My Very Own Visitors!

12/20/09

Today I had two visitors come, and I welcomed them with true Rwandan style :) Pudee, a resident of Madison, WI who is from Rwanda, asked me to bring a few things with me for her brother, who lives in Kigali. I agreed, and I called her brother when I arrived to find out how I could get his stuff to him. He said he has a cousin named Gaudence who lives in Gisenyi, so I can just give the stuff to her. So I called Gaudence and her husband (whose name I could not really understand) came to meet me a few weeks ago. He said his wife also wanted to meet me, but she was unable to come that day. Well, they called me this weekend to say that they would both like to come to Muhato for a visit! I was very happy to have visitors, and I asked Sr. Candide if it would be ok for me to offer them a Fanta. It is custom that you always offer something, usually a Fanta, Sprite, Coke, or beer, and your guests must accept. She said yes. So they came this afternoon with baby Anna, who is 4 months old. She was adorable.

It would be very easy for me to label our meeting as awkward, but I think that by Rwandan standards, it really was not. In general, people here are quieter. There is not the constant pressure to fill an awkward silence with conversation. I have been a part of many group conversations in which a brief period of silence exists, and you just sit and smile and look content. If something to talk about comes to mind, you bring it up in conversation. If not, no worries.

Well, due to this cultural norm, and likely due to the language barrier (they spoke English, but had a hard time understanding me even if I spoke slowly), we had a fair amount of silence. But I thank God for the social medium of babies. You can always comment on how cute the baby is, how beautiful her eyes are, or any other thing about the baby. She really was a gem. We talked a bit about Gaudence's aunt back home in the States, about the proximity of Christmas, about Gaudence's studies (she is in school right now studying sociology), and about foods that I have especially enjoyed since I've been here. Her husband offered to bring me some of this little fish that is very common by them. Now, the one thing that I found peculiar is that they traveled a very long way to come see me, and they only stayed for like a half an hour. If I understood correctly, they caught a boat to cross a portion of Lake Kivu at 6am today. Then when they reached shore they drove (I think took a bus/taxi thing) into town, and then from town they walked here. That is insanely far! And with a baby?!

But Gaudence kept saying that she wanted to see the school. She asked if it is possible to find a teaching position here. I responded that I didn't know, that I am simply a volunteer here and the Sisters take care of the operation of the school.  I think I will be in contact with them again, especially if they really want to bring me little fish. But next time I want to make it clear that they don't have to come if the journey is too far or too taxing! And I want to further emphasize my detachment from the inner-workings of the school, lest they try to use me as leverage for sticking a foot in the door here. Well, after a brief visit, they left so they could catch their homeward-bound boat. It was a lovely meeting.

Something I just remembered about bus/taxi things:

Here is one of my laugh-so-hard-I-cried moments:  OK, so last Sunday I went with Amiral to the natural hot spring. Well, after walking around for a few hours, it was nearing time for me to get home. So we begin walking, but I know that we had a very far moto-taxi (public moped) ride here, so there is no way we can walk all the way back before dark. So I tell him this, and he says we will take a taxi. Um, right, ok. We'll take a taxi, sure. So we're coming up a hill, and at the top there is a large crowd of people who have gathered around a guy breakdancing in the street. There's music blaring, and people are clapping and cheering. Right across from this there is an empty taxi just sitting there. A "taxi" is a van-like vehicle, probably the size of a mini school bus. I see them all over town, but I always thought they were private vehicles that belonged to hotels or tour groups or something. But it makes sense that there would be public transit in this form as well. So, ok here's the good part. Amiral just walks right up to this taxi and gets in the driver's seat. I'm thinking to myself, "What the heck are we doing? Are you going to drive this thing? I don’t think so!" I follow him, and since I don't know what else to do I just get in next to him. Well upon entering the vehicle I realize that he has actually gotten in on the passenger side. The steering wheel is on the right side here. Good, you're not thinking of driving this thing. Good. And the front row of seats consists of the driver's seat, and a big seat that probably fits 3 more people. There is hideous puke green shag carpet lining the dashboard in a poor attempt at making the interior look nice. There is also a dashing retro-looking plaid design on the plastic that lines the doors, and the same plaid pattern found on the other seats, beneath the clear vinyl protective covering.

And I can't shut the door. I'm afraid I'm going to break the handle off. Somebody walking by stops to close it for me. So we're just sitting in the front row of this empty 1975 ugly van, there's no driver, and I have no clue if there will be a driver anytime soon, and there's breakdancing outside. What a scene. So I just lose it. I start cracking up uncontrollably, and Amiral also starts laughing as I try to explain why I find this so funny and he can't understand a word. Well, gradually a few other prospective travelers also get inside in order to wait for the driver.

