Since I have done such a poor job of updating lately (for the past three months) I have decided that for my last 40 days I will write one thing that I will miss and one thing that I am really looking forward to when I get home. Since it will be sad to leave, I have to focus on the positives of going home - family and friends obviously but other stuff as well.
So, Day 1.
What I will miss...
PLP peeps. I am leaving my brothers in Rwanda, enough said. No reason to get emotional 40 days out.
What I am looking forward to...
This is a no brainer. I'm sure you all already know that the number one thing I am looking forward to when I get home is smothering my mom and sisters. Not hugs, smothering. As I told my mom, she should think about borrowing one of Pete's spare wheelchairs so I can just sit on her lap for a week or two straight and we can still be productive. The "hug machine" will be coming home in full force! Watch out now!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Walk to Remember 2010 - East Africa (Rwanda)
Let's run through my day on 7th of April 2010...
7AM - Up and excited that the day is here (and almost over)
7:30AM - Shower, breakfast and out the door
7:35AM - Drop off torches at the stadium
7:45AM - Load car with banners, water, candles, name badges, etc
8AM - Meet Richard, hang banners
8:30AM - Find out the President will be attending the event
8:31AM - Get excited and realize, crap, everything needs to change
8:45AM - Pick up Herve, Joel, Sam, and some volunteers
9AM - Find out the event has been moved from KBC Roundabout to Parliament (again, crap! all media, our tv/radio commercials all said KBC)
9:05AM - Talk to Presidents office; Call my brother Denis and send him to every radio station to tell them change of location
9:10AM - Head to Parliament; Talk to Presidents Security; Tell Denis do not go to radio stations and tell them about the Parliament
9:30AM - Arrive at Parliament; Hang banners; Talk to Presidents Security; Tell Denis to go to radio stations and tell people to go directly to the Parliament
10:30AM - Go home and paint the President's t-shirt to read - Dar es Salaam rather than Dar el Salaam - THE PRESIDENT'S SHIRT...yego!
11AM - Go to prep speakers; check up on team
11:30AM - Go to tent to see 144 student volunteers - drive some to the Parliament and KBC to direct people to the Parliament
12PM - Back home - SHOWER!
12:45 - Head back to tent - where is the bus for the volunteers? Funny, no one knows?!
1:00 - Drop off more volunteers at KBC - raise my voice for the first time at the "volunteers" who are simply sitting under the overhang letting people walk around aimlessly
1:15 - Head back to the tent with Rachel (130 volunteers still need transport, we have a mini-van)
1:30 - Arrive at tent, NO BUS! Super! Rachel becomes a taxi driver and I notice a massive dump truck two houses down who could take us in two trips; I ask the kids who will translate for me, all the boys are shocked and put their heads down, one tiny girl agrees
1:35 - Tiny girl and I mock the boys for being pansies and go knock on the owners gate; Talk to the owner who calls the driver and offers to pay for gas; Rachel continues to transport them back and forth; Denis tells the kids to start walking while we wait for the driver to arrive
1:50 - Driver arrives but bus finally came and picked up the kids on their way; Rachel comes back to get me
2:00 - President's speech starts; all roads are blocked off, Rachel drops us 1/2 mile from Parliament where they are about the lock the gates
2:20 - Arrive at Parliament; everyone is gone! People continue to trail in; Sam, Joel and I start walking to the stadium to get people organized
2:40 - Meet Rachel half-way; give out water
3:10 - Arrive at stadium; get hit on by almost every very attractive Presidential guard as I am trying to get to the track (I love Rwanda and their love for big, white women)
3:30 - Get onto track; receive 20 phone calls from people who the guards will not let enter (key people, speakers!); Start basically doing laps to make sure everyone can enter - again, pays to be a big white woman
4:15 - Start organizing the people into a ring for the lighting of the candles; Continue recieving phone calls, back and forth...
4:45 - Finally on the track to stay; start moving over 1000 people into on circle with no holes (by myself, thank you team "leaders")
6:00 - FINALLY, we have a circle!
6:15 - Music; make sure everyone has a candle
6:30 - Ceremony starts!
