Giraffes and toothaches

Hi Everyone!

Merry Christmas a little late and happy new year!

I am happy to be able to report that finally on my second trip to Africa I have seen a giraffe:) Actually, I saw an entire family of giraffes and hundreds of zebras and baboons, impalas, hippos, warthogs, birds...It was amazing! I went on a visit to Akagera National Park [Wildlife Conservation Society link and see also park website] on Monday. Definitely worth a day spent in the car. God's beauty is so awesome the more I see of it. His mind is really beyond our understanding which nobody would doubt once they have seen a real live zebra. Who comes up with something like that?

Well, I wish I had more happy news to report but things are not all easy. My friend Selassie has been expelled from the school because of a lot of things on his part. I support the leaders decision but it is still hard. At least, it will not be the last we see of him. My friends and I will not let him go just like that because we need to show him that God does not let him go simply because he is no longer in DTS. One good thing in this is that we took Selassie with us to Akagera. He had a really good day. It is rare that he gets to take a break from life and just enjoy himself.

As for me, I find that there are so many things I want to be doing all the time that I am running short on sleep. Yesterday I had the chance to help out at a Christmas party for a group of orphans. These kids have had very hard lives and are still being majorly exploited. The way the government is set up here you can really make money by taking in orphans especially if you use the money on youreslf that was intended to buy them food. It is a messy situation but thanks to an awesome ministry called SoZo stepping in it is beginning to be brought to light and things are changing. Yesterday was fantastic. The kids each received a box of presents and a new outfit. One little girl that I was watching for the day got a baby doll and she could not stop laughing and bouncing it up and down. It is better than sleep.

I would ask you to be praying for my teeth though! I knew before I left that I needed my wisdom teeth out but I, not very wisely, didn't do anything about it. They have been hurting me a bit so I pray that it can wait until I get back.

I wish I had more time to tell you all the things that are going on but my session [at the Internet cafe] is almost up. I will write again when I can.

Bye! Johanna

Nurture and don't Kill

The following is a 12/21 editorial in the Children's Times a weekly publication of the New Times of Kigali in response to certain educational materials that do not strongly condem the ideologies that led to genocide in 1994.

It is very disappointing to see future Rwandans being tarnished by the very people who are supposed to be helping them.

These rising cases of genocide ideologies which are continuously taking place in primary and secondary school should be seriously fought against.

Teachers or parents who are spoiling their children with such ideologies should be punished because they are not nurturing.

Since we all know the horror that befell our country in 1994, why then should we try to make history repeat its self by poisoning the minds of our innocent children.

And why can’t we leave the evil deeds of the past remain as history and never to be mentioned again?

Dear teachers, parents and guardians, if you say that you are nurturing children into future leaders, why then do you want to spoil them with ideologies which are of no help?

Let us have a sense of humanity. Why should we continuously reflect on a terrible history and yet we benefit nothing.

You had better empower children with developmental ideas rather than giving them worthless knowledge which will lead them to turmoil.

Rwanda is a developing country; it has come from far and still has a long journey ahead. Help the government to build instead of dismantling what has so far been put in place.

See also: BBC Article

Healing and hurting.

Rwanda is nearly beyond words for me. There is more pain here than I ever imagined existed. Sometimes one person's story contains more evil happening to them than I have ever even heard about.

To go along with that I have had my faith brought down to one choice on my part. Do I choose to trust God? I have chosen to trust but it is something I will never understand. I can't not trust this God I see here. His power is beyond my understanding. And the extent of what Jesus took on Himself on the cross has a whole new meaning for me now.

It is not all pain though. There are amazing people here. There are people in my class, people I interact with daily, that have survived hell on earth and they sing praises to God. The depth of their faith is truly awesome.

Still, not everyone is able to heal yet. I would really appreciate prayers for one Rwandese guy in my class. His name is Sellassie. He has become a friend of mine but he is having a very hard time with life in general right now. All I can say is pray hard for him and his remaining family.

Johanna Beachy

The pleasure of a voice!

Finally!! We were able to overcome the nuances of the international telco switching system, the limitations of particular calling cards, and the timing and availability of actual phone numbers and speak to Johanna. It was, of course, a wonderful thing to hear her voice after only just over three weeks.

Johanna is pretty tired and does not have much free time in a very full schedule of classes, work duties, and various opportunities for outreach involving her class. She is in a class of about 15 students - of which 6 or 7 are from North America and the majority are from the eastern region of Africa (Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, etc.). In spite of the attractiveness of the facility in which she is staying (see the YWAM Rwanda link to the left) there is no running water. That means that showers are bucket showers but as she noted, "it's not that bad." Her assessment of her time in Kigali so far was that it has been a very good time - it is hard but she is very happy that she is where she is.

