So contrary to our “culture shock” curve in our program handbook, I am increasingly loving things here. Sorry that it’s been a while since I’ve updated yall. Well in the last two weeks I have fallen in love with children at this home that I accidentally fell upon, hung out with kids In the slum that have fallen in love with me, gone to a ten hour give away ceremony and traditional dance show, hiked up waterfalls, been to the bush, and walked to Kenya (in short). Haha
So first the orphaned street children have become a part of me after I randomly fell upon them. Three weeks ago I was planning to go to my friend’s house for a sleepover but she got sick so that plan was scratched. So I was now looking for something to do because I didn’t want to go home so I was asking my other classmates if they knew of anything I could do. I wanted to go visit a children’s home but that plan hadn’t worked out either so I was really bummed that I went from a few plans to no plans. Well one of my classmates was going to a slum outreach so I was like I’ll go. We got there and it was pretty awesome. This slum is prob what you are imagining. A whole bunch of people piled on top of each other. The group I was doing works with the street children and does a medical outreach, and just hangs out with the children and feeds them a lil something. So I was just sitting there and then asked if I could help, before I know it this little one room shack in the slums has turned into a medical clinic. We are all bandaging and cleaning the wounds of these boys who live on the streets. They appear rough at first glance but they are the sweetest kids ever. Most were about 9-15 in age and it’s crazy of what they’ve been through (like everyone else here). So I hang out with them for a while and the other people nearby and before I know it, it was time to go. Well while I was there I met these older guys who were working with the kids too. They were telling me that they have a children’s home for former street kids and were asking when I would come and visit. Well what do you know, I had extra clothes from my sleepover plans and was looking for something to do….so after talking to these people for like 20 minutes I have plans to come and crash at their children’s home that night. Before going I was going with another friend to visit a little girl at the hospital that fell in a boiling pot of water and was severely burned on 80% of her body. Sadly, she did pass last week and I ended up seeing her just a few days before she died. Anyways, so I went to the hospital and ended up not even on my way to the home till around 830 pm. So now I’m going with these guys I’ve known for all of a day to a place I’ve never her of or know where it is and its dark. You’ve got to have faith of some type to survive in the 3rd world, by the way. Haha. I mean I wasn’t even nervous and totally felt comfortable. After a decent walk in the dark after the taxi got to the village, we finally arrived to the home. I go in and meet all these children who are all so sweet!! Then I see one of classmates in my program here at the home, and it turns out that she had been working with the children there. Small world after all! Anyways, so after gazillion introductions we go back to the girls quarters’ and they were all just so much fun. We sung and danced and I just had an amazing time with them! Then they have a dance, arts and crafts program there and the children perform to support their home so the next day they performed for me after our crack of dawn training. Oh yeah! So at 6 am they woke me up for “training”. One of the “uncles” (guys that work there) trains the kids in the acrobatics and such, so every sat morning they have this work out. At 6 am they had me running, flipping, doing capoera (Brazilian martial arts) and all sorts of random physical activity. I was just cracking up at the fact that I was up at 6 am, first of all, and then at all of the stuff that they had me doing. Later that day one of the uncles taught me how to make the jewelry and the wood carvings. By the way, the “uncles” who run the home are all former street children and they are all like 18-23. These young guys started the children’s home and last week I heard a similar story of former street boys starting a home in another area. They just blew my mind by the fact that they were so young and doing such big things like running a home of 50 kids who are all in school and all. There’s a woman who comes in and helps with the girls and cooking but she doesn’t live there. So I had an amazing time and ended up spending the whole weekend there and didn’t go home until that Sunday. Haha, oh yeah then between the slums and the children’s home, I was the first black American they all had met, so that was worthwhile in itself. The reactions I got were HILARIOUS to say the least. But I’m glad that I was able to be the first they met and they got to see that we are not what they know of us from tv (ie rappers, etc). Of course, some still just miss the idea that most black Americans have no idea what tribe they are from, let alone what country so they just kept pressing me for where I’m from further back. My default answer has become Liberia and then they can move on. Haha. One of the priceless reactions I got was from the bible school teacher in the slums who’s a lil older than me. She said, “you sound like them (pointing to my white friends who I went with) but you look like us…I’m confused”. After I explained what I was, she was so excited b/c she’s never met one before. I love it!! Not 2 sound conceited but I figure I’m a pretty good first black American for them to meet. Haha. It’s sad though that there only concept of the western world is white. One asked me why more of us don’t come back to Africa like I did and I honestly couldn’t think of an legit reason… :-(
Long story short, I ended up doing the same exact thing the next weekend! Once again it was a blast and it was even better to come back to the home now that the kids had gotten to know me. Now I wasn’t just another random visitor but I was now their friend/ sister. I was glad that I was able to gain their trust b/c of course they often get foreign visitors and stuff but they see these ppl once and never again. So I was glad that I was able to show them that I really do care for them by coming back. I’m already trying to figure out how I’ll be able to see them a few more times even though ill be on the other side of the country. When I returned home that weekend, I had a “give away” ceremony to attend with my family. Pretty much the ceremony was purposed to give the bride away to the groom’s family. There are so many ceremonies here for marrying. First they have the introduction ceremony (introduce the couple to everyone), then they give away then finally the wedding. Of course too, each one is a huge affair for those that can afford it and this family has some dough so they’ve pretty much been partying every weekend in hosting all of these ceremonies. So I wrapped my kitenge fabric in a fashionable way b/c my dress wasn’t made and surprisingly, I looked legit. My mom wrapped my hair and everyone thought I was West African b/c of the style I was rocking quite amazingly that day. But I must say I have found the source of CP time. Oh man, we used to complain about CP time, African time trumps that ten times!! So the ceremony was supposed to start at 1 pm, we got there at 3 pm and it didn’t start til 6 pm!! I was cool the first bit then they fed us so I was cool but after a while I was getting quite impatient. We were leaving for an excursion the next day so I knew I still had a paper to do and packing to do and here I was sitting here doing absolutely nothing waiting for these people to come. After a while, I got over myself and just took it all in the cultural experience. Once it finally started, it turned out to be so beautiful and cool to experience part of the traditional culture. I ended up being up quite late that night getting everything done afterwards but it was worth it.
