The Beauty Within

Wow, where on Earth do I begin.  This place is so amazing!  From the people, to the food, to the beautiful views, to the cultures and traditions, I am simply amazed.  Words cannot express the way I feel about my Rwandan experience so far, but I will do my best to capture my most memorable and captivating moments so that you can somehow understand why I love it so much.  There is a beauty within Rwanda that can only be seen when you are living as a Rwandan national, rather than as a visitor.  You get to experience everything first hand and live in the moment with such a great and generous people.  In just 5 short days, I have experienced so much, here are the basics and the main parts that stand out:

Food

DELICIOUS!  The diet is mainly vegetarian unless a family has a lot of money or if a special meal is being prepared for the holidays.  A few of the volunteers' families are what is considered rich and do get meat cooked for them.  It's funny though, the ones that ended up with rich families are all vegetarian so that didn't really work out too well.  One girl's family killed a cow in honor of her coming to stay with them for her Peace Corps training, and she didn't even eat it (yes I know, how rude lol).  I think I ended up with a poorer family, not that that's a problem.  My "mama" is amazing, as are my "little brother" and "little sister."  For dinner the past few nights, we have had a bean type stew (kind of reminds me of a thick gumbo) made with beans, carrots, squash, and something else that I haven't quite deciphered yet.  We had that one night with rice, another night with plantains, and another night with fried potatoes.  Yes, every night (and for lunch) but I can't seem to grow tired of it..its soooo good and sooo flavorful!  For breakfast we've been having amandazi, which is a type of fried doughnut.  We have each of our meals with itchaye (tea with milk and sugar) and it is sooo good!  It kind of reminds me of chai tea.  We don't drink anything during our meals, instead, we wait to drink  the tea at the end.  So, once everyone's plate is clean, we pour our mug full of tea and sit and "talk."

The food is cooked on a small coal stove about one foot high.  It is basically just a metal tub that holds coals and has a place for ashes to fall below.  These are not your run of the mill coals though.  There is no lighter fluid or easy way to light it.  You break up some coals on the ground, put them in the "stove," put some leaves and branches in there to help start the fire and then you fan it really hard so that the fire will grow.  I called myself trying to help one night and apparently I wasn't fanning hard enough.  The fire ended up going out and Mama had to relight  it...and then she fanned it herself, the right way.

Culture

There are some basic things that are the same from family to family and then there are other things that vary from family to family.  Here is how things have been for me.  We have three meals daily and each meal is eaten together as a family.  Mama prepares breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and once it is finished, she calls me and my little brother and sister to the table to eat.  On the days that she has had me help, I set the table and take the food to the table once it is finished.  When it's time to eat, we pray as a family and then get to work!

On Sunday evening after church, mama took me around town to meet some family and neighbors in the area.  I tell no lie when I say that we literally stopped door to door so she could "show off" her new American visitor.  The host families are so excited to have us here.  It is tradition/respectful to greet everyone you see, so as we walked along down the road, I would say "muraho" (hello) to everyone we passed and wave my hand.  Imagine saying "hi" every three seconds to every single person you pass as you walk down the street in the states.  It would be weird in America, but here it would be rude not to do so.  Some would even stop to do the traditional hug (three times) and hand shake.  Then the dialogue goes like this:           "Amukuru" (how are you?)

            "Ni meza, ayawe?" (I'm good, and you?)

            "Ni meza" (I'm good)

             "Yego" (kind of like okay)

And then they proceed to say a whole bunch of stuff I'm not able to understand yet.  I can tell a few people comment on my hair and skin; they seem shocked when I say (or my mama says) that I'm from America.  All they know is Hollywood, blond hair, and blue eyes so it's hard for them to believe I am from the US.

Also, within this culture is a lot of touching.  You have no bubble here, and if anyone would think they did, their bubble would be busted really quickly.  As I said above, you hug someone three times and shake their hand when you meet them.  This continues to happen each time you see the person.  When my mama took me around town, she would grab onto me when cars were coming and pull me out of the way (she is very protective).  She would interlock my arm with hers and we would walk down the street together like old friends just laughing away because we're talking, but can't understand each other.  Then when we meet someone and I have to hug them, she lets my arm go and when we begin to walk again, she'll grab my hand and hold it until I have to hug someone else.  Some people don't like the fact that personal space doesn't exist here, but I love it.  I'm this way with my own mother, so with my host mama being the same way, it reminds me of home and makes me feel welcome.