Ok so now I see that this is normal, this is what you do. You see a taxi, you get in, and when it gets full the driver will see that he has business, so he comes to take you where you need to go. We wait for like 10 minutes, and I see that its really starting to get dark and I've got to get back to Muhato. A moto-taxi comes by and we flag him down. Problem solved.

I guess Amiral just waited for the driver or caught his own moto, I'm not sure. But I needed to get home so I went with this one. This is a very far trek – a 2,000 RWF ride, which is probably higher than normal because its almost dark and I'm a muzungu. But I just pay him and head home. The ride is probably around 25 minutes, but it was really a nice journey. But I found it weird that the driver stopped to say hi to a friend he noticed on the road. Do you normally make your passenger wait for you to finish your little chatsie? I consider this poor business. Nevertheless, I was grateful for the presence of this moto-taxi and his ability to get me home safely.

One other thing…yesterday I grabbed a small papaya for dessert, and much to my delight I found that it was no papaya, it was a mango! Grown right in the backyard. Mmmm.


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A Day of Many Highlights :)

12/18/09


Patronage today was utter chaos yet also extreme awesomeness. So at first we began with our usual songs and chants and other animation, but then all of us had to go help clean up the lot in front of the church.

Pretty much since I arrived here, there has been constant construction going on at Muhato. Now when I say construction, I do not mean orange barrels, cranes, guys in hard hats, or anything like that. No. Construction in Rwanda is a few guys, most of them barefoot, working in a lot filled with gravel, rocks, and bricks, and piles of different types of stone.

I've been told that all the stones and bricks are debris from houses that were once here, but when the diocese purchased the land these houses were knocked down. So the "construction" is mainly a debris removal team. They have 2 wheelbarrows, both of which are cracked and have holes in them and basically have the thickness of cardboard. The wheel really doesn't have a tire on it anymore, just a metal frame. They use large plastic water jugs that are cut in half, somewhat resembling paint trays, in addition to the wheelbarrows and their bare hands, to move the bricks and stones.

Well, Fr. Valens asked us to put the kids to work today because the work is coming along too slowly. It needs to be finished by Christmas so that the church grounds will look presentable. So, all 80 or so kids, 4 animators, and I all went to help move bricks. I could not believe this…these kids came to Patronage to sing, play, dance, and have fun, not carry bricks! This is basically forced child labor…unreal. But when I talked to Sr. Candide about this afterwards, she said this is normal, they are accustomed to it. Here in Rwanda, every Saturday the entire city does "umuganda," or public work. You go to a designated place, such as the parish you belong to, a stretch of road, or another public place, and clean it up.

People pull weeds, pick up trash, move bricks, and do any other kind of work. It is simply a part of their civic duty, so really the kids didn't complain at all since it is so commonplace for them to help with this. It was tiring though. The littlest ones would carry one brick, put it on their head, then begin the trek to the other side of the parish property, where we were laying the bricks in a nice pattern to make a kind of cobblestone walkway. Many of the little ones had to stop and readjust halfway across the trek. Some of the older kids were more efficient and came up with a nice system using the wheelbarrow. I was working with one of the older girls to fill up one of the paint tray things with bricks and we'd carry it either to the wheelbarrow or all the way to the cobblestone on the other side.

It was pretty difficult for both of us to carry a heavy tray of bricks, especially since I'm way taller than her, and the tray was made of flimsy plastic. So I got my hands nice and dirty today, and it actually felt kind of cool to be helping with this. To jump right in and immerse myself in the lifestyle of another culture is exactly what I came here for! Many passersby were stopping and staring, probably thinking "What on earth is that muzungu doing carrying bricks like one of us?" I felt very Rwandese :)

Also at Patronage, we had to finish folding about 200 paper hats. So the Abastrong (older kids) group and I went to the school to do this. Well after doing this for a while, Fabrice (the animator who was in charge of this project) leaves and I have no idea why. The girls start playing this hide-and-seek/tag game that I really didn't understand, but I went along with it. Everybody hides behind something, and you have to get back to the gazebo before the counter tags you. Or something like that. It was actually a ton of fun to run and hide with them and to see them get all quiet and sneaky, then get super excited and run as fast as they can to avoid being tagged.

