The King Family in Rwanda

Christmas Newsletter

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:30:11 +0000

King Family Christmas Letter 2011

Christmas greetings from the King Family! We are writing this letter for the first time from Ruhengeri, Rwanda.

Our big news this year was that in April we moved from Shyira, where we had been serving for 8 years, and are now serving in nearby Ruhengeri. We were sad to leave Shyira and the many friends we had there, but we have been pleasantly surprised how much we like it here. Having electricity 24/7, well … maybe 23/6… is not so bad!

I (Louise) have been able to take advantage of the improved Internet connection in town to enroll in an online Public Health Course at the University of North Carolina. I have to admit, it’s strange to be a student again, but I have learned so much! I also started in September at Ruhengeri Hospital, teaching Rwandan Family Medicine residents. Caleb is working hard on developing hydropower in this area and he has made some real progress. We were pleased that this spring he received an Integrity in Action award from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. I thought it was well deserved!

Sara and Hannah continue at Rift Valley Academy, and they were joined by Caleb Jr this fall. Sara is busy with Model UN, basketball and clarinet. Hannah continues playing the flute, basketball, and is a ready confidante for her younger brother. Caleb Jr has taken up the tuba, of all things, and reports that he likes school, when he remembers to email! Lydia did double schooling this fall- home schooling and attending the local school, part time. Moses, our Rwandan foster child, started at Sonrise School and was 2^nd in his class (yes, they rank students in first grade!) We have many other children in our lives-every Sunday we serve brunch for anywhere from 8-20 people, mostly visitors from Shyira, many of them orphans or other vulnerable children. Sometimes their needs seem endless, and we pray for wisdom to remember that we are not the real answer to their problems, He (Jesus) is, and in Him all promises are “yes.” Thanks to generous donations, we are able to help many of them, like Marie Chantalle and Jean Claude. Marie and Claude are children of a patient of mine who died with heart failure. We are thankful that we were able to help Marie with school fees so that she could finish secondary school. Claude was a bit more difficult-what to do with a 20 year old boy with a 6^th grade education in an economy with very few jobs? He was interested in doing bike transport, so we bought him a special bicycle, so he could earn money. They are pictured to the right in the photo with the bike.

Our lives continue to be enriched by visitors from abroad. Marc and Katie Erickson served with us this summer and really helped in our transition to Ruhengeri. My nephew Jacob visited us this summer and now my cousin Sara is here, home schooling Lydia. We look forward to having my parents in a couple of weeks.

We are enjoying worshiping at the English service at the Anglican cathedral here. We especially enjoy the Bible study afterwards. I am also in a Kinyarwanda neighborhood Bible study that meets Saturday mornings. I’ve enjoyed being a part of the local Christian community. They are very tolerant of my feeble Kinyarwanda!

Please pray for continued health for all of us; Caleb recently dislocated his shoulder and he is in a sling for several weeks. We also ask for prayer for the continued development of the hydropower and that I would be a godly mentor to the young Rwandan physicians.

We pray for you all that this Christmas you will know

“the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace (Luke 1:78, 79).”

We thank so many of you who make our ministry here possible.

Merry Christmas!

Louise and Caleb

For correspondence:

Caleb & Louise King
PO Box 75
Ruhengeri,
Musanze District
RWANDA

For donations:

Bridge2Rwanda
1818 N. Taylor
Box 322,
Little Rock, AR 72207

or online at

http://www.bridge2rwanda.org/get-involved/borrowed-talent

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Caleb in sling

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:22:35 +0000

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Sunday in Ruhengeri

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:05:33 +0000

I didn’t have to wake up quite SO early today-we made it to the 7 30 English service at the Anglican Cathedral just a bit late. The service was followed by English Bible study, where we are studying the book of Matthew, using the Community Bible Study guide. Today we implemented the idea that was proposed a couple of weeks ago by one of our members: once a month we will take up a collection for a needy person. The recipient today was the handicapped step brother of one of our members. In the past, his school (a special school for the handicapped) had allowed him to stay there for vacations, but this year he had to come stay with his step brother. We donated money to them to help pay for his food and lodging. After the Bible study, we came home for our usual brunch, using eggs purchased from the One Egg project, and enjoyed them with several visitors-a couple of “regulars” and a few new visitors. One of our special visitors today was Fulaha, a young woman, who actually goes to the same school as the above mentioned boy, and who also needs a place to stay for the 2 month vacation. Fulaha is an orphan who has 2 prosthetic legs. Apparently, the people she used to stay with have moved to Uganda. She does have a sister who lives in the eastern part of the country, but she doesn’t know where she is. What to do? We brainstormed a bit, asked some fellow supporters to pray for her, and also prayed ourselves. One of the boys visiting said that she could stay with his mother. In the meantime, we will look into getting in touch with her sister and also figuring out what happened to her family’s property. It’s a complicated situation and we pray that it works out for her.

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Saturday morning…

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:38:52 +0000

It was a usual Saturday here-I woke up early, to go to our neighborhood Bible study, which starts at 6 am! It meets at the house of Pastor Frank Gashagaza and his wife Peace, both pillars of the church and both physically not well (especially Pastor Frank, who had major heart surgery several years ago in India). We studied Hebrews 11: 32-40, in accordance with the Scripture Union guide. Three pastors from our church came to visit and they had various announcements, from upkeep of the grounds to the importance of bringing your children to church. The group members replied that there were few programs at the church for youth. The consensus was to work together to get the children to come to church! It was nice to see the fellowship of the church leaders with the people in the group. We closed with prayers for each other around 8 15 and then I headed home for…Pancakes! Benjamnin, a young Rwandan boy whom we help sponsor along with Chatham UnitedMethodist Church, spent the night with us, but he had already left by the time I got home. Benjamin just finished his 2nd term at one of the top schools in the country, and he did extremely well in all his subjects. One woman from the study came home with me for breakfast, and then about 4 or 5 other people came for visits. One visitor was Sebazungu, who has only one leg. With help from a US church we gave him a sewing machine several years ago, which he is still using. He has since gotten married and has a baby boy. Here he is, wearing the prosthesis we gave him. One of our other visitors was a woman who has been abandoned by her husband. We gave her some money so that her daughter can continue nursing school, and hopefully help support the family. I also met up with Kaeli, who is a visiting Family Medicine resident from Colorado, and we found a place for her to stay for her month long rotation here (thanks, Jan!).

We just finished lunch-mashed green bananas and peanut sauce and greens-one of our favorites and now I am going to work some on the correspondence course I am taking from UNC School of Public-Critical Issues in Global Health. It’s been very eye opening for me and I think it will help me a great deal in my work at the hospital and in teaching the Family Medicine residents.

As always, we are thankful for the way God provides for our needs and we pray for the grace and wisdom to respond to the needs around us.

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School year ends

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:42:15 +0000

Last week, Lydia finished 3rd grade at her school, the Excel School. It was a good experience and she made some friends. We have been very blessed to have my cousin, Sara Smith, with us. She is home schooling Lydia (Lydia splits her time between homeschool and Excel School) and also teaching at Excel. Don’t know what we would do without her!

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Lydia, carrying the flag

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:23:35 +0000

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Moses’s Birthday

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:47:49 +0000

Today was Moses’ birthday-well, the birthday we gave him, at any rate. Moses is our Rwandan foster child, who spends his days with us, when he is on vacation from Sonrise School. Today he turned 8.

He said he had a good day: it started off with pancakes and homemade syrup and later in the morning we went to a nearby hotel and pool, where he polished off 2 (small) hamburgers and an order of fries and he went swimming with Caleb Jr and Lydia. Then we had a small party, complete with cake, games, and a viewing of The Jesus Film, by his request.

It was good to celebrate his birth, and his life. We have a redeeming God.

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Niyonkuru is back

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:44:37 +0000

Niyonkuru’s back. Niyonkuru, or Enoch is his other name, is the child of 2 dysfunctional parents. His father is an alcoholic, and probably has more than one wife. His mother cares for her 3 children as best she can, but she is a bit clueless and is just trying to live from day to day. Earlier this year, she had a 2^nd term miscarriage, which was difficult for her.

