"On Thursday, October 2, Br. Bukenya, Fr. Musoke, our driver, Kizito, and I finished our visit to Kibeho, and we spent the night at the Ghindamuyaga Benedictine monastery not far away. The monks there are quite nice and they have a magnificent property. They have their own bees, so they make their own honey. They also make their own bread and jam. These we ate the next morning at breakfast. We were able to visit with Fr. Jean Baptiste, the superior of the convent, and Fr. Venuste, a local parish priest. Both were very upbeat and positive about the Children's Rosary. They were joyful men, and I was happy to have made their acquaintance. Fr. Venuste took us to a local primary school run by a Carmelite nun whom we met with. The nun was delighted to hear of the Children's Rosary, and we made arrangements to train the teachers at the school in how to run the group.
After these meetings, we said goodbye to this part of Rwanda for good and headed to Kigali, the capital city. We had briefly passed through here on the first day, but now we spent more time, meeting with the priest in charge of youth matters for the archdiocese, Fr. Tadeo. He also is interested in rolling out the Children's Rosary, and Br. Bukenya will be returning to provide him and his teachers with some training.
I must say that I rather liked Kigali even though we did not see much of the city. It seemed not to be so frenetic, and it was well-organized. That night, we returned to Kabgayi, where we had slept the first night in Rwanda. This was because we had a meeting with the Bishop of Kabgayi the next day. We stayed at a hotel called the Hotel Saint Andre which is run by the diocese. We have noticed in our travels in Rwanda that there are many such hotels and guesthouses and that this seems to be a way for the dioceses to make money. We all thought it a very good idea.
The meeting with the bishop turned out to be quite nice. We had already met with Fr. Celse, the parish priest in Kabgayi, and the bishop was very open and supportive of the movement. He was happy for it to roll out in his diocese, and he also will be another stop for Br. Bukenya when he returns.
Later that day, we returned to Kigali for a few more meetings, including with Fr. Joseph, in charge of children's matters for the archdiocese of Kigali and deputy for the whole country. He also was very interested by the movement. He works with Fr. Tadeo, so it was good that we met with both men with regards to this. I am excited for the prospects of what is to come in Kigali and the other dioceses where we stopped in Rwanda.
That night, Fr. Joseph (shown above in the striped shirt) was kind enough to put us up at a hotel run by some sisters not far from where he was staying.
The next morning, we stopped at a school under his care to share a few words at their morning Mass to welcome them into the movement. It is at this school, I believe, where he will be starting one of the pilot groups for the archdiocese. We certainly pray his efforts are successful.
After our brief meeting with the students, we set off for Uganda once more. I will cover the events of the rest of the day once we crossed the border in another post, but this seems like a natural place to end.
I must say that throughout our visit to Rwanda, rain was our constant companion. Some of you may recall the story from our last trip to Africa in 2019 of how at Fr. Jude Ssali's parish it began to rain while we were there and only rained within the confines of where members of the Children's Rosary lived. Not only that, but the rain was heavy and did not cause crop damage. Well, we have had much rain in Rwanda too; for instance, when we visited the bishop of Cyangugu, it rained so hard I feared even to leap from the car, as I related in another post. When we were in Kigali, it rained on more than one occasion, even though it had been dry for a long time there before our arrival. When we stayed at Kabgayi, it flooded the hallway in our hotel. Before we met with Fr. Joseph, it came down in droves again.
As we have said, rain here is considered a blessing, and perhaps this is a wonderful way to appreciate the many blessings bestowed on us during our short trip to Rwanda."
To see all of Asher's dispatches from his journey click HERE
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