So last week we went to the east for another excursion. It was an amazing time! I ended up finalizing my practicum plans and will be interning at a pediatric neurosurgery hospital. I’m so excited because it seems so awesome. Pretty much my project is to look into the treatment and rehab of the disabled children here so ill be working with this hospital that specializes in hydrocephalitis and other disorders. Then I’m planning to check out a home for disabled children too. So im pretty psyched to see how thing work here and then seeing the surgeries and stuff too. The hospital is Christian too so that was an extra plus. It was so funny how God works. I was waiting to meet with the exec dir of the place and the secretary I was waiting with was going to the staff bible study so told me to come. I wasn’t really wanting to go b/c I wanted to meet with the guy asap but I went. So I ended up meeting some staff and that was great b/c now ill know people when I go back next week and start. Then the exec dir is American and went to Penn so he knew about Villanova, which was freaking me out. All in all I fell in love there and so excited to go work there. ill be working with the neurosurgeons, therapists and spiritual team, getting to do a lil of everything. Yay!! Then the town ill be in is about 4 hours to the east of Kampala and about 1.5 hours from Kenya. It’s so beautiful there b/c there’s mountains and waterfalls and just a totally different scene than here. Then to make a long story shorter, after that we visited a huge children’s outreach center that’s down the road from the hospital and my friend will be interning there and most likely ill be there in all my extra time. I’m hoping to find a smaller home though in the area to live and work with so we’ll see how that works. I’m def not worried thought because God just keeps working in the most mysterious ways and I always end up in the right places.
Later on we went hiking up the mountains to the waterfalls and they were absolutely beautiful. Can you believe that im getting college credits for all this?!...neither can I!! haha. we stayed at this place for two nights that just looked out on the waterfalls and it was just amazing. No other way to describe it. Well to be honest the hike sucked because walking up mountains is just a beast of a workout and quite messy after you fall a couple times and get muddy but it was more than worth it. Then of course while we’re all huffing and puffing, the locals kids are running by us and the women are carrying their goods on their heads as they walk while we are practically dying. It was hilarious!
Then after just hanging out and doing lots of other fun and random stuff in this town, it was time for our time in the bush. We were paired off and were taken into the village and pretty much dropped off. Well of course we were briefed on it so we were pretty prepared. After what seemed like forever in the vans on our way there, we finally got to our place. It was now dark and of course there was no power so it sucked to arrive at night. We were greeted and taken inside. At our place the house we stayed in was brick but the other places on the property (the kitchen, boys’ quarter, and latrine) were all clay/ mud structures w/ grass thatched roofs. This was the real deal! So that night we ate dinner by lantern and we thought we were just eating cabbage and rice, turns out there was fish in the cabbage. Well I wasn’t a big fan of it, so my theory was eat and get it over with. Nope, that planned backfired! After I finished it they were dishing out more. I was thinking NOOOOOO!! Well I did manage to eat the second serving and then we just hung out with the family. The next morn we had planned to go see our siblings’ school b/c they invited us but we ended up walking the nearby hill/ mtn. it was sweet tho! We met a lot of ppl and most were related to us somehow. Our uncle had a watermelon farm, 4 wives and 30 kids. They all lived on the same compound too! It was actually a pretty decent set up. Then we met our grnadparents and they were all just so cute and happy to have us. Everywhere we went, we were fed so we were so stuffed. Our grandma (jjaja) fed us lunch, then we went home for our mom to feed us then we had tea and eats a couple hours later then they fed us a feast for dinner! It must’ve been a game for them to see how much we could eat. The food was so good though that made our arduous task a lil easier. Haha. oh yeah, I even ate white ants! At jjaja’s they had these huge white ants that they were all eating like candy and they offered us some of course. Well I figured I was in the bush, so I might as well go 4 the legit experience so I tried one. By the time I left I had eaten 10!! Go me!! they weren’t that bad, actually but the wings were annoying to eat. Haha. By the time we left 3 days later we had dug up a few sweet potatoes, planted cassava, seen baboons and cute lil monkeys :-), visited the school, been muslim for a day and went to the mosque 4 prayers, leanred out 2 make straw mats, climbed the mini mountain and tons of other random things. Oh yeah, and we were fed what seemed like every other hour. I fell in love with this family and felt closer to these people than my family that ive lived with for 5 weeks. They just welcomed us in, and it was so great. The bush wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting! I actually was sad to leave after our 3 days there. I’ve already promised to go back and visit them. The town is near where I’ll be for my practicum so it’s actually feasible. The kids were just so loveable and fun. Every night we would stay up dancing, singing and playing games. They would teach us their trad dances and games and the best I could come up with were teaching them the Macarena and swing dancing. Haha. Then of course all the cousins would come by too, which seemed like half the village, so there were like 20 kids just hanging out and laughing in this home. It was so much fun!! Oh yeah, then one night I even had us beat boxing about food in lugandan. HILARIOUS once again!! So we got there wed night and that sat morn it was time for us to go. Of course it was so sad to leave and they all walked us out and we had to go say good bye to EVERYONE b4 we left and it was so sweet! Then of course our mom fed us twice in like 3 hours so we left more than full.
