Ebola From Across the Pond

Ebola. A word that is currently terrifying people globally. Through CNN, NPR and BBC I've been reading and  watching it destroy lives, families, entire villages, and countries. It's powerful. It's deadly. And it's taking over West Africa. For weeks I was incredibly interested in keeping up with the latest news of where it was, who it was affecting, and where it was spreading. Seeing as I live in an African country I did become concerned that it could reach here. However, Rwandan officials have done an incredible job of keeping our country secure. Luckily it is no where near us (closest case is nearly 3,000 miles away). Despite the great distance, they have still taken drastic measures to keep Rwanda protected. No one coming from an Ebola affected area is allowed to enter the country, there are checks at every border and the airport. They have even started checking people coming in from the US. In fact it was reported that Rwanda is the only one who is checking people from the US. Not only are they keeping entrances secure, they have medical professionals prepared to treat and quarantine anyone even showing signs or symptoms should the disease somehow enter the country.
The bottom line is, living in Rwanda, I'm extremely safe and protected from Ebola exposure. No one I know here is scared, no one is concerned that it could come, its not even a discussion. Instead the conversations are about prayers for our distant neighbors. And now there is a new conversation, and its full of frustration. The new discussion is about the ignorance that is being portrayed in American media. 

About a month ago one of my student's family left to spend four months in the states while their parents took their home leave furlough, fund-raise, train, and spend time with family in the states. This is an American missionary family who has been living here in Rwanda for the past two years. My student and his brother (a former student of mine) were to begin attending the public school in their home town in New Jersey last Monday. However, due to some very uninformed reactions of parents at the school, they were unable to. Word got out that two "African Kids" (as the media described these very blonde boys), and parents at the school became instantly terrified that despite the fact that these boys were coming from an uninfected country that is located thousands of miles away from any countries containing the disease, they thought they could have Ebola and spread it to other children. The school nurse responded by requiring the boys to get their temperature taken three times a day for 21 days. The parents of this family chose to simply keep their children home instead of have them indure this treatment and possibly cause more excitement from other parents. This story was quickly reported by several local news stations and has become a prime topic of conversation in the area.
It breaks my heart to have to see this family deal with such ignorance and extreme reactions when they have a limited about of time to spend in the states with family and fundraising. I recently read another article about a teacher in Oklahoma who is soon going to attend a mission trip to Rwanda. Her school is asking her to take a 21 day quarantine when she returns home before going back to school. I understand that not all Americans want to take the time to research where Ebola is and who's close or not close to being at risk. However, it's very disheartening to hear that professionals who are making decisions about their employees and students aren't taking the time to see the reality of the situation before asking people coming from Rwanda (like I said before, a well protected country located very far away from any Ebola cases), to jump through such unnecessary hoops.
What bothers me the most, however, is that now that there are a total of FOUR cases in the US, it's all American media can focus on. No one seems to remember that entire villages and large portions of African countries are being wiped out by this disease. No one seems to take note that those four cases are being well quarantined, cared for, and protected from others so it won't spread. Meanwhile this same disease is spreading across developing countries who don't have the same kind of medical facilities or materials and resources to properly treat the patients who have it or protect those around them from catching it. When this kind of disease hits villages like that, it survives and thrives, and villages get wiped out. NPR posted an article sharing news of the newly orphaned children in those villages who's parents died of ebola. Those children were exiled from their communities, forced to leave their homes and fend for themselves. This all due to fear that they could have caught Ebola from their parents and spread it. While, yes it's still incredibly sad for any family anywhere in a first world country in the world to lose a loved one. I don't want to down play the devistation and trauma that anyone losing a parent experiences. But I also know that when that happens in America, the community and extended family steps up, fills roles, cares for those children. They are still surrounded by love and support and community. These "Ebola orphans" in West African countries don't get that. They lose their parents, their families, their communities, their homes and village in one fall swoop.

Ebola is serious. And it needs prayer.
 Please pray for those affected everywhere.
 Please pray for the Americans.
 Please pray for the West Africans. Please pray for the families.
And please spend more time praying than worrying. Please in fact, spend no time worrying about yourself getting it.

You are not going to get Ebola and I am not going to get Ebola.
Please just pray. 

A Day in the Life of a Kindergarten Teacher in Rwanda

I recently saw an article on CNN about 24 hours in the life of a kindergarten teacher. I loved reading it and seeing that I'm not alone in the challenges of teaching and specifically teaching kindergarten. I am surrounded my teachers to share in the struggles and challenges of teaching, however in our K-12 school, I am the only kindergarten teacher. In fact, I’m the only kindergarten teacher using an American curriculum at an accredited school in the entire country. Something someone recently pointed out to me and has been a rather humbling (and overwhelming) thought lately.

