Our Kigali Highlights

We have now come to the end of our Tearfund ICS placement, partnering with AEE based in Kigali City. We have had some of the best ten weeks of our lives; doing our project work, creating relationships with the staff, living together, celebrating birthdays and just generally having adventures.

SO we thought, what better way to end our trip than to celebrate all of our team highlights!!

Gasabo Mission Outreach:

Our entire team loved this day - leading the children in Sunday school, playing games with them after church. It was the first time we had done any work with children and having such a positive reaction from both the children and their leaders was fantastic, and a great encouragement!! We loved getting to dance with members of the community and see numerous choirs perform.  It was an honour being asked to come up and pray for people - it was one of the first times we felt we had truly integrated with a community.

Mission Outreach Blog Post

Moving in Day!!

We were sad to be leaving our friends from orientation however, our first day in the AEE guest house was full of laughter and joy as we couldn't wait to get started with the work and really get stuck in to the reason we came out here and joined ICS in the first place.  Further we were also so excited to properly bond as a team and live together - deciding who was sharing with who etc...

The First time the Staff Meeting was held in English:

This was one the best moments of the entire trip. Prior to our English lessons the staff were unable to communicate effectively in English and required a translator at all times. However after a couple of lessons their language skills improved dramatically and they were able to hold the meeting in English!! This was a great reinforcement that what we were doing was worthwhile and was having a positive impact. Post this and with more lessons the staff were able to hold a fully fledged debate in English during our last week.

AEE English Lessons Blog

Feeling like a Part of the Team:

We loved the way we were taken around the see all of the self-help groups and the projects that AEE were a part of - it really made us feel like part of the team that they wanted to share all of their work with us. Also the way that they included us in the staff meetings was lovely and how they were so genuinely interested in what we had been up to during our week and weekend.

Going out for Dinner:

We loved all our hangouts as a team, visiting different restaurants, experiencing new sorts of food. We even introduced Henry and David to the delights of Mexican food by taking them to Meze Fresh. We always had so much fun; laughing, joking, messing around, telling stories.

Climbing Mount Kigali:

We climbed Mount Kigali as a team - and although we didn't find the cafe at the top and it took rather longer than we expected. We had a fantastic time working together as a team, telling stories, encouraging each other and hanging out. We got down just at the rain began to start - lucky timing!! As a team we really showed how strong and determined we are through climbing Mount Kigali.

Conquering Mountains in Kigali

Celebrating Chinwe's Birthday:

Chinwe turned 20 whilst we were out in Rwanda and to celebrate her birthday we threw a party with popcorn, samosas (her fave!!) and cake. We were fortunate enough to be able to borrow some speakers and we all had a fantastic evening dancing and singing with friends. We were so happy that Chinwe enjoyed the evening  and thought that it was a fitting celebration for a 20th birthday.

Hanging out as Team:

All the nights that we hung out together: watching films, playing cards, playing murder in the dark and mafia. Nothing got the Dream Team going like a heated game of charades and the name in the hat!! So many nights were spent laughing and joking about that it would be too difficult to pick a favourite!