Day three was awesome. I accidently slept through breakfast, which allowed a gain of one and a half more hours of precious sleep. I woke up rested, feeling healthy, and ready to help the village. This morning we started at our volunteer placements. I’m working on EFL(English as a foreign language), teaching the farm workers English. The farm workers come from the village next to us called Rubona. Most of them are very poor, and are extremely nice. We thought about teaching emotions, but a counselor at the village Eddy suggested that we not touch upon negative emotions, because some of the farm workers were accused of killing people in the genocide, and may become upset. Eddy is a very upbeat and kind man, and speaks perfect English. He told us his life story, which tragicly included the death of his Grandmother and sister in the genocide. I didn’t internalize what he had said at first, because he is so kind and soft spoken, no matter what he is talking about. It wasn’t till our debriefing meeting which we hold every night, that I really thought about how common and devastating the effects of the Genocide have here.
Once we finished moving about 1,000 books from one room to another, I visited the kitchen staff. They staff is very nice, and I had a lot of fun mopping their floor for them. The chef wakes up at 3a.m. and doesn’t get off work till around ten. Cooking for 650 people is not easy. What a champ.
The next awesome thing we did was Tikun Olam. Yes, I did just say the Hebrew words Tikkun Olam, as in helping the world. That is exactly what everyone calls it at Agahozo. The entire village walked about a half hour down the road to Rubona, to help build a house, volunteer at a school, or help out at a village. I was part of the house making. We walked for about twenty minutes through the jungle, which was gorgeous. Stepping outside of the village was very important in order to get a wider perspective of Rwanda, because Agahozo is in many was a bubble. Little kids passing by said “money” to us, or “muzungo”, meaning white person. Overall the people were very nice, and I said “Muraho” to all of them. Yes many of them were poor, but they seemed happy and very comfortable in their town.
After waking on a small dirt path, we got to a small house built of mud bricks. This house was constructed by last years oldest age group. Our task was to fill in the cracks in the house. The students pored water from jerry cans into a big pit, and mixed the dirst and water together with their feet to make a mud like mortar. I immediately took off my shoes and joined in. It was just like the dead sea mud, but much more fun. Everyone was cheering for us, while we ran in place to mix the mud around. I got very dirty. After we had finished, the assistant director of Agahozo complemented the group on our work, which caused everyone to clap and woop with excitement. Here were underprivileged kids who constantly need help, helping the community.
I am really getting comfortable here. Today I had two incredible conversations with some students. I was playing guitar outside, when two kids David and Alexander came out from the Abraham Lincoln house. (The oldest kids get to name their houses after they have researched an influential person. David Ben Gurian, and John Lennon are two of the many cool people chosen). David started talking to me about different notes on the guitar(AKA complicated music theory), and absolutely blew my mind with the amount of knowledge he knew. He doesn’t even play guitar.
At dinner I spoke to a girl who had just finished the book Things Fall Apart. I could summarize the book for you, but it would be nothing compared to her recalling of the book. Things Fall Apart is about a man living in Africa named Okonkwow, and how Colonialism enters his life and his community. It’s a GREAT book. She wowed me with her knowledge and incite into the book. After all, English is not her first language! We talked about the book for the entire dinner, and at the end I shared with her some rather complicated symbols in the book. She has a test on Friday, so I hope I didn’t confuse her to much.
Going to the capital Kigali tomorrow. Maybe we will get some food that isn’t rice, potatoes, rice or potatoes? Also, Marsha Leifer is supposed to be bringing me a new camera. No idea why she is coming to Rwanda, but sweet. I apologize for the lame pics so far. I can't upload anything right because the internet is to slow. After all this is Africa.
The countryside
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