Introducing Isimbi!

A few days ago, I received an “introduction letter,” from my precious Isimbi in Rwanda. I am a youth leader at Open Door Youth Group, and Isimbi is our sponsored child through Compassion. Everyone chips in to pay the monthly sponsorship fees, and last November, a team from our church was able to visit Isimbi in Rwanda. All of our kids had seen Isimbi’s picture, but she became so much more real to us when we watched the video taken of our team’s visit to her home. We discovered a shy, sweet, smiling young lady who was so excited to receive the presents the youth group had collected to send her!

The above picture is of my two co-youth leaders, Sherry and David, with Isimbi and her six-year-old brother, Dilani.

Since then, I have become Isimbi’s correspondent, which simply means I write to her regularly and receive her letters in return. Keep in mind, that letters can take up to four months to arrive in/from Rwanda, so this introduction letter was written before she received any of my letters to her. At this point, she probably didn’t even know who I was! But I’ve since explained to her through letters that the people who visited her, (her sponsors) are my good friends and that they asked me to write to her.

On to the letter!

First she lists the names of her family members (she lives with her grandma, mother and little brother) and then she says,

  “My favorite color is red. My favorite food is chips (fried potatoes) and rice. I live in a town. My favorite game is tennis ball. My favorite toy is a dolly. My favorite subject in school is English. (I was impressed by that!) My dream is to become a doctor. I am doing well and my family, I am in primary four in term 1, at home we are growing sorghum. (I knew her family farmed but I didn’t know what) I wish to know your news. I wish for peace and blessings from God for you. I request for you to pray for me to pass my studies.”

Even though this may seem like a very little amount of information, I was glad to receive it and get a glimpse of our isimbi's life. I'll be heading over to Rwanda in November with the same team, and I look forward to meeting our sweet girl in person! "Isimbi" means "shining" in Kinyarwanda, and she does that for sure!