"downtown" Gisenyi

Today I went with Sr. Iwona and Michel into town so that I could buy calling cards for my phone. Town was a bit frightening and unsettling. And it was raining pretty hard…makes for a treacherous journey. I have never seen such poverty before. Everyone tries to find shelter from the rain, but many people are just standing against buildings that don't have much of an overhang. And many people are still walking/biking around outside. The city looks exactly like you'd picture a third world city…buildings made of cement with tin roofs, puddles and mud all over the place, very densely packed houses with no glass or screens on the windows. Then we get into the more "business" district, where there are shops that also look very run down, but are brightly painted. There's a small shop that sells stereos and boom boxes, another that advertises "Amata & Fanta" or "milk and soda," bakeries, foreign exchange stations, and tons of other small shops specializing in this or that. We first stop to get bread, then we exchange some empty glass bottles for ones filled with soda, then we park the car and get out to walk to the stand where they sell phone cards.
Then we head for the market. Now, the market is crazy. It’s a building with tons of long tables inside where people are selling bananas, cabbage, maracuja (passion fruit), starfruit, other fruits that I don't recognize, carrots, potatoes, and lots of other produce. It seems that the vendors each only sell one item, rather than a bunch of items as they usually do at the Farmer's Market around Capitol Square. Everyone sort of stares at us as we join the packed warehouse. A little boy tries to help put our purchases in our sack, and Sr. Iwona gives him as stern look and tells him no. I've been a little surprised with the way the Sisters handle this kind of behavior, which happens a lot. There are lots of people who come by and try to sell them things or try to be of some kind of help. I guess I assumed that nuns would very gently and lovingly turn them down, but these Sisters are bold. I trust that they're legit in doing so, because perhaps they've been kind in the past and found that it only results in greater pursuance by unwanted salesmen. Besides, they've been doing this waaaay longer than my wimpy 4 days…So I'm trying to be very understanding in the way they deal with the poor people who come to them, and I'm trying to learn my place in how I should react. My first instinct towards these people is to smile and politely say "No thank you," but perhaps I will need to change this accordingly. I'm open to learning the ways of life here.
I was pretty glad to get back to the mission, and I realize more deeply now that the standard of living in the mission is extremely good. I do not feel guilty about being comfortable; this is how every person should live, with water enough to drink and bathe, a private room to sleep and work in, and food enough to eat. May all the impoverished nations of the world be continually brought more and more toward this standard of life by the generosity of others.

Another random fun event – We did a little Zumba after dinner – me, three nuns, and 2 Canadian volunteers. I love that this is now the third time I've taught a Zumba class for Salesian nuns! Since then, they've decided that I will be doing lots of dancing with the kids at Patronage, the “summer camp” that we put on for the neighborhood children during these two months that they have off of school. Sr. Charlotte tells me that the kids are gonna love Zumba so much that they'll go home and tell all their friends and bring them the next day. How pumped am I? Extremely.