Then the icing on this amazing cake of living with our amazing family in the village, seeing the baboons J and everything else, we walked to Kenya the next morning. After staying up dancing and having fun the night before we woke up at 6 am the next morn to go to Kenya. The town we were in was on the border so after walking for only like 20 minutes we were in Kenya!! Of course, it didn’t look any different but it was cool to now be able to say that I’ve been there!! We of course were walking through this swamp and stuff but hey I didn’t have to pay $50 for a visa 2 go 2 Kenya!! I wonder how far we could’ve walked and gone into Kenya before being stopped. Well I’m actually planning to find out. I’m planning to go to Kenya (illegally again…hehe) and ill see how much I can see there. Since I’m black anyways I shouldn’t have any issues. Haha. But I’ll let ya know how that goes! Well that’s the short of what I’ve been up to the last 2-3 weeks and that was quite a mouthful. So I know you’re tired of reading now so ill stop here. But stay tuned for more… love yall and miss ya!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
America Day and Rwanda
Best day ever! So we had a self declared American day! Haha. Well today was Eid al Fitr, a Muslim holiday so everything was closed. By the way, it was funny to be a country for the first time that observed a Muslim holiday rather than the Judeo-Christian holidays. Anyways, so first of all it was an amazing commute to school considering that half the city was home so I made it class in record time. It was awesome! The city was so quiet and orderly that we didn’t know how to act. Sadly we still had class because none of are muslim but on a happy note it was just a half day. So after luganda class we were free. My friend wanted pizza and was just dying to have some so this lead to our American adventure. We went to this pizza place that was expensive by both American and Ugandan standards but we treated ourselves to some American food. Then to make it even better it was buy one get one free because Ramadan had ended so we got two pizzas which was icing on our cake! So we killed both pizzas and we were in heaven! It tasted just like home! This is quite impressive considering that most people in this country have never even had pizza let alone tasted cheese before. (side story: they were showing some people making pizza on tv and my family had no idea what it was or what the white stuff was that was dripping from it was…the cheese. Cheese is like a delicacy here. Haha). so we were so happy and our hope was renewed! Hahaha. For once we did not have matooke (the staple food here…mashed plantains that they eat with EVERY meal), or beans or some other starchy food ie posho (some kind of porridge-grits look alike made of flour and water) or rice.
But considering that the day was still quite young and the city was amazingly empty because of the holiday we decided to try and find the mall. A few years ago Uganda got their first indoor mall, which I believe is the only one in East Africa. Of course though its not a place the locals frequent considering the prices and status of the place. But of course, after our pizza we couldn’t stop there, so we started trying to find this place that we had heard so much about. We had no idea how to get there and no taxis were going there so we walked. After a bit we saw the heavenly entrance into our American oasis. We went in there and freaked out! It was hilarious!! You would’ve thought that we’d never seen a mall before the way we were acting. Of course I went tourist and whipped out the camera. This western oasis had toe be documented! So we went in and the first store we see is like our Target or something. We went in there and flipped out! They had everything that I ever dreamed of!! Haha. deli meats (compared to the pieces of meat that were alive 2 hours before hanging from doorways), a produce section (with lettuce that I haven’t seen since being here), bakery, bbq sauce (which I almost bought to hook up some meals I have at home), appliances (washers and big screen tvs that I miss especially on wkends) and everything else that we have at target. All of my cosmetics, toiletries, snacks and the store was bigger than my bedroom which is a first! Haha. so we’re frolicking up and down every aisle, amazed at every product. You woiuld never guess that we used o go to such places every week back home. They prob thought we were locals that had never made it out of the village and this was just the first store that we went in. so we worked our way through the whole mall. It was amazing. I actually forgot that I was in Uganda! This place has a movie theater (didn’t know any movies there but that’s okay) and my fave part was AlleyGators. This place was like Dave and Busters and more. They have a bowling alley, arcade, ice skating rink (of some ice wanna be that isn’t even cold…haha), and my favorite….karaoke!! I fell in love instantly! But we were just scouting out so we didn’t spend too much time there but I will be going back!! It was funny to be around so many whites and non-Ugandans again. I never see them around town but its like they are all hiding there. For once we didn’t try to cover up our American accents and just frolicked around. It was like a reunion of all the non-Ugandans!! By the time we finally left I had legit forgotten what country I was in, until we walked out and my friend was like “back to reality”. But at this point we were on cloud 9 until we had to get back into Ugandan mode after a taxi almost hit us. Yup, back to reality! Haha. but we prob won’t go too often because we are in Uganda after all but it is our “happy place.” The actual shops at the mall weren’t even all that amazing but just because they were here made them extraordinary!! Go America day!
