Pure & Lasting » Life and Ethiopian Adoption Blog

The Visiting Orphans team was only at Noel for two days, so the next day we were on our own. It had been a busy couple of days with little time for us to just be together. We decided to spend the entire day just the three of us. In the morning, we played Jenga and games on the iPad, ate breakfast at the hotel, all while listening to Justin Bieber. Yes, lots and lots of Justin Bieber. Alain is obsessed and now we know all the words! Then our tour guide (aka Alain), took us on a walk to Lake Kivu. We had lunch at another hotel. After lunch, Alain swam in the lake. It was an amazing day.
Before we arrived in Rwanda, we were not sure how well we would be able to communicate with Alain. On our first trip, we didn’t actually talk to him much. Crazy, I know. Although he has a lot of English to learn, we had no problem communicating. There were some dramatic hand motions. Sometimes I was sure that he thought I was absolutely insane. We have been home for over two weeks and every day he learns something new. He is constantly surprising us. It is a crazy good life.
-Jenn

Photo by the wonderful Wynne Elder on their last night in Rwanda. Teaching Alain Cut the Rope on the iPad. The beautiful walk to Lake Kivu. Rwanda is quite a modern country. The main roads are all perfectly paved. Getting a photo of him swimming proved to be difficult. He is there, on the deck with the basketball. Jenga was a hit. A great way to interact without much vocabulary and lots of laughs when it all came crashing down.

The following day we hitched a ride with the Visiting Orphans group and returned to Noel to hang out with the children. I am so glad that we decided to spend some time at Noel, to give Alain a chance to be with his friends again and for us to reconnect with the children from our first trip. Emotionally, it was difficult. Many of the children remembered us and knew that we would be taking Alain with us. They seemed to understand that would could not take them all, but that did not stop several of them from asking us to. It is heartbreaking. I believe that every child deserves a family, someone to give them personal attention. For many of these children, that will never happen.
At this time, the Rwandan government is working to “reunify” the children of Noel with any living family members that they may have. You can read Tara’s post about the reunification here. There is another article about the reunification here. In a nutshell (in my opinion), they are trying to make it appear as though Rwanda has fewer orphans by manipulating family members who either do not want these children or absolutely cannot care for these children to take them out of Noel so that they can use the Noel Orphanage grounds for other purposes. Not cool, not cool at all. Say some big prayers for our friends at Noel. No child should be traded for a cow. Seriously infuriates me. Children being pawns in politics is absolutely crazy. I could go on and on. We are blessed to have one, here with us and safe, but there are so many others. It seems like there is nothing that can be done to stop it. Tara is working on opportunities for the older children so that they will have job skills to support themselves when they are no longer allowed to live at Noel. I will keep you updated on how you can help :)
-Jenn

On the right, Wynne’s sister, Rachel.  Chris’ buddy Immanuel. Alain with his friend, Gato (on the left) and Pascal (on the right). My sweet Mohoza and I making crazy faces at the little one to make her giggle. I love this photo!! Innocent and Alain on the drums. They are really good. Video to come :) Tara and her boy, Inn. Love this girl. Oh my goodness!!! Could he be any cuter?! I think not. Wynne, with her boys and my boy. My girls, Evone and Mohoza, in their new dresses that I brought for them. Kazuba.

I really am trying to blog all of the photos and stories before I forget them!! After two full days of airplane travel and one night’s stay in Kigali, we headed to Noel Orphanage. Alain had not been to the orphanage in a couple of months. He had been staying with family in Kigali so that he was close to our attorney and to all of the government agencies to get a passport, ID, and eventually a visa. I didn’t know what to expect when we returned to Noel. How would Alain react? How would the other children react to him and to us? How would I feel being there again? I was excited to see some of my friends from the first trip and my friend Wynne would be at Noel when we arrived!! As soon as we got out of the car, I was looking for Wynne. I could hear drumming coming from one of the buildings, so I made my way towards the sound. I didn’t see her until she was running towards me. The second best hug I’ve had in a long time. It was just so good to be with her in Africa. God really is too good to me! You can read Wynne’s account of her first day at Noel on her blog (click here).
The rest of the day was spent playing, holding children’s hands and wondering where in the world is Alain. He ran off to be with his friends, play basketball and reconnect. It was good for him to see them and for them to see him so happy. I was worried that the other children would not welcome him knowing that he was leaving. But they did, with open arms. His joy was their joy. Such beautiful children with hearts so big to love their friend in such a selfless way. It was a good day. Here are some photos from our first day back at Noel.
-Jenn

Alain with a group of his friends soon after we arrived. WYNNE! Alain and Innocent, he is Tara boy. Hoping and praying that there will be more of his story soon. I was so excited to see my girls again. Evone and Muhosa. Katherine was on our first trip to Rwanda/Ethiopia. It was amazing to see her again. I loved the timing of our trip. Perfect! Painting toenails :) I LOVE this photo. We were both so happy. I love this girl, truly a friend of my heart. We were even wearing the same cardigan :) Too funny! Chris and Immanual, reunited. (on the left) Tara and Innocent. (on the right) My Africa girls. Jane, our guide, me, Wynne and Tara. Giving Immanuel his new shoes.