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Kara Nichols: A return from Africa |
Kara Nichols didn’t
see any lions, but she still had a great trip to Africa and brought
back a tale of monkey business. She went to Rwanda as part of a
missionary trip to minister to orphans, hoping to use her skills as
a licensed massage therapist to help them.
The children of the orphanage are housed across town and have lost
their parents because of war and to AIDS. Simply getting to Gisenyi
was an adventure in and of itself, she said. She flew for 30 hours.
Then there was the four-hour drive from the airport to the lake
town. “It’s like you’re on an ‘Indiana Jones’ ride, just 10 times
worse,” she said of driving on the worn out roads.
 Once in town “things
turned out differently than I thought,” she said. Her group didn’t
start working right away, which in retrospect is hardly surprising.
They visited with the orphanage leaders and figured out a “game plan
for the two weeks we were there,” she said. Next she assisted at a
traditional Rwandan/Kenyan wedding.
“I liked it because the symbolism has so much more meaning than in
the U.S.,” she said. The ceremony started with a parade through town
of the bride and groom’s families “with whatever vehicles that they
have.” The bridal couple then went to the church where the pastor
lectured them on their duties as well as gave them advice on their
upcoming marital life.
The whole ceremony the couple was kept far apart, she said. At the
end the parents came up behind their children, took two steps back
and the bride and groom took four steps toward one another for the
first time. This symbolizes the parents given away their children
and approving of the union.
Nichols said she found her work in Africa rewarding. She massaged
40 adults and countless children — the orphanage ministers to 600 of
them and the number keeps growing. (She was expecting 300).
“The kids were wonderful,” she said. “They’re always climbing on
you, touching you, touching your hair.” Her most memorable moment
was when after massaging a number of adults she went mingling with
the children. The kids started asking her to massage specific parts
of their bodies that were paining them.
“That’s what I wanted to do, (help) orphans with the massage,” she
said. “I felt that what I was meant to go there for ... was
fulfilled that day.”
She did have the time to travel the country and see elephants,
giraffes, zebras and baboons. The baboon got into the orphanage’s
SUV after someone didn’t lock it properly. The animals went right
for the food. One of the nurses tried to extract a baboon and was
attacked by the primate, Nichols said.
Nichols adapted quickly to the food she was served, except for meat
so tough and stringy she was barely able to chew it. She added the
bananas, avocados and pineapples, however, were better than any she
had ever eaten stateside.
She plans on garnering more support for the ministry. It costs
$2,000 a year to provide the children with health-care. “It would be
really easy for us as Americans to support people and churches who
are doing things like this,” she said.
“I really did enjoy to be able to work with the people. It was
awesome, it’s something I’ll never forget,” she concluded. |
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From
Sept. 15, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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