Oh yeah, so back to last week. Since last week I’ve been to western Uganda and Rwanda. It was so beautiful! The ride, of course, felt like forever, but it was at least a scenic ride! We passed through these small towns that looked they were straight out of a western movie, and then there was the countryside which was just beautiful. It would be hilarious when we drove through these small towns because all the people especially the children would scream and wave to us. Of course this wasn’t for me but for the 25 other whites that they see once a year and are amazed with. Haha. so its like we are in a parade as we just wave to all these kids. At one point, we had gone to visit a Millennium Village Project and traditional medicine village and when we left the kids prob at least a mile behind our vans just waving and screaming to us. It was hilarious! I honestly don’t know how they ran like that! It was just like a scene from a movie as hoards of children just ran behind our vans and they just kept appearing. We were local celebs! I was just exploiting the poor things and taking pics and dying laughing! Haha. I could tell so many stories on all of the random moments of the road trip but im sure you don’t wanna read all that. So moving on, finally we arrived in Rwanda. It was a whole new world! There were WORKING flash lights, people driving like humans, medians, landscaping, it was just beautiful and so much more developed. Considering their recent history, I couldn’t believe how nice it was! But that next day once again reality struck.
We went to the Genocide memorial and of course it was so somber. As beautiful as the country was, there was still large “creep” factor to it. Every place I saw I also visualized slaughtered Tutsis strewn across and every person I saw that was over 20 years of age I knew had somehow been involved or directly affected by the genocide. The first memorial site we went to was a mass burial as well as an amazing museum. It told the history of the genocide, the key players (both good and bad), the victims, and of the other genocides that have happened. I didn’t even realize that so many genocides had taken place. The ones that always come to mind are the Holocaust and Rwanda which leave out many others like Armenia, Cambodia, the Balkans (which just happened) and so many others that just don’t make headlines. It was sad and shocking reality to see that as much as the global community vows to not let such a thing happen again, we keep turning our eyes when one occurs (ie Darfur and Burma now). Arggh, it is so frustrating. We saw all of this and were so sad that such a thing even happened and lasted so long and yet feel so hopeless about stopping those that are in progress now.
So after this site we had an even crazier experience. We went to the prison where many genocide killers (both men and women) were jailed. Oh my gosh, boy oh boy did I have to think of the parables that Jesus told as we spoke to these killers. I wanted to just kill them myself for all they did and yet wore all my Christian paraphernalia reminding of the life that ive committed to living. But it was hard to think that these people were seeking forgiveness. They told us their stories and how they were involved and it was hard to even place an emotion with the event. There was sadness 4 all the victims, anger at these murderers, remorse from them, guilt that the western world and other countries let it happen and just tons of questions. The people looked so human once again and even admitted themselves that they had just been brainwashed and were in an animalistic mindset. But I still cant fathom how they did such things. It wasn’t just that they killed but they did their best to make sure the people didn’t have an easy death and for the few survivors made sure that their future wouldn’t be much better. So they are apologizing and talking about how they are sorry for what they did, etc but it was just crazy! Then even when they finished talking I couldn’t clap for them. it was like I wanted to out of habit but my mind was just In recess. So finally our time with them was up and it got even more challenging. They asked to take a picture with us. I guess it’s part of their rehab and reconciliation efforts or whatever but it was just like who wants to have a picture with these people. like that’s a pic that im dying to put on facebook…ill just tag them “spawns of Satan that killed every person that wasn’t killing alongside them”. so when moving for cameras we remembered that we had left our cameras at security…yay!...avoided that awkward situation. Not!! All of a sudden, a few people pull out cameras and say they didn’t have to turn theirs in. so now here we are, the American students and the genocide killers who are seeking forgiveness and want our “approval” of their remorse. So we gather with them and pose. But I def forgot who I was taking pix with. I was in the front row of the pic with some friends just cheesing away. I totally forgot who was in the picture and just smiled out of habit. So here I am on the front row with this big and pretty smile and yet a few people being me are serial killers. It was so troubling when it was over. Once reality snapped back, I was like “what just happened”, did we really just take a pic with them, and did I really just smile like it was all good?! Arggh!! It was so troubling! I felt so guilty and yet felt like I should be okay with forgiving them but just couldn’t and they didn’t even do anything that affected me or my family. Then I thought I was troubled, Come to find out others faced even bigger dilemmas. One lady asked one of my friends to be her pen pal and wanted to write her, another wanted to take a personal “happy go lucky pic” with one of us, another just wanted to chat. In one sense they were nice people, I mean if I didn’t know their stories, it would’ve been totally fine but of course we were all so jaded! Finally we left and we all questioned everything about our day. At lunch I found out that our translators that are college students and our age had even bigger problems.
