How I Met My First Rwandan Person of Peace
When you hear and
sense God calling you to a particular place or people but do not yet know a
single person from that community or nation, what do you do? In a few words,
this is the sum of my story within the larger story of what God is presently
doing among his sons and daughters around the world:
You listen. You
pray. You trust Him. You go! (and repeat the crazy process)
But that is not
all. In between those short sentences are those exhilarating, nerve-wracking
adventures to be told! Here’s the story of how I landed up in Rwanda by myself
for the first time in January 2015. I was 21. I had just spent seven weeks in
Harare, Zimbabwe on a mission outreach to slum communities and street children
with an Australian team. It was my first time on the African continent.
However, Zimbabwe was not the end of it. I also planned to head solo to Rwanda
for twelve days and then to Kenya for three weeks before returning to Australia
to commence my one-year intensive at Harvest Bible College.
While there have
been many countries on the African continent that I always wanted to go to, the
one country that had drawn me specially is Rwanda. My curiosity and fervent
desire to go to Rwanda began when I was sixteen. I was living in Melbourne at
the time, having moved with my family from Kuala Lumpur the year before. Being
an avid reader, I used to frequent the libraries on a weekly and sometimes daily
basis! Australia was book heaven for me.
It was during
those final years of high-school that I discovered the treasure trove of
biographies! I devoured many recent and historical autobiographies by influential
and inspirational figures, particularly from the regions of conflict in Africa,
Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Some of the books that drew me were
the ones about the Rwandan genocide; the child-soldiers of war-ravaged regions
in places like Uganda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Sudan; the Cambodian killing
fields; the Bosnian genocide; the plight of women and persecuted minorities in
Afghanistan, and many such harrowing realities in various parts of the
third-world. Many of the stories were about amazing individuals who clung to
faith and hope, doing their part to uphold justice and truth in places of deep
oppression and spiritual darkness.
I remember
numerous occasions when I stopped reading, looked up, and just talked to God.
I’d tell Him things like, “Lord I know there’s a reason I’m reading these
books. I want to be in these tough places. I don’t know how. Here I am in
Australia. I don’t even know where some of these places are! But I want to walk
those streets one day. I want to do something with the music you have given me.”
And I’d go so far as to specifically name some of these places: Rwanda, Sierra
Leone, Uganda, India, Afghanistan…
When I graduated
from the Victorian College of the Arts School in 2011, I wanted to support a
teenage girl through Compassion International. I was teaching piano from home
at the time and had a few students going, so I had pocket-money to share! I
prayed about it and decided to sponsor a girl named Ntawangaheza in the remote
hills of Nyakizu, Rwanda. No surprise there. I knew I was going to be connected
to this country in one way or another. And so it began there.
I remember the
moment I got Ntawangaheza’s photograph in the mail from Compassion. I placed it
on a shelf in my room and looked at it wistfully. Then I prayed specifically,
“God, I know nothing is impossible with you. I don’t know how or when. But can
you please take me to Rwanda before I’m twenty-five? I want to meet
Ntawangaheza and her family. I want to do something more in Rwanda. I know
you’re happy when I pray crazy impossible prayers. Because when it happens, I
can say it wasn’t me, it’s all you!”
Well, God is
faithful beyond our wildest prayers. And through this story, you will see that
He gets all the glory. Three years after I prayed that prayer, I got the chance
to go to Zimbabwe through a mission grant I won with Mission Travel Group. That
was a miraculous provision in itself. But then I thought, hey, since I’m
already in the continent, let me also go to Rwanda! Yay!
The only worry was
that I’d have to make my own arrangements, use my own money, and, go there
alone. So once again, I learnt the vital process of listening, praying,
trusting, and just taking the courage to actually go! I felt God’s saying to
me, “Go for it, I’ll lead you!”
