He Tangata He Tangata He Tangata
He Tangata He Tangata He Tangata It is people It is people It is people. Probably the phrase that summarizes a lot of my philosophies. Muraho everyone! I hope to find you all well. Sorry its been so long. I PROMISE next week I will blog twice to catch up for skipping a week.
Life in Rwanda is so simple , yet so complicated. I have discovered one thing these last few weeks is that relationships are incredibly complicated. Especially relationships where you appear to have everything (in terms of financial things) and when the other person in the relationship has nothing (financially). Sometimes actually about 99 % of the time I wish I had no money at all, that I was exactly the same as everyone else in rwanda. Even if this is the case I will never ever be seen this way. 99 % of Rwandans believe that the western world is paradise, everyone has it easy there. We sit and money falls in our laps. It can be very frustrating to explain to people that yes I have money to travel to Rwanda (mainly due to the incredible generosity of many others) but No I don't own a car (I miss you - fat bertie), I don't own a laptop and I don't own a smart phone. and No my parents haven't paid for my education. I actually owe the government about 20,000 (by the time my degree is finished). Its super frustrating having to explain myself over and over again. Yet the view of the white person as rich colonizer can not be changed.
My wishes in my life are polar opposites of many Rwandan peoples ambitions. For example many Rwandan people desire material possessions. If they have spare money they won't save it for a rainy day or maybe buy something that will bring further financial benefit to them , instead they will buy some new shoes. I don't know what happened but I desire a simple life with as little material possessions as I can. Its hard explaining to Rwandan people the way I think.
Anyway besides varying world views Rwandan people and me seem to get along spendidly!!! These last two weeks have been filled with people! I have had lots of the kids from the orphanage come visit me. My darling Noella who I met in Noel Orphanage when she was very sick , stayed with me for one week in Gisenyi. She has such an incredibly sad life story but am so happy to see her so healthy and happy, thanks to God who used the point foundation to help her. I got to meet her cute wee brother.
On the weekend I went to Kanembge which is where 20 kids from the orphanage live, one of the regular visitors to the orphanage was there for the day. This visitor is from Belgium, he comes every year to the orphanage to cook. He is a very kind man and is greatly loved by many of the children. He organised for all the remaining children of Noel orphanage to go to Kanembge and many other older children came from all over the city of Gisenyi to visit with him. It was so exciting to see everyone altogether again! well not everyone , but at least 100. There was so much food left over so we decided to give them to the neighbouring children that had gathered around. Never ever have I seen kids that desperate for food - and I am not talking about chocolate and lollies. I am talking about rice. They were so desperate for food that they would grab handfuls and drop most of it on the ground. In the end there was some type of system. It really opened my eyes to the poverty in Rwanda. Sure it is probably very uncommon that a children starves to death (it is like the garden of Eden in Rwanda everything grows so if you are desperate you can just steal an advocado) but that doesn't mean children aren't hungry.
I also went to a wedding. It was a long boring affair , not anything like you would imagine an African wedding to be. It again highlighted the immense cultural differences between New Zealand and Rwanda. This week I went to Kigali to do the thing I dreaded the most, sort out my visa. It took only about 6 hours, but i submitted my application and hopefully I should hear back soon from them. I also got to see some of my kids from the very first orphanage I got to work with in Kigali. It was so refreshing to see them all again. They told me what had happened to them since the orphanage had closed. Basically they are fending for themselves paying for their own school fees. 5 of the children/young adults, had made a small cooperative selling art. One of the boys Mussa actually taught kids from the village how to make art. Such a sweet young man.So crazy to see them grown up. Some of the boys are now 18 or 19 which was the same age as I was when I first met them , then they were just kids. Made me realise just how young and impressionable I was when I first went to Rwanda. I probably am still like that, I bet my parents think I am . Ah well to be young and naieve is fun!!!
In Kigali I got to stay at the turning point house which is like a half way house for young people from Noel orphanage run by my organisation. This is where Noella lives when she is home from boarding school.
In the last few weeks I have also visited Noel orphanage a few times, although I have not managed to this week. Hopefully I get time soon.
The year is closing at Ubumwe the last day is tomorrow. I think it closes for two weeks. I will spend the weeks with the children from Noel and my friends in Kigali. For christmas I have been invited to the family of the director Zacharie. This week saturday we are having a christmas party for all the volunteers from Ubumwe. It will be at my house and we are all going to cook the food together.
The last few weeks I have been spending a lot of time with one of the groups of adults with special needs, and I have been trying to come up with some cool activities to do with them. Today we made a massive sign for inside the classroom. Also again I have been spending a lot of time with the deaf kids, going to deaf church and learning sign language. Ubumwe remains an amazing place. It is such a privilege to work there. I have become friends with a sweet (blind) girl called frannie. I think she is the bees knees. Also another Blind girl Cecile seriously is amazing and I am in awe of her. Not only does Cecile dance and act very well, she is also sassy and funny and so kind. She also plays blind ball so well! I played with her one morning! So much fun. I am going to visit frannies family maybe this week sunday. I will continue to keep in touch with all from Ubumwe over the holidays and try to be as useful as I can be.
