Girls Night in Gisenyi

Gisenyi was absolutely beautiful! Adrienne and I left Kigali around 7 am yesterday to go visit our friend Grace, whom had been our interpreter through Food for the Hungry, last year. Grace became a very good friend of ours during the trip, was in Adrienne and Berchimas’s wedding, and is just a blessing. When she had found out that I was coming, a plan began to form for Adrienne and I to travel to visit with her, just us girls. This weekend worked out, so we jumped on the bus (well, three different ones before getting out of Kigali town) and off we went through the mountains. Rwanda is called the Land of a Thousand Hills and goodness. We climbed more than a few on our way. It took about three and a half hours to get there, and actually, was a very pleasant ride. It allowed Adrienne and I to talk about a lot of things, and to just fellowship. I loved the ride there.

We arrived around 10 am and Grace met us at the station. She is now working for the UN in the World Food Programme and is in charge of logistics out in Gisenyi. The Congo border is only thirty minutes away, so she splits her time between those two centers. She is really happy having a job with the UN and has grown to enjoy the area she is in also. We went to her house for lunch and she made us omelette with bread (fried egg sandwiches!). It was delicious with the Rwandan tea she offered us also. We stayed at the house and rested as she went back to work for a few more hours, which was fine with Adrienne and I, as we were both exhausted from our travels. When Grace returned we headed to the lake.

Wow. I don’t know if there are words to describe the beauty of that place. There was a soft, tropical breeze coming off the lake, and the sound of the water lapping against the shore was soothing to my weary body. We sat around a nice table and just visited over our Fantas. We decided to order fish, and goodness. I was so glad we did! The fish was HUGE and coupled with the potato and banana chips, very satisfying. I probably could not have designed a more perfect evening to spend with such special friends. 

We were entertained by our conversation, memories and the various fishing expeditions going on around us. There were three young boys fishing right off the shore. I saw fly fishing at its finest! They didn’t catch anything that I saw, but sure looked like they were enjoying themselves. We also watched as the fishing boats paddled out to drop their nets as the sun set. It was absolutely breathtaking and reminded me of some scene out of that movie South Pacific. Really incredible.

We made our way back to Grace’s house and spent the evening just talking and laughing, as girls do. It was such a nice time of relaxing with my friends and I am so thankful that God allowed us to have that time.