A Glimpse of Our New Life

Well we are in our new home! We moved in on October 29th but it was so late by the time we got out here after picking up all of our furniture and food and what not that we couldn’t even see to put up mosquito nets so we had to go back to Kigali for the night. Julia was very disappointed as she was really looking forward to waking up in the morning and being with the kids. But we did get back out the next day and we have been here ever since.

Our first night was one of mixed emotions. Again it was quite late by the time we finally got out here so I didn’t get to unpack much so we weren’t very settled. Plus everything here is very different. For example, our ENTIRE house is made of concrete. Floors, walls, everything! Also, it is still not completely done, we are waiting for the last coat of paint and I only have one cupboard and absolutely no countertops! The concrete floors had been poured only days before we moved in so it is very humid in the house and our sheets are usually damp when we go to bed and the windows are very sweaty when we wake up. So needless to say the first night we moved in I wondered how in the world we were going to manage this. Of course the answer was “we” won’t manage….God will! And He sure has! We love it here and we are really falling into our roles well.

So here is a run down of what has happened our first week here…..we have been VERY busy….LOTS has happened!

First off we had one of the ladies here become quite sick about a week after we arrived in Rwanda and she had to be admitted into the hospital. In Africa you have to have someone stay with you when you are in the hospital so that meant that we would be short handed by two ladies. At the particular hospital where Perpetie was staying they do not provide food so that meant that everyday we had to have a third lady bring them out food which left us short by one more person. So we hade 31 children and 3 ladies to help care for them full time.

On Wednesday night we thought that it would be fun to turn off the lights and bring all the children glow bracelets. This was so much fun! The children were truly amazed at these bracelets. We had the lights off so it was totally dark and we were all jumping around and dancing! We turned the lights back on and were just playing and dancing and showing off our new “jewelry” when all of a sudden the lights go off again!? Well, it turns out that the brand new $5000 generator had seized! Well the generator not only gives us electricity for power and lights it also runs the pump that gives us water so to not have a generator is a big problem! It took 3 days to get the generator fixed but it is now working….for how long we don’t know but we just pray that God has got it working 100%. So it was an interesting learning experience for us to not have water or power for 3 days!

The next day, Thursday, we had to go back into Kigali. We had to pick up some drinking water and we have little girl here, Redemptor who is four and not much bigger that my 1 ½ year old nephew, and she is very ill. We decided that she really needed to see a doctor as she has many problems. Please pray for her as I think that her illness is a serious one. She is still in the hospital even as I write this email. I will keep you updated with how this goes. Last Thursday was a very scary and stressful day for me. I had to stay at the hospital with Redemptor and my own 2 girls, Baylee and Julia because Dean had to go and look after the generator situation. At one point they had to shave off all of Redemptor’s hair because her scalp was so badly infected. This was incredibly painful for her. This poor little girl really needs prayer for healing. She’s as cute as a button and a real trooper.

When we finally got home from the hospital Thursday night one of the Ladies was waiting here. She told us that she was leaving and she left. That was it, no warning she just left. So now we were faced with this situation: One lady in the hospital with another one staying with her full time and another one having to go out everyday to bring food (this is about a 3-4 hour trip both ways) now we have a child in the hospital who needs to have a Mama with her full time as well but at least they are both getting fed 3 times a day by the hospital. Then we have a Mama leave. That left us with 30 children and only 2 Mamas to help care for them! One of which would have to go and bring food to the other 2 ladies!

Well let me just say that we hardly slept at all Thursday night. But, God was up with us as well! He really helped us get things straightened out. Up to that point we really felt like we were trying to fix all of these problems with money and our “North American” way, but that is just not how it works here. The Lord really helped us get that into perspective. We made a game plan for the next day and then we put it into action. Dean went to the hospital himself with Pastor Kaneza and our Head Mama, Francoise to check on Perpetie and to get a diagnosis on her situation because up to that point we still didn’t know what was wrong with her. Well it turns out that she was probably in Congestive Heart Failure but she was doing much, much better. So well in fact that she was able to come home with medication and a change to her diet. This was great news because we sure needed them back at home. We were able to get Monicah (who the children call Grandma) to the hospital with Redemptor so that was taken care of. Things were finally starting to look up!

