Baptism and Confirmation

Sunday was a great day of celebration. My colleague Pastor Celestin and his wife Immaculee have three daughters and two young female dependents (not their biological children, but children for whom they have taken responsibility, for various reasons). On Sunday all five girls were baptized or confirmed in the church.

the 4 left to right for the celebration

The celebration began at the Butare Kinyarwanda parish, about a mile and a half from the PIASS campus. I walked there with some of my students and my colleague Pastor Juvenal and the new PC(USA) volunteer who had just arrived in Kigali on Thursday, after we finished the 8:30 a.m. English service at PIASS. We arrived a bit late, but that was not an issue. This is Africa. We were in time for the choirs, who sang and danced with great delight. There were five of them, so there was lots of music. The baptisms and confirmation came after the sermon, just as in many congregations in the States. The difference was that the events were divided and happened somewhat simultaneously. Three of those to be baptized were 12 or older, so they needed to answer the questions of faith for themselves. Here in the Kinyarwanda service, the Apostle’s Creed is not recited, but is sung, so the girls sang of their faith. It was delightful. The youngest to be baptized   is just 18 months old, so her parents and godmother stood and answered as parents would in the States. One of the girls had been baptized as an infant, so she was to be confirmed.

This is where the service split and the actual baptism and confirmation happened simultaneously. The Presbyterian Church here practices the phrase we use in the States – reformed and always reforming. To address the concerns of the youth who have been influenced by the Pentecostal movement in Africa, the Presbyterians of Rwanda now allows for baptism by immersion for those who wish it. (The church leaders rely on the practice of Jesus for their authority to change things in this way.) The older girls requested immersion baptism. They were the first to use the new “pool” outside the newly constructed church building. Water had to be brought in for the event. The baby was also immersed, but held by her mother. While about half of the congregation went outside to witness the baptisms, the other half remained in the sanctuary for the affirmation of faith and confirmation of the one who had been baptized as an infant. One pastor officiated at the baptism while another officiated for the confirmation. Because this was for a pastor’s children, there were many pastors attending. About15 of us watched from the congregation. The Presbyterian Church here is relatively small with fewer than 200 pastors, so it still has a “family” feel when there are celebrations for the family of the clergy. That was the case here. When the congregation split, so did the family, as Imaculee went with the girls to be baptized and Celestin stayed with the one to be confirmed. He stood with her as she answered her constitutional questions and sang of her faith. After the baptism and confirmation, the congregation was joined again and the cottage group to which the family belongs (the congregation is divided into small “cottage” groups for weekly prayers) sang for the entire congregation, to show their support of the girls. Again, it was a family event, the family of the church.

The tent for the reception

That “family feel” continued as we moved to the family’s home after the service for a reception. The entire congregation was invited. About half the congregation accepted. The family had set up a tent in the side yard, moving the living room furniture out to the tent to provide comfortable setting for some special guests and plastic chairs for others. This meant that the living room could be fitted with the buffet table to serve the over 200 who had come to the reception. After the welcoming speeches, we were entertained by the three choirs that had come with us, as we filled our plates and ate. After the generous meal came speeches and presentation of gifts to the honorees and then thank-you and farewell speeches. The celebration ended about 5 p.m., a full day of sharing joy with friends and the family of faith. There makes for a great celebration.

Sunday of Celebration

This past Sunday was a day of celebration for the English – speaking congregation in Butare. We held a triple celebration as we consecrated the new communion table, commissioned new leadership and welcomed guests from Kigali. To do all of this, the service took 3 hours. I felt as if I were back in Malawi. It was wonderful.

Worship did not begin on time, but that is to be expected. First there was the issue of not electricity and that was essential for the keyboard and the PA system that the visitors were bringing, so the solution was to hook up a generator, That took time. Then, of course we had to wait for our guests to arrive. It is a 2 hour trip from Kigali to Butare, if all goes well. That assumes that everyone was present and the bus could leave on time, but that is never the case. The group did well, in that they were only about 45 minutes later than estimated. But the time of waiting was not wasted. Those of us gathered sang and praised God. It was a joyful time.