6:31 - I breathe and start taking pictures; really enjoyed the remainder of the event
Many, many other things happened but those are the basics.
Highlights - Approximately 9,000 participants (4x last year's event); President made a speech and lead the walk; TONS of media coverage; VERY HAPPY sponsors; Majority of the audience was youth - they came out in full support of the event; I am still alive and unwinding.
All of it made it easy to lose focus on why we were there. The actual ceremony really made it real. It is amazing what these people experienced only 16 short years ago. It's devastating.
MISS YOU!
7AM - Up and excited that the day is here (and almost over)
7:30AM - Shower, breakfast and out the door
7:35AM - Drop off torches at the stadium
7:45AM - Load car with banners, water, candles, name badges, etc
8AM - Meet Richard, hang banners
8:30AM - Find out the President will be attending the event
8:31AM - Get excited and realize, crap, everything needs to change
8:45AM - Pick up Herve, Joel, Sam, and some volunteers
9AM - Find out the event has been moved from KBC Roundabout to Parliament (again, crap! all media, our tv/radio commercials all said KBC)
9:05AM - Talk to Presidents office; Call my brother Denis and send him to every radio station to tell them change of location
9:10AM - Head to Parliament; Talk to Presidents Security; Tell Denis do not go to radio stations and tell them about the Parliament
9:30AM - Arrive at Parliament; Hang banners; Talk to Presidents Security; Tell Denis to go to radio stations and tell people to go directly to the Parliament
10:30AM - Go home and paint the President's t-shirt to read - Dar es Salaam rather than Dar el Salaam - THE PRESIDENT'S SHIRT...yego!
11AM - Go to prep speakers; check up on team
11:30AM - Go to tent to see 144 student volunteers - drive some to the Parliament and KBC to direct people to the Parliament
12PM - Back home - SHOWER!
12:45 - Head back to tent - where is the bus for the volunteers? Funny, no one knows?!
1:00 - Drop off more volunteers at KBC - raise my voice for the first time at the "volunteers" who are simply sitting under the overhang letting people walk around aimlessly
1:15 - Head back to the tent with Rachel (130 volunteers still need transport, we have a mini-van)
1:30 - Arrive at tent, NO BUS! Super! Rachel becomes a taxi driver and I notice a massive dump truck two houses down who could take us in two trips; I ask the kids who will translate for me, all the boys are shocked and put their heads down, one tiny girl agrees
1:35 - Tiny girl and I mock the boys for being pansies and go knock on the owners gate; Talk to the owner who calls the driver and offers to pay for gas; Rachel continues to transport them back and forth; Denis tells the kids to start walking while we wait for the driver to arrive
1:50 - Driver arrives but bus finally came and picked up the kids on their way; Rachel comes back to get me
2:00 - President's speech starts; all roads are blocked off, Rachel drops us 1/2 mile from Parliament where they are about the lock the gates
2:20 - Arrive at Parliament; everyone is gone! People continue to trail in; Sam, Joel and I start walking to the stadium to get people organized
2:40 - Meet Rachel half-way; give out water
3:10 - Arrive at stadium; get hit on by almost every very attractive Presidential guard as I am trying to get to the track (I love Rwanda and their love for big, white women)
3:30 - Get onto track; receive 20 phone calls from people who the guards will not let enter (key people, speakers!); Start basically doing laps to make sure everyone can enter - again, pays to be a big white woman
4:15 - Start organizing the people into a ring for the lighting of the candles; Continue recieving phone calls, back and forth...
4:45 - Finally on the track to stay; start moving over 1000 people into on circle with no holes (by myself, thank you team "leaders")
6:00 - FINALLY, we have a circle!
6:15 - Music; make sure everyone has a candle
6:30 - Ceremony starts!
6:31 - I breathe and start taking pictures; really enjoyed the remainder of the event
Many, many other things happened but those are the basics.
Highlights - Approximately 9,000 participants (4x last year's event); President made a speech and lead the walk; TONS of media coverage; VERY HAPPY sponsors; Majority of the audience was youth - they came out in full support of the event; I am still alive and unwinding.
