Emmanuel, "God with us"

I have not written much about my students at Sonrise individually because I want to protect their privacy and preserve the trust that I have built with them. However, the students at this school are among the most inspiring, unbelievable people I have ever met in my life. They are all wonderful, but there is a handful at which I am absolutely amazed at their faith, maturity, brilliance, humility, dedication, persistence….and the list goes on and on. I want to share with you one of them, sweet Emmanuel (who gave me permission to write this). He might be one of the most amazing human beings I have ever met in my life. I won’t share specifics, but he has been dealt an incredibly tough hand in life, yet has come out to be this brilliant, poetic leader who will no doubtedly someday change the world. I have had some of the deepest conversations of my life with this 18 year old Rwandan student. He is overflowing with wisdom from real life experiences that you and I could never dream of and always has some bit of inspiration to share. He is a strong leader at Sonrise, earning the respect of every student and teacher. I will never forget a conversation I had with him when he told me “you are no longer a friend or a teacher, you are now family”. I deem it a huge compliment to be considered family by him.

Emmanuel’s future is limitless. This boy could do anything that he puts his mind to, whether it be electrical engineering, a career in politics, or the future “Bishop of Rwanda”. I hope you will be blessed by a couple of his poems I have included.

Emmanuel, meaning "God with us", is a perfectly suited name for him. Everytime I spend time with him I feel as though I have been close to God Himself.

“I AM MY ENEMY!!!!!”
Resentment, fear, grief,
Sadness, gloom
The five are emotions,
They are emotions of pain
They are psychological, thus
brain torture.

They are the ghosts.
In fact satire ghosts,
Sarcastically, they confront.
They cast their victims
Desperately in a separate
World and sometimes
Thrust one insane.

Man is their main harbor,
He is the host, they parasitically suck him up
And yet he would have cursed and cast them.

Good example. Ask Jesus on the cross.
The fives I guess knocked to his heart
But boldly and silently he cursed them up
And came out of his nut shell and saved the world.

You and I have hate ourselves, woefully,
We cling to doom, after we are hurt.
Out of the frying pan into the fire, we act.
But there is this, if we want to not continue hating ourselves,
Then let’s fly to the mind of God,
To bible, where despair dissolves in
Promises and desperate ones burst into laughter.


“WHO IS IN CHARGE?”

Almost every thing is at risk.
Life itself is at stake!
Almost all creation is pulling up stakes

The longer the world lives the harder the life becomes,
Yet the more technology comes.
Prior to new inventions, solemn the world comes, so as if it’s
Reborn- reborn to harm.

The more we enter the civilization era, the greater life expectancy
Reduces almost to nor years compared to BC

The question remains, who is charge?
For those who believe, we are born to live and live happily
But why the world full sorrow? And we can’t!!

Who is in charge? Is still the challenge!

We ask, what have they done, I wonder who?
But ignore what have I done?

Here is my mind, I don’t know what you think! But here is what I think
Although, many things in life are beyond one’s control,
You and I do have a great deal of control- more than most of us
Are willing to acknowledge over circumstances and conditions .

We can control our attitudes, concerns and worries, response
And reactions,
how much energy and effort you give to each task you undertake,
Thoughts, and imaginations, you can choose to speak or remain silent.
If you choose to speak you can choose your words and your tone of voice.

A great deal of things we can control.

Your commitments and your time and your penny and conduct.
But the born and created still suffer our negative approach.

And the question is who is in charge?


BY MANIRAKIZA Emmanuel

"Give Me Your Eyes"

This morning I forgot to bring my iPod when I went running, which meant that I actually had to think at 6 a.m. in the morning instead of listening to music to divert my attention from the uphill climbs and high altitude of northern Rwanda. As I was running through the herds of people walking down the streets of Musanze (yes, even at 6 a.m.), I kept hearing the lines of a particular song pop in my head. It is a Christian song by Brandon Heath that became popular right before I left to come to Rwanda. Every time I would hear the song on the radio in the US, I would feel so convicted about how I viewed people in this world, about my lack of attentiveness to the people all around me. This morning, the words to this song kept playing through my mind as I looked in the eyes of the people that passed me by. I prayed the Lord would give me the capability to see these people as He sees them, to love them as He loves them.

Here are a few of the words:

All these people, going somewhere
Why have I never cared?
Give me your eyes for just one second,
Give me your eyes so I can see.
Everything that I keep missing,
Give me your love for humanity.
Give me your arms for the brokenhearted,
Ones who are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten,
Give me your eyes so I can see.
I've Been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all along
Give me your eyes for just one second,

Give me your eyes so I can see.

These words are incredibly powerful to me. How often do we pass people by on the streets and never even give a second thought to their lives? I wonder how much clearer I could see the people of this world if I had the chance to see their hearts through His eyes for just one second. How much more would my heart break for them if I could understand just how brokenhearted they really are? How much more would I put my own trivial needs aside if I could really fathom the critical needs of others? My prayer here in Rwanda is that my eyes will be opened to the people that surround me in my daily life. Not just for the kids at my school or my village, but even the hundreds of faces that pass me on my morning runs.

Home away from Home

I arrived back in Rwanda a few weeks ago from my two months holiday in the States. It was an interesting transition after spending a few months in a developing country. Great to be with family and friends, but an interesting change of pace from life in Rwanda. I went through a period of "reverse" culture shock where I was completely overwhelmed by the extravagancies and seemingly unnecessary luxuries of American life. And then I somewhat adjusted back to the American way of life after a few weeks, although I felt a little guilty for the adjustment. I think everyone who has been overseas for a while probably experiences something like this. The experience changes you, and you want to believe that you will stay completely changed for good. But that is just how we are, we adjust back to what we know, to what we call home. Although I felt myself becoming slowly accustomed to the culture again, I did feel as though the change was rooted deep enough to take hold. I had a new perspective, a broader view of the world and what my purpose on this earth really is.

And now here I am, back in Rwanda, ready to start the adventure again. But this time I will not be doing it in solitude as I was the first few months I was here. Now I have six lively new roommates, all Bridge2Rwanda volunteers who will be working in some capacity to serve the people of Rwanda. I am thankful for the time I had here alone and I felt the Lord truly taught me so much about myself, about Him, and about His people. But now I am thankful for community. Community makes you grow in certain ways that you cannot possibly do on your own.

Here is a pic of our new household in front of our lovely house....Kelly, Mark, Griffin, me, Peyton, and Kat. We are missing our "dad", Bob, in this picture:)

Check out a video about our new volunteers....Real World Rwanda! It is quite entertaining.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-3jaiHqA1c

I have been so welcomed by my Rwandan friends upon my return, from my students at Sonrise meeting me at the airport and inviting me into their homes to my children in the village who formed a welcoming committee to greet me when arriving in the village (you can see that in the top picture:). I am back to my home away from home!