small victories!

Our first batch of jewellery is on it's way to America! The women have been learning so quickly and seeming to have fun making the jewellery. They come early and stay late; I am loving their strong work ethic (and their smiles and giggles even though I don't know what they're laughing about due to the language barrier!) We have already found out that the women are working less at night as their income begins to be replaced by the work they do with us. I am feeling encouraged by this victory! Please continue to pray and check out www.youcaring.com/bronte-hughes-400863 if you haven't already - the more money I raise, the more money can be poured back into this program! 

Thank you!

one week in Kigali!

I have been in Rwanda for one week and 3 hours. So I felt I owed you all an update.

Things here are going well (for those who read my blog last time around you will know the first few days/weeks were brutal, so this is BIG!) Coming back to a place I am familiar with, and being surrounded by familiar faces makes a huge difference.

I figured I would wait a little longer to tell you the details of my work, as it is still all unfolding a bit. Instead, I thought I would try to answer the "What is it like there?" question that I have been asked quite a bit. It is impossible to completely and accurately describe a place without you being able to see it and experience it yourself, but I will try!

Kigali is a juxtaposition of both modern day luxury and the more "simple" things in life. There are restaurants, hotels, spas/salons, a golf course, huge mansions, and expensive cars. But at the same time, our power goes out usually once per day, our water sometimes stops running, and many of the roads are red clay/dirt. There are also families who live in homes which are made of mud bricks and do not have running water. There is so much contrast.

Kigali is quite safe, however there are issues with theft. Most homes are surrounded by walls with a locked gate at the front, some with guards employed to keep the property protected. We have a guard at our home who is a lovely man and also helps out around the property doing maintenance.

We also employ a lovely lady who helps to take care of our home a few days a week with cleaning and some cooking. This is a strange concept to those of us who grew up in the West, but in Rwanda it is expected that those who have the means to do so, hire domestic workers in their home as a way to create jobs and income for people.

In terms of food, we have access to most things. There are many restaurants here in Kigali, as well as a market and supermarkets. We eat well and so I am grateful for the exercise class my friend runs..

For transportation, sometimes we drive in my housemates car (I even had a turn of driving today and didn't get in a crash so yay!). Traffic in Kigali is crazy and road rules are "loose", shall we say. If not driving, I take a moto - which is when you flag down a guy on a motorbike and hop on the back and pay him to take you to where you need to go. It is good fun :)

That's about all I can think of right now, but PLEASE feel free to ask questions and give me suggestions on what you might like to see on this blog. Last time around I feel that maybe I used it more for my own coping mechanism, but this time I feel like it will be used more to communicate with all of you lovely supporters and friends - so please be in touch with me about what you would like to read!

Thanks!

Bronte

a big "thank you"

Hi,

I just wanted to take some time to give a little shout out to all of you who have been supporting me as I get ready to leave in less than 3 days!

Some of you have supported financially, which is incredible and I literally could not do what I am doing without you, so thank you. It is not an easy thing for a lot of people in our society to part with their finances - you are all wonderful.

Others with your kind words of encouragement - one of my "love languages" is words, so please believe me when I say these go a long way. The fact that you believe I can do this work means a lot more than you realise, so thank you.

And to the community of people I have here in Australia: for someone who has only been around for a few months, you have never made me feel like "the new girl". I have felt entirely welcomed and embraced by the Narara Valley Baptist family, and that sense of family and community is giving me more strength and confidence than I think you realise. Thank you for not only welcoming me in, but for supporting me in prayer - for that experience this evening I am truly thankful. Please know how wonderful you all are, and how much I appreciate you.

I cannot name every single person, but if you're reading this, you are included in those I want to thank. Your reading this means you care for me and for this next chapter in my life.

"Thank you" doesn't even do enough to express how grateful I am for you all.

- Bronte. 

a little re-introduction

Well, hello there!

This blog is now back up & running after a little hiatus since 2012.

I've asked a few people what they would like to see on here at the moment as I'm getting ready to head back to Rwanda, and it seems I owe a bit of detail about what I'm doing, the work, how I got to be here, etc. Part of that answer requires a bit of transparency, which this blog has always had. So here goes:

I was in Rwanda in 2011 for a few months. The plans I had for that trip ended up not coming to fruition and it became a challenging time for me in terms of understanding what to do next, and what
"God's will" means. In all of those tough questions and decisions, I always held onto the hope and prayer that maybe one day, I would get to go back to Rwanda and "try again" and redeem something that felt like a personal failure.

Fast forward to 2014/2015: I moved back to Australia, started working, living with my parents until I was a little more grounded and stable, and met some really great friends. Unfortunately, the job I got did not work out. Without going into too much detail (for the sake of integrity and professionalism) the work environment was not a healthy one for me to be in. So I found myself kind of "floating", looking for more work, but feeling very burnt out from the nature of working in the foster care system without good professional support, and honestly feeling pretty relived to be out of that job, but also pretty defeated and extremely drained by the whole experience.