All of it made it easy to lose focus on why we were there. The actual ceremony really made it real. It is amazing what these people experienced only 16 short years ago. It's devastating.
MISS YOU!
Friday, April 9, 2010
O how I loathe thou...
Dear Mean Green Machine:
My hatred of you grows more and more by the day. I, who have never experienced such hatred in my life, struggle with the feelings I have for you. You break down on a daily basis, run out of gas on hills in the middle of the city, and your brakes momentarily fail on my way down hills (that is when you can actually make it up). I despise you and even if given the opportunity do not believe I would even try to make it work between us. I am looking for dependability and you, unfortunately, can not provide me with that basic request. The end.
NOT yours truly,
Kate Kelley
My hatred of you grows more and more by the day. I, who have never experienced such hatred in my life, struggle with the feelings I have for you. You break down on a daily basis, run out of gas on hills in the middle of the city, and your brakes momentarily fail on my way down hills (that is when you can actually make it up). I despise you and even if given the opportunity do not believe I would even try to make it work between us. I am looking for dependability and you, unfortunately, can not provide me with that basic request. The end.
NOT yours truly,
Kate Kelley
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Seriously, like seriously! - Update #4
Ok, so let me preface this with I should probably not put this on the world wide web because I will be gossiping and it's not good to talk about other people and all that jazz so I will make this short and sweet.
I, Kate Kelley, am a sucker. I REFUSE to believe that people are as incapable as they appear. These "people" include whites, blacks, cubans, and asians. I just don't get it. I refuse to believe it. Rather, I choose to believe that people know I will get it done so are just too lazy to do it themselves but when there is too, too, too much to get done, nothing ends up getting done if it's only one person. It seems that only my mother and I truly understand what I have to work with (meaning my mental capacity). If I can do it people, you can to!
Lesson #1 - A good team is invaluable.
Lesson #2 - Most people are either stupid or lazy (and I don't believe anyone is stupid, so, ya)
Lesson #3 - I am quite possibly the worse delegator in the world (but see #1)
Lesson #4 - I have so far to go in terms of management skill (but I am so much closer than I was)
Lesson #5 - A good team is invaluable.
Lesson #6 - When I have too many tasks, I don't do anything well, and I mean, anything!
Lesson #7 - See Lesson #1 and #5
So, that was me venting, thanks!
I, Kate Kelley, am a sucker. I REFUSE to believe that people are as incapable as they appear. These "people" include whites, blacks, cubans, and asians. I just don't get it. I refuse to believe it. Rather, I choose to believe that people know I will get it done so are just too lazy to do it themselves but when there is too, too, too much to get done, nothing ends up getting done if it's only one person. It seems that only my mother and I truly understand what I have to work with (meaning my mental capacity). If I can do it people, you can to!
Lesson #1 - A good team is invaluable.
Lesson #2 - Most people are either stupid or lazy (and I don't believe anyone is stupid, so, ya)
Lesson #3 - I am quite possibly the worse delegator in the world (but see #1)
Lesson #4 - I have so far to go in terms of management skill (but I am so much closer than I was)
Lesson #5 - A good team is invaluable.
Lesson #6 - When I have too many tasks, I don't do anything well, and I mean, anything!
Lesson #7 - See Lesson #1 and #5
So, that was me venting, thanks!
My Family WILL BE a Basketball Playing Rainbow - Update #3
If there was any doubt before I came to Rwanda that I would be adopting multiple children from any and all nationalities/ethnicities, let this serve as the official documentation that it is going to happen (and I cannot wait).
Basketball camp has been a blessing. Last weekend was the last session (until the closing ceremony in May). The kids are just amazing. We have really had the opportunity to build a relationship and I intend to continue it by visiting them at Prison Fellowship until I leave. Working with them has been so rewarding. They have been a blessing my life and I am just so thankful. I wish you could all be there for the camps. You would love it!
