2008 Vacation Bible School

We completed the 2008 VBS last Friday. There were about 60 to 70 people attended each night, from July 27th to August 3rd. This year's topic was God's unshakable truth. The motto for this year was, "Learn the Truth, Speak the Truth, Live the Truth". Sue and I were in charge of the adult class, we had about 20 people each night came to the class. We played games, made wordless books, shared personal stories about spiritual journey, and studied God's truth. On the last day, Ken brought a roasted pig for us to eat. Well, some of us didn't want to eat it--you can see why. It was still smiling!

Kim is saying "Hello" to her pig friend

Al was the winner for this game


Team teaching was fun

Who Will Go?

Every Friday for several months, an outreach team from First Southern has been going to the Villa Fairmont Mental Health Center, just a few blocks from our church. After passing through several locked doors, we arrive at the social room. Leah who has been attending our church greets us with a big smile as we enter the room. She excitedly tells us that she has found a room in Oakland. She is moving out from this place. We have been praying for her and her prayer has been answered.

As we arrange chairs for the meeting, an announcement goes over the speaker system that the Baptist Church is having a Bible study. Braz tells us that she has been reading from the Psalms. She thanks Shirley for handing over her own personal Bible to her the week before. Several residents ask us to provide Bibles and we promise to bring some next time.

We usually read a few verses from the Bible, then talk about what the words mean to us. Participants are eager to share their stories about why they came to this place and how desperately they seek God’s help to get well. We ask the Holy Spirit to guide us to be sensitive to the needs of this group. The residents need our listening ear more than anything else. Sometimes I am unsure about how to respond to their comments. But one thing I know is that they want us to pray for them.

The only qualification to join our mission team is a willingness to listen and to pray. It would be so wonderful to see more people from our church join this ministry group. The residents in this institution need friends who demonstrate the compassion of our Lord Jesus. Here are men and women who are at a low point in their lives. I could be a resident at the Villa Fairmont, but by God’s grace I am not. In the Old Testament, God asks Isaiah “whom shall I send?” Isaiah answers, “Here am I, send me.” I pray that many will say “Here I am, Lord. Send me”.

Chris is back from Africa mission. The team accomplished the mission goals and they have seen hands of God in Africa. Here is the link you can go and see the photos of their activities. http://comeandseeafrica.org/pastmissions/mission2008/index.htm

The mission team had two session of worship leaders seminars; one in Kigali (capital of Rwanda) and another in Butare (where CASA is located). Also they had a VBS with over 200 children for a week and a seminar for pastors. In between seminars, they visited widows and Batwa families. They bought 16 female goats ($28 per goat) and gave them to poor families. You who supported the mission have been great blessings to so many people including our summer mission team. The mission team had experienced great blessings as they deliver goats to widows and orphans. Also, you have helped CASA building project by donating bricks. Frank and Paul are overseeing the building project. This is going to be the future home of Lighthouse for Christian Students in Africa.

Awsome team work!

IMG_8411
Originally uploaded by sean.bang

College students from Western Korean Nazarene church raised funds for CASA. A few weeks ago Anna stopped by and told of her plan to raise funds for CASA. Chris and I were encouraged with their support and prayers. These young people came up with ideas on their own, and raised money to buy 20 goats for Batwa families and widows for CASA morning prayer meeting. They also raised money for the building project--Christian Campus House for Rwanda University students. They sold bricks and goats to their congregation members.

IMG_8430
Originally uploaded by sean.bang

So many people bought goats and bricks. Thank you everyone. You have encouraged us and motivated us to work harder in Rwanda.

Yosemite Fall

On June 2nd, our family went to Yosemite, and we took lots of photos. There will be a photo contest, each of us will enter 3 best pictures from this trip. Here are three of mine.

Yosemite Fall
Originally uploaded by come and see africa

All kinds of e-learning tools

At the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies has been putting together a list of tools for e-learning. Here is the directory which you can spend hours and hours.
http://c4lpt.co.uk/Directory/index.html

Missing you, Mother

The day before Mother’s day, I saw her in the parking lot at the Bay Fair mall. An old Asian lady was stanidng by a car and waving her hand toward me. For a brief moment, I thought I saw my mother. The lady was waving to her daughter. I watched them embrace. I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer. Mother, I really miss you. It has been five years since you left us.

