Easter

On Holy Saturday, we were all busy decorating the house with “Alleluia”s and hand-made Easter candle cut-outs. Maria came over to help color Easter candles for the church. It was a very joyful time. When lunchtime rolled around, I found a nicely wrapped, silver package at a place at the table. No other places had any special presents…I was very curious…no to/from tag…what could it be? I picked a seat at a different spot, but Sr. Gisele told me that one (with the gift) was mine. Hmmm…well, when everyone was gathered at the table, they all beckoned me to open it. So I did, and out popped the dress that Pascale had been making for Jo! A while back, she had asked me if Pascale could use my measurements to make a dress for her friend in Kigali, who was the same size as me. She showed me the fabric, which I loved, and Pascale even had me try on the dress after he had nearly finished it. I was so excited about it, mostly because I saw how beautiful his creations were, he now had my measurements, and he was almost finished with Jo’s order. This meant he could soon begin one for me. I had even given money to Mama Bora to buy me a pagne. Well now I see this dress wrapped up as a little gift! My first thought: “Oh. So Jo is gonna have Pascale make another one for her friend, and she’s giving this one to me?” My confusion must have shown on my face, because Jo immediately explained. “You are my friend Jacqui! There is nobody in Kigali who is waiting for a dress…I tricked you!” Ah! All along it was for me and I was totally oblivious!

That evening I wore the dress to the Easter Vigil Mass. It felt like my first day outside of the compound – overly aware of people staring at me. I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb because I was dressed so traditionally. But I was proud of it, and I was happy to sport a Rwandan fashion that my dear Rwandan friend had given me. But I was still too sheepish to leave my sweater behind…it was cold outside, and wearing a typical American fleece over the shoulders made it less obvious, I thought. Sr. Charlotte yelled at me for that. “Next time, you won’t wear that. It’s beautiful, show it off!”

The Easter Vigil Mass itself was pretty awesome. Maria was in town, and I was hoping to sit by her, but we didn’t find each other in time. Mass actually started like 20 minutes late, still not sure why. Everyone began outside to see the large grill that served as a fire pit. Everybody was already looking in the direction of our convent since that was the direction of the firepit, so naturally everyone noticed me as I walked to join the mob. It soon started to rain, so everyone crowded under the overhang of the church, which seemed much too small to fit everybody. But somehow very few people got uncomfortably wet, it seemed. Fr. Valens and the altar servers (lots of them) finally began their procession, lighted the Easter candle, passed the light around to the candles that individual people were holding (you had to bring your own), and everyone proceeded into the dark church. I was certain that someone was going to get their clothes or hair singed! But no one did :)

Mass was about 3 hours long, but it was really nice. Sr. Charlotte and I sat next to a 3e Hotellerie student, Françoise, and her 2 kids, Chancey and Lucky. Chancey fell asleep in Sr. Charlotte’s lap! I think the power didn’t come on when it was supposed to, so we didn’t have the nice darkness-to-light transformation. But it was still a beautiful atmosphere having the church dimly lit throughout the entire Mass. There was lots of singing, accompanied by off-beat drumming. Everyone was expecting a second Thanksgiving song, but we only did one. Afterwards, the drummers were outside performing some nice tunes. Fr. Antoine and Fr. Valens invited us back to the rectory for some celebration. The Sisters had been working all day to prepare a delicious feast for after Mass, and we were all hungry, and it was past 11pm. But out of politeness, Sr. Charlotte, Sr. Rose, and I agreed to go. We shared some stories, jokes, Fanta, and typical snacks of peanuts, cheese cubes, and then briochette (really tough meat on a stick, only on special occasions). But, Sr. Gisele didn’t show up! She called to give some excuse (which I can’t remember, but I think it was clever). When we got home she was with Aline, who had to spend her spring vacation with us because she doesn’t have any family left to go home to. When the rest of us came home, we laughed like crazy at them – they said they were just too hungry and wanted to get home to feast! So at nearly midnight, the rest of us heated up a plate and sat down to watch an Easter program on one of our three TV channels.

We went to Easter Sunday Mass the following morning, as I hurried to finish setting the table all pretty for when we returned. I gave everyone a candybar from the package Mom mailed me! I again wore my dress, and I saw Pascale at Mass, who seemed very proud of his work. Rightly so. I also got to see Fabrice, Edouard, and Jean d’Amour, home on break! I hung out and chatted with them for a while. The rest of my Easter Sunday afternoon was so much fun. After our delicious and very relaxed meal, we peeled 50 kg of carrots. It was so much fun. All of the Sisters, Aline, and me were all sitting in the outside part of our kitchen. Sr. Gisele was cleaning fish, and the rest of us were peeling the most enormous pile of carrots that I had ever seen. We told jokes, practiced English, and sang some songs. I taught them the picnic basket game, where you have to say “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing…” and you have to say something starting with a certain letter of the alphabet, remembering all the previous people’s items. It was a really good practice exercise for Jo and Aline, and everybody cracked up when I said I’m bringing “nukwihangana” when “n” conveniently fell to me. This is a Kinyarwanda word meaning “to be patient,” but for some reason it became a huge inside joke in the convent. We said it ALL the time, usually after the phrase “ah ha,” to express surprise or shock, and now it lost all sense of meaning “to be patient.” It was and always will be the source of many laughs. Eventually some of the Sisters had to go do things, so it was just Jo, Aline, and me. Aline had been singing the Abba song “I believe in angels,” claiming that there is some Rwandan band that sings it. I argued with her about the artist, and mentioned the movie Mama Mia. Soon enough, I had my laptop outside with the movie playing, giving brief explanations of what was happening in the movie. We watched the rest of it as we finished peeling carrots! It was so much fun.

All of the next week was also vacation. Unfortunately, I had a heartbreaking moment when I greeted Samuel who came to work with the others who work to pay for their school fees. I asked him if he had a good Easter, and he gave me the biggest smile ever, but responded “No, it was very bad.” I replied “Oh no, why?” Again with the same big smile, he replied “Well, I am not sick, but I have nothing to put in my (pats stomach).” I simply replied “Oh no, that’s not good…” not knowing what I could say. I wrestled with this for a long time…what should I do? I can’t give him food that belongs to the Sisters without their permission. I had a few candybars, but I felt that giving him candy was not the solution. The Sisters needed to know about his situation in order to help him in the long run. So I mentioned it to Sr. Gisele, as clearly as possible, but still with some difficulty because it was hard for me to get the words out without tearing up. She said that we can give him some potatoes at the end of the day to take home. I instantly felt relief that I had done my part, but still unsettled that he would have to work the whole day before getting those potatoes. I didn’t want Sr. Gisele to forget about him either, so I reminded her a few times throughout the day. It turned out somehow they missed each other, because he went home before picking up the potatoes, and I felt terrible. But I knew that my telling her about him was the best I could do, because they could continue to give what they could to help his family in the future.