Umuganda

Umuganda is a local word meaning "contribution." It is a Rwandan tradition that dates back to long before colonial times.

One website states: "The last Saturday of every month between 7AM and 12PM everything in Rwanda stops. Or at least all the restaurants keep closed, markets are not operating and public and private transportation is limited. The reason for this is that the entire country is supposed to take part in umuganda--community service. Digging ditches, sweeping the grounds, making composts, building houses, clearing land, or any other activity that is helping the country becoming better. Some people use this day to have a sleep-in, but at least in the countryside, every family has to have a representative in the umuganda in the village."

Do you know that even Bethel sends a few representatives to do umuganda? Needless to say, there is no preaching that morning.

So this past Saturday, March 29, was umuganda. After sleeping in, I went out to take photos of people doing various community activities. Seriously . . . I built several houses that morning. Thus doing my part to contribute to Rwanda's economy.

Note: Went preaching in the afternoon, and started my second Bible study!

Positive developments

Two things happened on Thursday that are of interest:

First, my roommates' dad, who is also in the English Congregation and owns and manages a large apartment complex, offered me a studio apartment free of charge for 2 months! He said he appreciated that I came here to preach to Chinese. I think, also, he felt sorry for me because where I am staying, there is no water and no cooking facilities, and the location is a bit out of the way. But this studio apartment is 2 minutes' walk to the Kingdom Hall, and is fully furnished! It is close to many services, and the bus ride to town is very convenient.

My old place

New studio apartment. Comes with mosquito net!

The other great experience occurred in the ministry. After preaching for over 6 hours that day, and feeling frustrated because my calls were either not there or too busy, I invited my roommate Epimaque to accompany me in the evening. We visited a compound on the lot of a business where quite a few Chinese live, hoping that they would be available after work. The building had an open front gate, and we wondered if it would be okay to walk in and knock on the doors of the residents. I spoke with one guy walking toward us and left him a tract. Then, he went inside the residence and promptly closed and locked the gate, telling us that, sorry, we couldn't come in. I understand, it must be their policy. So we left.

Down the street was a Chinese restaurant. This is where I had previously spoken with the owner, who was polite but not particularly interested. However, there is a younger Chinese man from Fujian working there who invited us to sit down and talk. We spent 45 minutes with him! He had some knowledge of the Bible, but wanted to know what was the relationship between Adam, Eve, and Jesus. Was Jesus their descendant? How could he be called the Son of God? I pulled out the Good News brochure and we considered the first two questions of Lesson 4. So I started my first Bible study!

We learned that Jehovah sees our effort (and sometimes our frustration) and at the appropriate moment gives us a blessing.

Climate

Okay, remember I said early on that I wanted a climate that is not too hot and humid? You might think that Rwanda, located in Africa, and on the equator would be steamy ... tropical ... HOT.



Well, due to the altitude of the country, including the capital, Kigali, the climate is actually quite bearable. Kigali is situated at an altitude of over 5,000 feet, so the temperatures are cooler than expected. Daytime high temperatures average between 78°-82°F (25°-28°C), and nighttime lows 58°-62°F (14°-17°C), with moderate humidity. This is year-round! (Note: On Friday, it only made it up to 68°F (20°C).) The only difference is whether it rains or not. With 37 inches (94 cm) of rain a year, the landscape is lush and green most of the time.

Last Saturday, it got up to around 85°F (30°C), and even the locals said it was extremely hot that day. But right now is the rainy season, so there is cloud cover much of the time. Under the clouds it feels cool, but when the sun appears it can feel very intense. That's when the equatorial sun makes its presence felt. Even so, 85°-90°F (30°-32°C) is a rarity.

The point is that Kigali is not like Mombasa, Kenya, or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where on occasion it can be 90°F (32°C). At 2:00 a.m.!

Life in Kigali (for a Chinese-American person)

Well, I have been here nearly three weeks, and things are becoming more familiar.

Preaching is great! The city of Kigali is very hilly, however, so you get quite a bit of exercise going up and down the slopes. In the wealthier areas (see below), you have a nice panoramic view of the city. (Ties are optional! Yes!)

The brother in this photo is Eugène, a Congolese in the English Congregation. He was a banker when he learned the truth, and apparently doing very well financially, but gave up that career to be a part-time vendor and pioneer. Also, you would not believe he had a black belt in karate at one time, because now he is quite mild-mannered.

Nice view!

Business territory

Business territory is one of the best places to find the English speakers. People in businesses are not just polite, they are receptive. They eagerly accept our magazines. Many Bible studies are being conducted in shops and offices all over the city.

Of course, the preaching work is what makes living here worthwhile. However, what are some of the challenges?

• Walking 4-6 hours in the dirt, African sun, and occasional rain (don't worry, by April it will be torrential and nearly every day) while preaching.

