(Sewing team 2011, thanks to Jennifer pictured on far left)
I had planned on many more blogs, but you may have heard that our laptops were stolen (and now recovered!)
I don't know how or when I will be able to process all that has happened these last 2 weeks! On Sunday,
the day guard broke into the house where we are staying and stole
$1600, three laptops, and Joe's phone. We are staying with International Justice Mission country director- notice the word Justice. This is not
who you want to mess with. The organization secures rescue and
restoration for victims of violent forces of injustice and ensures
public justice systems work for the poor. He already has a great working
relationship with the police. It is no small miracle that everything
was recovered. The police conducted a serious sting operation. After a
series of many leads, the robber (boudro) called a friend's cell phone
who the police were detaining. The friend pretended to know how to reset
all the computers (he
was having problems, probably because we have Macs!). The friend met
him three hours away at a cafe, police arrested him on the spot, where
he had almost all the money on him. Apparently, he was going to start an
internet cafe. A brilliant idea...
Petty
theft is a serious crime here. Rwandans want to overcome their
reputation from the genocide and want the world to see them as a justice
oriented place. All Rwandas were devastated at our loss- our driver
even told us to not pay him until we were back in US. Everyone is
shocked and grateful it was all found. It is on the news and in the
paper as an example of reporting crimes immediatly to the police so they
can help. Pretty nuts!
Saturday,
I met with a group of women who is going to start sewing for Noonday.
My friend Jennifer Jukonovich (who is a serious partner in crime sister bringing
justice to the
poor here and helped get us Jack) has gathered the group and almost all the money for it to
happen. Noonday is sending one or two women through school and we are
also going to give our customers the chance to send a woman through
school! Each woman will go through school for 6 months to become expert
sewers. By then, we are hoping to have a good market for their items. SO
many more stories to share here (and I can't wait!), but I was bawling most the time. "I will
never know my son's mother and the pain that brought her to the decision
to leave him. But I will know you." Jennifer told me last night that everyone woman has paid their deposit! And it was no small amount. Stay tuned on how you can help with this!
We took Jack from the orphanage FOREVER on Tuesday.
He was SO READY!!!! I can't imagine what the little tike is thinking.
He acts very shy around new situations and then WOAH! He turns into all 2
year old boy. Adopting a 2 year old with no english is like a racecar
with no driver. This is wild! But he already is repeating things after
us... and counts in English:) It is
just weird for everyone around you to understand your kid and tell you
what he is saying! We are all very ready to be a family in the USA. He feels more like mine every day and our love is daily growing.
We
went to the genocide memorial yesterday. Intense. Besides recounting
the Rwandan genocide in detail, there is a whole room dedicated to
different genocides- and there was the story of Armenia.
My great grandmother, Rose Lambert, who Jack is named after, was a
missionary during the genocide there. Her orphanage took in many
refugees from the city and she protected all inside from getting
slaughtered. The people asked if she was going to leave them and she
said, "We assured them we would not leave them. They said, " If you do we had
better go to our homes or the Turks will burn the orphanage and all of us
and there will be no possibility of escape." We reassured them that we
would not leave them but would do all in our power to help protect them. They
again questioned, " But if the town actually burns and the massacre begins
will you not leave us then?" We answered, "If the blood of twenty
thousand innocent Armenians is shed it will make very little difference if
the blood of an American is mingled with it." How could one think of
deserting them at such a time, especially when our presence gave a chance
of saving them ?" (this is from her book she later wrote)
THANKS FOR PRAYING! YOUR PRAYERS BROUGHT BACK THE MONEY WE STILL OWED FOR ADOPTION AND COMPUTERS WITH INFORMATION BEYOND WORTH. TO GOD BE THE GLORY. KEEP IT UP, TEAM!