One of them, Pearl, which is just an amazing person, was affected more than we guessed. Her dad had been killed in the genocide and here she is translating for the people that killed her dad. She said it was hard for her but while she was there, I would’ve never guessed b/c she kept it so together! So then after lunch we went to a church. This church had been a sanctuary for many Tutsis fleeing the rebels. In the previous genocide attempts the churches were respected by the killers and those that took refuge there were safe but we all that didn’t happen this past time. So this church is more than a church but also a mass grave. 10,000 people has sought refuge here and then on a fateful day in April evil struck the hearts of the hutus and they wiped out the church. 3/10000 survived. So we walk in this church and its just heavy with emotion. They left the clothes of the victims all over the church and at first glance it looked like people were inside. So we walk in and I can’t even cry. Others are tearing up by I was just in shock that I was just emotionless. So we walk around and look around the church. There’s a blood stained cloth on the altar with a blood splattered Mary. We walked down these stairs to find the first and smallest mass grave. There are skulls, bones a casket and some of the belongings of the victims. Then I go outside to walk around and it def was no better. So our translator was outside with my friend, who was crying and when she saw me coming she grabbed me to show me something. So we go to this opening in the ground and it was mass grave. I go in and it’s a large room that’s about 13 feet tall and really long. It’s just piles and piles of bones. All the skulls were in a section, all the leg bones, etc. it was surreal. There was a narrow walkway and other than everything thing was reminiscent of death. To see all the clothes was one thing but then to see all these bones was another. I was able disconnect it a little up until this point but now it was all just there. Once again, I was just emotionless. I wanted to cry because I felt like that was the only appropriate emotion but I couldn’t. I was just there. Everyone around me was tearing up but it just wasn’t happening for me. oh yeah, and remember the translator, Amanda who took me to the grave, the first thing she says when I see it is “my parents are here” but she said it with a surprising cheerfulness. Like I thought she’d be the one bawling her eyes out but she totally was the pillar. So considering her circumstance, I def couldn’t cry especially since she wasn’t crying. But it was so surreal too. While standing outside the grave, you just hear the voices of nearby children. There was a school up the road so while we were surrounded by death you hear the sounds like life. You heard laughter and children playing and it was just like out of the closing scene of a movie…life went on.
On a lighter note, like I said before the city of Kigali is really developed. I guess to try and not erase the past but make it more bearable, a lot has changed. The slums and poor areas are still crappy but the town center is pretty impressive. I even saw a lawn mower but of course it was at the US embassy, so don’t know how much that counts. But sadly we left the next day so many of my questions on life in Rwanda were left unanswered. I would’ve loved to just meet people and hear their stories. Its so crazy to think that unlike the other mass killings that we’ve learned about in school, this one was nationwide and affected every area across the country. Not just a massacre in a village or a killing in town, but this plague of death hit every household as neighbors and friends turned on each other. Its amazing though how they are trying to make amends. They have the Gacaca courts (go look it up if you don’t know what im talking about). But for the most part it allows the killers to come forward out of their niches n society, where they’ve been going unnoticed, and apologize to their victim’s family and attempt to reconcile. And believe it or not, there’s no death penalty there either so they are really making an effort to end the cycle of killing while still trying to enforce justice.
But okay on a happier note, my little brother did go off to school and the dad never did ask me about money again so its been cool. I really like the family and im getting to know and more of them as they come by and visit. I don’t know about leaving this area now because im going to miss everyone in the neighborhood and my family. If I leave in two weeks and go else where for my practicum I will not see them again til the day before I leave. So I don’t know now…
Anyways for a good laugh…so my family has unwanted pets if you catch my drift. So once we all leave the kitchen mickey and his family come out for their feast, so ive learned to not go in the kitchen after its been empty for a while. This strategy allows us to peacefully coexist. Well now that my “sister” is gone I have to prepare my own bath water. But to get the hot water for my basin bath (haha) I have to go in the kitchen to get my water off the charcoal stove. Well the last two nights, ive attempted to boycott my bath because I was scared to go in the kitchen because our bold pets don’t make a silent exit but make it apparent that they were there. So last night I just took a cold wash off, not even bath b/c I was not going in that kitchen and to top it off I saw a cockroach which is my other archnemesus so i was just too through. Then tonight I went in the kitchen preparing to be bold and make noise to scare them off but they were not checking and moved too slow for me so I was like forget it, another cold wash off tonight. But then thankfully I conned my “mom” into going into the kitchen so she did the leg work for me which of course doesn’t even phase them. my cousin was like “just go in there, theyre not going to eat you”, which of course was true but didn’t help much at the time. Haha.
