Author: Zeng Dieulv

Wow, what a wonderful event this was. On Saturday, the 13^th August, our much-loved former house leader, Riccardo, got married, and even in his home country, Rwanda. Ricc came to us around 16 years ago. He had seen his father and siblings killed in the genocide when he was still very young and since the mother was missing, assumed he had no family left. It was after he had been with us for a good number of years, that the amazing news came through that his mother had been found and had arrived at the house of his uncle in Rwanda. This was too good to be true. A wonderful benefactor who knew about this, paid for a trip for him to return to his home country and be reunited with his mother, after so long. An amazing story. It was only fitting, when he decided to get married, that he should return to his home country to get married there, according to his country customs, and of course even with his mother present. It was a very, very special occasion and to make it even more special, our USA volunteer, Paige, and Diana even flew up for the wedding. The pictures below show some of the joy of the occasion. We wish Riccardo and his lovely wife everything of the best for their future.

On Thursday, 11 August, USA volunteer, Paige, and Diana departed at 3.30 a.m. for Kigali, arriving there at 7.00 a.m. The trip was to attend the wedding. It was a lovely surprise to be met by Riccardo and former Mercy House resident, Eric, who had come all the way from Dubai, where he now works, for the happy occasion. Eric proved to be such a helpful guide and companion, being Rwandese himself and knowing Kigali well. He accompanied us to many different places and could give us a lot of information about them all.

The first stop that very first day, was to visit the SOS Childrens’ Village, where our Moise had lived from birth until he was 8 years old, before coming down in 2009 to Mercy House, where he still lives today. A House Mother who had looked after him when he was at the Village, remembered him well, as also other staff members. We even went into the house and room where Moise had lived. It was so enriching and impressive to see how the large number of orphans are cared for there with so much love. Another heart-rending experience was the visit to the Genocide museum. Photos were not allowed, but the huge photos lining the walls gave us an insight into what really happened and an insight into the terrible tragedy of that inexplicably evil event.

We were blessed to be able to stay at Centre Christos – a very large Jesuit-run conference centre and guest house, where we met the most interesting people. Certain specific observations made a lasting impression and stand out clearly in our memories:

Firstly, it was obvious that the church is very much live and vibrant in Rwanda – judging on what we saw of course. It was amazing to see as many as 30 young people singing superbly in the choir at daily Mass with loads of people attending.

Secondly, not even one tiny piece of paper can be seen lying in the streets: Kigali is unbelievably clean and ordered.  And people work for it: on the last Saturday of each month no businesses are allowed to operate. Instead, all citizens have to spend the day cleaning the city, with a register even being taken!

Another interesting feature in the life of Kigali is that there are no minibus taxis at all. Motor bikes or scooters are the only means of public transport, whilst busses are used for city to city. There are hundreds of bikers filling the streets, or waiting for passengers.

Lastly, there appears to be no crime problem. Shops remain open till late and people can walk in the street freely at any time. Above all, the dignity of the Rwandese people is really noticeable.

All in all, our 5-day visit to Rwanda was an immensely enriching experience and instilled in us hope for humanity! The terrible suffering and atrocities of the genocide seem to have borne fruit in innumerable ways, some of which we were allowed to experience. What a blessing to have been there!

The photos show some of our activities.

In the very early days of Mercy House, we took in 8 young Sudanese who had fled from the war between North and South Sudan. We were able to get 6 of them through a degree as teachers, and 2 as accountants. After the war they went back to their country, using their acquired skills there and we have not had any Sudanese since then – until now.

In July 2022 the police kept phoning Diana to ask if she would take in a desperate Sudanese man. She kept on refusing because there was simply no room. They were very good to him and even allowed him to sleep at the Johannesburg police station until some solution could be found. Finally, Diana gave in, as long as the man was prepared to sleep on the floor in our storeroom!

When Charles had arrived in South Africa, someone offered to take him to a place where he could stay. Little did he know or expect that this was a set up.  After being in the transport vehicle for a short while, they stopped, threw him out, removed almost all his clothing, stole everything he had brought with him including his passport and other documents and left him on the street, hardly even clad. This was at night and he did not even know where he was. Fortunately, a security vehicle passed and took him to the nearest police station where he was given very compassionate treatment, including some clothing and more. What welcome to South Africa!

By divine co-incidence, just then, one of the residents left and Charles was even able to get his own room. He has been a very great blessing to our community, being a hard worker and has many handy-man and gardening skills, which he immediately put to good use.

We had two Christmas celebrations this year: one for the many scholars that we support in one or other way, on the Wednesday before Christmas and one on Christmas day for our residents and any who have lived with us previously. This worked very well. We are hugely grateful to Mrs Jenny Stevens who took the initiative to get funding from her company, and also from her relatives overseas. She then even bought gifts for all of our young people, wrapped each beautifully and had their name on each parcel. She was amazing. We also thank Mrs Jael who like wise supplied gifts. We also thank Mr Peter Keshwar, head of St Vincent de Paul Society in South Africa, for their invaluable donation of 20 cooked chickens for our Christmas celebrations. It is so encouraging to get this support, which is a backup for us to ”keep up the good work!”
The video below conveys the joy and peace of the wonderful experience. Thanks to our Zeng and Masengo for compiling this beautiful creation.

 

Diana met Mr Tshikoko at her English for Refugees class in 2018. He is an electrician who fixes electronic gates and other appliances, including fridges.  In December our fridge packed up and we called him in. This gave us the idea for him to come in some days and give our young men training on how to fix appliances and the basics of working with electricity. It began on Saturday, 21^st January and was a great success. Though an electrician, Tshikoko is also a very good teacher, getting our boys involved with actually doing the repairs themselves. We even had our broken iron there as a demo model, and are delighted that it is now fixed and we have another working iron in the house! Our sincere thanks to Tshikoko and we hope to have him come again soon.

This year we are assisting as many as 23 scholars with their studies. We have had to reduce the extent of our aid, simply because of financial prudence. We are helping with registration fees, which enables them to get into schools, and with stationery, and in some cases, transport to school. They are at 12 different schools depending on nearness to their homes. Without our help these young people might not be at school at all, so our help is greatly needed and also appreciated.

As reported in our previous Update, our beloved and amazing young American couple, who have been volunteering at Mercy Houses for 3 years, had to return to the States. Paige worked all that time at the American International School for diplomats’ children. In her capacity there, she was able to get a great deal of help from the school community there for Mercy House. Understandably, we felt a bit like orphans when, in early December 2021, they had to return to USA as their visas had expired.

It was, therefore, a huge blessing when Ms Heather Baatjies, from the AISJ staff, came forward with the wish and enthusiasm to continue the assistance towards Mercy House. Already, within a few weeks, she proved that she was serious. She visited us on 7 December 2022, with colleague Mr Scott Hahn, to get to know us and assess our needs. Before our school year ended, she had already managed to get a brand new pair of school shoes for each of our scholars.  Amazing, and indeed we would be blind if we did not see how God provides! Scott and Heather are seen in the photo top right, with some of our young people. We look forward to working with them in the future and thank them sincerely for joining our Mercy Team.