To My Mother

You taught me how to walk
Like a lady
In this world

On our monthly outing to the village market
I would hop and jump ahead of you
Hurrying to get to the bustling market place where
Vendors called to customers with their exotic wares
I was impatient with your measured walk
I would pull your skirts to hurry

Instead, you stopped in the middle of the road
Told me to look at those scurrying people
You whispered to me to watch how they walked
Pointing out how unbecoming
Like a grass hopper, when a woman sway her hip and shoulder
Like a duck, when a woman walk her feet pointing outward
Then you showed me the proper way to walk
“Take your step one foot over another as though you are walking on a rope in the air”

I watched you closely for the first time
On that dusty, gravel road
Lined up with tall poplar trees
You were different even to my seven year-old eyes
You had short curly hair when others rolled their hair to the back of their head
You had a western dress when others had hanbok (Korean traditional dress)
You were tall and handsome
Villagers called you “Modern Woman”
With reverence and envy

Since that day, I practiced everyday to walk straight
One foot over another like a ropewalker
When I am afraid of falling
I think of that “modern woman” who had shown me
A road out of that little village

I'd better save this link here, so I can send some of links to a publisher who wants web sites for ESL learners. Curt Bonk and his students are researching on online language learning research, and I want to keep up with them: http://wiki-riki.wikispaces.com/Online+Language+Learning

Web 2.0 Conference--SF 2008

I liked the size of the conference this year, and the best part of this conference is the opportunity to meet ambitious, creative, and bright entrepreneurs who are passionate about their work. I invited several interesting people for ITEC 830 class next semester. They all eager to come to the class and share their expertise in user-interface design.

I saw this year conference is more matured than last year conference based on the topics and products that are presented. Last year, most people were dazzled by the Web 2.0 tools, but this year, I am hearing more people are talking about usability, the value of social-network, consolation of Web 2.0 tools.

Once this semester is over, I will listen to some of the speakers from the conference.
http://en.oreilly.com/webexsf2008/public/content/home

Teens are not using computer as much as we think

According to a study about teens' writing style and computer use, those teens who are blogging tend to write their assignment informal, ignoring grammars and spelling . They also use internet emoticons and slangs in their writing assignment. That I can understand.

Another interesting finding from this study for me is this: "Defying conventional wisdom, the study also found that the generation born digital is shunning computer use for most assignments. About two-thirds of teens said they typically do their school writing by hand. And for personal writing outside school, longhand is even more popular -- the preferred form for nearly three-quarters of teens."

For my sister Nancy--I can sing a new song!

Sing a new song

I love to sing. However, I have a hard time carrying a tune. People who listen to me may have to suffer. Nevertheless, I have often sung in church choirs. Most churches are happy to have someone volunteer to sing. When I was a young person, my church was eager to hang on to its youth. This church sponsored a special choir for young people. I remember one time the choir director pointed in my direction and announced that someone was singing off key. But I didn’t think it was me since I could not hear any difference between my tune and the tunes of the people surrounding me.

When I moved to San Francisco, I briefly attended a Korean church. On my second visit I was already wearing a choir robe and singing in their choir. I don’t think that they discovered my singing disability. I think we attended that church about a month before we found an American church where our entire family could worship.

A person in my family, who I will not name, jokingly told me that I sing like a “stuck pig”. I imagine the squealing screams of a pig getting stuck in its throat with a knife. With that image I stopped singing and listened myself singing. Sure enough, I sang out of tune.

When Koreans get together, we take turns singing. When my turn comes, I refuse to sing. One time my friends press me more and more to sing. I didn’t want to be a party pooper, so I made up a tune with words in English. They were impressed and thought I was singing a song that they didn’t know. It was a new song for them. It occurred to me that I can carry a tune, but it must be a tune that no one else knows.

