Digging and Building and Fish...Oh My!

Well I can hardly believe that it is already more than a week into March, before we know it our first stint in Rwanda will be over and we will be on a plane back to Canada...only 109 more days!

Well, we are excited about getting back and seeing everyone but we know that it is going to be very difficult to leave all of the children and mamas here who have become our family. We are planning on being on furlough for 9 to 10 weeks so hopefully it will go buhoro buhoro (slowly, slowly) for us and vuba vuba (quickly, quickly) for everyone left back here!

We have a wonderfully qualified group of people coming to take over for us while we are in Canada and we have just found out that there will also be a small medical/dental team coming to see the children and mamas in August...I have also been told that Pastor Hazel Hill will be joining this team so all should be well on the homefront while we are gone.

This past month has been very busy...not unlike any of the other months we have had here! Elaine O'Connor from Chatelaine Magazine came and visited us for a day. We had a very good time with her and the day just flew by. She was very friendly and super easy to talk to, both Dean and I felt like we had already known her from somewhere else but couldn't place it. She figures that the story won't be published until probably summer but I will let you know exactly which issue when we find out, we look forward to reading the article that she wrote.

While she was here for the day we ended up going to the neighbours for his daughter's wedding. It was a real honor to be invited and I think that it was neat for Elaine to take part in a traditional Rwandan wedding. We weren't able to stay for the whole thing (they tend to take an entire day and night) but we did share a fanta with the parents of the bride and other guests.

Sadly, we found out later that after we dropped Elaine off at her hotel she had a bad fall and broke her elbow. It ended up pretty much ruining the rest of her trip but I am glad that she was able to get good care.

We had another visit from the local government here. The mayor of our sector came to see how things are at the children's home and over all they are very pleased with what we have here. He told us that when the First Lady was here to visit, she was very pleased but had a few concerns. Mostly minor stuff...things like skin conditions on the children which are inevitable but treatable and we try very hard to stay on top of these anyways and the kids not getting enough protein. They do get meat at least twice a week and beans in between but she was really wanting then to get milk daily which prompted her to offer us a dairy cow. The mayor asked where we were with getting the cow but we had gotten no where really because we didn't have anywhere to put one. After that the push was on to get a cow shed built so now we have an almost completed cow shed! Hopefully within the next week or so we should have the shed done and the cow in place and milk in the glasses! The cow grass (for food) is already planted and growing, all we need is the cow....and of course the finished cow shed.

We are expanding our fish farm with the addition of a large second pond. We have been raising tilapia fish which the children and mamas are very excited about and Dean and I are excited about them getting fresh fish whenever they want. Right now they do eat alot of fish but they are small dried ones called indagara. They really enjoy them but I think that fresh fish will be much better. Our second pond should be completely dug by tuesday and could potentially be filled with water and fish by the end of the week or early next as our exsisting pond is just about ready to harvest.

The new stoves that we had built for the kitchen are completed and in use now. They are much nicer than what they had to use before but we are learning how expensive wood is to burn! We have to figure out some way to burn it more efficiently because with rainy season fast approaching we cannot afford to burn wood unnecessarily.

Our new tank stand along with generator house is also just about completed. We will be adding a second water tank which should go along way in helping us not run out of water as we will have 10,000 litres on hand at any given time. The next challenge is to get our new 1400 KILO generator up the hill and over about 200 feet to the generator house with nothing other than some really strong, really brave men! I think I will hide in the house when this goes on as I was almost crying just watching them get it off the truck when we first got it and that was only moving it off the back of the truck and over about 10 feet.

3 of our children here will be writing their provincial exams soon which determines if and where they will get into secondary school, so Francoise has been working tirelessly to get them ready. It is so easy to tell how much she genuinely loves these kids in all the interest she takes in their welfare....it is really great.

We have met some fellow missionaries from Canada who live in Kigali. They have been here for 18 months and it has been really great getting to know them. They have opened their home to us and Baylee has been introduced to a youth group that gets together once a month for food and games. This is really great for her. I have learned that there is a group of missionaries who all have children that generally get together once a week to visit. They meet at a hotel in Kigali where the kids can swim and the adults can relax and visit. I think that we will try and make it a priority to get there at least twice a month as we are starting to feel the separation of not having regular contact with friends.

Baylee and Julia are both doing great! Baylee is really finding herself here and I have discovered that not only is she my daughter but she can also be my friend, she is a really neat girl. Julia is really growing as well and is no longer the baby (well, she will always be my baby) but even though she is only icumi (ten) she seems much older. All of the children love her and the mamas get a real kick out of the animal rights activist in her!

We continue to see prayers answered everyday with sicknesses and needs. Please continue to pray for a few specific things though. Prayer is needed for battles to be fought and won in the areas of division, jealousy, intolerance and hatred. Unfortunately all of these things are still a very real problem in Rwanda. We also have a few material prayer needs as well. We have decided that we really cannot do without a fridge in the mission house much longer but we can't get a regular conventional fridge as we don't have electricity when the generator is not running so we have been looking at solar fridges but they cost about $4000 usd by the time you get all the solar panels and convertors and what not. It is still a need though so prayer is appreciated. Like I mentioned, we are entering into rainy season and we often find ourselves in the middle of a washout! We really need to get some retaining walls built around some of the buildings as it is not uncommon to have mud flowing all over the place and washing away. We need to get some new stairs built for the children as well as the ones that they currently have leading down to the toilets are almost completely washed out.



Another prayer request that has recently come up is this; for some unknown reason the government has decided to erect a prison camp directly next to us! Currently we have about 100 Genocide Perpetrators living next door with another 500 expected to join them! We certainly didn't expect this and we have decided that we are going to contact our local officials and ask them about it. There is no real security where they are, no fences or walls just some guards scattered around. Other than a whole bunch of noise...loud singing and marching at night around 8:30 -9:00 and and very early in the morning...5 am, there have been no issues, but we would still rather that they didn't set up camp right next to a children's home! Please pray that they are either moved away from here or at the very least they remain peaceful and quiet.



We are looking into getting a water filter system for the drinking water for the children here as it is not fit to drink straight from the ground and we have been having to treat it by the jug. It will be nice to just be able to turn the tap and have a drink without worrying about anyone getting sick.

Julia had her 10th birthday on February 17th and to celebrate we went to Kibuye and stayed at a little place right on the water at Lake Kivu. They weather was great and it was very relaxing to spend an entire day sitting on the beach reading and playing. Unfortunately both of the girls got very sunburned, but they both had a really good time.

I think that is pretty much the entire last month in a nutshell. We look forward to hearing from you!

Blessings,

The Torgersons