Then my lil bro who’s a lil over one year is all over the place. But here diapers are heavy duty and washable and just used on outings so in my house the baby runs around free as he wants. So when he has to pee, he just does. The first time I saw him peeing, he just stood there and pee’d. Then to make it worse, my fam just laughed it off and there was no concept or effort made to disinfect and clean. They threw a rag on the floor and that was the end. Then today he peed on the carpet so the carpet did all the absorbing, eliminating the need for a rag, so that was the end of that problem. So I have this lil one year old (who happens to be so cute I must say) peeing all over the house and leaving a wonderful scent everywhere he marks his territory. On a better note, he doesn’t pee on people, so we are still on cool terms., long as he doesn’t pee on the floor in my room. Haha
Last thing, I promise, so on Sunday more fam came by the house and after they find out im black American their next question is always where did my fam come from b4 slavery. Of course, I have no idea which boggles their mind of how I don’t know where Im from. So lately for simplicity, I just say im distantly from Liberia. Its worked so well and eliminates the extra drama. Well my story is actually that im Liberian but been raised in the USA. So once they don’t think im American I don’t have to worry as much as them asking me for helping them to achieve their American dreams. So its been cool. But of course, I only use this line outside my house b/c my homestay fam knows the truth. So they were trying to “help” me trace my roots and FYI according to them I look like I could be from the Bantu tribe of East Africa and according to my friend in Rwanda I look like I could be from Ghana. So with all that being said, I guess the great mystery has been solved family. Take your pick of which you want to be of Ghanaian or bantu ancestry. Hahaha. Take that Oprah!... no need to pay all that money to have ur DNA sequenced, just move to Africa and let the locals do all the work for free! hahahahahaha
By the way, so sorry if youve tried to call me. My phone and i have technical difficulties at times so plz try again if u miss me the first time. :-)
But considering that the day was still quite young and the city was amazingly empty because of the holiday we decided to try and find the mall. A few years ago Uganda got their first indoor mall, which I believe is the only one in East Africa. Of course though its not a place the locals frequent considering the prices and status of the place. But of course, after our pizza we couldn’t stop there, so we started trying to find this place that we had heard so much about. We had no idea how to get there and no taxis were going there so we walked. After a bit we saw the heavenly entrance into our American oasis. We went in there and freaked out! It was hilarious!! You would’ve thought that we’d never seen a mall before the way we were acting. Of course I went tourist and whipped out the camera. This western oasis had toe be documented! So we went in and the first store we see is like our Target or something. We went in there and flipped out! They had everything that I ever dreamed of!! Haha. deli meats (compared to the pieces of meat that were alive 2 hours before hanging from doorways), a produce section (with lettuce that I haven’t seen since being here), bakery, bbq sauce (which I almost bought to hook up some meals I have at home), appliances (washers and big screen tvs that I miss especially on wkends) and everything else that we have at target. All of my cosmetics, toiletries, snacks and the store was bigger than my bedroom which is a first! Haha. so we’re frolicking up and down every aisle, amazed at every product. You woiuld never guess that we used o go to such places every week back home. They prob thought we were locals that had never made it out of the village and this was just the first store that we went in. so we worked our way through the whole mall. It was amazing. I actually forgot that I was in Uganda! This place has a movie theater (didn’t know any movies there but that’s okay) and my fave part was AlleyGators. This place was like Dave and Busters and more. They have a bowling alley, arcade, ice skating rink (of some ice wanna be that isn’t even cold…haha), and my favorite….karaoke!! I fell in love instantly! But we were just scouting out so we didn’t spend too much time there but I will be going back!! It was funny to be around so many whites and non-Ugandans again. I never see them around town but its like they are all hiding there. For once we didn’t try to cover up our American accents and just frolicked around. It was like a reunion of all the non-Ugandans!! By the time we finally left I had legit forgotten what country I was in, until we walked out and my friend was like “back to reality”. But at this point we were on cloud 9 until we had to get back into Ugandan mode after a taxi almost hit us. Yup, back to reality! Haha. but we prob won’t go too often because we are in Uganda after all but it is our “happy place.” The actual shops at the mall weren’t even all that amazing but just because they were here made them extraordinary!! Go America day!
Oh yeah, so back to last week. Since last week I’ve been to western Uganda and Rwanda. It was so beautiful! The ride, of course, felt like forever, but it was at least a scenic ride! We passed through these small towns that looked they were straight out of a western movie, and then there was the countryside which was just beautiful. It would be hilarious when we drove through these small towns because all the people especially the children would scream and wave to us. Of course this wasn’t for me but for the 25 other whites that they see once a year and are amazed with. Haha. so its like we are in a parade as we just wave to all these kids. At one point, we had gone to visit a Millennium Village Project and traditional medicine village and when we left the kids prob at least a mile behind our vans just waving and screaming to us. It was hilarious! I honestly don’t know how they ran like that! It was just like a scene from a movie as hoards of children just ran behind our vans and they just kept appearing. We were local celebs! I was just exploiting the poor things and taking pics and dying laughing! Haha. I could tell so many stories on all of the random moments of the road trip but im sure you don’t wanna read all that. So moving on, finally we arrived in Rwanda. It was a whole new world! There were WORKING flash lights, people driving like humans, medians, landscaping, it was just beautiful and so much more developed. Considering their recent history, I couldn’t believe how nice it was! But that next day once again reality struck.
