Well, I wanted to wait until we had our furniture, so that the pictures of our house aren’t just empty rooms.  Then I wanted to get a little more organized, so that we weren’t just posting pictures of chaos.  Now, I’ve been trying to get pictures when the house is all clean & tidy, and I have realized… that time may never come ;).    Its still a little disorganized, and we are still figuring some things out, but it is starting to feel comfortable.

The main part of the house is a large room, combining a kitchen and living room.  Here is our living room as seen from the kitchen (complete with Christmas tree).

And here is the kitchen as seen from the living room:

We both love to cook, and have been managing in very cramped and/or shared kitchens.  This is a great luxury.

Off the living room, we have a small room for use as an office, or potentially another bedroom.  (We are planning to hang up a curtain, and maybe eventually put some glass doors in.)  You can see through the living room, to the door to our bedroom.

Off of our bedroom, we have a small storage area and a large bathroom.  Its difficult to get pictures of those areas, so I’ll just let you use your imagination.

This is our guest room!  As you can see, the bed is put together.  Our future guests will be more fortunate that our first guest, in that they won’t have to put the bed together before they can sleep in it.  (And trust me, this was nothing like assembling IKEA furniture.)

Another luxury we decided on was two (!!) bathrooms.  So, for those of you considering coming to visit, you can see the bathroom you would use:

That’s a toilet that really flushes, and a shower (cold water only, but often that’s all one would want)!  The sink is just out of view on the left.

We really wanted to do more fermenting (sauerkraut & other veggies, kombucha, yogurt, sourdough, etc), as well as sprouting, so we incorporated a space for that just off the kitchen).

And that’s the virtual tour of our house!  We have a fence up now, and a gate, which gives us some privacy and more security. (And we are planning to get a dog.)  Another day, I’ll post some pictures of our yard.

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged us and contributed towards our house!   We are really enjoying it so far!

I know people have wanted to see house pictures, and believe me, I’ve wanted to be able to show them!  But until now, it has pretty much been the same as it was when we left for Canada (ie, empty).  We ordered a bunch of shelving, tables, a couch, a bed, etc, and it was finally all ready this week.  Mike went to pick it up, and now we are working at organizing the inside.  Its really exciting!

So, there are more pictures to come, but for now:

OUR BED!!!  It was wonderful to not be sardines last night.

We are also working on the outside: doing some beginning landscaping so that the next rainy season we can start our own gardens, and getting a fence done.  The fence will help our house be a little more secure (a little harder for thieves), help keep our dog in (we don’t have one yet, but soon), provide a base for a hedge of flowers and fruit, and help diminish the number of people who just stare into our house when they go past (considered very rude in this culture, but somehow its OK if you are looking into a mzungu’s house).

It also appears that in my attempts to not inundate people with pictures of Beatrix, I have posted too few.  I’ll try to do better at that, starting right now:

She does this a lot, especially when she wakes up in the morning.  She’s strong = try doing it yourself!

Two of the guys and I (Mike) have been working this last week on our second installment of an underground watcher catchment tank (and system).  As we’ve been working we’ve had ample time to dream big and discuss the merits of food… and particularly meat.

After a few days of discussion, we concluded that what we have been missing for oh-so-long has been smoked meat.  And that the best way to address that failing would be to immediately  (or the next available weekend at least) begin building our own smokehouse in order to get that homemade beef jerky in us as soon as possible!

The afternoon of this decision we went shopping for meat, and subsequently had a meat cutting party.  Each of us made a different marinating sauce and cut the beef into appropriate jerky-sized pieces.

Then on Saturday, we started building a small mud house with two separate rooms: one for the fire and the second for hanging the meat.  We mudded it well, made some meat-hanging frames, created a tin roof and left it to cure for an appropriate length of time to avoid damaging our structure.

After waiting a whole 12-15 hours, we began our first attempt at what could be an incredibly satisfying or monstrously disappointing operation.  After hanging the meat from frames and starting the fire we waited most of the day while the jerky smoked.  But our patience was rewarded with amazing teriyaki, honey-mustard, and pepper beef jerky!

Sunday evening was filled with dreams of smoked hams, cheeses, and sausage, in what will likely prove to be a team building hobby and possibly community building project.

Ok, its not really our first outing, but last Tuesday was the first day Beatrix and I packed up and left together, with the house empty.  We did more or less what I have done on many other days, but now we left our own house empty, and the baby went with me.

