Back in Action Again!

Four days before setting off for my November mission trip to Rwanda I had a bad fall and ended up in hospital with a nasty fractured hip. The original surgery did not sort the problem out and I was out of action for several months until a second operation corrected the problem and I am now on the road to having a fully working hip once again.

This unexpected setback meant an end to my planned travels to Africa for the whole year. However, I was able to maintain good contact with our ministry partners in India and Burundi during the year which meant I could continue to send out funding as needed. Unfortunately I was not able to get to Rwanda either, as we wound up our operation in that country in 2014. Our work there was complete after many years.

Our main focus just now is the construction of a 50 bed community hospital in a very poor suburb of Bujumbura. The need there is extreme as the poor have no access to medical care other than tiny roadside pharmacy booths. Many people are dying of simple diseases and women die in childbirth, so the provision of this hospital/clinic will make a massive difference to many lives. Our partners in this are a Burundian NGO called Cup of Cool Water headed up by a wonderful man of God - Charles Ndikumana.

Building work began in April 2014 and continues. It should be completed by the summer of 2015. The work is going very well and we are optimistic that it will come in on time.

Books, Books, Books.....

 Well I really have the bit between my teeth now! For months I have been talking about sorting out my book collection and getting organised. In my study I have three walls of floor to ceiling book cases, groaning under the weight of hundreds of books and cds.

So I have decided to have a proper cull and sell the 'surplus to requirements' ones to raise some money for the Mbabazi Clinic project.

This is a 50 bed community hospital to be built in a poor suburb of Bujumbura, capital city of Burundi in central Africa. We are sponsoring the construction of this clinic in partnership with Charles Ndikumana of Cup of Cool Water, a Christian NGO in Burundi.

We are making good progress with the funding but there is still quite a long way to go. So I am posting many of these books on Amazon, where I am a registered third party seller going under the pseudonym of "champfleurie". So look out for that name if you are book shopping in the next few months. The books are mainly theological texts, bible commentaries, devotional books as well as cook books and novels.

If you would like to make a direct donation you could visit our give.net page 

 https://t.co/UBUsmk4h5f

They will soar on wings like eagles. Isaiah 40:31

This is my last blog post for this mission trip. It has been a busy and fulfilling time being back in this lovely part of central Africa. It is the long, hot dry season just now and everything is very dusty and in need of water. We saw some sensational sunrises from our balcony - every morning at 06.15 - well worth being up and about at that time.

 The highlight of the final weekend was a very special wedding at the Mango Tree Church. Jocelyn, one of the deaf girls who works in the sewing workshop got married to Samson. He is hearing and is also the father of Naomi, Jocelyn's two year old daughter. So this is a very satisfactory ending to a long journey for her - or maybe I should say a "new beginning" for all three of them.

Another very special thing that happened was a visit from Bright, my Ugandan "son", his wife Doreen and their twin daughters, Sheelah Hazel and Sheebah Hazel, aged 2 1/2. They came from Mbarara on the bus and stayed at the ministry centre with us for a couple of days. This was the first time I had met my little grand daughters who call me 'Grannyma Hazel'. They are very bright and adorable children.

 

Another trip safely completed. I got back last week and am now settling back to life in Scotland. 

May God bless all who read this blog!

From the lips of children and infants. Psalm 8:2

We just returned from a visit to Musanze in north west Rwanda where we spent a couple of days with our missionary friend Pam who has lived in Rwanda since about 2000. She started up a children's project a few years ago in partnership with a young Rwandan called Nathan and they now have a thriving nursery and primary school called Excel School. As the school has grown they have added classes and are now at P5 with 305 pupils. This is a remarkable achievement and I have been very privileged to have been involved right from the start.

On Monday we had such a special time at Pam and Nathan's school. They invited us to meet the children and to hear the choir sing for us ......but it was so much more!

My friend Julie wrote these words about it:
"Pam's school just abounds with the love, care and the teaching of God to the kids. It has grown from nothing. It is built on prayer. Pam had arranged for a 1/2 hour to 1 hour programme by the worship choir and dancers. 2 1/2 to 3 hours later we were still being moved spiritually. emotionally and physically by the kids praising, singing and dancing to the Lord. 

Nathan leading the choir

Hazel and I were both asked to speak to and pray for the school, which we were very happy to do, and we would have stayed all day in that wonderful place if we could have done so. I have never seen a group of happier or more confident children - who were very willing to sing on their own and even pray out at the front of the school. Even the 3 year old children took part and the traditional dance group was spectacular. The school secretary is one of the national ballet dancers and has taught the children well. Eventually the performance ended and the children went back to their classrooms and to lunch and we felt rather guilty at disrupting the school's curriculum for the day - but as Pam said, when moved to tears as were all three of us at times, it was well worth it. She really is special and I have been honoured to meet her." I could not have described the day better!