Kigali, Rwanda: January 14, 2015
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| Touch-down in the land of a thousand hills at dusk... Feeling all alone, but a sense of anticipation that God is going to do something in Rwanda and give me people of peace in a foreign land. |
I touched down on
a misty evening at 6pm in Kigali, the small capital city of Rwanda on January
14, 2015. I was surprised by a strange feeling of absolute tranquillity. I breathed
a prayer of thanks and immediately knew I’d like Rwanda. Lugging my backpack
and ukulele, I headed for the place I’d be staying at for the next few nights –
Discover Rwanda Youth Hostel, the first and only youth hostel in Kigali!
A few months
before, when I planned for this first Africa trip, I decided I’d explore Rwanda
for twelve days and take one day to visit my Compassion child in the remote
southern hills. Honestly, twelve days can be a long time to be on your own in a
relatively quiet country like Rwanda, where nothing much happens – even in the
city. I wondered if I made the right decision. Nevertheless, I only booked my
first four nights at the youth hostel, and for the remaining seven nights, I
simply thought: okay God – you’re leading me… we’ll see what happens and
how plans change when I get on the ground!
Mysteriously, I
just had this unflinching conviction that something special would happen in
Rwanda. There were many nights back in Melbourne when I lay in bed and said,
“God, I know you know every person in Rwanda. Apart from the one-day Compassion
visit, I have no plans, I don’t know anybody, I have no contacts, and I’ve
written no emails to any organization. Please lead me to other local young
people who know you and love you and are passionate about music and missions! I
know they’re there, I just need you to take me to them.” That was the gist of
my prayers for the few months before I left for Africa. Somehow, I felt this
burning faith well up in me every time I prayed about Rwanda. I began to learn
that faith is not just something you muster up; it is a gift of God. At times,
there are some things that God specially gives you the faith and the grace for,
because He wants you to go for it – it’s part of His plan for you! So with
this, there was a sense of exhilaration in my bones – I just knew that God
would lead me to the exact people I
needed to meet. And I wouldn’t have to worry about contacting any organization
or church and make my own arrangements. But here’s the tough thing: you have to
simply accept by faith that you won’t get any answers or confirmations to such
a crazy prayer until you actually get there. And that was how it was for me.
In truth, it’s all
about perspective and your confidence in the basis of your faith. I always knew
that God never fails His kids, He is
my confidence – that is why I’ve always maintained that my faith is not a
crutch, it is a pillar. God has never left me stranded in the dark. He has
always sent me people, even perfect strangers to lead me out of an uncertain or
tough situation! So every time I head somewhere new, I go with this conviction:
“I’ve planned and prayed everything I possibly can, now God, do what you want
with me and let the unplanned unfold!” It’s always good for the soul to embark
on a new journey with a penchant and even anticipation for the unexpected, no?
Kigali, Rwanda: January 15, 2015
On my first
morning in Kigali – after a pleasant breakfast journaling, reading my Bible
while overlooking the hilly landscape of Rwanda’s capital, I decided to take a moto
taxi to town for my first day of exploration.
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| Waking up at the Discover Rwanda Youth hostel! |
Around lunchtime, I
found myself sitting at a local restaurant on my own. The tables were filling
quickly as people took their seats after helping themselves to a buffet spread
of local cuisine, all for 3,500 Rwandan Francs (about USD4.50). Soon, a young
Rwandan guy approached my table with his plate of food. He acknowledged me briefly
with a courteous glance. I gestured that it was fine for him to sit on the same
table. Before he ate, I observed him bowing his head slightly for prayer. I
immediately wondered if he was a follower of Jesus. A split-second thought
prompted me to strike up a conversation. Before I could reason against it, I
blurted out with a smile, “Hey, are you a Christian?”
To my embarrassment,
he paused for a second and asked with a tinge of surprise, “Why?”
I shrugged and
responded, “Just wondering, cause’ I think I saw you praying!”
To my relief, he
smiled slightly and conceded that yes, he was indeed a Christian. I was glad I
asked! We continued to converse and I learned his name: Prince Shabani. He
asked my reason for coming to his country and I shared that I wanted to visit
my Compassion child and to explore the country. I also told him I’d been in
Zimbabwe before, and that I was a music teacher who wanted to use music for
missions. To my amazement, he immediately opened up from there and revealed
that he had been sponsored as a Compassion child, and that is how he is now studying
at university! What coincidence, you say? We also found out that we were both
21, and that Prince was also very much involved in the worship, drama and youth
ministries at his church! It immediately came to my mind that this could be
God’s answer to me in a foreign land. I silently asked God to show me if this
was indeed a divine connection.
