Inhore dancers

I accompanied Lorraine, Pauline, Sr. Iwona, Sr. Charlotte, and Michel to the "thank you" party hosted by the public school just down the road from Centre de Formation. At first I felt a bit out of place because they had all of us sit on chairs and watch the kids perform songs and dances for us. I really didn't deserve to be part of this "thank you" fest because I didn't teach here at all! It was just Lorraine and Pauline! But the director of the school welcomed me just as much as he did them. And then, when the kids started performing, I lost all sense of being out of place…they were incredible! The young children were lined up very nicely in 3 lines. They sang a song in Kinyarwanda complete with clapping and coordinated stomping, and their faces were so bright and smiley! Then, another group of slightly older students came out with a drum and started singing and clapping something more intricate, and a group of 8 girls came out and danced the traditional Inhore! They were so elegant and beautiful, and only in 6th grade! Lots of slow arm movements – the wrists and the neck motions play a vital part. They looked like they were having a great time. After the girls did about 3 different dances, 3 boys about 12 or 13 years old came out and did another traditional male Inhore dance. It was so intensive – lots more jumping and large arm movements than the women. And they also had huge smiles on their faces. Incredible! And us observers just smiled and clapped along with the choir, cheering "Bravo!" It was so awesome. Later Sr. Charlotte said that the girls will want to teach me the movements. And I abso-freakin-lutely want to learn J
I've decided that I need to do most or all of my lesson planning sitting on a chair outside facing the garden and the beautiful Rwandan hill, which is one of thousands, that is right on the other side of the compound. So today I colored pictures of clothing on this poster Kathryn had made sitting outside. I simply can't sit at a desk inside when the weather is so fantastic. And its like this all year J
I spent a good 2 hours today playing cards with Lorraine, Pauline, Sr. Candide, and Joanne. I do have my own lesson planning to do, but they're leaving tomorrow L I'll really miss their company. Sr. Candide amazes me – she's 70 years old, and is the Mother Superior of this mission, yet she will sit and play cards with her volunteers during the middle of a Monday! And she stayed up with us till after 10pm last night playing cards – she was a hoot! When she cleared out all the cards in her hand, she let out this excellent little "Heh! Heh! Heh!" She is a 35 year old deep inside I think.
We also had our meeting about planning the Patronage today. It was all in French, but I was pleasantly surprised with the amount I comprehended. I took some notes with the intention of asking one of the Sisters if I missed anything crucial…haven't had the chance. Truth be told, my presence at this meeting was probably not necessary. We discussed a lot of broader issues that I am not a part of, but it was very good practice for my French listening, and it is good to have a bigger picture in my head about what this will entail. Plus, Père Valence and Père Antoine said they want me to come by tomorrow at 5pm to have a first English conversation practice session. They both are very eager to practice, so I'm pretty psyched to go there.

And then there were three...

Today Michel, Lorraine, and Pauline left. I was very sad to see them go, and I will dearly miss their company, their conversation, and all the laughter they brought! So, there were only three of us here today: me, Sr. Charlotte, and Sr. Iwona. Immaculée, a former student who has been picking up some part-time work around the mission, has been cooking lunch for us and eating with us, so it was nice to eat with her today too. Sr. Charlotte and I bonded quite a bit today. She's so young, can't be more than 27 or 28 years old, so we find lots of the same things to be humorous, thus we get along quite well! We worked together for a few hours preparing arts and crafts for the Patronage. We basically looked through boxes in this warehouse to see what kinds of craft supplies we could find. We found a bag of bean bags, and we made two towers of Styrofoam pieces that were packaging parts for printer cartridges, and decided that these towers could provide for a nice game in which the bean bags are used to knock down the opposing team's tower. And we found plenty of crayons and paper, but not the cardstock kind, which is unfortunately what we were in search of. So then we decided we'd look for materials with which the children can make hats for Christmas. Sr. Charlotte found a box filled with empty cookie boxes. These cookie boxes fit nicely on top of the head, so we'll just decorate them and boom there you go! I love this – being creative with random scraps (Styrofoam and cardboard cookie boxes, stuff you'd normally throw away. Yes, much creative potential lies within). Kids certainly don't need fancy pre-cut foam crafts…you can make so much with what you have right here!
Then Sr. Iwona put me to work making a folder of digital pictures showing the chronology of how the mission in Gisenyi came to be. She showed me lots of these pictures yesterday, and it was quite enjoyable to look at the very early stages. This mission was only built in 2003, and the church right next door was just completed in August 2009. I'm in the midst of brand new goodness! So I looked through photos for quite a long time, and then Sr. Iwona had me use my digital camera to take pictures of non-digital pictures. It worked surprisingly well, quality's not as bad as you'd expect! It was pouring rain too, just like yesterday. It was really nice having all 3 of us working in the library for a few hours today, I felt very at home. I'm feeling more and more comfortable and at ease here, and I think having the smaller group today helped a lot.
Fr. Valence and Fr. Antoine came by at 5pm today for our first English "lesson." I had a lot of fun with Sr. Iwona right before they got here – they were late, so we were just hanging out outside waiting for them so we could unlock the gate to let them in. So we went under the huge gazebo in the middle of the yard and twirled around. Delightful!
I had such a great time "tutoring" the priests! I say "tutoring" because it was really just a conversation hour. They asked me things about life in the U.S. – what is the educational system like, healthcare, the Church – and then they'd tell me about how it’s different in Rwanda. I learned a lot! They were so grateful and very eager about the next seven months – they say they’re going to be fluent by then, and honestly they probably will be! They said they really benefit from just the listening and speaking practice, and they're recruiting other priests (and I guess some Sisters) from the area, so it’s very possible that this could turn into a large class! And we're aiming at making this a more structured class, not just a conversation hour, even though that is extremely beneficial. So I'm gonna plan a few things out for tomorrow. Oh yes, they want to come back tomorrow! Not sure if this is going to be a daily thing for the next 7 months, but I'm down with it if it is. It was tons of fun and very rewarding knowing that I can help them so much by just talking. Talking slowly and clearly, that is.

