Different Perspective

The family (Dad was taking the picture) and one of
my students after Christmas mass. 

As a little change from posting my experiences, I asked my family to write about their time in Rwanda. My mom was the only one to complete the assignment but I know that my brothers really loved the trip too. They are always messaging to ask about the kids they met here. I’m the most certain that my dad loved his time in Rwanda because he is coming back to visit again in July!

Here is what my mom had to say:  

Mary has been wanting us to write about our experience in Rwanda to add to her blog and I apologize for the delay.. However, our trip to Africa is still as fresh in my mind as the day we returned and probably always will be. It was an incredible adventure and I was totally overwhelmed by the beauty of the country as well as the spirit of the people. Rwanda is so gorgeous, it is hard to believe that anything bad could have ever happened there. 

I was very impressed by the friendliness of the people, especially the children, of which there were many. I recently read that at least half of the population is under the age of 20, and I can believe it. All we had to do was smile or wave and they immediately came over and wanted to touch us and talk to us. My boys felt like celebrities! The children seem to be independent and take on responsibility at an early age. We saw them getting water for their families, caring for animals and younger siblings, and walking along the sides of the road carrying crops. They are very beautiful and regard shoes as a very valued possession. We brought clothes with us and distributed them to some of Mary’s students, but shoes were the most sought after items. 

The independence of the children even carried over to church. We attended Mass twice while we were there and each time we noticed a big section of children who had come to church on their own without their parents. It was really wonderful to see children wanting to be in church without being forced to be there! After participating in Mass there, I could understand why they would want to come. A wonderful thing about the Catholic religion is the universality of the Mass. It was a very spiritual event and even without understanding the language, I could feel the faith. I especially enjoyed when they sang and danced in Kinyarwanda, because it was so heartfelt. 

One of the harder experiences was going to a branch of Mother Theresa’s orphanages. We spent most of our time in the toddler area. I was so impressed by one 3 year old girl who displayed the most amazing musical talent. She and a small group of kids sang a native song while she beat the tune on the bottom of a plastic bucket with a stick. They were absolutely incredible! In contrast to them, there was another group of needy children who just clung to us and wanted to be held. I was so proud of Matt and Brian while watching their interaction with the kids. They each held children and didn’t shy away from the ones who were dirty or who had sores on them. We had to leave some of the children crying which was very difficult to do. 

I had one of the scariest experiences of my life when we traveled back and forth to Kibeho in a rented car with a native driver. Once we got off the highway we had to travel quite a distance on dirt roads around very steep and winding mountains with no guard rails. To add to the terror, the roads were lined with a constant stream of people walking with children on their backs or produce on their heads. I was just terrified that we were either going to fall off the mountain or run over one of the people. It was hard enough doing this during the day, but we drove home in the dark, which was even worse! Of course Mary didn’t tell us anything about the perils of the trip. She was either afraid that we wouldn’t make the trip or she was oblivious to the danger, which knowing Mary, was probably the case!

Giving Daniel clothes, Fantas and sweeties. 

I was very impressed with Mary’s level of independence while we were there. She knows her way around the city and was communicating effectively with the native people. It was funny to see the great pleasure she took in haggling over prices at the market or cab and moto fare. The Rwandan people seemed to be amused by Mary and her antics. Overall they are a reserved people and Mary is anything but reserved! In spite of taking pride in Mary’s independence there and seeing how wonderful and welcoming the Salesian community is, it was still very hard leaving her there when we returned home. Out of my whole family, I probably felt the most discomfort in being in a foreign country, and while some of my fears for Mary’s safety were eased, new ones were raised after being there. It did make me deeply appreciative of my life here in the United States, and when I returned home, the bathroom I’ve been wanting to remodel didn’t seem half so bad! I will always keep the Rwandan people in my prayers and am grateful for the opportunity to experience part of their culture.

Hospital Visits and Princess Parties

Note: I wrote this blog before my trip to Rome but the internet wasn’t strong enough to post it. This was written April 27. 

My classroom

So it’s been a couple months and I think my longest time between writing. Hope everyone had a great Lent and is looking forward to Easter. I actually have some big plans for Easter- I leave tomorrow for Rome! I’m going to be staying with two of my best girlfriends from college, Nia Hunt and Dannielle Stevenson, and Dannielle’s boyfriend Matthew. I’ll be staying for almost two weeks and will even be in Rome for the beatification of Pope John Paul II. 

