Meeting our orphans

I'm not often left speechless. But today defeated words.

We met the New Hope Orphan Group today--our orphans, as Tucker Brown is right to say. And we learned a lot. One, our group is being mentored by a previous Zoe working group that has graduated out of the three-year program. The old group was called "Hope." Hence our new group's name, "New Hope." This is the first lesson of Zoe: we are who we are in community. Orphans go from those with no one to those with others. Another word for this is "church."

We told them we have prayed for them by name. They knew our name, "Boone," and thanked us by name. We said our children have led us in this relationship for their sake. They delighted in seeing photos of our children. I wondered, what sort of blessing redounds around the globe to our good from these children?

They put us to work, shucking corn. Rwanda's country director, the remarkable Epiphanie, Mujawimana, had told the group to hold off on harvesting their maize for a week until we were there and could pick with them. So instead of just cruising from the hotel to the bus and back again we were suddenly, unexpectedly, wonderfully out in the fields twisting ears of corn. The orphans then cut down the stalks to use for compost. We didn't just get to ooh and ahh over their work. We got to join in it.

Then we saw some of the orphans' individual projects. This is a second grant they receive after a first, communal grant teaches them business skills, common work, how to save etc. In year two the orphans can receive an individual grant, and Elina, Ancille, and Claudine were working on a sorghum drink. The stuff looked and smelled nasty to us! But Rwandans delight in it, and for the sake of empowerment and profitable business that's what matters. They showed us all this in a house owned by Eric, another graduate, who has sold the sorghum drink who now has a cow with a calf,and who has built his house with Zoe's help--a diversified set of investments.

We headed to a woodworking shop run by another set of orphans who have graduated out. There we got gifts for our families, for our church staff, and for our whole church. You'll delight in seeing them soon.

Finally we headed to a "community meeting" with our group. We heard the drumming before we saw its source. And as we rounded the corner at the top of a hill we saw the children drumming (on plastic water cans), dancing, and singing. They sang praise songs, pulling us in to dance with them. They sang songs about defeating AIDS. As they sang, time slipped away into eternity, it was so beautiful to see our folks dancing with our orphans I couldn't not cry. Then they served us food: first fruits, cooked corn, from their harvest. It is a Rwandan custom to share first fruit with parents, and we, they said, have become like their parents. Then we exchanged gifts. I gave them the beautiful poster from our VBS last year, complete with photos of our children at worship and one of Zoe's slogans in their Kinyarwandan language. Cameron St. Clair presented them with photo albums of our church. And then they presented gifts to us (as if seeing their staggering achievement, and eating their precious first fruits, wasn't enough). We received three hats, "so you can keep the sun and rain off your heads when you visit your friends." We received two traditional milk jars, "for you, our mothers." And finally we received a seed container, "for you, our fathers," inscribed in fabric proclaiming "From New Hope to Boone UMC." As ever their gifts exceeded ours.

Such generosity! From children who two years ago were on the streets, hopeless, abused, a "burden" to their neighbors. Now they are leaders, their relationships with each other are sinews in the body of their community, Jesus has shown his love for them when they would have previously had good reason to doubt that love. And about all we could do in return was smile, shake hands, give thanks to them, and thank God.

Blessings, Jason

Jason Byassee, pastor, Boone United Methodist Church
www.booneumc.org