Rwanda is...

I had a beautiful last post written; all about the kids and life here. Then my iPod ate it, wouldn't restart, and lost all my contacts -- and I am so sad because the writing was good and felt true. This is my attempt to recreate it: 

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Rwanda 

Rwanda Rwanda 

Rwanda Rwanda Rwanda 

Rwanda Rwanda 

Rwanda 

Drivers going impossibly quickly down steep hills and sharp turns, often in the wrong lane. Politicians who change policy without considering the lives of the people and programs of action that do not take into account the real-world consequences of their work. Mysteries of the 'widow-maker' live current showers and their often shocking ways. The discovered protocols of riding the white express buses to distant corners of the country. Neighbor children calling Auntie Grace! and waving when I walk by. The startling seriousness of children old before their time and yet their strong resilience and surprising joy. Dreaming vividly real dreams of home, then waking here under the protection of a mosquito net all around me. Cries of mzungu, mzungu, everywhere I go. The feeling of kinyarwanda on my tongue; all around me it's rhythmic sound. 

Kids kids kids. Everywhere kids, in my arms, on the stairs, outside my window. Children laughing, children fighting, children singing, always singing. Their laughter as I push them on the swing, throwing their heads back to look up at the clouds. The sounds of bare feet slapping on concrete as they practice dances to the thwack-thwack-boom of the drum. The laughter of the mamas as they teach me to dance; and my surprise at how much I actually pick up. Forgetting about Halloween at home then signing into Facebook and seeing babies dressed up as lions, spidermen, Dorothy of Oz. Children here standing up in church thanking God they survived the night. Children reaching to take my hands, and my hands reaching to tickle them. 

Cries of Bingo! Bingo! erupting excitedly from children all over the hill as a volunteer goes up to play with them. Children running down the hill, down the stairs, down the road yelling Auntie, Auntie Grace! when I return from a trip. My phone battery dying every time I want to talk on the phone. Dead phone, dead mice, dead truck. The tart taste of Inyange yogurt on my tongue. Children cheering when I show up with candy to study time, family time, anytime. 

The sound of early morning sweepers organizing the red dirt for the day. The bird who sounds like a toy who's battery is dying: mah mwah mwahhh. Chirps of SMS messages received and texts from home that make me laugh out loud. Trying to remember all the time zones at home - including daylight savings. The tired sound of the voltage regulator whirring as it compensates for electricity surges in the house. Everyone running to grab the clothes from the line as the wind whips through the banana trees, warning us of rain. The sound of marbles in the dust, as children battle out private wars. Children running faster than I thought possible down the stairs. The joy of children learning Red Rover and Freeze Tag. 

Cody calling Bibi! Bibi! as warning, cry, anthem. Flowers placed carefully on the van windshield by a child. Clothes covered in acres of red dust; and taking a shower and having half my 'tan' wash off. Driving to Kigali surrounded by black clouds of diesel fumes. 

The seriousness and the silliness of children challenging Papa Jojo to checker matches, on the porch and on the stairs. The joy of meeting old friends and finding new ones. Calendars that alternately show me just how quickly time flies and count down the days til I leave. A thousand memories in a single day and no photographs or words that could ever capture it all. A kaleidoscope of colours, sounds and love... My second home. 

Rwanda

Rwanda Rwanda

Rwanda Rwanda Rwanda

Rwanda Rwanda

Rwanda*

I will miss you.

*Poem borrowed from Alexander McCall Smith's 'Africa' poem of the same style.

On the beauty of birds

Sometimes I wonder if the birds come up to the window so that they can listen to the music. It seems everyone here is musical, so why wouldn’t the birds show an interest in the sounds coming from my ipod?

Their beauty causes me to pause when I see them – beautiful blues and greens and yellows darting around. There are a few small birds with hummingbird-style beaks that come to the windows and cling to the screens to have a look. We thought one was going to come in the other day as it was about the same size as the small hole in the screen. I’ve seen them land on the bottom edge of the minivan side mirrors and stop and peer at their reflection.

Shortly after 5, the birds begin to awaken with the start of daylight. So close to the equator, it doesn’t take long for the sun to fully rise, but they cram a lot of singing in before it is fully up. It starts with one or two testing the air with their tweets and chirps and whistles… and then the symphony begins. It’s the quieter preamble to the noise the kids make as they get up and run up the stairs for breakfast… the first gentle alarm before the happy and loud kid chaos kicks in.

And the flowers too – such an extravagance of beauty. At night, I love the smell of the plumeria as it wafts in on the evening air. One of the little boys likes to take one fallen plumeria flower and put it on the windshield of the minivan. Almost every day, I walk out and see he has put one there. I find this ritual of beautifying the van (or leaving a present for us?) sweet and moving. If I am around when he does it, his face lights with a huge smile as he says carefully in English “Look!” and points at the flower resting there, before running off to school. Some of the other flowers last only a day or two in a burst of colour, before shedding their beauty or being washed free of blooms in the rain. When I stop and look around, or literally stop and smell the flowers, it strikes me again what an overwhelming amount of beauty there is in the world. It’s as if there is a continual opportunity to stop and rest for a few minutes by taking in everything that surrounds us that we often miss in our busyness or work or distraction. So I’ve been stopping most times when I walk by the plumeria bush; to stop and smell, or to look at and try to take in its beauty. It may not last long here but the moment I take to enjoy it will give me gifts of relaxation and rest and I’ll have one moment of beauty and peace to sustain me. I think we are meant to take these gifts as they are presented to us – why else would the beauty be there?

