Back to Life (and School) in Rwanda
After much too long, here are some updates!
Hello all! Wow. It’s been quite a few months since we posted. We traveled back the to States for the summer break, and now have returned to Musanze, Rwanda, to work with the team at Virunga Valley Academy (VVA) for the 2024-2025 school year. During our time in the States, we had conversations with friends who follow this blog and asked, “Hey, what happened? I had not seen any posts recently!”
First, I will give a quick synopsis of the end of last school year. My last post was about the Habits of Mind that we do at VVA, specifically the one that was most special to me on Awe and Wonder. Throughout April and May, we finished the school year with its ups and downs. The secondary students worked hard to complete various science projects and presentations, Thom’s math students worked (sometimes in a not-so-trustworthy manner) to outperform one another on Khan Academy competitions, we visited Rwandan dancers, Spirit week and water day happened, I got sick a few times, and then the end of school came with a beautiful graduation ceremony. These first photos are of two of my classes’ science presentations. First was a body systems fair that grade 9 (biology) completed, and second was an African biome business fair that grade 7 completed.
This image was a great one from our experience seeing the Rwandan traditional dancers in action. We all got in on the dancing…
There were events galore at VVA - from Mother’s Day tea to a VVA 5K run. We continued to do workouts: both Thom’s men’s F3 group twice a week and the women’s workout group once a week. The school runs on a house system across all ages. My house, Muhabura, had the most house points at the end of the year! The whole school was yellow on the last day of school, as a fun celebration.
I love how VVA gives character awards to each child at graduation. I was so proud of Hannah and Mary Hope. Hannah received an award for showing dignity and optimism. Mary Hope received an award for showing wisdom and integrity. It’s such an honor to see traits in your children displayed, then recognized and awarded. The girls’ dance group even got to perform that day. We were exhausted, but I’m thankful for that time. (John Valor also had a graduation celebration! He starts kindergarten this year.)
Between the end of school and our travels back to the States for summer, Thom’s and his men’s workout group hiked one of the volcanoes, Bisoke. He may tell himself how “ridiculously hard” it was - harder than he expected I think! We also helped out with Maria and Pinto’s wedding, and our girls had the opportunity to be a part of the wedding! (Check out Thom’s forlorn face below…hahaha)
We left on June 10th to head to Alabama, where the first thing we did was eat out with both sides of the family at a Mexican restaurant. Ha! By the end of the summer, we definitely had our fill of cheese dip and chips.
As I sit here at 9:54pm on Sunday night in our home in Musanze, I’m asking Thom, “How do we summarize all of this? Do we even cover what we did this summer?” First off, we thank everyone who housed and cared for us. We are so grateful for all the dinners, lunches, coffees, texts, support, and the vacations, too. My brief overview of our two months in the states is the following:
Vacationing in an RV at the Grand Canyon and southern Utah with Thom’s parents (One of my favorite things we did!). The kids even became junior rangers. Took an oath and everything….yeah…
Going to Branson to see a live magic/variety show, Silver Dollar City, and Thom’s sister also got married…Surprise! (Mary Hope even got to be on stage for a show!)
Time with my brother and his family
Father's Day at Bucee's; RV trip beginnings... in Mobile and at Orange Beach. We saw some pirate ships and ate as much shrimp as we could.
Working back at my job at UAB for 2 weeks.
Elizabeth Glory’s, Thom’s and JV’s birthdays.
I will share one perspective-shifting story. For Thom’s birthday, we had a date night and both ordered a nice steak. I had a filet mignon kabob and had 1-2 small pieces left on my plate. I asked for a box, and the waiter said, “What, that for the dog or something?” I laughed and then immediately felt ashamed. Many people we know here in Rwanda (the men who are our guards, for example) would never, ever let any meat go to waste.
There are more photos from the summer to follow, that may or may not fit in your email or even in this post. Regardless, we are thankful for the time with family and also with our friends and family at Homewood Church of Christ. We have been back in our home in Rwanda for 1 week now, and are in full swing of getting ready for school. Thom is on the administrative staff this year, so is helping a lot with scheduling, grading software, house points applications, etc…in addition to his math teaching! This year, I get to teach grades 7-10 science and even geometry. Thom sticks to his math and admin role. Our kids start kindergarten, first, and third grades. We will do our best to keep the updates coming. Perhaps a post soon on the first days of school this year and how we are all faring, again.
Thank you most of all for the prayers that you send to the Father on our behalf. We ask for prayers for our students and our own children, for the teachers and staff, for the parents, and for this community.
More summer photos below:
Enjoying hearing about your adventures and the important work you are doing!
I really enjoy your newsletter and hearing about your incredible venture. The memories you make with your children will last for decades. God bless you all!