Heroes Day in Rwanda

Written by: Stephen Henrich

February 1st is a national holiday in Rwanda. It is set aside to pay tribute to the national heroes who defended the highest values of patriotism and sacrifice for the country and its citizens during national formation, during the heroic efforts to stop the 1994 genocide, and during the national reconciliation movement.

Well, we had never heard of it before and the two excursions we had planned, to Handspun Hope and the National Cultural Village, resulted in two swings and misses as both venues were closed.

We did, however, have a beautiful drive through the mountains in northwest Rwanda along with a quick stop to see the tea fields and a lesson from Bishop on how it is harvested.

We also had a "God Wink" stop. We happened upon a souvenir compound in the area of the Volcanoes National Park. With low expectations - due to what we assumed would be high prices aimed at gorilla tourists - we stopped and met an incredible young man!

Ken is an artist who sells his work in a part of the compound. But more than that, he takes in young people and supports them and trains them in several artistic mediums. He started this during Covid when the kids could not go to school and they were looking for something to do. His students are as young as 5 years old!

We saw young students carving wooden canes and gorilla figurines, painters and one young man, who was rescued off the streets, creating a beautiful piece with yarn. Ivan, seen here with me, is also one of his students.

Some of the items in Ken's area are made by women's cooperatives and the money goes to them to support their families in many ways. A portion of the student artwork also goes to help pay school fees and provides food for their families. Sound familiar? Ken is an AWHI kind of guy.

After our God Wink we were on the road to Kigali and back to our home base at the Iris Guesthouse. Serenaded by the ladies and Patrice singing Christian songs made the drive back just fly by!

The next two days will be packed with cooperatve meetings, a children's activity and a special church service on Sunday.

We were preparing to write a blog saying "nothing happened today - no details to follow " - when God stepped in and changed all that! Bishop also had a special moment with a group of children who were playing a game he played when he was a child. We shouldn’t have been surprised as God is really good at making special moments happen.

Thank you Lord for another wonderful day!