Training Complete!

This week I offered some training for the staff who work with the children. Here they are showing off their certificates of completion!

On Dizzy Bugs & the Execution of Chickens

(Written as of November 3, 2012)

Well it’s been a busy few weeks. Currently we have quite a few visitors and the house is packed! The kids are home now from school, on holidays until after Christmas. Speaking of holidays, this week Suzi (a Peace Corps volunteer working up the road) and I are organizing activities for the kids in the mornings. We’ve got sports, crafts, reading and all kinds of fun lined up. Suzi, daring soul that she is (and with exceptional Kinyarwanda skills, I might add), is going to teach poetry to some of the older kids. Exceedingly cool, right?! Too bad I’ll be with the little guys while she does that, I’m so interested to see how it goes! Also, in the afternoons, some of the other volunteers are going to do other activities like computer, ESL and stories. So our kids may be on holidays, but they sure won’t be bored!

Then we’ve got another feast coming up on Nov 10 – the kids have been preparing dances and songs and comedy sketches for Dr. Hazel (aka Mama Victory) who is here for a week or two. She let them know the best performance would go with her to Kigali to show their stuff at the church there on Sunday. The kids are pretty excited, and we sort of have our own talent competition going on (Rwandan Idol, anyone?!). It should be a lot of fun.

Friday night I was doing Family Time with the kids and teaching them another couple of songs. They love to learn new songs but really, I enjoy seeing them sing and jump and drum their hearts out in Kinyarwanda. So this time I had them teach me a song too. I requested a simple, easy song that they would teach a little child and had them teach it to me. It was pretty fun and always good to learn some more Kinyarwanda. I do know a lot of the songs but not all the words, so I guess now I’m making real progress.

I can’t believe I only have a few weeks left – I have a lot lined up for the next few weeks and it should keep me busy. Kid activities, sort of like summer camp next week (I’m writing this on Nov 3 but have no idea when it will get posted!) and then I’m doing some staff training…. And on and on it goes!

I can’t forget to mention that I am now known as the woman who sentenced all the chickens to death. Sad, but true. I did a cost/benefit review of all the animals onsite and sadly, the chickens came out as more cost than benefit. So we should shortly be smelling chicken dinner wafting out of the orphanage kitchen and I’m trying out a new role as Executioner of Expensive Chickens. Add that to the ol’ resume and I should be rolling in job offers!!

In other news, we’ve had boatloads of rain (now there’s an interesting metaphor) and as a result we’ve had a lot of the bugs that former readers of my blog will remember me christening as “dizzy bugs”. I know the local name for them but can’t begin to describe the feeling of waking up in the night after the rain and hearing them banging around off my walls, roof and clouds of them outside my window, drawn to the light and banging off the glass – loudly enough to wake me up, I might add. It’s a creepy feeling to wake up in the dark and wonder… where is that clickety-clackety sound of wings and LARGE bug bouncing around coming from?! It is a bit of a delicacy around here though, so you shouldn’t be surprised to see kids out collecting them so they can take them home and fry them up. I think some of the new kids here expected me to be grossed out but they underestimate my past experience. I walked by the kitchen and there was a group of kids sitting around a bucket of squirming bugs, de-winging them so they could eat them later. I just said the equivalent of “Mmm, nice! Good job!” in Kinyarwanda, and then “Protein!” in English to the visitor I was touring around. As Papa Jojo put it so eloquently last time I was here – God gives the bugs like manna from heaven here after the rain.

Some of our secondary kids are home from school, which is great! We are still waiting on Ignace to finish up at the government school as they are on a bit different schedule. Fabrice is also here but going back to write some more exams in a few days, and Bea and Esther were the first to get home. So nice to see the older kids here at home!

I’m sure I have about a bazillion more stories to share, but that’s it for now! You’ll have to buy me dinner when I get home to hear the rest. :)

Updates as of November 8:

Well here I am in town finally posting my blog -- since I last wrote, I have a few updates:

The chickens surprised us all by having more than 15 chicks all at once! I guess the threat of death was a good motivator. They have a reprieve from the guillotine… for now.

The time Suzi and I spent working with the kids was great! Here are some pictures (most days were too busy for pictures, but I got a few good ones):

The kids playing Red Rover and older kids playing volleyball

 Chalk drawings in between the dining hall and the office...

Fabien

Liliane

Shema

Gilbert

 Jaime & Sonia hanging out after drawing pictures:

Finally, Ignace comes home from secondary tomorrow, just in time for the feast this weekend! Good times ahead... stay tuned!