I was at home doing a bunch of nothing one day, when a friend whom I had met in Rwanda in 2011 contacted me: "So if I were to tell you there is a new ministry starting to help women get out of sex work.. would that pique your interest?", she said. Now if you know me at all, you know that this most definitely piqued my interest! I was in India in 2012 working with women rescued from trafficking, and in my adult years have become passionate about women's issues, and if you add in the "I don't have a full-time job, house/mortgage, or husband/family", etc.. all the pieces just seems to fit. It seems that God has given me the opportunity to redeem that trip from back on 2011 that was so challenging and confusing - and that's just the selfish part of the whole thing! Then there's the part where I get to come alongside other people and work together to help these women achieve the goals and outcomes they are going to set for themselves to find employment and financial stability for their families without prostitution.

If you were to read back to the very beginning of this blog, you would see that working for the good of others has been something I have dedicated my life to. I got my degree in Social Work because I want a career that focuses on working alongside others to better their lives and situations. And so, regardless of all the little things and circumstances that fell into place, this is the kind of thing that I want my life to be about: to be a part of seeing change in the lives of people who want or need to see change.

There are many tangents I could go on in this post alone, but I have a feeling those things will start to come out as time goes along and as I write more. So I'll leave it at that for now.

As always, please feel free to ask questions - if there's more information you want or suggestions for what to write about, please do not hesitate to contact me!

I genuinely thank you for reading this.

Much love.

Bronte

(To donate to my living expenses click here)

(To donate to the funding for the program - Duhugurane/DuHope - click here!)

thus begins the rest of my life

it's been a while.

New York ended up being a bumpy, but beautiful ride.

in a few hours I will get on a plane (for essentially an entire day..) and land back in Australia. a place I consider home, but one that I'm afraid may not feel that way initially. I am comforted only by the thought of sunshine and my family waiting on the other side, darling nieces and nephews included.

today I keep trying to decide if moving at age 14 was more difficult than doing it again at 25. so far I think year 25 takes the cake.

alas, back to packing. maybe this blog will end up being a helpful outlet like it was a few years ago. sometimes I feel the need to write these things out, but on a little less public forum as Facebook (I also hate "pity posts" on Facebook..) so pity blog it is!

Phase 4.

I had been contemplating starting up this blog to document and process my transition from life in America back to Australia. However, now I have another little adventure to work through.

In 11 days I will be fulfilling a long-time dream of living in New York City. I have accepted a position with a mother and her daughter to be a nanny/assistant on the Upper West Side. I am thrilled to be able to have this opportunity and be able to say that I obtained a goal that seemed unrealistic and just whimsical at times.

However, as this blog often clearly explains, I'm not great at transitions. I'm feeling a bit anxious about packing, adjusting, friends.... or.. lack thereof.

I'm currently at a point in my life where my whole outlook, my "mantra" if you will, has definitely shifted. I'm trying to embrace the world more: experience it; be a part of it; participate, instead of just watch it happen around me.

I'm also at a point where I feel like I've really established a pretty good group of people to surround myself with. I don't necessarily have a strong friend group or community; it's more like I have a select few individuals from different aspects of my life that I feel I can depend on and who are significant and fulfill my own personal need to feel significant. We have things in common, strong discussions, they are compassionate, intentional, present, they challenge me, they're willing.

Unfortunately, this move to New York kind of puts these two new areas of my world into conflict: on the one hand I am going on an adventure and diving into one of the largest most exciting cities on planet earth. But, on the other hand, I am leaving behind the people I feel like I've finally found to do life alongside.

So, as I feel excited to tackle a new city and a new experience that I've been aching for for years, I also feel anxiety - fear even - for the loneliness that is about to ensue. I am going to do my best to keep in contact with said people - they mean too much to me and have shown me too much love and care for me not to. But I'm also going to have to be very intentional about trying to find friends who replicate these same ideals in life and friendship. I may not find them - but if I can at least find people I can be myself with and who can fill some of the lonely hours, then I'll consider it a blessing, and I will be grateful.

Honestly though, in a way I only hope to find more shallow, surface-level friendships. Because I don't want to replace any of the people in my life that I have now. And I don't want to form more bonds that I will only have to lose or break when I leave New York for Australia. It's going to be painful enough leaving the friends I have now. I've seen so many people in and out of my life the past 15 years that it's hard for me to trust in friendships. But once I do, that trust runs deep, which creates the chance for me to be deeply hurt if I feel like those friendships become insignificant.

"There's freedom in not being close to anyone, because then you don't get hurt."

The battle then becomes the freedom to not feel hurt when I leave versus the loneliness of doing life in New York with surface-level friends.