I still can’t carry someone else’s tune, but certainly I can carry my own tune. God has given me a new song. I sing for God and for myself. I am convinced that God is delighted in my off tune singing. Just as I am delighted when I watch kids sing off-tune at a Christmas program, I think God is delighted with my new song, even if it sounds like a stuck pig..

For a Magazine...

Each semester, I invite one guest speaker from the corporate world to my educational technology classroom. The guest speaker for this semester was the CEO of a social networking company from Silicon Valley. Just like me, this man happened to be a Korean-American. As I introduced him to my class, I joked that he must be making his parents very proud -- referring to his educational achievements with degrees from Harvard and MIT. He smiled and said, “One Korean word I know very well is “Gong-bu-hae” which means, “Study”.

As I was growing up in Korea I heard this word so many times that it was etched into my being. My own children could testify that “study” was the first word they heard in the morning and the last word they heard when they went to bed. I admit that we Korean parents are a bit obsessive in regards to our children’s education. It is in our DNA.

Many Korean parents will tell you that the main reason they came to America was to give their children educational opportunity. This emphasis on learning is deeply rooted in our Confucian culture. A common person could attain a higher social status by passing a highly competitive national examination. That’s why hard work and study is so central to our identity. In fact, if a person passed the examination, his entire family would be raised in status to that of “scholar”, thereby receiving prestige and privilege. Education became their ladder to success.

Many Koreans arrive in this country from a professional class, but because of language and cultural barriers, these first-generation immigrants step down a rung on the ladder. Often, for the sake of their children, they willingly enter the working or labor class. When I came to this country 30 years ago, I had to make my own downward transition. I arrived in America with a degree in English and one year of teaching experience. Yet most people could not understand my English so I felt as if my dream of becoming a teacher vanished before my eyes. I sat through several classes in a community college. Should I become a secretary? I took a typing class but I was not happy. I was good at mathematics. Should I become a bookkeeper? Although I enjoyed solving math problems, reconciling a balance sheet was not for me. What could I do? I stepped up one rung on several ladders, but none seemed to be right for me.

In 1978, I encountered my first desktop computer – a TRS 80 – and immediately recognized it as my ladder to success. I registered for my first computer programming class in 1980 and the rest, as they say, is history. If I had stayed in Korea, I would have been locked outside of this career. It would have been too late for me. I could not have re-started my education and re-invented myself as a professor of Educational Technology. Now I train teachers how to use technology to promote teaching and learning. As I look back, I appreciate so much the American system of adult education. I believe that any motivated person, no matter what age or gender, can achieve success in America with patience and persistence. This is not true in most of the world.

My mother’s mantra was “study hard” and my father’s mantra was “serve the community”. My father told me that the end goal of my education was to make my community a better place. In a sense my father was telling me that the main reason we climb the ladder of success is to help others to accomplish the same thing.

Since 2001, it has been my heart to return to Africa year after year. I have taught Rwandan professors how to integrate technology in their classrooms. I have met hundreds of bright students and teachers in Africa who are hungry for knowledge and thirsty for an opportunity to learn technology. These worthy men and women could really use our help.

I hope that we rise up in every aspect, not just economic power. To those of us who have climbed the ladder, I have a question. What are you doing at the top? Are you resting in your own good fortune, peering down at those beneath you in the world? Or are you using your high perspective to seek out those less fortunate who could benefit from your success.



Scholarship sources:

http://www.apiasf.org/
http://www.collegescholarships.org
http://www.fastweb.com/

Did you Know?

He is an artist!

I don't wear buttons for my favorite candidate, but I like the designer who create these buttons for political candidates. My artist son needs to pay rent, so he is putting his talent into working to get dimes by selling political merchandise. Daniel Pink is right, he is a proof for MFA replacing MBA. Simon, I hope you will sell millions of them.

Daniel Pink's Whole New Mind book

We are reading A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink this week in ITEC 830. Here is a great example who uses his right brain to summarize the book. This chart is created by Kurt Willig in ITEC 830 class. -- I thought the chart illustrates the key concepts of the book so well that I decide to post here to keep the chart for the future classess and also to recommend the book to others. If you have not read Pink's book, it is easy read and there are many great ideas for ID people to consider as we design learning environments for digital age learners.