The night before we spoke she had been out to attend a concert. I did not catch the name of the artist but the concert was held at the Hotel des Mille Collines (Mille Collines). For those familiar with the film Hotel Rwanda this was the hotel that was the setting for that movie (which can be seen in the special features if you have the DVD version) where a courageous Rwandan national named Paul Rusesabagina sheltered over 1,200 fellow countrymen during the 1994 genocide.

Current plans call for Johanna's class to travel on an extended outreach to the country of Kenya (probably in late March through May) although the exact location of their outreach has not yet been determined.

Johanna has asked for prayer for one of her classmates. S____ is a young man who lost most of his family members during the genocide (I got the impression that he may have witnessed their murders). His mother and sister are still living but he is having a difficult time believing that he can be loved by God or that his own life is valuable. Please join us in praying for him.

Johanna will also try to occasionally post here on the blog site however she indicated that it took almost an hour to get to a reliable Internet café. Although an hour of Internet time was inexpensive (about one USD) the speed of the connection was very slow by American standards and thus even simple things like checking e-mail on line took much longer than expected. As a result we will 'manage' her online e-mail account to keep the number of messages to a minimum since she also communicates through Facebook.

Johanna's Vision...

Is to attend the Introduction to Primary Health Care School (IPHC) in 2009. This is a six month training programme (that's the way they spell it in Perth, Australia where the course is held) that will give students a heart for the poor and needy and involve them in the health needs of poor communities.

Did you know that there are 8 essential basic health care needs that you can be trained in and then be effective? These are:

1- Disease control
2- Mother and child health
3- Curative care
4- Essential drugs
5- Food and nutrition
6- Water and sanitation
7- Health education
8- Community resources

Why would someone like to be involved in this?.?

• Every day 6000 people between 15 & 24 years of age become infected with the HIV virus. That is 4 people every minute.
• In as many as 35 of the poorest countries, 30 to 50% of the population may have no access to health services at all.
• Half of all children under 5 years of age in South Asia are malnourished. 60% of women there are underweight.
• Malaria affects 300 million people in more than 100 countries each year.
• There are still 30 million infants not protected by routine vaccination in developing countries. 11 million children die from preventable causes each year.
• Tuberculosis is the main cause of death from a single infectious agent among adults.
• Acute respiratory Illness is a leading cause of mortality in young children killing nearly 2 million children under the age of 5 in developing countries each year.

Just think…in less than one year you can get out there,
Into communities,
Educating children
Doing ante natal care
Cleaning wounds
Working with safe water projects
Weighing children
And sharing the gospel with everyone you can?

You will be TRAINED in practical health care which you CAN use in rural or city areas.

{Taken from the website of the Perth, Australia YWAM school.}

Mizero!

Mizero. They are beautiful. I got to see them and hear them on Sunday morning. Many of them watched their parents being killed during the genocide - many would have been about 3 and 4 and 5 years old at the time.

And yet there is such grace and tenderness in their faces and in their movements. The woman, Francois, who was with them, took them in and taught them to sing and dance and led them all to Jesus.

They did a couple lively songs where they invited people to dance with them. It was very fun to watch! We were standing and clapping to the beat of the drum and guitar. I looked to my left and there was one Rwandan teen girl with about 6 or 7 little American girls dancing in a circle in the aisle. Precious. Then on stage there were Rwandan teens dancing with older Americans. At one point some young African American men jumped up on stage and danced with the young Rwandan men.

I know the Holy Spirit was in that place and filling us with joy. It seemed the Lord gave me a tiny glimpse of Heaven in that moment, when we, all from different tribes and language and country, will be worshiping our great, loving Creator together forever!

Pray for the 1,200,000 orphans in Rwanda. Pray for the 6,000 more every day all over Africa.

Here's one verse of a new song from Stephen Curtis Chapman called, Yours
"I walked the dirt roads of Uganda
I see the scars that war has left behind
Hope like the sun is fading
And they're waiting for a cure no one can find
And I hear children's voices singing
Of a God who heals and rescues and restores
And I'm reminded that every child in Africa is Yours."

Please watch the new movie, Amazing Grace. The story of William Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade in Britain 200 years ago.