We went to the Genocide memorial and of course it was so somber. As beautiful as the country was, there was still large “creep” factor to it. Every place I saw I also visualized slaughtered Tutsis strewn across and every person I saw that was over 20 years of age I knew had somehow been involved or directly affected by the genocide. The first memorial site we went to was a mass burial as well as an amazing museum. It told the history of the genocide, the key players (both good and bad), the victims, and of the other genocides that have happened. I didn’t even realize that so many genocides had taken place. The ones that always come to mind are the Holocaust and Rwanda which leave out many others like Armenia, Cambodia, the Balkans (which just happened) and so many others that just don’t make headlines. It was sad and shocking reality to see that as much as the global community vows to not let such a thing happen again, we keep turning our eyes when one occurs (ie Darfur and Burma now). Arggh, it is so frustrating. We saw all of this and were so sad that such a thing even happened and lasted so long and yet feel so hopeless about stopping those that are in progress now.
So after this site we had an even crazier experience. We went to the prison where many genocide killers (both men and women) were jailed. Oh my gosh, boy oh boy did I have to think of the parables that Jesus told as we spoke to these killers. I wanted to just kill them myself for all they did and yet wore all my Christian paraphernalia reminding of the life that ive committed to living. But it was hard to think that these people were seeking forgiveness. They told us their stories and how they were involved and it was hard to even place an emotion with the event. There was sadness 4 all the victims, anger at these murderers, remorse from them, guilt that the western world and other countries let it happen and just tons of questions. The people looked so human once again and even admitted themselves that they had just been brainwashed and were in an animalistic mindset. But I still cant fathom how they did such things. It wasn’t just that they killed but they did their best to make sure the people didn’t have an easy death and for the few survivors made sure that their future wouldn’t be much better. So they are apologizing and talking about how they are sorry for what they did, etc but it was just crazy! Then even when they finished talking I couldn’t clap for them. it was like I wanted to out of habit but my mind was just In recess. So finally our time with them was up and it got even more challenging. They asked to take a picture with us. I guess it’s part of their rehab and reconciliation efforts or whatever but it was just like who wants to have a picture with these people. like that’s a pic that im dying to put on facebook…ill just tag them “spawns of Satan that killed every person that wasn’t killing alongside them”. so when moving for cameras we remembered that we had left our cameras at security…yay!...avoided that awkward situation. Not!! All of a sudden, a few people pull out cameras and say they didn’t have to turn theirs in. so now here we are, the American students and the genocide killers who are seeking forgiveness and want our “approval” of their remorse. So we gather with them and pose. But I def forgot who I was taking pix with. I was in the front row of the pic with some friends just cheesing away. I totally forgot who was in the picture and just smiled out of habit. So here I am on the front row with this big and pretty smile and yet a few people being me are serial killers. It was so troubling when it was over. Once reality snapped back, I was like “what just happened”, did we really just take a pic with them, and did I really just smile like it was all good?! Arggh!! It was so troubling! I felt so guilty and yet felt like I should be okay with forgiving them but just couldn’t and they didn’t even do anything that affected me or my family. Then I thought I was troubled, Come to find out others faced even bigger dilemmas. One lady asked one of my friends to be her pen pal and wanted to write her, another wanted to take a personal “happy go lucky pic” with one of us, another just wanted to chat. In one sense they were nice people, I mean if I didn’t know their stories, it would’ve been totally fine but of course we were all so jaded! Finally we left and we all questioned everything about our day. At lunch I found out that our translators that are college students and our age had even bigger problems.
One of them, Pearl, which is just an amazing person, was affected more than we guessed. Her dad had been killed in the genocide and here she is translating for the people that killed her dad. She said it was hard for her but while she was there, I would’ve never guessed b/c she kept it so together! So then after lunch we went to a church. This church had been a sanctuary for many Tutsis fleeing the rebels. In the previous genocide attempts the churches were respected by the killers and those that took refuge there were safe but we all that didn’t happen this past time. So this church is more than a church but also a mass grave. 10,000 people has sought refuge here and then on a fateful day in April evil struck the hearts of the hutus and they wiped out the church. 3/10000 survived. So we walk in this church and its just heavy with emotion. They left the clothes of the victims all over the church and at first glance it looked like people were inside. So we walk in and I can’t even cry. Others are tearing up by I was just in shock that I was just emotionless. So we walk around and look around the church. There’s a blood stained cloth on the altar with a blood splattered Mary. We walked down these stairs to find the first and smallest mass grave. There are skulls, bones a casket and some of the belongings of the victims. Then I go outside to walk around and it def was no better. So our translator was outside with my friend, who was crying and when she saw me coming she grabbed me to show me something. So we go to this opening in the ground and it was mass grave. I go in and it’s a large room that’s about 13 feet tall and really long. It’s just piles and piles of bones. All the skulls were in a section, all the leg bones, etc. it was surreal. There was a narrow walkway and other than everything thing was reminiscent of death. To see all the clothes was one thing but then to see all these bones was another. I was able disconnect it a little up until this point but now it was all just there. Once again, I was just emotionless. I wanted to cry because I felt like that was the only appropriate emotion but I couldn’t. I was just there. Everyone around me was tearing up but it just wasn’t happening for me. oh yeah, and remember the translator, Amanda who took me to the grave, the first thing she says when I see it is “my parents are here” but she said it with a surprising cheerfulness. Like I thought she’d be the one bawling her eyes out but she totally was the pillar. So considering her circumstance, I def couldn’t cry especially since she wasn’t crying. But it was so surreal too. While standing outside the grave, you just hear the voices of nearby children. There was a school up the road so while we were surrounded by death you hear the sounds like life. You heard laughter and children playing and it was just like out of the closing scene of a movie…life went on.
