My Favorite Country in Africa

What is my favorite country in Africa?  I guess the answer depends on which one I am in at the time the question is asked.

Today it would be Rwanda.  What's not to like about Rwanda.  There are 1,000 hills that light up at night making them look like dancing stars.  Jean Paul reminded me that they say that Rwandans have a million smiles here too.  How can you not enjoy spending time with Addy and Jean Paul, reminisce about our shared past, laughing, learning about one another's cultures, enjoying meals together, and watching the budding friendship with Sarah, one their own age?

The roads are good too; with plenty of street lights, curbs, landscaped round-abouts, traffic lights that even tell you the number of seconds until they will change.  It is hard to believe that we  are in a city of 1.3 million people without traffic congestion.  And after church we showed Sarah the "new Kigali" that she described as Beverly Hills. Everyone assures us that it is safe to walk the streets at night. a sense of safety that even surpasses home.  The climate here is ideal, and restaurants all seem to have spacious verandas on which you can eat, making eating out  more of a special event.  Last night Sarah and Jean Paul after our dinner in a delicious Indian restaurant, Zaffron, walked to a hotel where a popular American movie was being shown on one of these verandas.  It is easy to see why they named the place of business Heaven!.

Are you beginning to get the point about Rwanda? And yet with all this description you haven't even heard about our new friends, about the numerous gifts given to us to show their appreciation for partnering with them.  I haven't told about one that we couldn't renew.  I haven't yet gotten all Esperance’s story sorted out in my mind, but I do know that she has been an orphan since the genocide.  She isn't married, and as she told us about her appreciation for her scholarship, she wept on my shoulder.  She called EAFC her parents.  Both Sarah and I wanted to assure her that we “would make an exception”, and yet we both know that board oversight gives us that checks and balances so that we use head and heart when making decisions.  

Overlooking city of Kigali is Val, Sarah and Addy, EAFC med school student

Jean Paul, on right, followed last year's tradition of giving us a Rwandan name right before we left.  This year it was Sarah's turn.

But wait, four paragraphs and I haven't mentioned Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Liberia, Burundi, DR Congo,Zambia, South  Africa, or Zimbabwe.  Each of those countries can call forth stories, special memories, descriptions of beauty, friendships that I cherish.

I haven't even been to DR Congo, but Pastor Fred  traveled from that land, six hours on a bus to meet us. And yes, he too brought gifts. Pastor Fred has never gotten an EAFC scholarship, but he has partnered with us for three in his congregation. When we saw him, he told us of two more he's ready for us to help. On his journey to see us he faced robbery, but his countenance still said, "God is in control"  It is apparent that he lives a life of faith and that faith challenges mine. He has invited EAFC to come to his land.  There we could also see Isaac Mbsbazi, ours through his masters and PhD programs.  Maybe we could see Isaac teaching like we got to see Francine do here.

We haven't visited Nigeria either, but Joseph Sampson who was trained in Kenya invites us.  We keep up with Ben from Ghana too.

In Uganda last week, we watched with our friends  the series made from the books  #1 Ladies Detective Agency. That makes me want to explore Botswana too, but maybe not.  

I don't have friends there, and the friends I have already in these other countries I don't want to lose touch with.  As different as people are, as many problems as we all have living at peace with one another, as many questions as we all ponder, isn't it nice to know that we really can't live without struggling to maintain relationships?  Isn't it nice to see people with gifts, graces, desires to serve?  What would we do without tears of joy, hugs, warm greetings, reassurances that we will someday be together again?  And since there are people like this in all these countries in Africa that I have named, I guess I must say, my favorite African country really is the one I am in at the time!