A Three Hour Walk

I recently posted about going into a remote village on top of Virunga Mountain. With more visitors in last weekend, we decided to take them to Virunga Lodge for dinner to enjoy the spectacular views and relaxing atmosphere of the resort. We stopped to show them Sonrise School on our way, and when leaving the school, we notice a group of children passing by the entrance. Immediately I recognize John Rambert, one of the children from the village we had visited. We figure out that three of these children were from the village, and since we were headed up that way, we piled them in the back of our car for a ride to the top of the mountain. We asked them what they were doing in town, and they replied in their broken English: "To send Anna a letter". They tell us that they left at 6:00 that morning to walk 3 hours down the mountain into town, just to find a computer to send me an email. I was humored and amazingly touched at the same time. The boys loved being able to ride in a car, and we saved them a 3 hour walk back to the top of the mountain! Above is a picture of me with the three precious boys, John Gaspar, John Rambert, and Remember. And how coincidental that we just happen to be at Sonrise the exact moment they were passing by. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa, and Musanze is the most densely populated area in Rwanda. So basically, in the most densely populated region of Africa, we happen to run into these village children who just happened to be on their way to send me an email!

When we got to the top of the mountain, we witnessed a beautiful rainbow stemming from the lake and arching over the volcanoes!

Here is a picture of me with John Rambert....I absolutely love this child. He has the best smile and the sweetest eyes....a picture does not do him justice.

We followed the boys into their village again, and all of the villagers came running to greet their long lost friends. We were invited into John Gaspar's home, in which I was taken back by the humble living conditions. The mud hut consisted of three tiny rooms, one for the parents, one for the three children, and one for the baby goats (I'm not sure why the goats have their own room, but who am I to ask?). Above is a picture of John Gaspar in his room, which he shares with two siblings. For their bed, they place a straw mat on top of leaves, which are used to provide some cushioning on the hard dirt floor. However, John Gaspar is so proud to show off his room, as he doesn't even realize the conditions in which he is living. He has never known anything else. Most days I have been so encouraged and uplifted by the incredible contentment, joy, and faith of these people; however, there are days like this when I am overwhelmingly hit with the realization of the poverty of which I am in the midst. The realization that a huge percentage of the world lives in similar conditions as John Gaspar. I feel this slight guilt that I will go home to my big house, eat a good dinner and get in a nice warm bed, and this child probably does not know where his next meal will come from and will sleep on a dirt floor. I am struck with the the reality that unless this child has access to a good education, his life will always be like this. I am hit with the fact that this is just one of many children in this village, one of many villages in Africa, one of many continents in the world. I feel the overwhelming sadness that, no matter how much I am disturbed by this, there is really not that much that I can do about it.

And then I am reminded of the great quote: "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."