Welcome to the place where you speak 3 languages in 1 conversation!

3-18-10

Mwiriwe Ishuti Yanjye! Bonjour Mon Amie! Hello My Friends!



I apologize for the delay in writing. I have been very busy! This
language is so incredibly challenging! I’ll start though with
Sunday…it was a great day. We slept until 8:00 am. It was amazing.
Although we awoke several times starting early, we managed to lie in
bed until 8:00…we were proud. We then got up and washed our clothes
(by hand of course). We then had several of our “firsts” moments. I
took a HOT bucket bath. I boiled some water and thoroughly lavished in
it. Our next “first” was none other than GRILLED cheese. That’s right.
Grilled cheese. It was definitely something. We have these little
“stoves” that you place charcoal into. You then place a metal pot or
flat plate (pizza parlour hubcap style) on top of it. We waited for
the charcoal to get nice and hot and then managed to get the butter,
bread and cheese to all blend quite nicely. It was probably one of the
best things we’ve had yet. Although in Butare, a place we visited on
Saturday, there is a French restaurant that serves pretty good
American food. It’s by no means great, but it is definitely good. I
had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, french fries, and an ice cold
coke. It was pretty darn amazing.


Saturday we went to Butare. We visited the Murambi Genocide memorial
and the Butare Museum. It was SOOOO hard. The Murambi Memorial (they
have memorials ALL over the country) has 50,000 bodies preserved in
lime. Try to think outside of the American view of preservation.
You’re probably picturing some huge museum with thick glass, air
conditioning keeping the room cold and all these bodies under a
special light. Oya! (NO!) That assumption would be incorrect. They are
in about 20 different rooms, lying on tables about waist high; rooms
that you walk into and are literally surrounded by these innocent
victims’ bodies. You literally can touch them. You literally can smell
them decomposing. Basically, in 1994 this place was a secondary
school. The people were “tricked” by the perpetrators into believing
it was a safe place for them to flee too. They were told they would be
guarded and taken care of. The perpetrators did not feed or water
these victims as part of their plan to weaken the victims as they
would be frail and unable to fight back. These victims were families
comprised of huge numbers of children and babies. Once they felt their
victims were weak enough (2 weeks later) they then surrounded the
school and began killing. The bodies were then thrown into these mass
graves. The French came in under “Project Turquoise”. Project
Turquoise was a plan for the French to help the perpetrators get
safely out of Rwanda once the Genocide was complete. The perpetrators
then commanded the French to clean up the mess. The French built a
volleyball court on top of these mass graves and played on them
everyday until they Genocide was over and their “jobs” were complete.
One year later, the Rwandan government came in and exhumed the bodies
and preserved them. 15 years later…they are still there…some still
have hair. There are truly no words to comfort them or even to
understand what Rwandans has been through. It’s awful!


This week has been very challenging for me. I am finding it very
challenging to be constantly surrounded with some of the other PC
volunteers. We are most definitely the minority when it comes to
Christianity. Most people have no problem making sure you’re aware
they are an atheist, a jew etc. and they make sure you understand they
do not believe as you do. As with any group, people are super
outspoken and opinionated which creates drama for everyone! People
stereotype things they do not know or understand, such as the
South….if one more person tells me that we live in a completely
different world (meaning the south and north) I’m probably going to
punch them in their face! I hate stereotypes.


In other news, we are going to Nyungwe National Park on Saturday. I am
so excited! It’s a rainforest in the South part of the country that
has animals and hiking and fun! It’s so nice to get out of the
classroom and see the country. I feel like anything away from a
classroom is amazing at this point.


I must give shout outs for the month of March! Julie….Happy
Anniversary. I hope it was awesome and that you did something super
wonderful. You must email me and tell me everything. Tiffany….Happy
Birthday! I hope that you did something super fun and feel that 26 is
wonderful thus far! Email me too!!


As my wonderful little sis posted for me the other day…I have
Blackberry “Pin” now. If you have a blackberry and want to pin me,
send me your pin number. I’d be happy to hear from you! Also, moms I’m
sure you’re worried but just so you know…our pretzels, dried fruit,
granola bars, dove chocolate, habanero bbq almonds and goldfish have
lasted us thus far. We still have some of everything left! We’ve
rationed well. But-Jarod says send more “blue diamond habanero bbq
almonds and dove chocolate immediately” in the next package…he needs
his comfort food!!! Also mom Jarod says he NEEDS those lindor
chocolates you gave him—actually he said those “chocolates with little
pieces of heaven wrapped inside…” Sometimes I worry….just sayin’.


I guess that will be all for now. I know this is long but it’s just so
hard to get to the internet more than once or so a week. I love you
all and miss you bunches! Have a super wonderful weekend.


Sarah

“God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love
God and are called according to His purpose for them.” Romans 8:28