Who knows, maybe I will meet people who do shape me the way my friends now have. Maybe I'll just find people to grab coffee with when I'm feeling bored. I honestly have no idea what the next year holds for me. Part of that is scary, but a lot of it is exciting.

Stay tuned for depressing posts about my struggle. (And some fun New York musings).


+ things I'll miss about America.


Thanks, as always.

the end (for now).

Well. Hello there faithful blog readers. It's been quite a while - quite a while since my last post, and quite a while since this journey has (physically) ended. I had meant to write a post during my last few days in India, then during my first few days back in the US.. yet here I am today, three weeks later and just now writing it. I'm still not quite sure what I'm going to tell you - I'm going to start typing, and hope that what comes out is something good. But no promises. Where to start..

I guess part of the problem is that I half expected to have processed something by now, something complete and fulfilled that I could report back to you. However, I think the problem is that I'm never going to stop processing. This trip is going to somehow mesh into the person that I am - the experiences, the lessons, the people, the memories, will somehow, one day (and already are) shaping me.

Although there is so much about the past seven (going on eight!) months that I can't describe to you, let alone process, comprehend, or understand, I want to at least share with you what I have managed to put into some words.

First of all - I learned to let go of expectations. This was tough. I kind of had it in my mind that I'd go overseas and work hard and change lives and impact people, all because of this degree that I have (in Social Work). That somehow my four years of education, and one slip of paper + a funny hat would make me some force for injustice to reckon with. Alas, I still have a lot of learning to do. About my gifts, my abilities, the things I desire. I may have found some of my way along the path of my life, but I still have a lot of figuring out to do. A lot of people go away to these countries (namely, India) to "find themselves" but I think this time caused me to question myself, more than it gave me answers. Maybe I'll find those answers one day, maybe I won't - and I'm ok with that. I may never have concrete answers, but I have been shaped in some way, I have learned something. I have been humbled. Entirely and completely been broken and humbled. Just because you dedicate your life to go overseas and be a missionary, doesn't mean you're going to succeed at it. God is able to use what you do, but what you do does nothing standing alone. I can only hope that God is using me somehow, even amidst my feelings of failure during that time (I'll come back to this topic shortly).

Something else I wanted to share with you was an opportunity I had to spend with some very special people. In my last two weeks in India, I went away to a camp that Freedom Firm hosts each year for girls from all over India who have been trafficked. We had about 30 girls, ranging from 16 - 30. A team from the States came to lead the camp - crafts, stories, games, etc. I got to sit and watch these girls running around, laughing, having fun - something they rarely, if ever, get to do. And I just "people watched" - I noticed their individual personalities. Some were quiet, reserved, a bit lacking in confidence, but sweet. Some were quiet, but also quite aggressive and had definite walls up. Some were goofy and awkward. Some were beautifully confident and funny. Each girl was so different, but all so sweet and precious. Yet each and every one of them has experienced something so dreadfully hurtful, something SO inherently evil. How a person, a girl so young, comes out of forced prostitution and still knows how to smile so strongly is such a huge testimony to the human spirit. As I watched them I was just thinking about how God had created each and every one of them with a beautiful personality, and that even the most disgusting of evils hadn't destroyed that. They each shared this common factor, something that could so easily and heavily define them, yet their individual characters still stayed strong in them. I will never, ever forget these beautiful faces and personalities.

Some people have asked me since being back if I have struggled with how evil people can be - if I have a negative perception of the human race now. But because of these girls, I feel the opposite way. Because of their ability to stay strong, happy, funny, confident, sweet, caring, throughout such struggles, I have a renewed feeling of happiness towards humanity. That not only are there still people with such qualities, but there are people who have suffered under the very hands of the most evil people of this world, who remain so incredible. They are the most vulnerable, yet the strongest people I've ever encountered in my life.

Many of the girls who came to the camp were Muslim and Hindu girls. Freedom Firm (and the Woodsedge church from America) were able to share with them their personal beliefs about Christ. On the last day of camp, the two men from the church explained the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet, and then washed the feet of all the girls there. These girls broke down. To have someone serve them in such an intimate way, let alone men, the very people who exploited them day in and day out, broke down walls. I don't know what those girls thought about God or Jesus or the fact that He loves them so immensely, but I at least now know that they heard it. During this time I realised just how badly they need Him. These girls have had everything taken from them: their childhood, their virginity, their families, for many of them they will have a hard time having any sort of future since they have been disowned and cannot be married in a society so heavily dependent on marriage. Some of them have contracted HIV - so their health, and maybe even, their life, has been stripped from them. What left is there to give them? The love and relationships we as humans can give them can help to restore some of this hurt, but ultimately, the only thing that can truly lift them out of such brokenness is Christ. When I think of God's love, I automatically think of these girls. His love for them is just so intensely huge and they deserve it more than I ever will. That is why I say that I feel humbled. Because God does not need me. He doesn't need my qualifications, my degree, my willingness, my "bravery" to go to Rwanda and India - He doesn't need it at all. Those girls don't need any of that. All they need is someone to share Christ with them and to understand His immense love for them. Now I can only hope that they learned some of that, in some small way, from me. What an honour it would be to represent His love to these girls.

