July 11

This is a picture of 2 girls in their secondary school uniforms. There is a secondary school just below the mission on this hill. It's not a fancy or modern school - it looks fairly primitive (by U.S. standards) from what I can tell - but I do believe they have electricity in the classrooms, unlike the primary schools I have seen. It's a big deal to get to go to secondary school. Secondary schools are boarding schools, because I suppose the commute is too difficult. More students are making it to the university level. There are only 2 universities in the country at this point - Butare and Kigali - and the one in Kigali was established sometime after the 1994 war/genocide, so it's pretty new.

This morning, I went to the Methodist church which is just a few steps from the mission/hospital with the American family (Eric, Jennifer and their 4 children). We had to go up on the altar to greet the church members, since we were visitors. There were about 1,000 people attending this church today. There were several different choirs which sang beautifully for 2 hours. After 2 hours, we left because the kids were getting restless. So we missed the sermon, but it would have been in Kinyarwanda anyway. Their church services are really long!

Spent the afternoon at the Kumbya retreat on Lake Kivu with several of the "expatriates". It was a lovely day here. Very comfortable temperature, just like it has been the entire trip.

The flowers in this picture are growing on a little tree in Sheila's garden. I think they are the same flowers which grow in Hawaii and are made into leis.