"Africa! Your sufferings have been the theme that has engaged and arrested my heart." - William Wilberforce

With an arrested heart,
Gloria Beachy

Traffic Troubles

Read David Gusongoirye's account of his 'less than amusing' experiences with Rwandan traffic patrolmen in Kigali's Uncompromising Traffic Cops.

Children of Mizero

For residents of NH there is an opportunity this weekend to hear and meet orphaned children from Rwanda at the Mizero tour events listed below. You can learn more about this group here and view images from their December 7, 2007 performance on the photo website of Johanna's father.

Mizero Children of Rwanda
Bringing, Building, Spreading: Hope

The Mizero "Hope" troupe comprises twelve orphans from ages 13-15, who present a captivating program that encompasses all of Rwanda's music and dance traditions. While many have lost family members to the 1994 genocide, these children have experienced Christ's peace and healing, which they elegantly express through their music and dance performance.

They are the future leaders of Rwanda, and it is our hope to help empower them to build a stronger, self-sustaining homeland.

This Mizero or "Hope" tour will bring awareness of the present status of Rwanda, as well as raise financial support to build an arts-centered academy, where they will learn the necessary skills to be the next leaders of the country.

Date: Where:
December 9 Bedford, NH Bedford Community Church

The Need for Clean Water!

Right now, more than 1.1 billion people, mostly in developing nations, do not have access to safe, clean drinking water.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation causes 80% of all sickness and disease, and kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water.

Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.

One of the many organizations that is helping to address this problem, especially in Africa including Rwanda, is charity which was founded by Scott Harrison (he was in Liberia with Mercy Ships when Johanna arrived). Check out the charity website to learn more about the opportunities to make huge differences in people's lives for relatively little cost. For example a great idea is to donate a $20 bottle of water in someone's honor and thus provide clean drinking water in Africa for one person for 20 years! See the various versions of holiday cards.

Frustrating Phone Calls...

Early Sunday morning (US time) we got the information needed to call Johanna directly in the afternoon with an international calling card. As we were leaving church just after noon she called me (Dad) on my cell phone and I let her know we were planning to stop on the way home, buy a card and call her in about an hour. After searching every checkout aisle at Wal-Mart for international calling cards, I realized that the domestic cards would work too (with higher rates -- as in 15 times higher!).

When we got home we immediately went to work making the call only to have the AT&T operator inform us that we 'did not need to dial the zero following the country area code.' We got out the phone book and verified the '250' for Rwanda and then dropped the next zero and were first excited to hear the sound of French network announcements (Rwanda is a former colony of Belgium) and then learned as the announcement switched to English that the number 'could not be placed' as dialed.

We were especially frustrated knowing that Johanna was on the other end (at some number) hoping to receive our call...

World AIDS Day 2007

Rwanda, like most of sub-Saharan Africa, has been scourged by the ravages of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In conjunction with the annual AIDS day focus we offer the following information about AIDS in the country of Rwanda:

HIV/AIDS in Rwanda

8,440,820: population of Rwanda (July 2005 est.)

190,000: Estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2005

3.1%: Estimated percentage of adults (ages 15-49) living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2005

91,000: Estimated number of women (ages 15-49) living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2005

27,000: Estimated number of children (ages 0-14) living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2005

21,000: Estimated number of deaths due to AIDS during 2005

210,000: Estimated number of children who have lost their mother or father or both parents to AIDS and who were alive and under the age of 17 (2005)

Sources

• UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic. May 2006.
• CIA World Factbook 2005

Amnesty International also has an excellent article addressing the Rwandan AIDS epidemic as it relates to the 1994 genocide (Caution: contents may not be suitable for younger readers).

I Love it here!

Hi! I love it here!

Well, I have to go to an it internet cafe every time I want to send anything so it isn't easy. I don't have much free time. I am going to try to get a phone that you can call me on with an international phone card. Hopefully by this weekend.

Say Hi to everybody at church.

Can you pray for one of the guys in my class? He is Rwandan and has a hard story. I can tell he is having a hard time right now. Pray that God breaks his walls as painful as it might be.

Yeah, Rwanda is jaw-dropping gorgeous. You would never put your camera down Daddy in the Land of a Thousand Hills. We get a two week Christmas break so some of us will explore Rwanda. I miss everybody but this time is awesome.

I can't wait to talk to you. Soon! Bye!

Love, Johanna

Still Dealing with Genocide After-effects

The BBC Africa section is an excellent resource for those who wish to take Johanna up on her 'challenge' to learn more of Africa. They carried an article this morning about some of the judicial follow-up from the genocide nearly 14 years ago. You can read the article here.

Safe arrival in Rwanda!