The kids are just starting to catch on. Per usual, some are better than others and some of the boys have really picked it up. During our scrimmages, they actually look somewhat organized (emphasis on somewhat). We have four teams and when the two teams are playing, the other two have to stand around the court and cheer. We sing songs and make up cheers and you should see them all when someone scores. It's hilarious. The games are usually only 10 minutes long so the score is usually 4-2 or 6-4 if they're "on". Scoring a basket is basically like scoring a goal in futbol, when it happens, it's rare and it's exciting! When they score, it is usually followed by fist-pumps, skipping, jumping and a whole lot of cheering. It's hard to manage the kids on the sideline because after one basket they all want to storm the court. I can't really describe it accurately with words, it's just pure joy.
The kids are changing too, which leads me to my "basketball playing rainbow colored family." Being with these kids gives you the chance to see that all children are the same. All they want is some good lovin! Me, being the "hug machine" that I am, am all about it. The kids are just aching for some affection and luckily, that is easy for me to give. It's amazing to see that all they want is someone to care about them and offer some structure. For instance, I have one guy who is about 24. We are always joking around and, as of late, as been very helpful with managing the younger kids. Well, like many of the older street kids, he uses drugs. They all smoke some kind of ganja plant (I don't know what it is called). Anyway, he has a necklace with the leaf on it that he wore to camp one day, every time I was near him, I would put it in his shirt so you could not see it. He would take it out, I would put it back. Well, the next week, another one of the boys had a sweatband with the plant on it. I took it from him and wore it myself, inside out. The other boy saw me take it, ran up to me with a big smile and showed me that he was not wearing his necklace that week. He also scolded the other boy for wearing the band, explaining it was bad. Will they smoke this week? Are they smoking now, probably! But, at least they know that I care that they don't and somewhere in their minds, maybe in a very, very small way, that matters.
Back to my family, being with these kids has once again showed me that I really want to have my home for kids between the ages of 7-19. There is so much there and they are just forgotten because they are not as cute and cuddly has the young ones. Working with them is so rewarding. People always say how rare it is to see real transformation and/or how difficult and potentially disappointing it can be to work with teens but I think change is possible. I know that if I had their experiences and survived what they have survived, I wouldn't be transformed over night either.
All you need is love people!
Speaking of love, if anyone knows any men between the ages of 25-32, preferably tall (at least 5'11) with some meat on their bones, who would also like to have this kind of non-traditional (but awesome) family...hook-it up (some basketball skills preferred but not required).
Basketball camp has been a blessing. Last weekend was the last session (until the closing ceremony in May). The kids are just amazing. We have really had the opportunity to build a relationship and I intend to continue it by visiting them at Prison Fellowship until I leave. Working with them has been so rewarding. They have been a blessing my life and I am just so thankful. I wish you could all be there for the camps. You would love it!
The kids are just starting to catch on. Per usual, some are better than others and some of the boys have really picked it up. During our scrimmages, they actually look somewhat organized (emphasis on somewhat). We have four teams and when the two teams are playing, the other two have to stand around the court and cheer. We sing songs and make up cheers and you should see them all when someone scores. It's hilarious. The games are usually only 10 minutes long so the score is usually 4-2 or 6-4 if they're "on". Scoring a basket is basically like scoring a goal in futbol, when it happens, it's rare and it's exciting! When they score, it is usually followed by fist-pumps, skipping, jumping and a whole lot of cheering. It's hard to manage the kids on the sideline because after one basket they all want to storm the court. I can't really describe it accurately with words, it's just pure joy.
The kids are changing too, which leads me to my "basketball playing rainbow colored family." Being with these kids gives you the chance to see that all children are the same. All they want is some good lovin! Me, being the "hug machine" that I am, am all about it. The kids are just aching for some affection and luckily, that is easy for me to give. It's amazing to see that all they want is someone to care about them and offer some structure. For instance, I have one guy who is about 24. We are always joking around and, as of late, as been very helpful with managing the younger kids. Well, like many of the older street kids, he uses drugs. They all smoke some kind of ganja plant (I don't know what it is called). Anyway, he has a necklace with the leaf on it that he wore to camp one day, every time I was near him, I would put it in his shirt so you could not see it. He would take it out, I would put it back. Well, the next week, another one of the boys had a sweatband with the plant on it. I took it from him and wore it myself, inside out. The other boy saw me take it, ran up to me with a big smile and showed me that he was not wearing his necklace that week. He also scolded the other boy for wearing the band, explaining it was bad. Will they smoke this week? Are they smoking now, probably! But, at least they know that I care that they don't and somewhere in their minds, maybe in a very, very small way, that matters.
