It
was a great privilege for us at St Luke's to meet the Archbishop
and to hear at first hand of the immense suffering endured by
the Rwandan people.
The Archbishop also brought news of the work of reconciliation
and reconstruction.
At
a supper held in his honour, the Archbishop spoke of the work
the church is doing in Rwanda and of his hopes for the future.
This,
though, was for adults.
How would the Archbishop fare with children and their disconcerting
habit of asking awkward questions?
I ask that because we had arranged a visit to St Luke's
School.
We toured the school and new buildings with Mel Duty, the
Acting Head.
The Reception classes, who had just been to Chester Zoo
sang a charming song to the Archbishop about Noah's Ark and we
all joined in the actions.
Charming - but what about the open questions session with
the battle hardened veterans (of 3, 4 and 5 years old) that
followed.
Daniel in the Lion's Den?
"Do you have crocodiles?", "What's your
favourite football team?".
Questions flowed thick and fast.
What really seemed to grip the pupils' attention was the
Archbishop's description of his first school ( he was a teacher).
It was under a big tree.
That was it. No desks, chairs, books, paper, everything
we associate with schools.
The Archbishop handled everything with characteristic charm
and humour.
It was disappointing when the session ended.
The
Archbishop started his long journey to Rwanda, the school planned
to formalise links with Rwandan schools and we are more determined
than ever to strengthen our links with Rwanda.
Allan
Waplington
________________________________________________
Visit
to Chester with the
Archbishop of Rwanda
On
Friday the 26th of May Fred and myself had the privilege of taking
the Archbishop to Chester for the day.
Fred
took this in his stride but I must admit to being a trifle nervous.
We were both aware that one should address an Archbishop
as 'your Grace' but would he want us to do this (as he was in
casual clothes?) He solved the problem by shaking hands and introducing
himself as Emmanuel, one felt as ease instantly.
The
drive to Chester was very friendly and relaxed.
Emmanuel was very interested in our change of life style
(from South Africa) and also the areas we were driving through.
Whilst
going through the tunnel he asked us the length of the tunnel,
I pleaded ignorance and Fred had a 'mature moment', but did remember
by the time we saw Emmanuel at Sunday Church.
We
stayed in the Cathedral for what seemed a couple of hours looking
round and we all slipped away and had a quiet time on our own.
At one point we left
Emmanuel speaking to a Dean
who was in the Cathedral.
We then went to the refectory for refreshments. Whilst
there, Emmanuel introduced himself to the Bishop, who seemed quite
taken back for a moment, but was warmly greeted by him
and everyone else
we met that day.
It
was now time to stretch our legs and take a walk down to the river
where we boarded the tour bus, an ideal way to see and learn about
the city. Emmanuel was very interested in the history of Chester
and our school history was well stretched, thank goodness for
the tour guide.
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