Here’s the news: since July I’ve met my first Rwandan friend, packed up my life and moved out of my house in Abilene, said ‘see ya later’ to incredibly influential people in my life, crammed my brother’s storage unit full in San Antonio, made the 2 day journey to Brunswick, GA with the best grandparents anyone could have and their ever more endearing dog, Molly, and continued bumping up and down the roller coaster of thoughts about shipping off to Africa. At the same time that I am getting increasingly anxious about leaving my favorite people and chapters in life I can never return to, I am also receiving more affirmation and excitement about the new place I’ll be. When I first accepted the teaching position at KICS, I hardly knew anything at all about the country or the school. All I knew was that God had planned for me to be there. The more information I have, the more I see that Rwanda is an inspiring place and KICS is fulfilling an exceptional vision.
I won’t go into details about every little thing, because I could write pages and pages that would be too long to keep your attention…but I want to see what pops in my head tonight that I should share.
One thing is that where I am going is a safe place. So go ahead and let out a sigh of relief if you were worried about me. Next, a little about the school…Kigali International Community School, KICS, was started by a few families who were looking for a better educational option for their children. The school is run like American schools and has adopted Texas State standards. Last year the school had grown to 91 students and this year it has doubled to 180 students! I will be teaching a class of 15 first graders- they will be my first classroom of children ever and I cannot wait to meet them and see their precious faces! The school moved from meeting in a house to a brand new school building that has been sitting vacant for a couple of years. The government of Rwanda, as part of the 2020 Vision they have set for their country, built a “Model Community” in Kigali that includes everything they want for their country in the year 2020. This community has apartments to live in, nice green grass, paved roads, a town hall, a church, and a school. And guess what?! God gave KICS the school building that is a part of the country’s vision for the future (which I think is just amazing).
Now, living in Kigali should be comfortable, although there will be quite a bit of change to get used to. Certain foods that I’m accustomed to, like chicken and chocolate and sonic drinks, will not be available. I’ll be hand washing my clothes, and will not have access to ATMs. English will be spoken in school and church, but I’ll also want to communicate with people that speak kinyarwanda. However, the school has wireless internet, coffee will be plentiful, and the equatorial location makes for wonderfully temperate weather year round and delicious fruits (my favorite food group).
Just sharing this small amount of information seems to have already filled up about 2 pages, so I think I’ll wait to post again soon.
Travel Itinerary:
I will be flying on the 14th of August from Minneapolis to D.C. The next day, I will fly to Ethiopia and then to Kigali, Rwanda. I will arrive on August 16th after, I believe, a total of close to 20 hours of flying time. Good thing I have plenty I want to read and a new found interest in sudoku!
If you want to receive email updates while I’m gone, please email me at shannon.lair@gmail.com and let me know :)