New Communion Table

Once the service began, the first order of business was to consecrate the new communion table and pulpit. That was my responsibility. (This is the project for which I bought a goat, to help make the purchase possible.) I was honored to be the pastor to set this furniture apart for God’s glory. It is beautifully made and will serve the community for many years.

Guest Choir singing

Then the service could begin in earnest. One of the elements that made the service longer was that the guests from Kigali were French speaking, many from other countries. The pastor of this congregation had served in Butare when our congregation was French speaking, so this was a homecoming of sorts for here. What this meant was that both languages were used in the service, with translation of all parts of the service and the scriptures read in both languages. This adds time to a service. In addition, there were more choirs for the service than usual. In addition to our choir, the guests brought a choir and they had to be given time to present a number of songs and some of the young girls of our congregation had prepared songs for the visitors. One of the songs the guests sang in French was "How Great Thou Art." That spoke all gathered for worship, regardless of the language. Guests provide the opportunity for praising God, so there were a number of choruses as well. During the greetings everyone needed to be introduced so that we all knew one another and were able to worship together, so this took time as well, but was so necessary for good fellowship.

After the preaching, done in French and translated for non-French speakers, came the third element of the service, the commissioning of new leadership of the Presbyterian Students’ Organization. They needed to be introduced and prayed for. They will be the ones who will minister to all Presbyterian students in the area, on behalf of our congregation. This is a significant outreach ministry and needs God’s blessing. It was a delight to share this with our guests, as well.

In all of this, the spirit was one of joy. No one looked at a watch to check the time. No one rushed through any part of the service. Each element was enjoyed as true worship to God. No celebration is complete without food, so after the service, a meal was served to everyone present. We all filed out of the sanctuary, greeted one another outside while the tables were set and the room prepared for eating.  The meal gave a wonderful opportunity for more fellowship and time for the congregation and the visitors to chat. No one was in a hurry to leave after the final speeches, even though it was after 1 p.m. and some of us had been gathered since 8:30 a.m. and our visitors had left home at dawn to arrive in Butare in time It was a day of celebration. 

Power

Power

No, I have not forgotten my “Blog Friends.” I have had intermittent power for the last week or so. Last week, the electricity went off on Thursday for a while and then again on Friday. It was off for about 2 hours each time. This is nothing unusual so I didn’t think much about it. Then on Friday evening it went off again about 10:30 p.m. It was not back on early Saturday morning.  Last Saturday was Umuganda (community service day) so everything was closed in the morning. I hoped that it would come back in the afternoon. I learned it was only our immediate area that was affected, not the whole of Butare, but that did not help our situation. My hope was futile. The power remained off all day. Sunday is not a working day, so there was no hope for the weekend. PIASS has a generator and it was in use on Sunday morning for weekend classes so after church, I went, found an empty room and a power outlet and was able to charge my laptop and my Nook. But my internet connection was not working. I use a modem that is connected to the local cell phone company. It seems that with the power outage, some of their towers were not functioning and therefore there was no power. I felt cutoff from the outside world. It became worse when I later realized that my cell phone should have been charged, too. That battery lasted until about 8 p.m. that evening and then I was totally cut off.

When I returned home from PIASS, I found water on the kitchen floor. The fridge had begun to defrost and was leaking on the floor. I cleaned it up, but there was nothing else I could do. I had no access to ice. And I had a commitment in the afternoon. I was to go to an engagement party, so I left the electricity problem behind and tried to enjoy myself. But the longer I sat at the party, the more I thought of the meat in the freezer. I worked out a plan. When I got home, I lit candles, (it was getting dark), pulled the meat from the freezer and cooked it all. Praise God for the propane stove that ignites with a match. I was able to save the meat. I shared it with my house staff on Monday, since there was no way I could eat it all myself. They were grateful for the power outage.

About 3:30 on Monday afternoon the power was restored. I sang the doxology and immediately began recharging all my electronic equipment. But the power went off again about 8 p.m. This time it was only off for about an hour. I breathed a sigh of relief. Tuesday the power went off for several hours in the afternoon, but came back on. It did the same thing in the evening. That was the pattern for Wednesday as well. On Thursday, we got word that the problem has been solved. I breathed a sigh of relief. On Friday, as an act of faith, I went to the market and bought some meat. I didn’t get a lot, but some to begin to replace what I had lost. On Friday evening, the power went out again.

Fridge as a large ice chest

By early Saturday morning, when the power had not returned, I began to worry about the meat in the freezer. I got up to find my gardener and send him to the market for ice. That is when the communication adventure began. He didn’t understand the word ice. This is reasonable, since most people here do not have freezers and there is no snow, so no frozen precipitation. I found the word in my Kinyarwandan dictionary and showed it to him. He nodded, took the money I offered him and left. He was back in 10 minutes with two bottles of cold water. I looked again at the translated word. It literally means very cold water. That is what he got for me. I got on the internet with the little power that remained in the laptop battery. and pulled up pictures of ice. He was baffled. I tried explaining, I let him read the Wikipedia explanation. He still did not understand. Then he called a friend of his who had traveled some and who knows English better than he does. The friend explained in Kinyarwanda what I could not in English. He took the money again and went off to the market. I cautiously waited. He returned about 20 minutes later to tell me that he needed more money to buy a bucket for the ice. That gave me a bit of hope. About 20 minutes after that he returned with a shiny new blue bucket filled with ice. We quickly went to work transferring the ice from the bucket to plastic zip-lock bag to pack in the freezer and the fridge. So my fridge is now serving as a giant ice chest, keeping the meat cold if not frozen.

This is Saturday late morning, and there is still no power. I am using the power of the generator at PIASS to recharge all my electronics. If the power remains off through the night, we will replenish the ice supply tomorrow. At least we have some communication and a game plan this week. Only God knows when we will have power again.

I Bought a Goat

I bought a goat today. I bought it at church, of all places. Today was a fundraising Sunday at the little English-speaking chapel that is adjacent to the PIASS campus. There are only about 50 congregants, the majority of whom are students. The English service has only been in existence for about a year. Prior to that, the service was in French. As a “new” congregation, we are operating with the barest of essentials for worship leadership. We have an electronic keyboard, which is a blessing. It was donated. Then we use two tables, one as a communion table and one to hold the keyboard. We have a wooden bench behind the one table. One of the ladies of the congregation donated table runners in the correct colors for the liturgical seasons of the year. These are the paraments. It is bare, but functional.

About a month ago, the pastor announced that the elders (mostly students) wanted to raise funds to buy a real communion table and pulpit for the chapel. After much discussion, it was decided that we should proceed, even though the students do not have much money. One of the other lecturers at PIASS offered to head the fundraising activities. Today was the designated Sunday. Two of us gave money to help subsidize the project, so there was a reasonable amount that they congregation needed to raise. People were invited to bring items to be auctioned to raise the funds. So after the sermon, everyone went outside and gathered the items they had brought and danced them down the aisle to present them for the auction. Some brought money and contributed that. That was my plan. The items for auction included a floor mat, bananas, green peppers, tomatoes, homemade biscuits and a goat. We started the bidding on the goat, to get him out of the building quickly. No one bid. In an attempt to get things going, I opened the bid. I had not intentions of buying the goat. I just wanted to get things started.  The truth is that the goat was a generous gift by one of the lecturers who raises them, but the students couldn’t afford to bid. One of the other lecturers made a bid after mine and I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought I was off the hook. But every country does auctions differently, I found out. Here, someone can add to a bid, to help the original bidder get the item. They contribute the money in addition to the original bid and the item goes to the original bidder, when it is sold. So students who could not afford to bid on the goat added bits to my bid and to the other lecturer’s bid and the price when up. In the end, my bid, with the additions of several students’ was the top bid. I go the goat.

That was never my intention. It’s not that I didn’t have the money. I did, or I wouldn’t have bid in the first place. The issue was I didn’t want the goat. I don’t know how to keep a goat and I certainly don’t want to slaughter a goat. If I won’t kill a chicken, why would I kill a goat? Now the question was what to do with the goat? As I listened to the bidding on other items, and knowing the students’ financial constraints, I hit on an idea – give the goat to the students who had “helped” me bid to get it. So at the end of the auction, I announced my plan. It was met with silence. I wondered if I had made yet another mistake. But then the pastor translated my offer into Kinyarwanda and there was a great cheer and applause. The offer was received, once it was understood. On the way out of church, at the end of the service, each of the students came up to me to thank me. They were thrilled to have the goat. I was pleased to have contributed to the fundraiser and thrilled to NOT be taking the goat home with me. Everyone came away satisfied, and we raised enough money to finish the project. Praise God.

