We are excited today to report back to all of you on our trip to Rwanda last month.

This post will be more factual in nature (and probably boring to some) but very important from a His Chase stewardship perspective. Chelsea wrote some great entries on our family blog shortly after our return that captured the truly amazing events and stories from this journey. I would highly encourage you to check them out:

• Blessing the Babies
• It’s the simple things
• Play is their language....
• Bus full of fun
• A Few Highlights from Rwanda
• On a Journey

We continue to praise God for opening this door to Rwanda and its beautiful people, especially the precious children at the Noel Orphanage. This truly was an incredible team effort on a global scale, including hundreds of volunteers here in the US, our friends at The Point Foundation in the UK, our amazing Rwandan coordinator Jane, the physicians and staff at King Faisal Hospital in Rwanda, and our amazing 40 person team that traveled to Rwanda from July 22nd to August 5th. We thank God every day for bringing all these beautiful hearts together for the shared purpose of loving and serving the kids at Noel!

In addition to all the donations of clothing, toys, hygiene supplies, and sports equipment, you blessed this trip with over $18,000 in cash donations, enabling us to complete our main objectives. Thank You!!

The 2 main areas of focus for this trip to Noel were: 1) Medical and 2) Orphanage Development Projects

Medical Focus – Team included 7 practioners and 7 nurses with varying specialties and backgrounds

Objectives:

• Perform medical assessments on all the children at Noel and treat any acute problems identified.
• Establish a thorough medical file for each child with age appropriate baselines to be charted now ongoing.
• Partner with Noel nurses and staff to ensure the sustainability of charting system and data entry.
• Assess any surgical needs amongst the children that would require a follow up surgery team.

Results:

• 552 children were medically assessed, treated acutely, and now have their own patient file.
• For 7 days the His Chase medical team worked along side the nurses and staff of Noel, mutually learning from each other!
• 18 surgical candidates were identified: 2 ears, 3 with digits needing removal, 6 hernias, 2 prosthetics, and 5 testicle surgeries.
• 7 children need cardiac workups upon detection of murmurs.

Just under $13,000 of the Noel Support budget was used for these Medical objectives:

• Pre-printed paper, medical files, and needed supplies for medical charting.
• Laptop, printer, backup hardrive, and extra ink cartridges for medical clinic to sustain file system ongoing.
• Pharmaceuticals purchased in-country to treat kids acutely.
• Over $1,100 of baby formula to boost nutrition amongst infants and toddlers.
• Cardiac tests done at King Faisal Hospital.
• Covering Brad Gautney’s flight and expenses, enabling his professional oversight and leadership of our medical team. Please visit Global Health Innovations to learn more about Brad and his amazing work. His Chase is so blessed with his partnership in both Ghana and Rwanda!

Orphanage Development Projects

Areas of Focus:

• Developmentally stimulating toys and equipment for infants and toddlers.
• Conduct multiple music workshops that introduced a variety of instruments and styles.
• Educate on personal hygiene and enhance sleeping conditions.
• Provide sporting equipment, run mini sport camps, and have fun!
• Stock the Noel library and school room with needed supplies and books.

Results:

• Covered close to 200 foam mattresses with vinyl mattress liners.
• Developed “american” football skills, and played soccer, basketball, and volleyball each day with the older kids.
• Provided 15 pop-up mobile exersaucers to the caretakers of the toddlers.
• Provided mirror-toys and hand made mobiles to the infant room.
• Emphasized in a loving and caring way the importance of hand washing and other hygiene improvement opportunities.
• Provided pillows to each of the older children and each were able to design their own pillow case.
• Decorated the girls dorms with vibrant colored decor.
• Conducted multiple music classes and spontaneous jam sessions with a guitar purchased for Noel.

As I mentioned before, this was truly a global team effort! We are so incredibly grateful for the generosity of time, physical donations, cash donations, and commitment to prayer that so many contributed….and thank you to all of you who are committed to continuing your support. We are looking forward to sharing more details with you all, concerning opportunities for ongoing monthly involvement at Noel!

In addition to all the supplies and services we were thankful to share, we were also incredibly blessed to have: 1) smooth and easy logistical planning, thanks to our amazing guide, Jane, 2) safety as we traveled by air, bus, and taxi cab, and 3) great health and physical protection for our 40 travelers. We thank God so much for this!! Even more so, we were blessed with opportunities to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus to children. Those relationships that were formed with these children are strong and lasting, and most definitely the most significant and meaningful part of our visit.

We are praying hard about a surgery follow up trip in 2012 and hope the path is made clear for this to happen! We trust it will. Thank you again to all our amazing His Chase supporters. You made this current trip such a success, with great immediate and sustainable impact. Africa, Rwanda, and the precious kids at Noel are loved by all of us so much and we continue to pray for them daily, as well as for Godly wisdom to reign over the leaders of this beautiful country.

We will keep you posted on developments at Noel, as well as when the next His Chase project presents itself! God Bless!

Mark and Chelsea