This is so funny

Five minute university--it is from Youtube

Web 2.0 Tools

Online Education Database has published a new article: e-Learning Reloaded: Top 50 Web 2.0 Tools for Info Junkies, Researchers & Students.

Web 2.0 Expo pass

If you are in ITEC 830, Please registerfor a free Expo Pass. We will not have have the class session that week, we will attend the conference. Web 2.0 conference will be at Moscone west from April 22-25. Use code websf08ae17 when you register for Web 2.0 Expo and save $100 off the conference package or your choice or get a free Expo Pass.

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21st Century Skills

Everyone who is interested in educational reforms talks about 21st century skills. This week, my students and I are reading an article called "Learning for the 21st Century (A Report and MILE Guide for 21st Century Skills) http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/downloads/P21_Report.pdf. MILE (Milestones for Improving Learning) Guide for the 21st Century skills.". Students suppose to take a graphical note for the classroom discussion. Here is an example of a graphical note.

The map is produced by Kurt in ITEC 830 Spring, 2008


According to the article, there are 6 key elements of 21st century learning; 1) emphasize core subjects, 2) emphasize learning skills, 3) use 21st century tools, 4) teach and learn 21st century context, 5) teach 21st century content, and 6) assess 21st century skill. There are several more important elements are mission from this list. As a parent, I want my children to have the best education they can get. The above 6 elements are lofty goals, but I don't think they are enough for my children. I want my children to be creative beyond knowing the core subjects. I want them to have characters that they can be a good leader who has empathy toward others and knows how to create harmony in his surroundings . Where is creativity? How about empathy? Where is harmony?

It is clicking! Our community is linked.

Everyone is ready to participate in the itec 830 community. Josh presented RSS. I learned several new things from Josh's presentation that I want to try out. Kurt presented social bookmarking tool called del.icio.us. He created a del.icio.us site for us. Now we all can start to contribute to this page when we find an interesting site or an article.

If you are in ITEC 830, please make a link to the site from your blog or wiki page. Thank you Kurt for being so prompt. Here is itec 830 and ID/password.

http://del.icio.us/itec_830
username: itec_830
password: spring08

For the first time they see photos of themselves

First time I visited Batwa people in Butare, Rwanda was in 2001. I took each family their portraits (10 families in all). When I returned a year later, I give them their pictures. This is their first time seeing themselves.

Looking at a picture we took of them on the previous visit

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Batwa family from Rwanda

I took this video when I visited Batwa family in Butare Rwanda in 2006. There are 10 families, and about 40 people live in a small small house out skirt of Butare where the Come and See Africa Mission Center is located. Butare is the second largest city in Rwanda and the home of National University of Rwanda where I provide faculty development workshops each summer. We became good friends with them since 2001. Whenever we visit them, we bring goats for them and they greet us with singing and dancing.

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I wish I would have entered and won one of these.

There are so many exciting things are happening in education with digital media. Here are samples of the projects that won MacArthur Competition this year. You can read more details about the competition and projects at the MacArthur Foundation site.

"The 2007-08 Digital Media and Learning Competition, administered by HASTAC and supported by the MacArthur Foundation. From a field of over 1,000 applications, seven projects won Innovation awards of $100,000 or $238,000; in the Knowledge-Networking category, ten projects received awards ranging from $30,000 to $72,000. "

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Revived

I was so sick with coughing that I thought my eyes were going to pop out. In between coughs, I constantly complained about how awful I felt. I griped, “This is the first time that I’ve ever been this sick”. Poor Chris had to endure his own coughing as well as listen to my complaints. At one point, Chris reminded me that there will be a lot of “first times” coming up in the future. “So get use to it!” I think he is right.

