A new beginning

I have decided to forgive myself for not writing here for so long.  It has been so long, and posts have been so few and far between that I have decided to call this a new beginning. 

Anne and I have been in Rwanda for about 18 month now.  We love living here in Muhanga Town.  We love the weather, we love the friendly culture and the people, and especially we love the friends that we have made here. For both of us, the main motivation for coming here is to serve.  Anne provides a special service to the people of Rwanda by training people to provide better medical care, what is called “evidence-based practice”.  The people she is training include students who are just learning to be midwives, older students who have been nurses and/or midwives for a while but want to achieve a higher level of education and skill (some of these are clinical instructors and want to be able to instruct their own students in more modern, evidence-based ways of giving care), and staff at two health centers and a hospital maternity unit.  She also has a few “twins”: people with whom she works so that when she is done here they can take her place as trainers and advocates for evidence-based practice in nursing and midwifery.  Anne’s twins include college nursing and/or midwifery instructors, hospital staff, university managers, and hospital managers. 

The service I do is to facilitate the growth of the Cause of God in our town.  As Baha’is, we are working to build community in a new way: We are introducing spiritual, service-based models of community interaction and mutual support.  This process is still at an early stage of development in most parts of the world, but we are seeing considerable advances in some communities.  Here in Muhanga, we are just getting our feet wet, taking the first steps, then seeing how things are working and how to improve, then taking a few more baby steps, etc.  Last week the local Baha’is met and created a plan for the coming year.  My role is to make friends, to encourage progress through the study circles, children’s classes, junior youth groups and devotional meeting; to act as host for gatherings in our home, and to prepare and provide food when that is needed.  My service is also to support Anne in any way that I can so that she can provide her more challenging service.

We also take breaks to enjoy this beautiful land we live in.  Last week we took a drive through the countryside, enjoying and photographing the beautiful scenery. 

Since this is a new beginning, and since I have decide that this blog does not need to be too deep and philosophical, or extremely important in any way, I have given myself permission to write about whatever I want to write, as long as I write regularly.  So, I’ll write to you next week!