You must come visit!

3-20-10

Oh Rwanda how I love thee…


Words truly can not express the beauty Rwanda possesses. Everything is
beautiful from the landscape to the trees to the rain to the people.
Everything.


There is so much about this culture that fascinates me and that I
already love! Here are some cultural differences between America and
Rwanda. In American, we shut our “outside” door and leave all the
other doors in our home open. In Rwanda, they shut their bedroom doors
and leave the outside doors open. Why? In the Rwandan culture, if your
bedroom door is open, then the people in your home are allowed and
“welcomed” into your rooms. It makes perfect sense, if a door is open,
you are free to enter. Also, women especially married women should not
dry their underwear outside. They can if they have a very high fence
that does not allow anyone to see….otherwise, they may be considered a
prostitute. That’s right a prostitute. Here’s another, if a person is
attending school and does not have a “real” job they are considered a
child. Obviously, in America if you turn 18 you’re legally an adult.
Here…you can be 30 and a “child”. If one of our PCVs dated a 30 year
old who was still in school and didn’t have a job…they could be
ostracized by their community because that 30 year old is still a
CHILD! Crazy.


Oooh…something I love! They carry their babies on their backs. It’s
the cutest thing. They wrap them up in this sling made of fabric (any
fabric) and all you see if the head sticking out from the back and
from the front 2 tiny little feet. Therefore the children here learn
very early to hold their heads up, otherwise they would just flop
around back there. I have noticed that most children here some to
have really great head/neck function as well as gross motor
capabilities! The other day we were at this town meeting and a mom was
sitting next to me on the ground. She had probably a 3 month old
laying on a piece of fabric on the ground. Naturally I started playing
with the baby (of course right!) and she couldn’t have been more than
3 months old. She was holding herself up on her elbows with her head
lifted up and watching me. I started tracing the fabric pattern and
playing “keep away” with my finger. She held herself completely on one
elbow while holding her head up and chasing my hand with her other
hand. I’m losing my child development quickly but I’m pretty sure
that’s good. I was impressed.


The other night Jarod and I were leaving our training compound after
dinner, so it was pitch black dark, and we decided to jog. Suddenly we
heard these little feet pitter-pattering behind us and we flipped our
light around to see about 4 or 5 little children running right behind
us. So Jarod said “Tugende” which means lets go! So they all ran about
a quarter of a mile with us to our house. As we were running I
introduced myself to the little girl (Nitwa Sarah) and she said “yego,
umagore wowe….umagabho wowe hano” which means “yes, you’re
married…your husband is here”. It totally freaked me out. She couldn’t
even see my face but knew that the umuzungu (white person) named Sarah
was married. I think they sit around and talk about us! It’s crazy.


So as mentioned in the last blog yesterday we went to the national
park. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually partake in the park. We woke
up at 5:00 had breakfast and left for a 3 hour drive down the windiest
road ever! After people got sick and a very bumpy 3 hours later…..we
arrived! Only when they realized we were umuzungus (white people) they
decided they didn’t want to give us the original group price they
quoted us (17,500 RF for a couple of hours) but that we had to hike
the longest trail, 4-7 hours, and the price was going to be 35,000ish
RF. Our walk around allowance for 2 weeks if 24,000 RF. So that was
definitely a big no. I can hardly blame them though. I mean, in
comparison Americans are millionaires compared to the majority of the
people here. I think they thought we’d just go ahead and pay the
amount because we came all that way but we didn’t. Nope-we turned
around and got back onto our buses and drove away! On the way out we
saw the monkeys we were going to pay to see sitting on the side of the
road. So we stopped and took pictures. It was something! Oh Rwanda.


I hope everyone is doing well. We love you all and are enjoying seeing
you on Skype…those we have seen that is. Those we haven’t….we want too
so get Skype!! Have a wonderful week. I hope the Lord is blessing you
all abundantly!


“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.” Ephesians 5:2

Sarah