Late Wednesday afternoon we headed for Gisenyi, border town with Goma, DRC for some chill time and a dowry / wedding. Seems that's the only reason we get to Gisenyi much to our chagrin...
On a side note... as we're leaving Kigali, I get a message on my phone from a team leader bringing a team out this summer. She first came to Rwanda about 5 years ago as an intern and has brought teams back almost every summer since. This summer is no exception. She is writing to say though that a pastor is pulling three from her team because of information he is reading on the internet about Rwanda - particularly the border of Gisenyi / Goma.
I tell her that we're headed there at that moment and if there were anything to fear, we would know about it as Serge has TONNES of family in Gisenyi and Goma. Yes, there were some Congolese soldiers that crossed the border a few weeks ago to steal some cows and that wasn't taken lightly... but seriously.
She is more than frustrated... and it's annoying for us. When 'incidents' happen, countries need to use certain language on their travel advisories and websites. It can be very frustrating as it does not reflect for the most part what the reality is. Everything that happens in Rwanda is taken as 'an incident' ... if everything in USA or Canada or any other developed country was reported like it is here ... just saying!
I asked if we could write or talk to whoever. Still waiting to hear if they are open to talking.
We always knows that God has His way of working but I also wonder about quenching what God is doing by being crippled by fear. I need to trust that the pastor is acting out of genuine ignorance and not his fear of the unknown - especially a part of the world that is not known to him personally.
Anyway... here are some pics to entice you to come and visit... and we'd do our best to get you to Gisenyi. A wedding may or may not be included!
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| Beni's first selfie... |
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| Off for our first morning walk down the beach |
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Playing badminton for the first time with the kids.
Beni can't say 'badminton' if his life depended on it... |
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Liberation Day photo... Goma, DRC, Serge's
homeland in the background |
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| Watching the waves roll in... |
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| A mother and daughter selfie... |
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Best big brother in the world!
Playing Barbie with his young sister! |
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| Isabella FINALLY learned to swim in this pool! YEAH!! |
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| Catching some sun and nap |
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| Father and son |
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| View of Lake Kivu from our balcony. Could never tire of it. |
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