Written by Isabelle Hendrich, Editor-in-Chief
DAYTON, TN – From tying a tie for a friend for the first time, dealing with the crazy traffic, or being regulars at a local coffee shop, Kerah Darely experienced many difficult but also a few good experiences during her summer in Rwanda.
Kerah Darely is a junior at Bryan College who is majoring in Christian Ministries with an emphasis in missions. This past summer, from May 26 until the end of July, Karah went on a mission trip to Rwanda.
Darely went to Rwanda with Faith Hicks as part of the Acts Project, which is a combination of a spring class and summer mission trip that students can participate in at Bryan College.
“The class itself was really good, like material wise, preparing us to go. One, it helped us to get to know each other, so we kind of had a community of people who all knew we would experience something weird or different, so we all had that in common,” Darely said.
Some of the preparation that was in the class was mostly logistics, like getting a passport, which Darely said was extremely helpful in preparing for Rwanda.
During her time in Rwanda, Darely worked with an organization called YEGO.
“YEGO is cool because it is an acronym. So YEGO in Keynan Rhondan means yes, but it also stands for Youth Empowerment for Godly Opportunities,” Darely said.
Most of Darely’s and Hicks’ days consisted of working in a daycare from 7:30 a.m. until 12 p.m., specifically for 2-6-year-olds. In the afternoons, they would counsel mostly women, mainly from the effects of the Rwanda genocide in 1994.
Darely said, “One of the most impactful things was seeing people’s joy while we were there. Because what is cool about Rwanda is that they are 94% Christian.”
In the culture of Rwanda, it is not normal to discuss what someone has been through in their life. So while most of the people Darely counseled were Christian, the majority of the time when someone told Darely their story, it was their first time.
“A lot of it [counseling] was just crying with them, just holding their hand and in the end we would just pray over them, and that was one of the most impactful things, like just being able to pray over a woman who just shared her whole life with me,” Darely said.
On the importance of listening Darely said, “I didn’t realize how much that helps people, just like maybe you really can’t do anything for them, and most of the time that is the case, you never going to be able to fix it all for them, and that is something I really struggled with because technically I am wealthy to them.”
One particularly fond experience Darely shared was when they were eating corn one night for dinner. Most of the food in Rwanda is under seasoned, so Darely put some salt that was on the table on her corn. The lady from Rwanda that she was staying with gave Darely a weird look. She told Darely Rwandans do not put salt on corn.
“One of my favorite memories were the little moments. Because things were different culturally, sometimes we just wouldn’t get what was going on or they wouldn’t get what we were trying to explain or say,” Darely said.
On a final lesson that she learned, Darely said, “Wherever God has you, you are not doing anything wrong by saying yes to it and maybe it doesn’t look like someone’s God moment or someone’s ministry, and that is totally okay.”
Like Darely’s experience, the Acts project allows people to travel globally for missions. While some know where they specifically want to go, others like Darely did not know. But, Darely believes God used her experience so that she would learn she had a heart for little children and because of this, she hopes to pursue that God-given desire in the future.
Isabelle Hendrich is a senior communication major and history minor at Bryan College. Besides running, Hendrich likes to read and do crafts. She is a triplet whose siblings, Benjamin and Savannah, are also attending Bryan College.
