the most incredible view with a landscape of houses and buildings falling down the prominent hills of the city (as seen above).

My first day in Rwanda, I visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial. A good way to begin my year in Rwanda, as it offers an informative but very moving tribute to the historical events of Rwanda and to the lives that were lost in the Genocide. The sign leading into the museum immediately gets your attention, as it simply states “Wasted Lives”. The most touching room to me is the tribute to children, as its understated simplicity is incredibly powerful. Oversized pictures of children hang on the wall, with simple plaques beneath them stating facts such as their name, their favorite food and sport, their personality traits, and then their cause of death. Outside, the memorial houses 14 mass graves with over 250,000 bodies buried literally under your feet, and they are still adding to it. It is very moving to observe the people of Rwanda paying their tributes. You can’t help but wonder, when they are leaving flowers and notes on the graves, how exactly they were affected by the genocide…what is their story. Although I have visited the Holocaust museum and even walked in a concentration camp, this experience was somewhat different for me. Different because it happened so recently and so many lives are still affected by this. And different because it now hits a little closer to home. However, despite the unthinkable human tragedies this country has experienced, there is an incredible feeling of forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope. The people of this country have not forgotten their past, but they refuse to remain in it.

Shortly after arriving in Rwanda, we headed north to my new home, Musanze. The ride from Kigali to Musanze is an incredible sight….the road curving in and out of the mountains, herds of people walking and riding bikes along the road, women carrying babies on their backs and bundles or food on their head, children running barefoot carrying their water jugs, farms and huts running from the very top of the mountains to the very bottom. My eyes were a little overstimulated! We stopped at a little roadside stand on the way, and of course, they all come running to greet Tom. My heart was stolen by little Dacuzimani, the first little Rwandan boy to come running up to give me the sweetest hug in the world. The rest of the visit was quite amusing, as I mistakenly got a camera out and, consequently, had to take a picture with every person at the stand. I had my first taste of sugar cane....very interesting. Bite, chew, spit. I always thought I would have this picture perfect sweet moment holding this precious African baby that would reciprocate my love and affection. I mean, babies love me! However, my first attempt at loving on a little African baby was not quite so touching. As I approached her, she instantly started screaming with a look of terror in her eyes…like I was this white-skinned, blonde-haired devil. And her mother so desperately tried to get her to let me hold her, but she clung for dear life to her mother (as you can see in the picture below:). I think I traumatized her for life.

We finally arrived at my (Bridge 2 Rwanda's) beautiful new house in Musanze, complete with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, an outside guest suite, a bunkhouse, a breezeway for entertaining, a soon-to-be full garden with avocado trees (and soon to add mango and papaya), three staffers (day guard/gardener, night guard, and housekeeper), and a beautiful view of the Virunga Mountains/Volcanos. I have my hands full! For what we would consider very little cost, we are able to provide substantial employment to three people and their families. In fact, even my housekeeper has a “housegirl”. Working for the westerners is a prized job. I arrive to the house with fresh flowers placed in every room and even a draping princess-canopy over my bed (which some might call a mosquito net).

My first trip into town I feel a million eyes looking at me and hear a million words that I can’t understand. However, I frequently pick out one word that I can understand: “muzungu”, meaning “white person”. My morning runs have also proved to be humorous, as I pick up a few children to accompany me along the way, give out high fives to old men passing by, and dart in and out of the hundreds of people walking along the road yelling "muzungu, muzungu!".

I have easily found my home here in Rwanda, and I look forward to the adventures of the next year. I will TRY my best to keep this updated; however, this blogging thing is new to me. Thank you so much to everyone for your prayers, encouragement, and support! More to come….