Saturday was busy again as we went back to Kigali to check on Redemptor and to talk to the Doctor about her tests. We are still looking for a car and that tends to take up a bit of our time. Who would have thought that buying a car could be so difficult!? Laurie, the missionary from Grande Prairie arrived back in Rwanda on October 31 so it has been good to meet with her and get to know her better (Dean had already met her when he was here in May). She has a great handle on how things work here and it is really nice to just have someone to sit and visit with!

On Sunday after church Dean had the privilege of traveling with Pastor Kaneza and his wife as well as many people from the church to a nearby village to do some evangelizing. This was a really cool experience for Dean, and he got some really great video of Pastor Kaneza dancing. Boy can that man jump high and bust a move when he is dancing for the Lord! I really look forward to being able to join them in doing this next week. We also finally figured out why we never seemed to have water at our house. Every time we filled the tank and then opened the valve for us to have water to our home the tank would be empty before the end of the day. Now, we are talking about a 5000 liter tank! There is no way that we could be going thru that much water in less than a day. I turns out that we have a fairly major leak somewhere in the house. But, it is getting fixed even as I type this so hopefully we will have water by the end of the day….yup…we have not had regular running water since we got here!

Yesterday was probably the best day that I have had so far! I don’t know if I can say the same for Dean as he had to spend the entire day in Kigali NOT buying a car! I on the other hand got to spend the entire day here with the Mamas and the children. First thing in the morning Baylee and I helped Francoise and Odette down in the gardens. We did some weeding and we planted some lettuce sprouts. Then I got a great lesson on how to do laundry effectively by hand. Of course I had many hands to help, many of them little hands and it ended in a water fight between Baylee and some of the older girls. They had a lot of fun! After that I learned how to make buns without an oven. Turns out they are donuts. I told all the ladies here about Timbits and we are going to try and make our own version of them out here with jam and icing sugar. In the evening I was taught how to make traditional rice and beans. It is very much like a vegetarian chili. Pretty good but I hope I will get better at cooking with some practice! Before bed I did a bit of doctoring for coughs and back aches. I brought out the Buckleys! True to the commercial the faces that were pulled after taking the syrup were absolutely priceless! I told them that it tasted really bad but that it works very well but I don’t think that anything could have prepared them for the very distinctive taste of Buckleys! There was a lot of praying out loud to God right after swallowing!

Dean had his first experience with teaching English last night. There is a group of adults coming to the church from 4 to 6 several nights per week to learn English. They worked on phonics and common phrases as well as the alphabet, days of the week, and months of the year. There is a real hunger to learn English here. At the end of the lesson when everyone was ready to go we got ourselves a bit of a mini lesson in Kinyarwanda. This is always good for a few laughs on the locals part as some of the pronunciation is very difficult to get! But by the time they left both Dean and I were able to say that we were Rwandan (in Kinyarwanda of course). This will be good for when people try to get us to pay more because we are Muzungu. Now we can turn around and say “No, we are Rwandan!”

Today is Tuesday and for the most part it has been a quiet and slow day. Dean went on a very long journey this morning with Baco. Baco is the fellow that Dean had the opportunity to baptize while he was here in May. They went to Baco’s house to see where he lives and for Dean to meet his sister. It ended up being a 2 ½ mile, uphill hike! Needless to say that he was exhausted when he got back. He had a very good time though. The land is very beautiful and from on top of the hill you can see all the way to Kigali.

Please know that we are doing very well here, and even though there may be many challenges that we have never before faced we know that we are exactly where God wants us. We feel very blessed to call this beautiful country home. Seeing these children’s faces light up when they get a hug and kiss goodnight is so worth everything that we left back in Canada. There are no words to describe how blessed we feel to be able to tuck these kids into a safe and warm bed each and every night. It is truly an awesome experience!

I guess I will say good bye for now. We just want you to know how much your email, thoughts, prayers, and support mean to our family. We have had our share of sad and lonely days but they are becoming increasingly out numbered by the great days! Prayers are definitely felt all the way over here. And also, please pray for Redemptor she needs healing in her little body and pray for all of the children and the Mamas here, pray for them to stay healthy and strong!

God Bless you and we look forward to hearing from you……

Blessings,

The Torgersons