Life in Rwanda is good! It is so good that we have fallen into a blissful routine and have forgotten anyone else exists in the world. Jessi got a call from a friend at 4:30am yesterday to inform her that the world did not end, because out here in Africa, we would never know. We live on site at the Victory Family Home of Champions, or in other words, an orphanage. We walk to the market down the road for produce and drive 30 mins to Kigali once a week to do shopping and otherwise we spend all our time at the orphanage. We are staying with a lovely family from the Fort Collins/Loveland area who are in charge of the place along with a Polish girl who is volunteering. From all the conversations about favourite restaurants and fast food to the stupid sarcastic jokes that Africans seem to never think are funny, and yes all the way to having Velveeta cheese pasta with sausage, we couldn’t feel more at home.
Henry, their four year old son, entertains us constantly. He entertains us at dinner with his not yet adult like manners, often involving boy-like sounds from below the table, although we hide our laughter for the sake of child rearing effectiveness. He entertains us when we hear him switch to Rwandan pigeon English the moment he steps outside to play with his Rwandan peers (i.e. Me I am a going to go…), accent and all, despite being capable of speaking like a typical 4 year old American boy, if not more than capable with comments such as “Boo Yaa” and "Do it like a man".
Isaac, father and husband, is just plain a riot. He is funny. What more can I say. I spend most of my time at the house laughing at either Henry, Isaac’s response to Henry or Isaac talking about anything, cause like I just said, he’s funny. He does falconry back at home and he likes people, meat, trucks and yeah, video games when there’s a spare moment. He’s a good and hard-working man and does an amazing job here at the orphanage. I have a hard time imagining someone better to run the place.
Serena, mother and wife, is a kitchen gem. She is constantly whipping up amazing yeasty, doughy creations in the morning for breakfast, often served with an apology for the imperfections which never exist (typical kitchen-eer response). At dinner time the story is similar with yummy entrees, complete with homemade french fries or, I say no lie, homemade potato chips. Did I mention life is good? Serena is the nicest thing and if she isn’t making yummy things in the kitchen or spending time with the kids, she is in the fields hoeing with the workers, or in the kitchen chopping veggies with the mamas. My heart is constantly grabbing towards Serena.
Wiola, from Poland, is the easiest person to get along with and is just generally a pleasure. She is always ready to help out and has good ideas for the kids ready to implement. She is mild mannered with a strong heart towards the children. She inspires me with her steadiness and calmness. She is just a joy to be around. Well, there you have it. That is the cast of the whities.
As far as the kids go, there are 60. Each one with a new and endearing personality that is exciting to see and get to know. Many of the young ones love to run up to us and attach themselves onto us in some way or other, whether it be by the hand, pant leg, or crawling up on our backs, often 3-4 at a time, until all attaching possibilities are exhausted, and we are transformed into a walking jungle gym of children. They are happily entertained just by investigating everything about us, for the entire afternoon. The older ones are usually interested in anything that revolves around a ball. Daily we teach an informal English class in the morning, plan an activity for the afternoon followed by monitoring library time and then do family time in the evening (only twice a week).
Having 60 kids proves to be difficult in many ways, but the chaos is sometimes just part of the joy. The other times… well….
But truly, we really love these kids. They make your heart melt. When I see one of the older boys grab hands with two younger kids on the walk home from school, when I see a shy boy in the back of the library reading his little heart out who has an exceptional skill for English despite his mild speech impediment, when I see the rascal look of a very young girl experimenting with markers during art time, when I see a toddler burst through the door and start dancing full body to the music that just started playing, when I see a youngster, no older than 5 suddenly sing part of the lyrics to Shakira’s hit song “Waka Waka” during library time, when I see a kid who is too-cool sneak a sweet gesture to a younger kid…They make your heart melt.
To give a sense of the setting, the country side here is just amazing. It is possibly one of the most beautiful places I have seen. It is rolling hills all around, cut up by farming squares and terraces that geometrize the land. It is dotted with banana tree clusters reminding you that it is tropical. The weather is mild, given that we are in the rainy season. We are often hit with hard and generally short rains that make you think the roof is going to collapse, which I am sure many do. Other times the rain goes on for hours and hours and all through the night. The stairs are transformed into rivers and the land all around is in danger of losing its position, to be transported throughout the land as the forced life of a nomad. As Isaac says, “The largest export from Rwanda is soil, and nobody’s paying for it.”
Kigali
We departed the resort in a motorboat heading towards Bat Island. We could see the Democratic Republic of Congo from the boat, probably one of the most violent and dangerous places on earth, but we were safe on our side of the waters. We wore our oversized life vests unlatched and draping… because it’s Africa. The water was warm and so beautifully green/teal. Once on Bat Island, the first native to greet us was a cow. Apparently the cow herders swim them over to the island to graze. Anyway, he was illuminated by light and it looked like a divine cow apparition. Once on land one of the guides/boat guys promptly swooped Henry up on his shoulders and we proceeded to follow him up the incline towards where the bats hung out in the trees. Suddenly the sky became flooded with chirps and fluttering wings. It was quite a sight to see. We wanted to see more, so we hiked up to the trees and we were able to catch a close up glimpse of the bats while hanging in the trees just before they woke up and flew off. It was awesome. The little critters were actually really cute. They had yellow fur and light colored wings with little mouse faces. Well, I know not everyone has the same definition of cute, but
it made my list.
We hiked back down and excited by the beauty and not wanting the outing to end, we paid the boat guys a little extra to take us to “Peace Island”. I laughed at the cheesiness of the name, even after we pulled up in the boat and saw a tiny rickety beach. Once I got out and sat down however, I decided the name was perfect for the Island. There was a small sandy beach with shaded seating and a menu waiting on the table. We ordered Fantas and french fries and sat in the sun and sand. It was simple and perfect.
The boat guys decided to go for a swim, wearing whatever shorts they happened to be wearing at the moment, one of which was wearing white shorts, making us laugh and wonder about his reasoning every time he got out of the water, carefully holding his shorts away from his body. The other guys on the beach were playing a game with a ball and at one point the ball went out in the water. The antics that took place next entertained us for the rest of the time on the island even after we started to leave on the boat. It seemed to me that they did not know how to swim, so they all put on life vests and decided to jump in the water and hope the water would take them to the ball. Meanwhile the ball was getting further and further away, at quite a distance I must say. In order to not drag out the details, between 4 guys in life vests, one guy on a surfboard with a paddle and a boat, the ball was still not retrieved until well after we left. We could see them with the ball trying to make their way back to Peace Island on our way home. Well, that concluded our trip. We arrived back at the resort, loaded up in the car and headed home, none disappointed.
We are here for yet another three weeks, due to having to cancel our Uganda portion of the trip because of the political violence and possible instability. We are of course sad to miss out on a visit to another country, but we couldn’t be happier here. Oh the happy misfortunes.
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