Now, the only problem was that a few weeks ago Sr. Candide mentioned something about the need to affirm that our giant gazebo is not a playground. That is exactly what it had become. I really didn't see any problem with us running around and playing on the school property, but I was worried that Sr. Candide might not approve. My inability to voice this in comprehensible language to the kids kind of prevented me from saying anything. So I just played with them and I figured if anyone comes along, they can tell us to stop if it’s a problem. After about a half an hour of playing, Fabrice comes back and we finish up some more hats. I was sitting by one of the girls, helping her fold, and gradually a bunch more come over. I start singing "Row row row your boat," "The itsy bitsy spider," and "twinkle twinkle little star," all of which they know (whith some major pronunciation problems, however). It was so hilarious – everybody was laughing and singing along. . . I can't really describe why it was so funny, but I was having a ball. They then sang the Kinyarwanda version of "row row row your boat," and I picked up the word "sunika," which apparently means "merrily." I kept singing "sunika sunika sunika sunika" and they laaaaaughed! So we had an all-around great time singing songs.

Then they all were playing with my hair and petting my arms. None of them have arm hair, so they really really like to pet my arms. They were so touchy-feely today. It was quite a scene…here I am, sitting on a step, with about 20 girls crowded around me. Some are petting my hair and saying "beautiful hair!" and others are petting my arms, and others still have noticed that I have pierced ears, so they're grabbing my earlobes as well. It was very funny.

It was time to rejoin the rest of the Patronage groups, and all the girls were highly opposed to this. Fabrice translated their opposition for me, and apparently they all wanted to stay here and hang out with me! "Tugende," I learned, means "Let's go." So we went. On our way back to the big field, many of the girls busted out some zumba moves that they remembered from last time. I joined in the dancing. It was awesome. When we rejoined the other groups, the girls picked flowers and stuck them in their hair. They tried to stick some in my hair as well, but they wouldn't stay. So I motioned to tuck them under my headband, and when they succeeded they all started singing the Malaika song insanely loud (I have no idea why they sang this song…the malaika are the littlest kids, but for some reason they all just whipped it out)! I just laughed and proudly sported my new flowered-up doo.

At the very end of Patronage today, all but about 8 kids had gone home. The Animators and I were sticking around to evaluate the day and clean up. Well, apparently some workers in the garden by the big field where we have Patronage had stolen one of our soccer balls because the kids kept kicking it there where they were working. So Fabrice and Dieu-Donné went to go negotiate with them to retrieve it. Meanwhile, I sat down to sing and give high-fives to the remaining kids. Well, pretty soon these kids also busted out the zumba moves that they could recall, so we started dancing around in the field. We also decided to sneakily creep up on one of the kids' brothers, who was "sleeping" in the middle of the field. So we tiptoed over to him and shouted "boo!" He jumped up and laughed. Then we all just started singing Patronage songs and playing follow-the-leader and dancing. It was really really really wonderful. There were also quite a few passersby who were very amused by this sight. I felt much more comfortable to be silly and goofy with such a small group of kids, but still the knowledge of these people who were watching us hindered me a bit. Overall though, my ability to let loose and be a kid again has improved significantly since Patronage first began.

Plus, later today I had to run back to the house to get a key just before my secondary class was going to begin. On my way back to the school I see Jacqui and Neli “hiding” behind the wall. Jacqui is about 2 years old, and Neli is probably 4. Their mother works for the Sisters when school is not in session in order to pay for her tuition. Well, I have really become fond of these 2 little dears. Its kind of sad though…on the days when we don’t have Patronage, they just sit outside by the school while their mom works. They have nothing to do really, just play with each other, or fall asleep on the sidewalk. Sometimes Sr. Candide gives them a coloring book or something. But fortunately they can go have fun at Patro three days a week. So I see them all the time, more than the other Patro kids, because they’re always hanging around on our compound. And they’ve really become comfortable around me too, as evidenced by the following little drop of joy…so I’m walking briskly down the walkway to get to class and I see these two sneakily hiding underneath a windowsill, facing the wall, acting like they don’t see me. But as I get closer and closer, Neli jumps away from the wall, runs at me and hugs my legs! And I screamed because it actually scared me. I figured she’d jump out, but I wasn’t expecting a big leg-hug! It was lovely. And Jacqui, who usually just goes along with whatever her big sis does, giggled up a storm.

Then, later that evening as I was walking from our house to the school, I heard some little kids shout from waaaay across the street “Jacqueline! Jacqueline!” They were seriously so far away, but that didn’t stop them from shouting at the top of their lungs. I waved back with all my might :) Its awesome to have kids call you by your name instead of “muzungu” (“white”) which is what I got a lot of during the first few weeks here.
But now I’m Jacqueline, how amazing.