• Trying to figure out where I am. Trying to remember where I was last week, and how to get there. Doing so while keeping my shoes as mud-free as possible.

• Mosquitoes at night. If you forget to close your windows before dusk, they start entering the house. Then you are plagued all night by this annoying buzzing sound around your head. When you switch the light on (assuming there is power), they have this amazing ability to disappear. After their bloodsucking spree, however, they get heavy and have to land on the wall in a stupor. Then you can smash them easily, taking care to wash your hand, and the wall, afterward. I should write a book on this subject.

• No water in the house for over a week. Learning how to take a shower using buckets.

• One meal per day. The main reason for this is that where my roommates and I live, though it is a fairly new building, cooking is only allowed outside the house. The landlord does not want cooking inside because of some potential problem with the roof (I don't know, maybe it will catch on fire). As it happens, my roommates had no cooking facilities when I first arrived, but recently they bought a detachable double burner. So until we can figure out how to use it outside the house, it sits in the corner of the living room, continually snagging the cord when I am ironing my shirts on two sofa cushions stacked one on top of the other. The result is that we eat out, or we buy food that doesn't require heating, such as snacks. I therefore eat my big meal at lunch, for example, at one of the buffets in town, and snack the rest of the time. Because of this, and also due to the many hours of walking, probably I have dropped a fair amount of weight. Until I get to a scale this is unverifiable, however.
• Communication. Signs are in English, French, and Kinyarwanda--about in equal proportion--but on the street you hear only Kinyarwanda. For many years, French was taught in the schools, due to the Belgian colonization as well as diplomatic ties with France. However, about seven years ago, Rwanda had a falling out with France, and the result was that the present regime has sought closer ties with the English-speaking world. So now they teach English, not French, in the schools. This means that it is the older people who speak French, and the younger people who speak English. That last statement should be qualified by the fact that the quality of the English is poor, because students do very little speaking, just copying sentences in a notebook. They need to adopt the accelerated language-learning methods used by our organization!

How to get places:

Note "Kabeza" on the windshield. That's my neighborhood!

Sorry, no subway here. Buses are the cheapest, although not always the fastest way to get around, due to their frequent stops. But they are faster than walking.

Having previously lived in Malawi, I do appreciate the fact that here in Rwanda the doors of the buses don't fall off. There are no gaping holes in the floor. Goats, chickens, and open vats of fish are not allowed on the bus. No more than four people may sit in one row. We (the passengers) never have to get out and push.

As a side note, you are not allowed to (1) walk on the median grass of a wide street, or (2) eat while walking on the street. Traffic laws are rigorously enforced. Plastic bags are banned. So there are some standards here that contribute to order, but they can be a bit strict at times.

Here is another way to get around:

Moto-taxi

You can hop on the back of one of these motorbikes and pay anywhere from $0.30 to $1.50, depending on how far you need to go. These guys can sometimes be daring, weaving in and out of car traffic, but at least they give you a helmet to wear. There are some places that the buses do not go, or you have to wait a long time for them to come. So the motos come in handy. Just make sure your insurance is paid up!

In case some may be wondering if life in Africa is characterized by spear-brandishing natives in loincloths and wild animals lurking about at every turn, I should mention that Kigali is quite a modern city. Almost everyone has a cell phone. People walk down the street wired to some electronic device. There are a lot of cars, and there is rush-hour traffic, just like in other large cities. In town you see skyscrapers and businessmen scurrying about. There are brand-new shopping malls. Of course, there are also poorer neighborhoods, with mud-brick houses and tin roofs, and rough dirt paths.

The difference, I think, between African life and life in the West is that people here are less isolated. They interact with each other continually. You see friends walking down the street, chatting away enthusiastically. Families are large and very hospitable. The problem is walking any distance at all without stopping to talk to someone. Actually, that is a good problem to have.

I'll close with this final observation:

What Africa lacks materially, it more than makes up for in heart.

Bethel, Kinyarwanda, and Chinese

On Friday, a week ago, I went to Bethel for a tour. It is a small branch, about 70 members, plus a handful of commuters. Want to take a quick tour? Here you go . . .

Entrance to Bethel

Reception

Shipping Dept.

Laundry

Dining room

Sean and Mashona Lofton are ex-Brooklyn and Patterson Bethelites transplanted to Rwanda, where Sean serves on the branch committee. Do you know that aside from them and me, there are no other Americans who are presently serving in Rwanda? This is groundbreaking! The work in Rwanda really got going after the genocide in 1994, and they have an 8% increase in publishers every year, so I'm not sure why more Americans haven't gotten the idea to serve in this field 'ripe for harvesting.' So, to anyone reading this post: here's your chance to be a pioneer in the literal sense!

