Rwandan Word of the Day:
Imvura: Rain
It is raining today, thus the Rwandan word of the day. First, I need to catch ya’ll up on yesterday. We woke up ridiculously early. I rolled out of bed at about 6:45am. GROSS. Then we took buses to another hotel to have breakfast. It was gross as well. Stale toast, and an onion covered egg. The tea was good though.
After breakfast it was time for my group to leave for the Kiziba refugee camp in the mountains. The refugee camp is made up of Congolese people who have fled from the DRC since 1997. I was kind of anxious about the visit like I previously mentioned. It was an amazing experience though. It was a long bumpy road there. We took a mini bus, and we were all packed in like sardines. The road was made of mud and huge gravel. I was sitting in the back so I bounced up and down the whole time. I smashed my head on the ceiling more than a handful of times, and maybe got a concussion from my brain constantly rattling around in my brain. The ride was kind of fun though. I usually laughed out loud hysterically every time we bounced into the air. Everyone laughed at me, but I had a good time haha!
It took us about an hour to get there, and it took us another 20mins to get into the camp, because they didn’t know we were coming apparently. Oops. When we got into the camp, we had to stay in the van for another hour while our leader went in and talked to them about our visit. People were all staring. Then the kids got let out for a tea break and all stormed the van. They wanted to see the muzungus. It was like the circus had come to town. They wanted to touch us and know our names and ages and what not. It was rather overwhelming.
Then it was time to finally leave the van and go into a meeting with the Rwandan government’s rep for the camp, the camp president, and the youth leader in the camp. I sat on a really crappy bench, and so it hurt my back and what not. Unfortunate. The meeting was kind of slow, and I didn’t really learn much. I then decided to stand up and take pictures and then leaned in the open doorway. The open doorway, however, opened up into the courtyard where people could see me. I didn’t think about it, but all the small children saw me and wanted to check me out. About five three year olds swarmed around me, and had to be chased off by one of the men in the village. I couldn’t play with them, because I was still supposed to be engaged in the meeting. Then another girl came up to me who was around ten or so, and leaned her head on the crook of my arm and just stayed there. I didn’t know what to do so I just smiled at her and let her do it. She was kind of adorable.
Finally the meeting was over like an hour or so later and we walked around the camp. The school got let out for lunch, and thousands THOUSANDS of children swarmed us. It was crazy. We literally couldn’t walk through the crowd. They all wanted to hold our hands and touch our legs and whatever they could touch of us. I loved them all. They asked us questions and just wanted to walk with us and watch us. I could have stayed there forever. They all really liked me for some reason. Probably because I was a huge smiled plastered on my face the entire time. I wasn’t afraid of them, and I didn’t mind them being so crazy like. Other people did. They weren’t used to us, and hadn’t seen many white people before so I understand why it was exciting. I have a ton of pictures of me surrounded by all the kids. I would adopt them all if I could. I probably will adopt one at some point. For real. These children here in Africa have touched my soul and heart deeper than I ever could have imagined. I’m drawn to them at an exponential level. Love love love.
After we were attacked by children, we went into this shack because it started raining. We hung out and had some pop. Kind of uneventful. Then right before we left we saw the room full of their arts and crafts and we got surrounded by a smaller group of children. I truly almost stole them all. Then it was time to head the hour back to town. We were hours late for lunch so we ate kind of cold food. It was ok though.
We decided to take motos back from the restaurant to the hotel. It was a beautiful ride around the lake. Some of us got hoodwinked and paid way too much for the moto. I didn’t though. WIN! Haha! Silly moto drivers. Some of us got muzungued for sure.
Then we just hung out at the restaurant on the site of the hotel. Me and Jessica ordered mac and cheese. It wasn’t that great, but it was different from what we always ate so that was a plus. I wanted to go out on a boat around the lake and to the islands, but it was too close to dark so we couldn’t. I was disappointed. The internet sucked at the restaurant too, so we just mostly talked until dinner time which was the same old food we always have. Boring. My table started bonding and talking about intimate details while the tables next to us started feeling awkward. Haha oh girl talk.
After dinner we practiced for our skit we had this morning. It was a long drawn out process even though it didn’t need to be. Then it started storming so I sat out on the porch with Jessica and Stina and relaxed while we watched the storm. After that it was time for a shower then bed, because today was an early morning too.
Today we went to the same place for breakfast and hung out there all day. A group of youths from the community came and we had a small workshop with them. First we did a skit. I acted as a human rights expert who was a guest on a morning talk show. I was supposed to play someone who really didn’t know much about human rights. It went pretty well considering we didn’t really practice it. The audience also liked it.
The rest of the day kind of sucked. It rained. The electricity went out. I didn’t understand the language. It all just was blah. We had lunch. Same food as always. Then we visited a primary school after we froze waiting to decide what to do. We visited a sixth grade class. I wanted to see the younger kids but oh well. They asked us a bunch of weird questions like what coke means, who the president of Tanzania is, and what genocide means. We asked them normal questions like what they want to be when they grow up haha! Then they sang us a bunch of songs. We also sang them a song, and we took turns singing out national anthems. Everyone told me I had a great voice, so that was the highlight of my day. My Rwandan friends also said I should stay here and live in Rwanda. That was really cool. I love the people I have met here. I really feel at home here. Minus the language. I could live here I think one day. We’ll see.
After the primary school visit we came back to the hotel. I’m now sitting in the hotel freezing and waiting for dinner. Tomorrow we go back to Kigali. I’m going to miss Kibuye. It is gorgeous here. Welp, until next time!
Goodnight!
PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACH DEFOE! YOU ARE THE BEST LITTLE BROTHER EVER! HAVE AN AMAZING 20th BIRTHDAY!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment