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....