Then my mind turned to Lillian Fielding. Chris, Al, and I had visited her a week earlier. She was within a week of death, yet she received us with a gracious smile. When my mind’s eye focused on Lillian, complaining words were replaced with words of gratitude. I was thankful that I had nothing more serious than a cold. My grateful heart changed my feelings toward to myself. My feelings influenced my attitude, and my attitude influenced my actions.

Humans are emotional beings. Our emotions are like the spark plug that starts our engine. I want my emotions to be controlled by the Sprit of God, so that everything I do is pleasing to God. I am totally recovered now. My body is revived and so is my soul. Looking back, I realize that my revival started with a grateful heart. I believe that my change in attitude helped me to recover faster. What a great feeling to be revived.

Our church is now preparing for a revival. Are we ready to start our church engine and move toward our goals of Glorying God, Loving One Another, and Reaching the World? Prayer is our engine. At our Sunday school we talked about greeting one another with the words “Praise the Lord and Hallelujah”. These powerful words can be the spark that starts the engine. I believe that church revival begins in the hearts of each person at First Southern.

A few days ago, Chris and I walked around Lake Chabot. As we talked and prayed about revival, we sang “Hallelujah ~ Thine the Glory ~ Hallelujah, Amen ~Hallelujah ~Thine the Glory~ Revive us again ~”. I was refreshed physically, mentally, and spiritually. Our one hour walk seemed like a minute. I recommend that you sing this song whenever you clean the house or take a walk. You will regain your vitality as I did. As we praise God with our prayers and with our songs, let’s spur one another and bring revival to our church.

Posting a picture from Flickr

DSC03176.JPG
Originally uploaded by come and see africa

I showed the class how to post this picture from Flickr.

Digital Learners

Joshua pointed out a term "infotainment" in his blog that I have not heard yet. I like the description he provided, "Web surfing fuses learning and entertainment, creating infotainment." For so long we want to create a learning material that is "edutainment" and I don't think we have been successful.

I should have let students discuss about the article that they have read than I explain about it. After I read their blog entries, I kicked myself for not engaging them as I should have. Our class discussion would have been so richer but I made the discussion (?) very bland by taking an instructor role rather than a facilitator role. BAD, BAD. I didn't practice what I preach. Especially this week topic was on active learning and learner engagement.

Everyone seemed to know the differences between wiki and blog. Angela presented about Podcasting, and Sylvia showed her teaching site using various Web2.0 tools. I like to use Freemind mapping tool in this class as a collaboration tool.

Twitter Application

We talked about different Web 2.o applications last night in education in itec 830. Twitter came up in our conversation, when I heard about Twitter, I scratched my head how this could be used in classroom. Here is an article from the Chronicles of Higher Education. Prof. David Parry from University of Taxas uses it as a classroom communication tool.
A professor's tips for Using Twitter in the Classroom

More about Twitter us in Academica

David and Phillip from last semester came and shared their finall projects --using wiki and other Web 2.0 tools to improve teaching and learning--with the class. David teaches Digital sotrytelling class for seniors, 55 plus populations, and Phillip teaches art class in high school.

Earthquake in Rwanda

Two earthquakes struck hours apart in Rwanda and neighboring Congo, killing at least 39 people, and injuring 380. I first heard about earthquakes in Rwanda and Congo just before our worship service started on Sunday, Feb. 3rd. Many of my friends live in that part of the world. Thankfully, I heard from most of my friends from Rwanda, and they are Okay. But I have not yet heard from friends from Congo.

Web 2.0 workshop

I attended Web 2.0 workshop that was organized by Classroom 2.0 people. I saw great examples and also met many wonderful teachers who truly love teaching. Here is an agenda for the workshop. I will definitely use some of the tools I learned in my itec 830 class.