And since its been a little bit (ok a lot of bit) of time since I've posted in this blog, I thought I've finally come up with idea of something to share. I know many of you have been asking me to update my blog, but I have to be honest, its hard! Now that I'm in my third year of teaching and living here in Kigali, my life here feels so normal that its hard for me to think of things that might be interesting to share. Hopefully this will be interesting... 

So this is how my day, TODAY (and most days) has looked like:

5:30: Roll out of bed and go for a run (Disclaimer: This NEVER happens! Today was the first in forever that I've actually gotten up to run).

I throw on my shoes and force my contacts in. I get outside and the sun has just come up, the sky is gorgeous and I can see hills of shadows and fresh sunlight. It's also a cool and perfect 70 degrees.

I get home and start getting ready for school. It's not long before I discover we're out of water. The one time I decide to work out and get sweaty in the morning (not to mention the fact that I hadn't showered in two days to save water), now I can't shower. Then I remember that the other day I had filled up a bucket of water when the power was out. (When the power is out, the water pump can't work so water comes out of faucets in a very small trickle, it took about 20 minutes to fill this 4 gallon bucket and then the power came back on so I never needed it.). Bucket bath it is! I was now very thankful for the morning run because this bucket of water that had been sitting for several days was of course cold.

Morning routine continued, then I hopped on my scooter, spent 5 minutes getting it to start, then sped off to school.

6:45: Get to school, go to my classroom and start to organize things for the day. I grab my math workbook to make copies for today. We have one copy machine for all the teachers to use and it's pretty unreliable. Today I was in luck though, only one person to wait on and my whole class set of copies came through with no paper jams, no power outages, no messed up copies, and no running out of ink or paper (this rarely happens!). I finish getting everything ready for the day and kids show up at 7:45. I stand outside my door to greet them and send them off to the play ground. 

8:00: Bell rings and my kids storm down the stairs from the playground and line up in the courtyard. We count off and everyone is here! We walk inside and do out typical morning routing; unpack, morning work, prayer together, worship, and calendar time.

8:30 to 10 is optimal learning time for my kids- this is when we do math and language arts. Usually each subject consists of some energetic active activities, some hands on partner activities, and a written activity.

10:00: Students have a special and I get prep time! This means anything from  checking through papers, lesson planning, copy making, cutting things out, other prep work, or meetings. Today we had a primary (K through grade 5) meeting that lasted the whole prep time. Still, it was productive.

Next we do phonics and review things such as letter sounds and reading skills.

11:15: LUNCH! After getting my students settled, making sure everyone has a lunch, having kids missing lunches call home, a typically put out a few "fires," I get my school lunch plate and sit down with other teachers to eat. The students eat then go to recess. At the end of my lunch time I sit with a few of my kids who struggle with finishing their lunches before recess time and encourage them to finish their food. "5 more bites!"

After lunch we come in and get ready to have our short rest time. After the third time in a very small amount of time telling one student to go to the bathroom (I couldn’t help but notice “the potty dance” they were doing), said student has an accident. So while giving instructions to students to get ready for rest time independently, I search through our extra clothes bag to help my little friend. Clothes are found, crisis is averted, and life moves on. 

Then, we spend the afternoon doing science or social studies, Bible, centers, and review of other skills or concepts from the day.

2:30: On Wednesdays we do chapel with the rest of elementary. We usually all sit on the steps of the courtyard and sing, pray, then listen to our director share a Bible story and message. Today, at about 2:28 it started pouring rain, so sitting in the courtyard wasn't really an option. We crammed the whole primary school into the third grade room, sang very loudly and then sat and listened to the message. The power went out and came back on exactly 5 times in this 20 minute chapel. The students didn't even flinch and no one was phased by the lights coming on and off. The power goes out so often it's barely noticed.

3:00: It's raining even harder now and we have to get up to the gate for pick up. Did I mention that our school is basically outside? There is a roof over the hallway outside the classrooms, but to get up to the pick up gate we're outside the whole walk. I pick up one particularly small student who I knew wouldn’t make it through the rain without getting soaked and hold the hand of another having a complete meltdown from the exhaustion of a day in kindergarten and now a loud and scary thunderstorm that’s over his head. I rush the rest of my short-legged friends through the rain and we all cram in the office with the rest of the school waiting for each student's name to be called for pick up.  Rain day pick ups always take longer.

3:15: Normally on Wednesdays (and Mondays) I load up a large van full of kids and I drive them 20 minutes to the pool where the PE teacher and I teach swim lessons. Since its raining today swimming is canceled and half my class is still waiting to be picked up.

3:30 I head back down to my classroom where I clean up from the day and get things ready for tomorrow.

4:30 I leave school (earlier than normal because of no swim lessons!) and go to my dear friend, Kerry's house to work together on lesson plans. She lives just down the street from school.