Religion

When I first got to my host mama's house, one of the first things she did was put her hands together to gesture prayer and then she looked at me.  This was her way of asking if I am religious.  I said yes, and then she tried to ask me what religion, but I did not know how to say Baptist and she didn't understand the English word Protestant.  Next, I thought to say "Jesus," and she smiled and said Ndishimye (I am happy).  This made my day :)

Rwandans are very religious.  Most are Protestant, Presbyterian, and Catholic, with a few being Muslim.  We pray before each meal and before bed as a family.  I don't know what is being said during the prayers, but they just sound so beautiful and sincere.  Sometimes there is even a song that follows the prayer and the whole family joins in to sing it before saying Amen.  I did go to church on Sunday and it lasted about three hours.  There was one about an hour and a half of singing and dancing (their footwork is crazy!) and about one hour of preaching. After that, there was about 30 minutes of offering of which people took up money, clothing, and food, and then the food was awarded to those who needed it.  After this, the service was over and me and Tamika (another volunteer) stayed with my mama and spoke to those who were interested in meeting the "Americans."  It's kind of funny because the only things I understood during the service were hallelujah and amen, yet I still managed to tear up.  It was such a beautiful, upbeat service.  I think the sermon was about marriage because the pastor kept pointing to his wedding ring and holding it up in the air as he spoke.

Basic Necessities             

So on my very first night in my host family's home, when mama sent me to bed, I just laid there and I cried.  Not because I don't like it here, but because I was frustrated.  We (the volunteers) were kind of just tossed in here with very little language training and without the ability to communicate effectively if at all.  I discovered that my family had no water, no electricity, and as I already knew would be the case, a hole in the ground for a toilet.  I think the combination (or the reality) of everything hit me all at once and I just felt a little overwhelmed.  After I dried my tears, I reminded myself of why I am here, got on my knees and prayed, and told myself that I can do this.  Because honestly, I can.  The next day I woke up and things were much better.  My language is improving little by little with each passing day, my family is very patient and does their best to teach me new phrases, and not having electricity or running water in the house really isn't so bad.  It kind of just works.  I finally built up the mental capacity to use the bathroom (#2)  You have to squat over the hole and I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  It smells horrendous and I also didn't know what I was supposed to do with the toilet paper (which they don't really use here).  Finally (today) I figured things out and got rid of my tummy ache, that was quite an achievement.  I don't pee after dark, as I am afraid of seeing any critters (which I haven't seen many of).  Apparently Rwanda doesn't have as many bugs as other countries.   As for the shower situation, my mama heats up water for me and pours it into a bucket.  I take this bucket into a little place outside with four walls and a door, but no complete ceiling, and I shower the best I can.  I'm still trying to get used to it, but I feel clean for the most part.  The first time I took a bucket bath, I didn't realize that the son had to use my same water for his bath so I rinsed the soap off of me and back into the bucket.  When I came out and he saw the water, he gave me the dirtiest look, like "now I have to bathe in your filthy leftovers!"  haha! I felt soooo bad, but I didn't know how to say sorry, so I just gave him my best puppy dog look and went on about my business (I didn't know what else to do).  He forgave me though :) we were bffs again by the next day!

I also swept today for the first time.  When I woke up, my Mama brought a bunch of branches with leaves on them into my room and made a sweeping motion.  Immediately I understood and this is what I used to sweep my floor. 

Washing dishes is...different.  On my first day, my Mama had me wash dishes while she cooked and she showed me how.  She took the smallest scrap of rag, dipped it into one bucket of water and rubbed it against a bar of soap.  She then took the dishes and placed them into another bucket of water.  She washed a plate, rinsed it in this same bucket, and then did a second rinse in a clean (unsoapy) bucket of water and then placed the dish on some pieces of log wood so it could dry.  This is how I wash dishes daily now.  Btw all of this, including the cooking takes place in what could be considered the backyard.

The Peace Corps within Rwanda

The Peace Corps really is an amazing organization.  I've heard some good things and some bad things, but my experience so far (though just a week) has been nothing but great.  The approach that The Peace Corps takes to offer aid within developing countries is very...unconventional.  The motto is "promoting world peace and friendship" and I think they achieve this very well.  Rather than going into a new place and telling the people there what is wrong with them and the way that they live, The Peace Corps has volunteers live among the people, integrate, learn the language, and observe.  With this being the process, we as volunteers are able to see what the need is in whatever area we are assigned to.  We don't just jump in trying to make change and imposing American culture on the people here; rather we learn the people and the culture and provide assistance only after we see what the community needs or would like to see improved upon.

Random Moments

When I first arrived, I gave my family the gifts I brought for them, which included a stack of cards.  I taught the children how to play Go fish, which was funny in and of itself.  It was tough with the huge language barrier, but it was fun!  It also helped to break the ice a bit.  As it can be expected, the introduction was a bit awkward since we weren't all able to speak to one another.  After this, we went through some photos of my family and I did my best to tell them who was who.  Most of the photos consisted of my mom, sister, stepdad, granny, and cousins.  Even though I'm sure they didn't know what the heck I was talking about, they smiled away and really seemed to enjoy "meeting" my family and seeing where I come from in America.

Welp, that's all I have for now.  I know it was long, but thanks for reading.  I'm off to have dinner with my family :) Beans and ifrite (fried potatoes)!! YUMM!!

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea

PS Next up on my to do list is to teach my family the wobble...stay tuned for updates on all the fun!




 (Written 5/14/12 8:30pm)