Good-Byes Already?

Pastor Deo, my stand-in Rwandan dad, just left today for a month-long training on restorative justice in Canada. Therefore, I had to say good-bye for him for good. I have no idea when I will next see him, it could be years. It's so odd to think about this. He's been such a massive part of my life over the past nine months and now it's just so simple to say good-bye.

Well, our office has been having fun preparing for the good-byes to say the least. Over the past two months, we've played a game called "Cacahuette (peanut in french)" which is the Rwandan version of Secret Santa, only you can do it whenever you want to. So we've been hiding things in people's desks, taping things on office doors, etc. the gifts I've given are hilarious 1) a bag of milk (THE BIGGEST HIT IN THE OFFICE milk is huge here and I had no idea it would be received so well) and 2) cell phone air time minutes (pay as you go) an some fruits. But then we had the BIG DAY!

All the staff went to Lake Muhazi, which is about an hour outside of Kigali and it was beautiful! We had a private little porch right on the water and ordered tons of brochette (beef kebabs), fish, and chips and sodas galore. Then we did the gift exchange which was lots of laughs and giggles. We would sing a song in Kinyarwanda and walk around the room, trying to trick people by making them think you were going to give them a gift but then you would surprise the actual person.

Well, I received a beautiful printed bag and bedroom slippers and a big bag of passion fruit! I bought my cacahuette a nice shirt.

Here is a photo of the staff enjoying one another (I think I've adopted the Rwandan way of not smiling in photos...):

Here is a photo me and Pastor Deo exchanging gifts. He was not my cacahuette but since he's leaving it was tradition to give each other gifts. I gave him a photo album with Rwanda pictures in it and he gave me this beautiful dress! I got a dress and promptly put it on over my clothes! See next photo.


Now don't take this picture the wrong way! Rwandans cut cakes together symbolizing sharing life together - in any context - family or friends - and Pastor Deo now considers me his daughter (he has five sons) so we got to cut this cake together that they made me spelled "Goodebye Rachel" which is how they say it (goodie bye), smiles, smiles, smiles.


Good bye Pastor Deo. I have never met a man who loved the people he served with such a genuine heart. He was an example of patience, unending love, and joy. Literally his only goal in every day is sharing love with people. I'll miss him!

Here is a silly portrait of me.... in my cool dress... Everyone was laughing at me, but hell, it is a great gift!