66 days and counting

66 days and counting until we leave for Rwanda.  The days seem to be crawling by but I guess that is how things work when you are anxiously awaiting something.  We have started making preparations for our departure. Our lease ends December 31st and we will have to leave our apartment.  Sarah has already started packing things up.  I think every day I come home from work there is one more thing packed up in a box and ready to be stored.  I think it will be kind of a sad moment leaving our little apartment as it is our first home together.  Oh well, I am sure our next home will be much more interesting, maybe less furnished but nonetheless, more interesting.  Maybe I can get a pet goat.  Lindsey apartments seem to frown on that for some reason.

We don't leave for Rwanda until February 22nd but my last day at work is January the 7th.  We will be spending about a month and a half visiting friends and family as we will not see them for over 2 years.  Sarah and I will be in beautiful sunny southern California for a couple of weeks visiting her family and then off to Fort Lauderdale to visit some friends.  Maybe we can manage to get a nice tan before we leave although I don't think that will help much as our pale white faces will stick out like a sore thumb in Rwanda.  Then it's off to the Eastern side of Arkansas to visit our Grandparents and other friends...maybe a few days in Houston with some more family and friends and that is the extent of our travels. 

For those who don't know much about how our time will be spent in Rwanda, I will give you a little run down.  The first 10-11 weeks will be spent in pre-service training (PST as it is called in Peace Corps world).  The training will be held in Rwanda and will consist mainly of language training, cultural training and technical training.  Unfortunately there is no Rosetta Stone for the Rwandan language, Kinyarwanda (No, it is not a click language as many of you have made comments about), so we will be going in blind...although I have picked up on a little Swahili from Rosetta Stone.  Once we complete our PST and pass all required test, we will then be sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers and this seems to be done at the US Ambassadors house.  It sounds like a pretty big deal from what I read as it is sometimes televised for millions to see.  I am not quite sure how that works as most Rwandans do not have TV.  Anyway, after our swear in, all of us volunteers will head out in different directions to our assigned post.  There we will spend 2 years working with the Rwandan people and certain NGO's.  Our primary focus will be HIV/AIDS education and community development.  The HIV/AIDS rate in Rwanda is not as bad as many other countries but it is still an ongoing problem in the country.  Every year, more and more children are infected with the virus through the birthing process and thousands more orphaned due to the passing of their parents who contracted the virus. Below I have pasted a little bit of information from the Orphans of Rwanda website.

"Rwandan orphanages are full to overflowing as the result of twin scourges: the 1994 genocide and epidemic disease. During 100 days of genocide in April 1994, more than 800,000 Rwandans were murdered. Children lost parents and relatives, entire families were wiped out, and the lives these children had known were shattered. By the end of the genocide, hundreds of thousands of children had been orphaned. With a widening HIV/AIDS epidemic and continuing outbreaks of malaria, a total of 613,000 orphans were living in Rwanda by the year 2001. Over 43% of these children have been orphaned by AIDS. UNICEF officials in Rwanda have called the HIV/AIDS epidemic the "silent genocide."

"Today, Rwanda's children continue to face extreme challenges: Rwanda has one of the world's largest proportions of child-headed households, with an estimated 101,000 children living in 42,000 such households. More than 400,000 children are out of school. Rwanda has one of the world's worst child mortality rates - 1 in 5 Rwandan children dies before his or her fifth birthday."

Although these statistics seem grim, I have heard nothing but amazing things about Rwanda lately.  Rwanda is one of the safest, if not the safest country in all of Africa with one of the fastest growing economies.  The spirits of the Rwandan people seem to be high and ready for change.  Reconciliation between the perpetrators of the genocide and the victims is taking place as well...amazing things!!!

As you can imagine, we are so excited to begin this next phase of our lives and I know great things are in store.  I hope we will be successful in our work and through our time there, be able to at least make a difference in somebody's life.  We are well aware that this is going to be a challenging experience but I also know that overall, it will be a life-changing one that most people do not get a chance to experience.  We will be expecting and needing your prayers throughout our 27 months in Rwanda.  I hope you all will follow us through this adventure.  We will try to keep you as updated as possible. 

Be blessed.

Jarod and Sarah

Orphans of Rwanda. http://www.orphansofrwanda.org/learn/orphan_crisis.php