A dear friend of mine gave me a gift before I left for Rwanda - a journal with some quotes and things written in it. One of those quotes read: 

"Walk away from your computer. Then take off, go to India, rural China, Rio, Caracas, and Belize. Mingle with the filthy rich and the dirt poor. Dig up all the roots of terror. Make hunger, disease, cruelty, lust, greed, self-preservation and genocide your roommates. Then when you run out of money and can't take it anymore, fly back home. Look in the mirror. Face your fears, your weaknesses, strengths, your imminent demise. Then when all of this begins to gel into a master narrative in front of your eyes, go get a job." - Kalle Lasn.

That just about sums it up. I've learned about my weaknesses (if I were to explain them all to you, you'd be here for hours..) and fears, but I've let that become my strength - to acknowledge the things that I am lacking, to be aware of them, and to allow them to be opportunities for God to take over. I have been broken a few times over the last few months, but it's like the old cliche saying, "If it's not broken, don't fix it" - I can only begin to become more of what Christ wants me to be once I am broken. 

I could go on for a long time, but this post is already half a novel ;) I appreciate you reading, whether you read every post over the past year, or if you only read this one. If there is anything else you are curious about, or want to know more about, or want to discuss, or even disagree with me - please feel free to contact me.

Thank you again - for your support, prayers, belief in me, and encouragement. It made all the difference.

Bronte.

"Welcome for India"

As you may have heard, I was a bit sick as of late. One of the Freedom Firm girls told us a few times in regards to getting sick: "Welcome for India" in her broken English.

Being sick here was quite miserable; being sick away from home is never fun. And being stuck in bed for a whole week is never fun either. So for about a week and a half I really couldn't eat anything - I was constantly nauseated and weak. No fun. In the middle of the week, we decided it was time to go see a doctor. So our driver, Susai, picked up Sheena and I (who was also sick) and took us to the "hospital" run by a Catholic convent/church on the other side of Ooty. We were greeted by a woman who we are assuming was an actual doctor.. She spoke some English, but it seemed like a lot of what we were saying was going a bit over her head - she wasn't really seeming to understand what our problem was, which was cause for frustration. Sometimes she even laughed at us when we shared a symptom. She decided Sheena needed a drip, much to her disagreement.. So we were forced to stay at the hospital for a couple of hours. She told me she wanted to give me an injection too, which I managed to talk her out of (I've never heard of getting an injection for a stomach problem!) She then insisted we lay down in bed and sleep..

But funnily enough, that was when she started asking us about our beliefs - "Do you believe in God? Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe in the mother Mary?" Then began the passionate scolding about how we should respect the mother Mary and how she can intercede for us because she is the blood of Jesus, and how we should pray to our parents once they are gone from this earth because they are ALWAYS our parents, and will always take care of us, even from heaven.. and so on. Now you know me, I'm always up for a good discussion of issues, but when you feel like you want to rip your stomach out of your body and you're being force fed in order to take pills that you actually don't know what they are, being told that you should pray and believe differently by a "doctor" in a half-clean bed in an Indian "hospital" isn't exactly the most welcomed situation.

Eventually she laughed at us for what we believed and how we disagreed, gave us some pills, including antibiotics, and sent us on our way. I spent the next few days in bed.. and eventually ventured out back to the office after being sick from Monday to the following Wednesday a week and a half later. However, after taking the antibiotics, I still didn't feel like I could eat anything.. so we took another trip to the hospital - a DIFFERENT one this time. I saw the doctor who asked me some questions, listened to my answers, didn't laugh at me or try to convert me to Catholicism or Hinduism or anything.. I was in and out in about 10 minutes with a diagnosis (something I didn't really get at the first hospital..) and some pills. Turns out I had some type of gastro/stomach infection and dehydration (wasn't much of a surprise). After just a few days of these pills I'm back on my feet! I can eat again (although not much of the food we eat is particularly appetizing after eating the same things for 2 months straight) But I have my energy back, which feels GREAT!

It was definitely an experience, and a bit of a "rite of passage" for foreigners living in India. However, I am EXTREMELY grateful that it is over. Thank you to anyone who was praying for my recovery - your prayers were heard, and I am no longer miserably laying in bed desperately craving home. So, I thank you.

As always, questions, emails, and mail are welcomed :)

Much love,

Bronte.

The Indians struggle with spelling my name a bit... then again, so do the Americans ;)