So I made it just fine even though the flight was long and horrible. I wanted to turn the plane around and go home until...I got to Kigali and I recognized the smell. The smell of Africa! I will love it here, no running water but... oh well! Kigali is beautiful!

Received @ 4:10 PM 11/24/07

The church in Africa

As Johanna mentioned in the first post, she read extensively about Africa -- its history, its ethnicities, its politics, prospects for economic development and also about the church in Africa and the role that those of us on the West might play. One of her favorite articles was an interview with Oscar Muriu, the pastor of Nairobi Chapel which appeared in the spring edition of Leadership Journal. You can read this article here.

==> Article at: www.christianitytoday.com/le/2007/002/3.96.html

On leaving for Kigali

Thu, 22 Nov 2007

Hi everybody!

So this is the deal my friends and family; in less than 24 hours I am getting on a plane and going to Kigali, Rwanda. I will be there for 6 months attending a Discipleship Training School with Youth With A Mission. This will be fulfilling a deep longing of my heart...

Most of you know that in the beginning of 2006 I spent 6 months in West Africa with Mercy Ships. It was, as expected, a life-changing experience for me. What is more surprising is that the 16 months since I have been back have been equally life-changing. The Lord planted in me at a young age a compassion for the lost and hopeless of the world. My experiences in Liberia and Ghana caused that seed to take root and it has continued to grow since then. You know, I think compassion is often described inaccurately. It is perceived as sort of this nice feeling that makes you do good things and feel sorry for people. In reality, it is more like a tightly coiled spring deep inside that makes it uncomfortable to sit still. It drives you to action when you see injustice or need and makes words tumble out of your mouth when sharing it with others. It is after all a type of passion. At least that's what compassion feels like to me.

I came back last year with this feeling growing inside me and Africa on my mind. Any of you who have spent time overseas and particularly in missions understand that often coming back home is harder than going in the first place. It was hard for me. More so because well over half the people I talked to had no idea about any of the issues facing the countries I spent time in. Many had never even heard of them. But my God is patient and wise. He has used the time back home, back in my old job, back living with my family to accomplish more than I ever would have expected. I decided to ground my feelings in facts. I started researching Africa. Not a small undertaking! I read books, watched movies, kept up with the news, and
probably the most helpful of all I talked with Africans living here in my community. After all this studying I have learned a lot and come to one definite conclusion. Africa is a dying continent and God is absolutely able
to save it.

This brings me to Rwanda. Rwanda began to emerge for me as a picture of Africa's wrongs and possibilities. In 1994, through a culmination of events, Rwanda endured a genocide where over 1,000,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered in a span of about 100 days. That is a killing rate 3 times faster than the Nazis at the peak of the Holocaust. The real numbers will never be known because even today, almost 14 years later, bodies are still being discovered. Rwanda hit the lowest point a country can come to. It was hardly a country anymore. It was a graveyard. I have no clue how God runs this universe. I do, however, utterly trust and know that He in all His power and overwhelming love for us can take our lowest most depraved choices
and the consequences of them and turn them around for great good. Today, Rwanda is one of the safest African countries to visit. It has a steadily improving economy and, in a continent starved of true leadership, a remarkable president and government. Rwanda is making unbelievably huge steps towards forgiveness and reconciliation. They are determined not to be dependent on international aid and churches across the country are training and discipling young people to go out as missionaries to other countries. Naturally, after learning of this place I just had to go and see it!

So I am going; with great anticipation and thanking God for this chance to meet Him up close and personal where He is working. Some of you have asked about ways of supporting me. Well there are 2 ways you can. The first is prayer. I have been shown anew this year the power of prayer over an individual's life. Please pray for safe travels, good health, and strong relationships (actual showers with running water would be really nice too:). The second way is a bit unconventional but very dear to my heart. It would be an enormous support for me and, trust me, a blessing to you if you would learn something more than you know about Africa. If you have never heard of the genocide in Rwanda look it up. If you know the basics then find out the details. Pick a country that interests you for whatever reason and study it. Telling people I had been to Africa revealed very interesting levels of knowledge about what goes on beyond the borders of America. The people who died in the spring of 1994 are so much closer to you than you might think. I was 7 years old at the time and those children would have been my playmates. In large part I am going because of them; my potential friends that I never got the chance to know and whose deaths went unnoticed for so long.

I will be using this e-mail address [below] while I am gone. I would enjoy hearing from you and will send out news as often as I can. Talk to you later!

Love,
Johanna Beachy

jobeedoc@tds.net (or post a comment here!)