I’m not very good at selfies; I haven’t practiced much. Oh well, if I stand until I get a good picture, she’ll wake up and need to eat again before we go.

“Will the clothes I left on the line still be there when we get back?”

“Is one diaper enough?”

“Its pretty hot.  Will she overheat?  Her head is covered, but will the sun shine through it and burn her skin?”

…

Well, we went anyway, and took some smoothie to Mike, who was beginning this season’s work in the garden.  I also wanted to see everything that was new/changed since the end of April.

The playground has begun:

We are planning to build different structures to create a playground: for kids to play and for families to congregate.  The materials need to be accessible locally, reasonably priced, and safe.  This is the first structure.  A children’s church in Denmark fundraised to help build the structure.

A section of the healthcare centre has been completed:

WIndows, doors, and some electrical/water has been added.  The office is furnished and ready for use.  Part of our team has begun opening 2 days a week for things like basic wound care, pre- and post-natal counselling, and education.   They will also be teaching in the schools over the next few weeks, with topics like personal hygiene, puberty, and sexual education.

The moringa  has been growing!

One of our team members has been harvesting it and giving some to breastfeeding moms. Many mothers don’t produce enough milk for their babies due to dehydration and malnutrition.

The water system has been changed, and we have been able to start selling water again!

(There were more people here the first day, but I didn’t have the camera.)

During the longest, hottest part of the year these last few weeks, the tanks almost ran out of water, but the supply lasted for the garden, animals, and the community until the water came back on.

And, we found Mike, working with others in the garden, so that it is ready to plant when it starts to rain.

I promise, this won’t entirely become a “mom blog.”  But seriously, its hard to resist continually posting pictures like this:

and this:

(That’s my brother)

and this:

(my dad has been SO very happy with his first grandchild… my mom has too, but she’s not as photogenic.)

(And wow, is Mike cute with her – but there will be pictures of them later, on this blog that won’t be entirely about baby 😉 )

We are leaving for Rwanda soon: we’ll be moved into our new house and settling in by the end of the week.

I have some mixed feelings about returning:  I am very excited to live in our home, missing our friends and co-workers in Rwanda, and ready to get back to our work.  However, I feel concerned for our little one, and for all of the new “dangers” she will face (besides my nightly concern that she will suddenly stop breathing for no reason).

We have had such an incredible summer in Canada.  People have been so kind and generous to us.  It has been unbelievable how much we have been cared for.  Our family, our friends, and even strangers have done so much to help ease our transition into a family of three.  We have been awed and overwhelmed.

So I wanted to say “thank you” to all of you who have encouraged us, given us gifts, fed us, welcomed us into your homes, provided for our needs, and generally loved on us.

We are returning feeling very blessed and very full.

I’ve been meaning to do this update for months, and somehow or other, with being pregnant, visiting people, and generally enjoying being in Canada, it has been put off again and again.  Now I want to do a general baby and plans update, but really, first things first.

Our house has been “finished.”  I use the quotation marks because there are still a few things that need to be looked after, but it is liveable and we will be able to move in when we return to Rwanda.  In general, we are very pleased with the result and excited to be able to move in to our own home soon.  (Our home that is equipped with running water! Hooray!)

Our fundraising campaign has been fairly successful – in addition to donations made, we were able to borrow enough money to complete the house.  I will be closing the Go Fund Me page for our house shortly, however, we will be paying for our house over the next several years.  We will be working to pay it off as fast as we can.  I want to reassure you, in case you may feel like you missed your chance to help us build this home – any additional donations we recieve over the next few years will be going towards paying for our house.

Introducing Beatrix Donatella Brava Tallon

Born July 31 at 2:02 am, weighing in at 8lbs 3oz, and 22 inches long.

Its the time of year when Rwandans remember the genocide that happened here 21 years ago.  The entire 100 days from April 7- July 4 (Liberation Day) are considered a time of memorial, but the first week is particularly intense, with community meetings every day, (only a half day of work)  and large gatherings on the 7th & 14th.

As a team, we offered our services to the community leaders and said we wanted to help in whatever way we could.  Our team members with vehicles transpored sound equipment and chairs to the large meetings.

I went on several home visits, taking a little food and my presence, to hopefully bring a little comfort.

The area we are in is populated mostly by people who were in Uganda during the genocide, and returned when this area was opened up for resettlement of refugees.  However, there is a population of people, mostly women who were widowed in the genocide, who have decided they don’t feel comfortable living among their neighbors who carried out the genocide, and thought this area would be better.  These women come with nothing except their trauma, and rely on people to help them scrape up $10 a month for rent, or land for growing food, or small jobs they can do to earn money.