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| My first person of peace in Rwanda: Prince Shabani! |
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| Beautiful Rwanda - lush, green, and quiet. |
When Prince asked
what my plans were for the week, I told him that apart from the Compassion visit to
Nyakizu, I wanted to go to Gisenyi and see the famous Lake Kivu (a four-hour
drive from Kigali to Congo’s Gisenyi-Goma border). Prince was soon beside
himself with excitement because Gisenyi was, in fact, his hometown! I could
hardly believe my ears. I had asked God to help me out on this one, because
although I wanted to go to Lake Kivu, I had no idea which local buses to take
or where to stay. (Rwanda has still a long way to go in development of
touristy-type services, so even a Google search won’t come up with much helpful
information unless you get it on the ground. And anyhow, I’ve always travelled
solo backpacker style that I never wanted to pay for any private tours that
cost thousands of dollars for a few days.) So yes, this was certainly another
answered prayer!
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| Meeting Prince's good friend Luc later on in my journey! |
The assuring thing
is that God has got us covered. When we listen, pray, trust Him, and go in
faith out of obedience, He doesn’t leave us as orphans in the dark! Now, my
belief is that even in the event that I ‘mis-hear’ or make a mistake, as long
as my motive is pure and genuine
before God – He will always direct me back on the right track. That is what He
has done time and time again. I have many more stories to tell that provides
evidence of His marvellous and gracious hand!
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| The eclectic Nyabugogo bus park in Kigali. |
So my trip to
Gisenyi with Luc on a local bus turned out to a God-ordained journey. I would
have been so confused if I had to make that first local trip on my own. The
Nyabugogo bus park in Kigali is a busy, sprawling place packed with buses,
mini-vans and moto taxis that travel all over the country and even cross-border
into Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi! It can also be difficult to communicate with
local drivers or even local Rwandans because many of them speak little English
unless they are educated at university. Not forgetting also that there are no
such thing as fixed bus numbers, stops or street signs and names… You have no
idea how many times I thanked God for sending his angels in the form of local
friends to guide me.
When I got to
Gisenyi, I checked into a youth hostel by Lake Kivu and to my delight, Luc also
invited me to spend one night with his family. To my amazement, his home was
right beside the dividing border wall
separating the Congolese city of Goma and the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. It was so cool! Luc was also terribly kind to
make sure I was okay at the hostel – he and his sister checked up on me almost
every day and showed me around!
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| An exuberant bunch of young people I met in Gisenyi through Prince and Luc who were part of a drama and dance outreach team called Shekinah Drama Family! |
On one of the
days, we went to the church he and Prince attended since their youth,
Evangelical Restoration Church on the hills of Rubavu in Gisenyi. Luc kindly invited
me to address the youth and participate in their drama group called Shekinah
Drama Family. It was the most unexpectedly beautiful time as we worshipped and
prayed together. To this day we remember those first days fondly! It was truly
God’s open door and I never imagined I’d access Rwanda so quickly. Indeed, this
is what ‘wayfaring by faith’ is about: following Jesus where he leads, crossing
cultures, making music in unusual and tough places, and embracing local heroes!
Through these God-sent friends in a foreign land, I’ve met countless ‘local
heroes’ – people of incredible faith, resilience and a genuine desire to serve.
I have been humbled and blessed by their love and their families.
So, this first
divine appointment with a person of peace was not a fleeting one. It has led me
back to Rwanda for the second time in the same year, seven months later – on
October 26, 2015! There will be another time to tell the stories of what
happened on my second trip, of how God led me back there through a series of
confirmations and what happened while I was there – which far surpassed my
wildest imaginations.
Since that first
momentous day, God has led me to many other young people through Prince
Shabani. He was and still is my first ‘person of peace’ in the beautiful land
of a thousand hills. God has never disappointed us.
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