Muhato daily Mass

I started today with daily Mass at Muhato parish, and it was the best possible way to begin the day! I've been pretty eager to get my usual spiritual routine going again, but I had to sleep in the first few days here rather than get up for 6:15am mass. Its in Kinyarwanda, so I don't understand a thing, but God is so steadfast and unchanging that He still comes into that little wafer at every Mass, no matter where I am around the world. Its so amazing…first of all, tons of people come. Basically the entire town came to daily Mass. And there are 4 altar servers (on a Monday!). The church is brand new, and there aren't pews or kneelers, just long wooden benches. And there are huge windows and the sun streams through in the most indescribable way!!!! There are no hymnals, just amazing songs that everyone knows by heart. There are only voices, clapping, and a drum. Everybody worships very freely here. Some people kneel down on the cement during the Consecration, others remain standing, others bend their knees on the bench in front of them. And …this is the best part…right after the Consecration, when the priest holds up the Host, everyone applauds! Here I am expecting the solemn silence we have at St. Paul's along with a nice profound bow, and instead there's cheering and clapping! I love it! One of the Sisters later explained to me that in Rwanda applause is how you welcome someone, and since the King of Kings is coming, we welcome Him all the more. And…this is another best part… during a song after Communion, lots of people are standing up and swaying, moving their arms, dancing in their "pew!!!" I hope that one day in the next 7 months I get the courage to stand up and join them.


and p.s. (there's really no fitting place for this picture, but how can I not share it?) - check out the African millipedes! They're actually the best kind of pede to run into. They can't move very fast, and if you poke them, they curl up into a little ball. Delightful!

"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.

First time outside of compound

Went on a photo-walk with Michel – he has been such a good friend to me! He wanted to go up on one of the hills and take a picture of me in front of the mission. So up he went, and me just being an airhead I forgot to take a picture of him atop the hill! He laughed it off and did not show any outward anger – what a good man. I apologized a bunch of times, and he said, "Well you know what, we're just gonna have to go back up there!" So we went! The view was spectacular! For me, what was even more spectacular were the children! White people are called "Muzungu," so whenever they see you they're like "Muzungu! Muzungu! Bonjour!" or they'll throw in any other French or English words they know. This one little girl kept saying "How are you? How are you?" One girl asked what my name is (I always introduce myself as Jacqueline, as I think the French pronunciation is easier for most people), and so they all kept saying "Jacqueline! Jacqueline!" and saying other things in Kinyarwanda that had my name inserted in them. Its like you're a celebrity and you haven't even done anything famous...the kids just love the heck out of you and follow you everywhere and copy everything you do and say. So there were probably 20 little African kids following us on this hike. It made me very grateful for what I have - the hike was on an unpaved, narrow path with lots of rocks. Many of these kids did not have shoes on, and all of them had extremely tattered, torn clothes. They also don't have any kleenex, and they have really runny noses. One little girl picked up a rusty tin can filled with who knows what, and I immediately said "No, leave that there!" (in English, which means she had no idea what I said) but then I realized that they probably find gross things on the side of the road all the time and pick them up and play with them. I hope I can come back here one day after I'm done with med school and treat these little dears for any sicknesses that they might (and probably do) have.

It was such a joyful walk, I wanted to stay and play with them. They copy everything, and they've already learned "Row row row your boat" and "twinkle twinkle little star" from the other volunteers, so when I started singing they joined right in! And if I lost my balance a little bit and let out a "whooo!" or any other random noise, they'd repeat it. And they all wanted to hold my hands. They were actually getting kind of aggressive with each other...it worried me a bit. They were awed at a bracelet I had on, and one girl was just kind of petting my arm...a little wierd but mostly just cute. I did make sure to wash my hands and arms very well after I came in.

When we finally went inside the gate of the compound, (which is everythin with the blue rooftops as seen in the photo) they all crowded outside the fence and were still shouting "Jacqueline!" and other things that I didn't understand. Dominic, our fabulous gardener, had to shoo them away.

I trust Sr. Candide's judgment when she says that I should really get my rest now. She's seen many a volunteer not get enough rest at the beginning and then poop out during their teaching. So I've been trying to take naps and sleep in. Its hard though…I have too much excitement on my mind. And when I rationalize my way through it, I think I've already skipped the whole jetlag thing, and that I've naturally got enough energy to make it through a normal workday. But let me not assume anything – everyone says Sr. Candide knows best and is always right!