To fill you in on life since I last wrote, actually a lot has been going on. Towards the end of February I got really sick; unfortunately, around the same time my director from the United States came to visit. I had been really excited to show him my site, but when he came I was stuck in bed. I got to show him a few things and it was so great to see him, but my health kept getting worse. 

The day after Adam left, a friend from college came to visit from Kenya where she is doing mission work. I was still feeling really sick and right as I was leaving to meet her at the airport, I passed out. When I got to the hospital, I was tested for everything from malaria to diabetes. Finally the doctors just told me to eat more sugar and released me. They didn’t know what was wrong. I’m starting to suspect I had mono because I had a terrible sore throat and I’m still tired. 

Christie and I had been planning on going to Kibeho but I wasn’t sure if I would have the strength. Our Lady must have been praying for me because I woke up the next day significantly better. Christie and I traveled to Kibeho and made it in time to go to Mass and confession. 

The rest of Christie’s visit we spent seeing sites in Kigali. It was so great to see her; I was only sorry I didn’t feel stronger.

After the two visits, my schedule was as I’ve described before. We had a chicken pox outbreak, and about half of our girls got sick. One of our 4 year olds, Inshuti, got chicken pox and was so excited! We had to put some sort of medicine on the infected kids that dyed their skin purple and Inshuti was the only child happy about it. Every time I saw her (constantly throughout the day) she would scream “Malie Eleeze! Regarde!” It was so funny to see her that excited. 

My pre-school students have been just as fun as ever. We are really started to suspect that Shama is somewhere on the autism spectrum, but there are no doctors who can diagnose him in Rwanda. His parents are somewhat wealthy so they have been saving money to take him to Kenya in the hopes of a diagnosis. I’ve been working with him individually and he is really improving. He can now say four words: “bye,” “les scissors” (the scissors), “Amen,” and “merci”. 

Shama enjoying the attention of
Adam's camera

I taught the kids in my class the song “Jesus loves me” complete with hand motions. We practiced for weeks but at first even the most intelligent kids in the class were struggling with the hand motions. Shama sort of wandered around during each of the lessons (which is pretty normal for him. We’ve been working with him on staying seated). I didn’t think he was even aware that I was teaching the song, but one day as the class and I began practicing Shama performed all the motions perfectly. He had never even attempted to participate before. 

Mamma Odile (the head teacher of the class) was so excited that she started screaming. We called in teachers from different classrooms and had Shama show everyone. That little child had the biggest grin on his face as he did the motions again and again for different audiences. I think it was the first time he realized he was succeeding at something. It was such a great teaching moment and I’m sure I’ll always treasure that memory. 

Life continued on and as the children neared exams I wanted to reward them for all their hard work, so I asked my mom to send me the new Disney movie “The Princess and the Frog.” My mom agreed and then suggested that I throw them a full princess party. I ran the idea by the sisters who loved it. 

I think I’ve mentioned before that the girls are obsessed with princesses. It’s just such a fantasy for them. They live with us because they can’t live with their families (either they are orphans, the families are too poor, or the family is abusive). Plus, they work so hard and without the conveniences of washing machines or lawnmowers much of our housework is very physically taxing. I think the idea of being a princess and having the queen and king love them and servants do their difficult chores is something they like to imagine as an escape. 

Some of my little princesses. The one with the open mouth
is Florence and Julu is next to her. Blandine's head is in the
background. They are all 5 years old. 

We were all so excited to give them that little escape, even if it was just for an afternoon. My mom sent stick-on earrings from Claire’s and tons of glitter. The sisters even baked a huge cake (more like sweet bread) and killed some chickens for the occasion. Christie had brought popcorn from Kenya so we cooked that too. We threw the princess party on the Feast of St. Joseph. 

The children were covered from head to toe with glitter and even the sisters wore the stick-on earrings and glitter. After our feast of cake and popcorn, we went down to the movie room and watched “The Princess and the Frog.” Princess Tiana was a huge hit for my girls, who had never seen a movie with an African princess before. (To clarify, Princess Tiana is not African but my girls thought she was). 

They thought she was so beautiful and couldn’t believe they were watching a princess movie where the princess wasn’t a Mzungu. Disney, thank you! 

The girls also felt so pretty in their glitter and stick on earrings. Those earrings usually only last a few hours, but my girls stretched wearing them into days. They’ve been begging for more glitter and I think we will do it soon. 

There is more to write, but I’ll have to catch you up later when I’m back from Rome.