Theogenie

Theogenie, Theo for short, was one of my students in English Level 1. She showed herself accomplished in English from the first. I questioned why she was in a beginner’s class, but that is the system here. There is no testing out of a class. So she, along with four international students who were also capable in English, became “teacher’s aides,” so to speak. When we divided the large classe in to small groups, these five led the work of the small groups. I got to know each of the aides a bit more the other 50 students because we conferred on the group work ahead of time. 

 

Theo was distinguished in a number of ways. She is tall for a Rwandan woman, and poised, in addition to being good in English. The other students gravitated to her and deferred to her in more than just English. They sought her out before and after class. I learned that she was a primary school teacher, at PIASS to earn her degree in education. Here in Rwanda, as is many other African countries, one can teach primary school with high grades from secondary school and an intensive training course, but not a degree. The goal of most primary teachers is to have the opportunity to go to college to get a degree. That is Theo’s goal.Theo is the seventh of eight children in the family of four girls and 4 boys. Only she and her younger brother have had the opportunity to study, and that is because of the support of their older brothers and sisters. She lives with and cares for her widowed mother, as the youngest girl in the family and the only unmarried girl. I knew that she also coached youth in Rwandan football (American soccer) on Saturdays, but it was only when she wrote her final paragraph for class that I understood her poise and appeal to her fellow students. She is a Rwandan celebrity, but a humble one, as her paragraph indicates. Read it and judge for yourself.

Football,

by Theogenie Mukamusoiyera

Football is very important in my life. In 2004, I played football on the school’s girls’ team and in the football club. That time I was a player in school championships, at the same time on a women’s National team. Because of football, the school fees were free for me. In 2008 and 2009, I was selected for the women’s National team. We went to Germany to play with Germany’s women’s teams; we prepared to play a women’s World Cup in 2011. As a Rwandan girl, I was very envied for playing on the National team. In 2011, I went back to Germany to study coaching. I got an international certificate of coaching from there and it was a splendid moment for me. Another important thing I got from football was many friends, from coaching and playing. Now I have many friends and I get much knowledge from them because of football. I will always like football, because I got many important things from it.

Rutonde Parish



One of my greatest delights is to worship in a village church, but that is not always easy to do in Rwanda. Language is the first obstacle. I must have a translator and that means a pastor who is comfortable with English. There are a few of them and while the number is growing, English is still relatively new here and even pastors are reluctant to speak it. Then there is the transportation issue. I do not have a car, so I can’t just drive to the village. I have to arrange with the pastor and we have to coordinate transportation. This means buses, mini buses, motorcycle taxis or, if possible, a car taxi. I was blessed that all the logistics came together last week to allow me to be with Pastor Immaculee Mukanmusoni, a gifted pastor who did her masters in Scotland. We have been talking about this since I shortly after I arrived and she translated for me at a pastor’s conference. She serves a parish about 15 kilometers outside of Kigali. She has invited me several times, but this time it finally worked.

Immaculaee with her "children"

Immaculee usually travels by motorcycle, but for our trip she arranged for a car taxi. This allowed us more comfort and enabled her husband to join us. It was a typical rough dirt road, and since we have not had much rain, it was dusty. She and I huddled in the back seat with a chitenje (cloth wrap) over our heads to protect against the dust that filtered in, even though the windows were closed. The road runs alongside a river and is bordered by sugarcane and rice fields. Even on a Sunday morning, there were workers in the fields. Then folks were walking along the road, some to the market and some on their way to church. Immaculaee waved to several as we passed them. She is a part of the community, even though she lives in Kigali.



One of 5 choirs

 The impetus for the trip was a gift I was bringing for the vulnerable children’s feeding program that Immaculee had begun at the central church of her parish. (She serves 3 congregations.) Five mornings a week, before school, the church provides fortified porridge for the most vulnerable school age children. Poverty and malnutrition are problems in Rwanda just as they are in most of sub-Saharan Africa. When we arrived at the church, the children were waiting to greet us, but especially Immaculee. She is like a second mother to them. They surrounded the car and pressed against her as she got out. They were all talking at once, telling her their latest news. She quietly walked with them to her office, nodding as she went. When we got to the office, she introduced me Edith, the young girl who first caught Immaculee’s eye because of her thin figure and reddish hair, a sign of malnutrition. This day she was bright-eyed and her hair is returning to its natural dark color. Edith clung to Immaculee, out of love for her, not fear of the muzungu (white person).