Back to my family, being with these kids has once again showed me that I really want to have my home for kids between the ages of 7-19. There is so much there and they are just forgotten because they are not as cute and cuddly has the young ones. Working with them is so rewarding. People always say how rare it is to see real transformation and/or how difficult and potentially disappointing it can be to work with teens but I think change is possible. I know that if I had their experiences and survived what they have survived, I wouldn't be transformed over night either.
All you need is love people!
Speaking of love, if anyone knows any men between the ages of 25-32, preferably tall (at least 5'11) with some meat on their bones, who would also like to have this kind of non-traditional (but awesome) family...hook-it up (some basketball skills preferred but not required).
Ohhhh Technology - Update #2
My computer is broken (as of approximately 10 days ago)...I spilt NanoGreens (its a powder that you shake in a cup with 8oz of water. It alledgedly has 10 servings worth of fruits and vegetables per scoop)
Anyway, I was shake, shake, shaking it and the cap popped off soooo, I got NanoGreens all over my clothes, my bed and ahhhhh my computer. Supposedly it got in the motherboard...who knows. All I know is that it is not working, it has all my pictures on it and I am NOT very happy about it.
Maybe it can be fixed at home? I hope so, I don't really trust the effort here, not a whole lota pride in the work going on...
Anyway, I was shake, shake, shaking it and the cap popped off soooo, I got NanoGreens all over my clothes, my bed and ahhhhh my computer. Supposedly it got in the motherboard...who knows. All I know is that it is not working, it has all my pictures on it and I am NOT very happy about it.
Maybe it can be fixed at home? I hope so, I don't really trust the effort here, not a whole lota pride in the work going on...
Ready, Set, GO - Update #1
Ok, so, as you may have noticed, I have not been writing in my blog at all lately. I apologize!! I'm sure you're all at the edge of your seats everyday to hear the latest of Kate's life in Rwanda (kidding, Paula!) But, all joking aside, I have not been great with keeping in touch and I promised I would. To make up for it, I am going to bombard you with blog posts. So much as been going on that I haven't had the time to sit down and just write.
In the interest of saving you time and not boring you to pieces with a rambling books worth of content, I am splitting up the posts...you will see the headings, Update 1, 2, etc. That way it will just make sense and they will be short(er) reads…
Basically, I have been doing so much learning here that it's just unbelievable. I never in a million years expected to have these experiences and I have no idea what God has planned for me but I think it is more than I ever imagined (otherwise, He is really just toying with me).
Anyway, most important parts of this update are: 1) I'm alive; 2) I'm sorry; 3) I'm shocked how busy I am and how much I'm learning; 4) I really do love you all more than you would think given my absence from blogging; 4) Thank you Jesus for rising from the dead today to save us from ourselves; 5) The Easter Bunny did NOT come or he did an exceptionally fabulous job this year hiding my basket.
HAPPY EASTER!
In the interest of saving you time and not boring you to pieces with a rambling books worth of content, I am splitting up the posts...you will see the headings, Update 1, 2, etc. That way it will just make sense and they will be short(er) reads…
Basically, I have been doing so much learning here that it's just unbelievable. I never in a million years expected to have these experiences and I have no idea what God has planned for me but I think it is more than I ever imagined (otherwise, He is really just toying with me).
Anyway, most important parts of this update are: 1) I'm alive; 2) I'm sorry; 3) I'm shocked how busy I am and how much I'm learning; 4) I really do love you all more than you would think given my absence from blogging; 4) Thank you Jesus for rising from the dead today to save us from ourselves; 5) The Easter Bunny did NOT come or he did an exceptionally fabulous job this year hiding my basket.
HAPPY EASTER!
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