New York Trip

Pastor Chris and the mission team left for Africa on Dec. 24th. On the same day Zach and I left for New York to visit Simon and his wife Dilia. Our plan was to spend Christmas with Simon before they left for Florida. While they were gone for the weekend, I “dog sat” for them. I didn’t realized how much work was involved in taking care of dogs. Ike and Stella started barking around 5 am. That meant they wanted out to do their thing. The first day was Okay. I let them out to their back yard and they did what dogs do. But on the second day I didn’t hear them barking. When I came out from bedroom about 8 in the morning. I saw two piles of gold (that is what Simon called it) at the doorstep. When Simon called later that day, I told him about what happened at home, he told me this never happened before. I felt guilty. What did I do wrong? I fixed their meal as Simon prescribed to me; mixing rice with dry dog food with a drop of vitamins. I felt like I was taking care of babies. Actually those dogs were like Simon and Dilia’s babies. They called two or three times a day from Florida to check on the dogs and me. But enough about the dog story.

Here is about a church story. I wanted to attend a church on Sunday. I Googled the Internet and found two churches that I could walk to. The first church I walked to was a Baptist church. People were standing at the church door, laughing and talking to each other. I took few steps toward them, but no one paid attention to me. They were too busy talking. I felt awkward and unwelcome. I decided to pass that church and walked to the next church. This one was called the “New Testament Church of Christ”. A man greeted me with a big smile at their parking lot and invited me to the service. I followed him to the church, and two women at the door welcomed me with big smile. People inside sanctuary seemed to be happy to see each other and some of them approached to this stranger with warm greeting. It was a small congregation about 50. It reminded me of our church, and immediately I felt home. I wondered if our church was more like the first or the second.

January 2008 CASA Conference

2008 CASA conference, from Jan 2 to Jan 6th, went very well. The theme of the confrence was "Joseph in Egypt". Chris, Rob, Frank, Lelia went from US. About 250 students from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania attended. Sadly, students from Kenya couldn't attend because of the war that broke out on Dec. 30, 2007. Also students from Congo were turned away at the Rwanda border because of the Ebola breakout in Congo. Dealing with wars and diseases are the reality of everyday African life. To change that, African Christian students are doing something about it. They are crying out to God to help them, then put their faith into action. They lift their hearts to God and their hands to help poor people. Here are future leaders of Africa who will find solutions to their problems.
Here is the foreign minister of Rwanda, he was the confence keynote speaker. The purpose of CASA is to help students to be like him who can serve their people with Christian heart.

My son's art show

Simon has been working and working for this show. I couldn't go to New York to see his works, but luckily he posted his show online. I am posting the link for my family and friends. You can give him your feedback in his site. http://simonforeman.com

New Semester

Our school started on August 27th. I have four courses to teach this semester, and they are all full. One of the reasons that I chose teaching career is for the love of learning... I definitely learn from my students. This is especially true with Web 2.0 technologies.

I use Firefox as my main browser, but when I do blogging I like to use Flock which is the secondary browser for social networking. Flock makes easy to organize and manage websites, pics and videos, feeds, blogging.

William from Rwanda is visiting us for a week. He is now a blogger, and he has been blogging for three days, and having a good time doing it. He also is learning how to swim. Rwanda is a land-locked country, so most people do not know how to swim. William is so determine to swim. He has been in the pool almost everyday past few days. I joke with him that he will be in Olympic swim team from Rwanda in 2012.

Morning Devotions

Within the blink of an eye, my summer is gone. School starts next week, but I am not yet ready to return. It has been over a month since we came back from Africa, but still my mind is occupied with our Africa mission.

The other day, Chris asked what I remembered most about all the things we did in Africa this past summer. I considered seminars that I conducted, churches that I visited, people that I met, a house that we built, goats that we gave away, and places where we traveled. I told Chris “My most cherished memory has to be the morning devotions”.

I truly miss the morning devotion that gathered at 5:30 every morning in our Christian Fellowship House in Butare, Rwanda. For the two weeks I lived there, I grew accustomed to waking up at the sound of the steel gate opening, followed by the footsteps of children, then their mothers entering into “the sitting room”. In this 15 by 20 foot room, children sat in the center on floor mats while their mothers sat on benches near the walls. After early morning praise, the mothers hurried off to the fields and the children went to school.

Even though it is called “morning devotion”, it seemed like a full service to me. Our African sisters praised and worshiped God with passion. The early hour didn’t make any difference. I joined in with the singing and dancing. What a great way to start the day.

Can you believe that this many people fit in our living room?

Where did my summer go?

Within the blink of an eye, my summer is gone. I am ready to go back to school. My mind is still occupied with Africa, VBS, death of Mr. Wilbur, my kids in DC and NY. My husband and I are thinking about starting a homework club for our neighborhood. One night when we came home, we found two teen agers were doing their homework at our church steps. They told me that their house is too noisy to do their home work. Some kids from immigrant families at our neighborhood do not have their own room to study. My heart goes out for them. If we could open our church space up for these kids, it would be great. I learned that some churches are doing the exact things that I am talking about. We need to visit some of these places. We have some seniors who can help kids to read and do their home work in a safe environment. I am thinking about adding homework club to my plate. Am I crazy or what? Perhaps. I will be teaching four classes this fall. In addition to my college teaching, I am also teaching a 4th and 5th grade Sunday school, and teach a Wed. Bible study.

Well, teaching is learning. I like to learn, and it is the best way for me to learn is to teach others. So I should be grateful for opportunities I have.

Where heros are made

We have an awesome church! Twenty-five adults (mostly seniors) volunteered for the VBS to serve 30 children. Most of these volunteers are seniors, some are in their 80's. Each volunteer played his or her position well. We taught children about how heros are made. Everyone is a hero in my book. All of us together made a history for our church.


Teachers are thanked by the VBS director


at a rally...


At the craft class


"Game Day Central" sticker on her face


Washing hands before snack

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Having a great time

I have 12 kids in my 5th and 6th grade class this week. We have over 30 students enrolled in this year's VBS. God made a way for us again. Knowing we have only one kid in our regular Sunday School, our church prepared a VBS with faith that God will provide kids. Where these kids came from? Fifteen kids came from a Hispanic church, and rest of children are grand children of our congregation.

I thought I would never be able to keep up with 10 year olds, but I am doing Okay. They are great kids, and fun to be with. I teach them two 30 min. sessions each day. The topic of this year's VBS is "How Heros are Made". Heros know their roles and they know their game plans. Kids are playing a ball game outside. I am taking my break while they take their craft class and sport class.

Vacation Bible School

Our church is going to have a VBS from Sunday, July 29 to August 2nd. I am a head coach for preteens, and studying the material like I am studying for a bar exam. Now I know that it is not fun or easy to follow someone else's lesson plan. This year theme is about How Heros are Made.
More info is here:
LifeWay's VBS -- Game Day Central

2007 Summer Mission Photos

As soon as we got back from Africa on July 14th, Chris started organizing photos and editing videos to put on the internet. He sent out the following e-mail to friends yesterday. If you didn't see the photos, here is the link you can go and check out photos and videos..

**Chris' e-mail
Dear friends of Come and See Africa,

I have finally posted all the pictures of our Mission 2007. It was a challenge because there were 4 people taking lots of pictures (344 posted). I hope to fill in some narrative at future date. If you have a slow internet connection, it may take some time for you to see all the pictures.

http://comeandseeafrica.org/pastmissions/mission2007/index.htm

Chris A. Foreman
Come and See Africa Intl.

God has made a way

In Rwanda, a piece of land doesn't belong to an individual. When you buy a plot to build your house, you are actually paying for a title to use the land. We were looking to buy a piece of vacant land right next to the front gate of the university. Last summer, the owner said that the price for the plot is 10 million francs (about $20,000 USD). A friend of ours who shared the CASA vision gave money to buy the land. The owner got greedier when he learned that a missionary wants to buy his land. He raise the price to 30 million francs (about $60,000). We decide not to buy it. We believe that God has a place for us to build His house, so we waited on. When we were in Butare this summer, we found a piece of plot that is perfect for us. It is about 500 steps away from the back gate of the National University of Rwanda, and has a nice view of the university forest. This land has an interesting story. Here is the plot which the CASA is buying. Click the picture to view the plot.




Here is Chris' e-mail to the donor about the land.