The worship service was a delight to my spirit. This little church with no electricity has a generator to power the electronic keyboard and electric guitars, but the music is pure Rwandan. The choirs and congregation danced to the drums that set the tempo for the instruments. The singing and dancing were spirited and filled the sanctuary. Five choirs sang during the service. My preaching seemed like a sidelight, but Immaculee’s translation was excellent.. During the offering, those who didn’t have money brought crops and those were offered for sale, the proceeds going to the offering. After the service, Immaculee and I proceeded out and the congregation followed to greet us. At that point, I was surrounded by the children, pressing to shake hands with me and touch the white skin. Several of the young girls more stroked my hand than shook it. The most touching, though, was an elderly, stooped, vision impaired gentleman who was led by his grandson through the crowd of children to greet me. In Rwandese fashion, he placed his hands on my upper arms and patted them, like a loose embrace, and in English said, “God bless you.” Then he gave a broad, toothless smile that spread to his clouded eyes. My heart melted. This is worship in the village.

English are PIASS

Yes, it has been over three weeks since I have written anything, but my time has been packed with teaching English and editing English, my former vocations of about 20 years ago. I am teaching an English class for first year students from all three faculties – theology, education and development. I have 50 students at various levels of knowledge and ability. All have had basic English but how much they have retained or used is another issue. Some have rudimentary knowledge; some have head knowledge but little speaking ability or willingness; a few are eager to speak and learn from doing so and four of them are quite good. These four have been educated in Congo or Burundi and are here for the Peacebuilding component of the Faculty of Development. This is a program that is gaining a solid reputation in the Great Lakes Region, as Rwanda and the neighboring countries are known. These four students have become my unofficial teaching assistants, since they must take the class, regardless of their level of proficiency and I need the help in working with the students in small groups. This has worked out well for everyone.

One of the redeeming graces of the class is the students’ eagerness to learn. While routinely several come to class late, this is not from lack of interest, but from lack of timely transportation from a great distance. These students are teachers in remote areas around Butare and must find public transportation after teaching all day. Most of the transportation at that time of day is heading away from the city, not into it, making finding a ride an even bigger challenge. The college has made arrangements with several local minibus drivers to come at 9 p.m. to gather riders for the trip home. That at least is a blessing.

In class, we focus pronunciation, reading, comprehension, grammar and writing, all in three hours a night, five nights a week. I was initially told that I had 3 weeks with the students. When I gently protested that that was not enough time to prepare them to learn and write in English, I was granted an extra week. Then last week, without my asking, I was granted another week.(We have a flexible program here.) So from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. every week night we are working on upgrading English skills so that the students can succeed in their academic studies. This is quite different from a Freshman English course in the States. These folks have only had four years of English, at most, and English is a third or fourth language for many of them. Comprehension and pronunciation are as fundamental as grammar for them. All my lectures are presented using power point, so the students can see as well as hear. This is also helpful since we do not have a textbook. So the power point becomes a text of sorts. Many of the students bring flash drives and download the lessons. This is possible since they are also taking a basic IT course and have access to the computer lab here at PIASS. Technology is our friend (when we have electricity).

In addition to this work with frist year students, I have been editing final dissertations for the senior theology students. The struggle there is that some of them are about as proficient in English as some of my Level 1 students. Uses of articles, pronouns, prepositions, and verb tenses are challenges. This doesn’t address spelling (English words do not sound as they are spelled) and specialized vocabulary for the various fields of study. All of these must be corrected. It is time consuming. I have done six such papers while I have been preparing and teaching, so there has been little time for my own writing. Thank you for understanding. Please understand. I am not complaining. I am delighted with what I am doing. It is so fulfilling to see God bring together my past degrees and experience and use them in a new environment, one that dearly needs them, to equip eager students to prepare to make a difference in their own lives and in their country. What a blessing!