On a lighter note, like I said before the city of Kigali is really developed. I guess to try and not erase the past but make it more bearable, a lot has changed. The slums and poor areas are still crappy but the town center is pretty impressive. I even saw a lawn mower but of course it was at the US embassy, so don’t know how much that counts. But sadly we left the next day so many of my questions on life in Rwanda were left unanswered. I would’ve loved to just meet people and hear their stories. Its so crazy to think that unlike the other mass killings that we’ve learned about in school, this one was nationwide and affected every area across the country. Not just a massacre in a village or a killing in town, but this plague of death hit every household as neighbors and friends turned on each other. Its amazing though how they are trying to make amends. They have the Gacaca courts (go look it up if you don’t know what im talking about). But for the most part it allows the killers to come forward out of their niches n society, where they’ve been going unnoticed, and apologize to their victim’s family and attempt to reconcile. And believe it or not, there’s no death penalty there either so they are really making an effort to end the cycle of killing while still trying to enforce justice.
But okay on a happier note, my little brother did go off to school and the dad never did ask me about money again so its been cool. I really like the family and im getting to know and more of them as they come by and visit. I don’t know about leaving this area now because im going to miss everyone in the neighborhood and my family. If I leave in two weeks and go else where for my practicum I will not see them again til the day before I leave. So I don’t know now…
Anyways for a good laugh…so my family has unwanted pets if you catch my drift. So once we all leave the kitchen mickey and his family come out for their feast, so ive learned to not go in the kitchen after its been empty for a while. This strategy allows us to peacefully coexist. Well now that my “sister” is gone I have to prepare my own bath water. But to get the hot water for my basin bath (haha) I have to go in the kitchen to get my water off the charcoal stove. Well the last two nights, ive attempted to boycott my bath because I was scared to go in the kitchen because our bold pets don’t make a silent exit but make it apparent that they were there. So last night I just took a cold wash off, not even bath b/c I was not going in that kitchen and to top it off I saw a cockroach which is my other archnemesus so i was just too through. Then tonight I went in the kitchen preparing to be bold and make noise to scare them off but they were not checking and moved too slow for me so I was like forget it, another cold wash off tonight. But then thankfully I conned my “mom” into going into the kitchen so she did the leg work for me which of course doesn’t even phase them. my cousin was like “just go in there, theyre not going to eat you”, which of course was true but didn’t help much at the time. Haha.
Then my lil bro who’s a lil over one year is all over the place. But here diapers are heavy duty and washable and just used on outings so in my house the baby runs around free as he wants. So when he has to pee, he just does. The first time I saw him peeing, he just stood there and pee’d. Then to make it worse, my fam just laughed it off and there was no concept or effort made to disinfect and clean. They threw a rag on the floor and that was the end. Then today he peed on the carpet so the carpet did all the absorbing, eliminating the need for a rag, so that was the end of that problem. So I have this lil one year old (who happens to be so cute I must say) peeing all over the house and leaving a wonderful scent everywhere he marks his territory. On a better note, he doesn’t pee on people, so we are still on cool terms., long as he doesn’t pee on the floor in my room. Haha
Last thing, I promise, so on Sunday more fam came by the house and after they find out im black American their next question is always where did my fam come from b4 slavery. Of course, I have no idea which boggles their mind of how I don’t know where Im from. So lately for simplicity, I just say im distantly from Liberia. Its worked so well and eliminates the extra drama. Well my story is actually that im Liberian but been raised in the USA. So once they don’t think im American I don’t have to worry as much as them asking me for helping them to achieve their American dreams. So its been cool. But of course, I only use this line outside my house b/c my homestay fam knows the truth. So they were trying to “help” me trace my roots and FYI according to them I look like I could be from the Bantu tribe of East Africa and according to my friend in Rwanda I look like I could be from Ghana. So with all that being said, I guess the great mystery has been solved family. Take your pick of which you want to be of Ghanaian or bantu ancestry. Hahaha. Take that Oprah!... no need to pay all that money to have ur DNA sequenced, just move to Africa and let the locals do all the work for free! hahahahahaha
By the way, so sorry if youve tried to call me. My phone and i have technical difficulties at times so plz try again if u miss me the first time. :-)
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