poverty a two part harmony

confronting reality can baffle me... how does the most beautiful scenery in the world exist in the places where the material situations are the poorest... today's visit with the street kids we play with every tuesday and thursday really brought me new meaning to "blessed are the poor in spirit"...


Claude, 19, lost his sisters and parents in 1994 to -you guessed it- the genocide, and now he lives alone in this dirt home. he stated that his greatest joys in the week are when hes at the football pitch, it provides an escape from a difficult reality.

Gooooaaall

Rip MJ

"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with." Michael Jackson

Some eerie silhouettes for an eerie day..I heard the news thats shocking the world while posting this pic..Michael Jackson died.

One of the best thoughts I heard recently regarding life's temporality was this quote by Steve Jobs "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Following our hearts, our faith and our passion for children here has been without fear. It is with the children that so many of us come alive!

Soccer Skills (another photo of the day)

So we're thinking of making some posters from these shots...Let me know if you would ever buy one to support p4h?

POTD June 20-B-ballin in gatenga

poster shot from gatenga maison de jeunes

POTD- June 20 Old woman and her brew

amidst shouts of muzungu i began walking through the town of Kabunga as we were putting on a football clinic in the field nearby. I bumped into this lady in town and she laughed when i asked her for a sip of what she was sippin on.. Whatever homemade concoction it was, it was definitely strong!

POTD June 19- Handball!

We walked to the national stadium after hearing that the Rwandan Nat'l football team would be playing Korea..turned out it there was no futbol to be found, but we did get a introduction to handball between Uganda and Tanzania.

It was exciting to watch, until the flagrant flopping just wouldnt stop..in the 2nd half we saw the stretcher brought out @ least 4 times...anyways, we still had a good time!

videos from Rwanda- 5dmk2

Here's the first preview of what vids I've been able to shoot here in Rwanda
heres some

Football Drills in Gatenga from Ryan Bowen on Vimeo.

Heres an impromptu worship session after putting on a soccer clinic...

Kids in Rwanda worship in Kinyarwandan from Ryan Bowen on Vimeo.