Kigali, Rwanda Call2Worship

Warm greetings from Rwanda!
I'm sitting in the room adjacent to the classroom we're using for the Call2Worship course. The course started last Monday and continued to add students until today when we have 26 students from Rwanda, Burundi and DRCongo. The ages range from 12-29 years old, all of them involved in leading worship in their churches: Anglican, Apostolic, Assemblies of God, Catholic, and Pentecostal churches.
Today one of our C2W students from 2 years ago, Esperance, is teaching on "Hindrances to Worship" and she'll include a workshop on that this afternoon. I found out that since the C2W in 2004, she has been regularly teaching the things she learned to different groups in her church. In fact, a number of our 2004 C2W students have been teaching what they learned. This is the way of Africa - you never keep what you've learned for yourself - it's multiplied, photocopied, and passed on from heart to heart in ever-widening circles.
Richard Gasana, my long-time Rwandan friend and the C2W leader this time said it was easy to get students to come to the C2W this year because so many had heard about the first one. On both Fridays we'll have an Open Day for those who couldn't attend the full 2 weeks. I think the YWAM base will actually close down all of it's other activities so that all the staff can come!
Tomorrow we'll close the first week with a Praise Party in which each participant is encouraged to bring an offering of praise to share with the community. Desire (a 2004 C2W student and YWAM staff) and I taught on Songwriting, so now all the students are busy writing songs in their native language (KinyaRwandese) to share. It's wonderful to see a new generation of creative songwriters sprouting before my very eyes.
Didi Companjen, a dear friend and Psalmody teacher from Holland who travelled with me, taught yesterday on the Hebrew words for praise. I'm telling you, these Rwandans have no insecurities about a word like "halal" (which means to celebrate, dance and rejoice). Then Hilde, my colleague and friend, taught on King David and his heart-choice for worship, and led all of the students into a deeper level of worship with understanding. Richard, of course, opened the course with a lively and humorous Biblical teaching of worship and knowing God.
It's a thrill to my heart to taste the hungry hearts of the students but to see others released in the ministry of worship through teaching, etc.
Okay, as for a personal note...
Of course you'll remember that I asked specifically for prayer for my health; I couldn't forget my last adventure in a 3rd world country and how ill I became in Indonesia. I'm pleased to say that I'm feeling quite fit and healthy and I'm thanking God each day for my health. I'm taking some extra vitamins and getting good rest. Didi, Hilde and I stay in a nice, clean room - we have mosquito nets (tho it's dry season and there are very few mozzies around) and we boil our water twice and have bought bottled water for drinking. Richard and Pera have gone out of their way to make it nice for us and we're so thankful for that! Last Monday I did have a short bout with diarrhea, which is fairly unavoidable in such a drastic change of environment... but it hasn't come back.
We don't have running water here, but a small Rwandan man on maintenance staff here keeps two large containers filled to the brim with water for washing and flushing. The electricity has been running about 85% of the time and the base kitchen cooks nice hot meals of banana, veggies, sauce and sometimes meat. We have two warm meals per day and for breakfast we have bread and bananas. The meals are all cooked on coal fires behind the dining hall by a man named Fidele and a couple helpers.
If you'd like to find out more about the YWAM base here you can always do an internet search on YWAM Kigali and their website should pop up. When I get back to Holland (August 27th) I'll try to update my website with a few photos.
I'll close for now and check my emails at the internet cafe in town, which is where I'll post this onto my Blog for you to read.
Thanks for checking up on me and... thanks for your prayers!
Blessings,
Belinda