6:00 It's still pouring rain but I have to get home! Driving a scooter in the rain is uncomfortable to say the least, especially knowing I can't take a hot shower when I get home (water's out, remember), luckily I have a small supply of warm clothes to change into as soon as I'm home.

 I get home, add my dripping raincoat and clothes to the other wet hanging items from my roommates. Meanwhile, my roommates have been making mexican food all evening! Everything here is made from scratch, no ready made or easy made frozen or packaged options here! So, cooking isn't a simple task at night, this was a special meal! My four housemates and I spend the evening hanging out, eating dinner, and relaxing after everyone's long days of work.

9:00 bedtime! I can rarely stay up later than 9 or 9:30 without falling asleep. Gotta rest up for another day tomorrow!

Ok, now that I’ve typed out my day I can see that it might seem a bit “different” than a typical kindergarten teacher’s day. The thing is, no part of it was out of the ordinary. We’re in the middle of rainy season which seems to affect everything. Power, water, internet, and copy machines are never completely reliable. Kindergarteners are just kindergarteners, 5 year olds who are discovering how to do school and life. 

Note: I DID get in bed at 9:00 with my computer to quickly post this, but it's now taken 25 minutes to get on the internet and post it. And since I'm still writing this, obviously it's not even posted yet so who knows how long it will take with this slow internet.... This is Africa! 

This is What I Do!

Here is a Video about Kigali International Community School, you know the school I've been teaching at for the last two years. :) Enjoy!

"For I know the plans I have for you," Declares the Lord, "plans that will prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I've written about Jeremiah 29:11 before. It's a verse that is on my heart often. On days when I feel joyful and successful in what I'm doing. On days when I wonder what in the world I'm doing. On days when I wonder how I got to this side of the world. But mostly, I think of it on days when I feel there's that peace that passes all understanding, when despite all frustrations and homesickness, I know I'm exactly where God wants me.
God has a plan for all of us. I mean it says it literally right there... "For I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU." Following THAT plan is glorious, wonderful, joyful and so full of pure goodness. It brings peace that makes no sense. It provides at the most least expecting times. It's down right beautiful. But it's not always easy. It's not easy when I realize how long its been since I've seen my family. It's not easy when I'm missing my friends' weddings. It's not easy on days when all I want is American food. It's not easy when we go days without electricity or running water. It's not easy when, no matter how I explain why I'm in Rwanda missing all those things, people don't understand. Most of all it's not easy when I pray about my future, receive God's answer, and then have to tell family and friends at home that it will indeed be another year on this journey. Hearing disappointment from loved ones is never easy.
But here's the good news... God, you know Him- our creator, savior, father, mighty one, provider- HE PROVIDES. His provisions continues and never ceases to amaze me. He provides in the biggest and smallest ways, but he PROVIDES! Allow me to share a few examples...
One morning last school year I was craving chocolate. Ok fine, I crave chocolate all the time, but this day it was all I could think about. I went about my morning, getting ready for school. At 7:45 the students come in the school gate and begin bringing their backpacks into the room. One student comes up to me. "Miss Merz! My mom made you these cookies. She even made them without gluten!" And there in my hand is a bag full of chocolate no-bakes. Score! Another student comes in, "Uh Miss Merz, here." He hands me a snickers bar. Me:"What?! Why are you giving this to me?" Student: "I don't want it." No further explanation. The day continued and at snack time that afternoon, a third student gives me chocolate. This time the case was she only wanted the toy inside the chocolate ball, not the candy, so she gave it to me. Seriously God?!?!
Another example of His provision, this time in a big way. If you know me, you know how close I am with my dear dear friends, the Hoxsies. Emmalilly and I have been besties since middle school and I've been friends with her sisters Morgan and MAdison since then as well. Can you imagine how much overwhelming joy I felt then I learned that THEY ALL BOOKED TICKETS TO COME SEE ME FOR CHRISTMAS?! Yeah that happened. Never did I think I'd get anyone to come visit me here. It's expensive, it requires a lot of shots, it takes 24 hours to get here, then again to travel home. But it happened. ALL three of them booked plane tickets, got all the shots, and spent all that time to come see me and my life here in RWanda. Amazing!
Christmas last year, my first year away from home, was, well to be honest, terrible. This year, while still away from home, was significantly better on account of God bringing my sisters here to spend it with me. Allow my to illustrate the incredible two weeks with the following pictures.

That white girl in the green jacket with her hands in the air...
yeah, that's me, yelling through the airport at first sight of my friends! 

Market time

Christmas Eve service in our new Kitenge outfits :) 

Have I mentioned how much I love these girls? 

Safari ride!

Bagel brunch

Pretending it's a cold Christmas

Pretending we're as hard core as the ladies we spent the day with

Day in the village

Ready bright and early for a 13 hour bus ride through Uganda

Emma wasn't thrilled with the car snacks

Kayaking to the island on Lake Bunyoni!