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.