Eighteen-year-old Unity resident, Alysha Ehnisz has returned home from a six-month adventure of a lifetime with Youth With a Mission, which took her to Kona, Hawaii and Rwanda, Africa.
Youth from every part of the world met on the Big Island of Hawaii at the University of the Nations to do a Discipleship Training School with the global Christian missions organization, YWAM (Youth With a Mission). Of the 500 students at the University of the Nations, Alysha was among the 89 students in the "compassion" school whose focus was reaching the poor, the oppressed, and children at risk.
There was a lecture phase in Kona for three months, then students were divided into 10 teams for the three-month outreach phase. Teams went to South Africa, Rwanda, Mozambique, India, Japan, Myanmar, Cambodia, St. Croix, and Columbia.
Alysha, who dreamed of going to Africa, was overjoyed to be going to the central African nation of Rwanda. It is notorious for the conflict in 1994 between the Hutus and Tutsis that killed more than one million people.
"It was just amazing to see how much joy people had despite such tragedies in their past," Alysha says.
"It was hard to even believe the genocide could have even happened only 18 years ago because there has been so much healing and restoration since then."
Their outreach team consisted of three Canadians, three Americans, and one Norwegian, five of them being 18 year olds. They all lived together in a house in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, with a local translator. The team's leaders were a local Rwandan couple who lived down the street.
"It was such a great cultural experience," says Alysha. "We were living with the locals, shopping locally, and interacting with the Rwandans on an everyday basis. We were quite the spectacle, with people constantly shouting 'Muzungus!' (white people) everywhere we went. The people would love when we would attempt their language, Kinyarwanda. It really broke down a lot of walls because we tried to embrace their culture and become a part of it."
During their time in Rwanda, the team worked in many different settings, telling people about the love of God and practically demonstrating it through a variety of mercy ministries. They spent time working in a poor community in one of the roughest areas of Kigali.
"God had led us to this little community for a purpose and we knew that we had found a treasure," says Alysha.
She taught mothers and children the importance of hygiene, hand washing and rehydration. Afternoons were spent sitting with the women teaching them how to crotchet hats, a skill they could use to provide for their families instead of earning a living on the streets. The guys built toilets with the men and helped make hand-washing stations. Much time was spent playing with the children, singing songs, and teaching them Bible stories. The children were dear to everyone's hearts, and Alysha's favourite was little Jennifer.
The team also worked in an orphanage, taught in schools, worked in churches and did hospital ministry.
Back in Hawaii, the team was told they would have the chance to free medical prisoners - people who are held captive in the hospital because they are unable to pay their medical bills. So they had an online account set up and raised money by asking for support from people back home. At a hospital in Rwanda, there was a small room for eight women who could not pay their bills. Many of these women were pregnant or had newborn babies. They sat in a small dim room, with only a bed and a few personal belongings, day after day, never knowing if they were going to get out of the hospital.
With $497, the team was able to pay the medical bills of all eight women.
"I will never forget the feeling of leading them through the hospital gate while each woman, face beaming, presented their paid bill to the security officer," recalls Alysha.
Among them was a 17-year-old girl named Angelique, with a two-week-old baby. She had left her home village five months previous with her family not knowing she was pregnant. The highlight of Alysha's trip was when she and her leader took Angelique and the baby back to her family in a village three hours from the city.
Getting there proved to be quite an adventure, which included an unexpected overnight stay in a stranger's home. One very bumpy road later, and a hike up a mountain in flip flops, Alysha was carrying the newborn baby as they arrived at the family's remote mud house. Not knowing the response they would receive, Angelique's village and family were thankful to have one of their own back.
"God Bless You. Thank you very much. I always knew white people were good people," Angelique's father kept repeating.
One week was spent in the neighbouring country, Burundi where Alysha's parents later learned has a high rate of foreign kidnappings and the Canadian travel report had an advisory against all travel to the country for any reason. Alysha recalls this as her favourite week of the entire outreach.
The border crossing went smoothly and never once did they feel unsafe, except for when touching a crocodile in the zoo and when a hippo came onto the beach. They did street kid ministry, taking 11 kids off the street back to their home where they bathed them, fed them lunch, bought them new clothes and spent an afternoon of fun with them.
Being right next to Lake Tanganyika, they were able to work with local fishermen, helping them pull in their traditional nets onto the beach.
The team was again able to free four medical prisoners from the hospital, but were heartbroken to be unable to afford to free the remaining 20 people stuck in the hospital. One final week was spent in a village in Rwanda where the team lived in a mud house with no running water and they used "squatty potties." They assisted the village members in their daily tasks and worked along with the local church, enjoying participating in the traditional African style singing and dancing.
The team returned to Hawaii for a week of debriefing with the other teams from around the world. New friendships, memories, and experiences were made that will last a lifetime for these young people.
"This has been such a crazy adventure. A piece of my heart is still in Africa and I have a feeling that it won't be long before I am back," Alysha says.