Dear friend,

Your generosity has born fruit in Rwanda. As you can read below, CASA has just purchased property in Butare. In all honesty this plot of land is probably better suited for our purposes than the plot we looked at in January. We paid 8 million Rwandan Franks or about $16,000. We are using the money that you donated specifically for this purpose.

We are indeed blessed to have this land. Rwanda is a rock of stability in East Africa and land prices are rising quickly. The university plans to increase enrollment and this newly constructed "Christian Fellowship House" will be strategically situated at the university's back gate. I am posting pictures of the plot tomorrow and will send you a link to them.

The property has an interesting history which needed special handling. This plot once belonged to a president of Rwanda from the former racist government. The man was a professor at the NUR before being president and his personal home was on this plot. He went on to serve as president for only 3 months. At the conclusion of the genocide war, the patriotic army destroyed his house. The land has be vacant since then -- with a very small cinder block building in one corner.

Blessings, Chris

Giving Goats

We bought 10 goats and gave them to two orphans, two widows, and six Batwa families. Our church members gave me money to buy goats. One goat costs about $20. One goat for a poor family is a big thing. Goats will produce little baby goats for household income.

Village people are waiting anxiously for goats to appear. We didn't tell who is going to get a goat. It was a surprise.


We put the donor's name on each goat.


An orphan boy got the goat named Ken D. He is telling everyone saying that Immana (God) gave him a goat



These batwa family gave thanks to Immana and the CASA team with their dance.

What do we eat in Africa?

People ask me what kind of food we eat when we are in Africa. I tell them we eat well, too well. Every time I go there, I come home several pounds heavier. I eat lots of fried food. There is one menu for mujugus (it means "white people") I m not whitle, but they call anyone who is not local, they call mujungus. For breakfast, we eat fried egg, white bread, bananas, papayas, pineapples, passion fruits. For lunch which is the biggest meal, we eat rice, fried potatoes, mutoki (cooked or fried banana), a piece of beef or chicken. For dinner, the same thing we ate for the lunch. I eat much better and more when I am in Rwanda. All these great foods are prepared in this outdoor kitchen by Esprance.


And served in fancy pots. Lots of different dishes. Do you see a big dough like thing on the table, that is a traditional African food called "ugari" It is made from casaba roots. It is a lot like Korean dduk (rice cake) I wish every African family eat like this. But it is not. This is a meal for guests, and Africans are famous for their hospitality. They will go without food for themselves for a few days in order to treat their guests with a good meal.


When we are in Burundi, we cook for ourselves. Paul is preparing tea, Nate is making french toast for a breakfast.



The best fish I ever had was in Burundi. Here it is. Every time we go to Brundi, we go to a beach restaurant and eat fish caught from Lake Tanganyika. Chris is serving to us. I hope he washed his hands.

Global Citizens

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Originally uploaded by come and see africa

NUR is blessed with many talented professors. The talents are pulled from all over the world. Elena and Oleg are from Russia, and they teach physics and astronomy. Jose and Jahwar are from India. Some of these professors are from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya. And yours truly who is a Korean-American came to Butare from SF. Most of these professors speak three or four languages fluently. They are holding a certificate of completion of Web 2.0 workshop. Each of these professors are now have their own blog and their wiki site.

4th of July

Four of us celebrated 4th of July in Butare, Rwanda. We celebrated it as Independence Day, Rwandans celebrated it as Liberation Day.

Morning Glory

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Originally uploaded by come and see africa

These children get up at 5 am, and come for the morning devotion at CASA house. They sing and dance, and hear God's words before they go to school. Many of these children go to sleep without a dinner, and they go to school without a breakfast. And yet, they give thanks to God. Bless are the poor... This picture is taken at 6:30 am, right after the morning devotion.

What can you see when you are in Rwanda?

I have visited Rwanda eight times, and yet I have not seen any animals other than goats and chickens. Rwanda is famous for gorillas, and yet I have not seen one. You have to go to a special park to see it, and also it is quiet expensive to get into to the park. Chris was lucky to see a monkey on his way to Congo.



These two mujungus are enjoying goat meats they bought from a street vendor.