I always imagine these visits will be awkward:  I’m obviously there because of their suffering, but I don’t want to make them talk about it.  I can’t ask about their kids or families without reference to their loss.  What else do we chat about?  Do I talk about myself?   And there’s only so much you can say about the rain…  My concern about how awkward it could be, or that I could just cause more pain, sometimes makes me not want to go.  It would be easier for me to just stay home.  But I’m prodded on by a few bible verses:  what Jesus said about welcoming strangers and visiting those in prison in Matthew 25, and what James said: that true religion is to visit widows in their distress.

However, once I get there, I usually find that the visits are not so awkward.  There are others there, so I am not solely responsible for the conversation.  One of the visits we made was actually quite amusing; it seemed that the woman had a sense of humour and was genuinely enjoying the company of others.  I am amazed, encouraged, and humbled to see the way that people work to take care of those suffering in their midst: having one of their kids help gather firewood, offering free rent for a month, or even giving them a small job in the midst of their own poverty.  And I am thankful that these women are willing to open their homes and their lives on these occasions for a little bit of connection.

Last week I got to travel to Kigali to spend the week teaching in the Discipleship Training School.  The topic for the week was Outreach Prep.  The week includes around 15 hours of teaching.  It is centred around doing various teambuilding activities, and discussion or teaching that arises out of that.  (For example, looking at how our actions affect other people: In most of the activities, if one person makes a mistake, the entire team has a more diffficult time completiing the challenge.  After, we discuss how this plays out in real life.)  The topic also includes some teaching on public speaking, primarily focussed around sharing our own stories and sharing the gospel.  Each student gets an opportunity to practice preparing and speaking, after which I usually give a short evaluation.

In December when the school leader asked me to teach, I felt a little nervous about accepting.  I was hoping I would be feeling better by this time, but I wasn’t sure.  I was also afraid that I might be waddling around and unable to stand and teach for 3 hours at a time.

But I am so glad that I agreed.  Both the students and the staff made sure I was well taken care of.  (They did things like make sure I had lots of fruit and carrying water so I didn’t have to!)  I’m certainly not waddling yet, and although it was definitely more tiring than it usually is, it wasn’t too much to handle.  (Going to bed at 7:30 helped.)

Beyond those things, it was a lot of fun.  Each group has its own characteristics and personality.   Some of the last few groups have really needed to focus on simple things, like trusting each other (and being worthy of that trust), basic communication, and even motivation.  This group worked well together, despite having to communicate using more than one language.  They treated each other with respect.  They spoke up when they had ideas, listened to each other and were willing to try different solutions to problems they encountered.  They had a sense of humour.  They are committed to and passionate about learning to work in missions.

In short, they were the kind of group I always hope to work with!  It was an encouraging and satisfying week for me, and I look forward to hearing their reports when they return from outreach.

I think for people growing things everwhere, it is a bit of a guess as to when to plant.  The seasons here take some getting used to, and even where we are now is quite different from Kigali.  But on the advice of some locals combined with our own observations, Mike has started to plant.

We had a few rains that softened the ground a bit.  It seems that now it will be dry and hot again for a few weeks before the heavy rains start.  (But that’s just a guess, aided by internet weather reports.)

On the agenda for this season: Moringa.  It can be kept as a hedge or grown into a large tree.  Previous attempts at planting moringa have met with varied success, but after some research and experimentation, he thinks he has a method that works.  (Soaking the seeds for 12-24 hours before planting seems to be important.)  We’ll find out in a month or two.  Once it gets going, moringa grows quickly and needs little attention.

Currently, he is trying to plant a hedge big enough so that our cows can eat moringa every day.  Moringa can increase weight gain in cattle and can increase milk production to the tune of 50%.  (Statistics vary, but 50% is a mid-range estimate.)

We also want to introduce moringa as a human food source.  There are a lot of claims made about it as a healing supplement, but I’m not ready to advance any of those yet.  But I’m willing to bet you could find it for an outrageous price in your local health food store.  For our purposes, it is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, and is a good source of protein.

Its possible that we can help people start businesses growing moringa and selling it, but for now, we want to work on introducing it to people’s diets.  Not an easy thing when people are very attached to eating a certain way, but there are already a few converts in the area.  We’ll see how it goes, and for now we are just hoping for timely rain!

Weeding the moringa planted a few months ago.