The major language here is Kinyarwanda. Aside from amakuru (how are you) and murakoze (thank you), I haven't learned much else. Kinyarwanda appears phonetic, so in that sense it should be easier than Chinese, but the grammar is complex. It has 16 different noun classes, and 19 ways to inflect verbs. Oh, and there are also tones. I'm not sure how many. Anyway, it may be awhile before I make any progress in this language.

There is no one working the Chinese field here. Some of the Rwandan brothers have magazine routes on Chinese people, but all they do is hand out magazines, smile, and leave. This is why some of the brothers are really anxious to learn Chinese. One brother named Jean d'Amour (literally, "John of Love"), who serves at Bethel in the Computer Department, is presently in the Sign Language field but already has his sights set on Chinese.

Epimaque and Jean d'Amour

Kigali has a few Chinese restaurants, but for the most part, the Chinese here are working on major construction projects. They are constructing a huge circular-shaped convention center in town, along with some high-rise commercial buildings. The challenge is to gain access to these sites and permission to preach to the workers. But we are slowly making progress.

Next time:  Life in Kigali (for a Chinese-American person)

Arrived!

Well, I made it to Rwanda, safe and sound! It was a long trip: 20 hours of flying, plus the layovers. The fact is, when traveling from the U.S. West Coast, you discover that Africa is further than China!

So . . . there were 5 brothers waiting to pick me up from the airport in Kigali, the capital.

The brother in the suit is Bosco, who is a translator at the Rwanda Bethel. He and his wife were regular Bethelites at one time, but then they left to have children. They now have two kids and Bosco commutes to Bethel. So he has been working at Bethel for 16 years now. By the way, he is the one interviewed in the video (shown during circuit overseers' visits last year) who goes on enthusiastically about the new songbook in the Kinyarwanda language. His two kids are also pictured in the June 2012 Awake! So he is a major star.

It was arranged for me to live with twin brothers (#1 and #4 in the picture, counting from the left), Emile and Epimaque, in their two-bedroom apartment. The neighborhood turned out to be some distance from the center of the city, but very quiet. So I don't have to use the earplugs, after all. They just moved into this place recently, so there isn't too much furniture. But I'm grateful for having my own room and bed! The main challenge is telling my two roommates apart, because even the local brothers cannot, after many years.

One thing I had read about online before the trip was the abundance of lunch buffets in Kigali. They are cheap and of good variety: beans, rice, cassava, potatoes, green bananas, plantain, avocado, salads, fruit, and meat dishes. Buffets here are different from those in the U.S. in this respect: you only get one trip. So you have to pile the food on as high as you can. I've learned that it is an art. You have to do it in such a way that nothing falls off. The first time I went to this great buffet place, called Camellia, I was conservative, as pictured below. But by the second visit there were no limits.

All for 2500RWF (US$3.75)!

After feeling a bit more rested on the third day, I went to the meeting that evening. They have a double Kingdom Hall, upstairs and downstairs, with four congregations: English, French, and two Kinyarwanda. The Kingdom Hall is just across the street from the Bethel complex. The English congregation has 10 Bethelites and 80 total publishers.

When the brother read off this long list of those signed up to be auxiliary pioneers in March, it was very impressive. Then, a few minutes later, at the end of his part he apologized by saying that the names he read were the ones already mentioned the previous week; so now he would read the names of those not yet mentioned. It seemed like 75% of the congregation, which was very gratifying to see.

On Thursday, a brother named David and I went preaching the entire day. Actually, it was only until 4 p.m., because he had to go home to get some sleep. He works at a local brewery with shifts that change every week; one week it is daytime, the next week swing shift, and the third week graveyard shift. This week he works graveyard, so he is tired by late afternoon. I was hoping to get some free samples from his workplace, but so far none have been offered.

Anyway, we did some of his magazine route calls, one of which turned into a possible Bible study. We also went around to places he knew where there are Chinese people. One place was the University of Rwanda, where they have Chinese instructors teaching Mandarin to the locals.

One teacher kindly invited us to come to his office. He is from Nanjing and is in the third year of his teaching program in Rwanda. We showed him the "Why Study the Bible?" video (which I actually showed a total of four times that day). He was very receptive, and when we were about to leave, he reached across to a shelf and pulled out a Kinyarwanda-English-Chinese dictionary, and gave it to me. As a gift!

Another call on a man in a Chinese restaurant was productive. I showed the video and left the current magazines. Actually, David told me that he had spoken previously with another man at this restaurant, who said that the Chinese need God in their life, because just look at the result without God: immoral behavior, corruption, family problems, etc. So this man was eager to get some of our literature. We didn't see him on this occasion, but I intend to call back next week.

Tomorrow I visit Bethel, which is about a half-hour walk from where I live, and that makes for another story. Until then . . . .