The school choir recently participated in an East African choir festival and next month they are going to a competition in Dar es Salaam. They are very gifted children.

With singing lips my mouth will praise

Psalm 63:5

Lift up your eyes and look about you. Isaiah 60:4

This has been a busy week here in Rwanda. We received a visit from our dear brother Charles, who travelled up to Kigali by bus - a six hour ride from Bujumbura to spend two nights with us at the ministry centre. This was a very important meeting to have time to pray together and to discuss and finalise plans for our joint project, the building of a 50 bed polyclinic on some land we purchased in a suburb of Bujumbura city a couple of years ago.

Hazel and Charles arriving at the OEW ministry centre

This clinic is the On Eagles Wings major project for 2013-2014 and fundraising is now well under way. We wanted to clarify together the project stages and costings and talk about timing and goals etc. It is so much easier to sit down and discuss at length together, rather than trying to do everything by email! During his stay we were able to set up a small video camera and record some clips to make into a short video to show to churches, mission groups and prayer partners. In it Charles speaks about the clinic and why it is so vital in that part of Bujumbura city.

Charles Ndikumana of Cup of Cool Water

We also covered the goat farm project which is almost complete. Last year OEW conducted a "Kids for Kids" campaign to buy goats for poor families in Burundi. Around 60 goats were donated. However we all felt it would be a much better plan to build a goat breeding farm on some land east of Bujumbura and thus establish an ongoing supply of goats for distribution to destitute families. The volunteers from the local church are working to make 9,000 bricks just now - they have already made 4,000 which is a fantastic start. Once these have been baked the building work can get going. The farm should be up and running by September this year.

Brick making for Cup of Cool Water goat farm

We were able to donate a large suitcase full of supplies for Cup of Cool Water to use in their ministry of "uplifting critical communities". This included good quality clothing for babies, infants and children; it included medical supplies - sterile dressing packs, sterile urinary catheters and some moulded leg splints. All these gifts were donated by people in Scotland and carried out to Africa as part of our baggage allowance. We would like to thank the parents who passed on outgrown children's clothes, East Lothian NHS Trust and the Edinburgh branch of the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists who all gave generously. All these items will be put to very good use where the need is greatest.

Julie and Charles inspecting the case of goods

Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honour and life. Proverbs 22:4

Train up a child in the way he should go.... Proverbs 22:6

Alpha Community Academy is coming towards the end of the second term of this academic year. Today was a public holiday to commemorate Liberation Day from the 1994 genocide so the school campus was quite deserted. We took the opportunity to visit Gahini in the east of Rwanda with Brian the headmaster to accompany us in the car. Tomorrow the children have their end of month exams - so we hope this did not spoil the fun of an extra day off school.

We have a busy programme ahead of us and would appreciate prayer for the following things:

• Winnie and Louis travelling back to Rwanda next week from their visit to USA
• Charles of Cup of Cool Water travelling by road from Bujumbura to visit us this week
• Julie and Hazel driving up to Ruhengeri/Musanze on Saturday and back on Monday
• Hazel preparing to preach at Mango Tree Church on Sunday 14th
• Wisdom and guidance as we discuss future plans with our project partners during this visit

The origin of the East Africa Revival (1930s) at Gahini

Summer Mission to Rwanda 2013

Earlier this week I arrived once more at our ministry centre in Kanombe near Kigali in Rwanda. I was accompanied by Julie Woodford, the missionary who went with me to India this time last year to set up and teach our leprosy village how to care for their limbs and prevent disability. We have been so encouraged to receive the latest reports from India that the village people now have very few wounds and lesions as they are healing up so well as a result of the teachings we gave them. This has freed up the doctor and the mobile clinic to begin work in other neglected villages further afield.

The hot dry season is now in full swing - and we have had no water in the house at all until today, when we had an abundant overflow into the garden. That's what happens here all the time.

On Wednesday we visited the school - usually I am here in the holidays - so it was great to meet the headmaster, teachers and of course the children who are as bright and energetic as ever. We were honoured to be invited to have lunch in the school dining room - delicious rice, beans and beef.

Julie eating her school dinner at Alpha Academy!

On Thursday we visited Hope Village - a purpose built village for genocide widows and orphans. Elsie Hitimana invited us to join the women in their weekly fellowship and Bible study, sitting out in the open air, on top of a hill. Since my last visit a year or two back the community has grown to 29 houses with the 30th house just being started. They have 29 cows kept in scrupulously clean conditions not far from the houses.

The women were making traditional baskets while they waited for everyone to gather. These baskets are made of reeds, brightly dyed sisal and are hand sewn. We could not resist buying a few to take back.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress James 1:27