Niyonkuru was on his way to becoming a street kid. We were never sure where we would find him-his home was no place he wanted to stay. One promising note was that after he watched The Jesus Film in Kinyarwanda earlier this year, he prayed that he for Jesus to enter his life.

So we decided to send him to a boarding school insouthern Uganda, in nearby Gisoro. The school was recommended by our friend Jenny Greene, who has a babies’ home in Gisoro.

He’s in 3^rd grade, and he’s definitely not in the top of his class, but his English is really improving and we pray that the education and the stable environment will help him to grow in knowledge and love of Jesus. Thanks to all those who support us and make it possible for us to help out Niyonkuru.

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From Ruhengeri, Rwanda

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 11:43:56 +0000

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while! It’s been a busy few months, especially we were busy moving from Shyira, to nearby Ruhengeri. We were very thankful for our 8 years in Shyira. Thanks be to God, we were given the means to make many improvements at Shyira-the hospital was upgraded to a District Hospital; we increased the workforce at the hospital 10 fold (15 to 150 workers); we went from being the only doctors here to being two of ten doctors; we saw the hospital expand its services to include comprehensive HIV care, cardiac care and even, on occasion, chemotherapy for cancer. During our time here we oversaw the construction of four new staff houses, a maternity building, an HIV building, a new operating room, and were able to renovate the nursing dorms, seven residential homes, the pediatrics ward, the internal medicine ward, and the administrative building. Outside the hospital, we helped found a technical school and a kindergarten, and also helped build or renovate 17 houses for HIV positive patients. In the church, Caleb was the main preacher at the English Service and he had a flourishing boy’s Bible Study; I was a member of the Mothers’ Union and had a small but fervent Womens’ Bible study at the hospital. We are godparents to countless men, women and children. We had a good relationship with our pastor and our fellow missionaries, the Kohls and the Schumanns. God blessed us in many ways.

For now, the season of our work at Shyira has come to a close. We will continue so sponsor many children there and stay in touch with our friends, but we are moving to Ruhengeri, a provincial capital (read: mid sized town, paved roads, electricity J, large hospital). Caleb will do some Pediatric teaching and discipleship of health professionals—the staff at Ruhengeri is about three times the size of Shyira—but will mostly be working on the development of hydro electric power in this area, with plans in the next 2 years to develop 12 MW—about 20% of Rwanda’s current power production, and possibly more thereafter. I (Louise), too, look forward to mentoring and teaching young physicians at Ruhengeri, and may be involved in Family Medicine training and continuing professional development, especially with regard to non-communicable diseases (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, cancer.) We look forward to exploring ministry opportunities with Bishop Laurent Mbanda of Ruhengeri.

Thanks to all of you who helped make our work at Shyira possible. We will continue to receive support via Bridge2Rwanda (see below), especially as we deal with the expenses of moving, finding a new house, buying a new car, etc.

As we move on to new venues, we cling to this verse: “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8: 28

With love and gratitude,

Louise (and Caleb)

For correspondence, still

Caleb & Louise King

PO Box 56

Ruhengeri, Musanze District,

RWANDA

For donations:

Bridge2Rwanda

1818 N. Taylor

Box 322,

Little Rock, AR 72207, or online at www.bridge2rwanda.org/get-involved/borrowed-talent

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A Story of Redemption

thekingfamilyinRwanda — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 09:19:10 +0000

Here is a story of redemption. In this picture, the young woman, whose face is turned away, is mentally handicapped , perhaps due to fetal alcohol syndrome. Unfortunately she became pregnant (she has since had her tubes tied). She has an older sister, who has never married, and has no children. She has a nun-like quality and is very sweet. She is bringing up the child as her own, and the child seems perfectly normal and engaging. I was moved by her acceptance of the child and that now she has a chance to have a child of her own. Apparently I helped her out one day-can’t even remember what exactly, and I was surprised one day when they came to visit, bringing pineapples, bananas and beans for us. God is good and even in this broken world, he does “more than all we can ask or imagine.” Ephesians 3: 20.

PS I can’t get the picture to upload. Maybe it will work later!

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