One of my favorite things about Rwanda is the Christianity prevalent everywhere! Like for example the other day on the bus we saw a truck burning at the side of the road. The front of the truck looked totally munted. The driver of the bus yelled out 'how is the driver' to the people on the side of the road. They said that he was alive. The driver of the bus murmered loudly 'Praise Jesus' which several other people also said. It was so refreshing! A common greeting in Rwanda is 'Jesu Coskwe' which means Praise Jesus. Also as I am writing this message in the internet cafe they are playing some of my favorite songs from church It is so different from living in New Zealand, particularly around the university where christianity is so often ridiculed or even hated on.
Rwanda is so fantastic. I often forget to wash eat and drink. Those things come second to living in the moment. In New Zealand I am often worrying about future things, or looking back at past things. But in Rwanda I very much am living in the moment. Being happy that I am alive and loved!
Please pray that I make wise decisions with my time, money and with relationships.
I hope this blog post finds you all well. Sorry if I haven't gotten in touch with you all lately. I have always been rubbish at communication. I don't think that is about to change any day soon
Much love
from Keza
Life in Rwanda is so simple , yet so complicated. I have discovered one thing these last few weeks is that relationships are incredibly complicated. Especially relationships where you appear to have everything (in terms of financial things) and when the other person in the relationship has nothing (financially). Sometimes actually about 99 % of the time I wish I had no money at all, that I was exactly the same as everyone else in rwanda. Even if this is the case I will never ever be seen this way. 99 % of Rwandans believe that the western world is paradise, everyone has it easy there. We sit and money falls in our laps. It can be very frustrating to explain to people that yes I have money to travel to Rwanda (mainly due to the incredible generosity of many others) but No I don't own a car (I miss you - fat bertie), I don't own a laptop and I don't own a smart phone. and No my parents haven't paid for my education. I actually owe the government about 20,000 (by the time my degree is finished). Its super frustrating having to explain myself over and over again. Yet the view of the white person as rich colonizer can not be changed.
My wishes in my life are polar opposites of many Rwandan peoples ambitions. For example many Rwandan people desire material possessions. If they have spare money they won't save it for a rainy day or maybe buy something that will bring further financial benefit to them , instead they will buy some new shoes. I don't know what happened but I desire a simple life with as little material possessions as I can. Its hard explaining to Rwandan people the way I think.
Anyway besides varying world views Rwandan people and me seem to get along spendidly!!! These last two weeks have been filled with people! I have had lots of the kids from the orphanage come visit me. My darling Noella who I met in Noel Orphanage when she was very sick , stayed with me for one week in Gisenyi. She has such an incredibly sad life story but am so happy to see her so healthy and happy, thanks to God who used the point foundation to help her. I got to meet her cute wee brother.
On the weekend I went to Kanembge which is where 20 kids from the orphanage live, one of the regular visitors to the orphanage was there for the day. This visitor is from Belgium, he comes every year to the orphanage to cook. He is a very kind man and is greatly loved by many of the children. He organised for all the remaining children of Noel orphanage to go to Kanembge and many other older children came from all over the city of Gisenyi to visit with him. It was so exciting to see everyone altogether again! well not everyone , but at least 100. There was so much food left over so we decided to give them to the neighbouring children that had gathered around. Never ever have I seen kids that desperate for food - and I am not talking about chocolate and lollies. I am talking about rice. They were so desperate for food that they would grab handfuls and drop most of it on the ground. In the end there was some type of system. It really opened my eyes to the poverty in Rwanda. Sure it is probably very uncommon that a children starves to death (it is like the garden of Eden in Rwanda everything grows so if you are desperate you can just steal an advocado) but that doesn't mean children aren't hungry.
I also went to a wedding. It was a long boring affair , not anything like you would imagine an African wedding to be. It again highlighted the immense cultural differences between New Zealand and Rwanda. This week I went to Kigali to do the thing I dreaded the most, sort out my visa. It took only about 6 hours, but i submitted my application and hopefully I should hear back soon from them. I also got to see some of my kids from the very first orphanage I got to work with in Kigali. It was so refreshing to see them all again. They told me what had happened to them since the orphanage had closed. Basically they are fending for themselves paying for their own school fees. 5 of the children/young adults, had made a small cooperative selling art. One of the boys Mussa actually taught kids from the village how to make art. Such a sweet young man.So crazy to see them grown up. Some of the boys are now 18 or 19 which was the same age as I was when I first met them , then they were just kids. Made me realise just how young and impressionable I was when I first went to Rwanda. I probably am still like that, I bet my parents think I am . Ah well to be young and naieve is fun!!!
In Kigali I got to stay at the turning point house which is like a half way house for young people from Noel orphanage run by my organisation. This is where Noella lives when she is home from boarding school.
In the last few weeks I have also visited Noel orphanage a few times, although I have not managed to this week. Hopefully I get time soon.
The year is closing at Ubumwe the last day is tomorrow. I think it closes for two weeks. I will spend the weeks with the children from Noel and my friends in Kigali. For christmas I have been invited to the family of the director Zacharie. This week saturday we are having a christmas party for all the volunteers from Ubumwe. It will be at my house and we are all going to cook the food together.
The last few weeks I have been spending a lot of time with one of the groups of adults with special needs, and I have been trying to come up with some cool activities to do with them. Today we made a massive sign for inside the classroom. Also again I have been spending a lot of time with the deaf kids, going to deaf church and learning sign language. Ubumwe remains an amazing place. It is such a privilege to work there. I have become friends with a sweet (blind) girl called frannie. I think she is the bees knees. Also another Blind girl Cecile seriously is amazing and I am in awe of her. Not only does Cecile dance and act very well, she is also sassy and funny and so kind. She also plays blind ball so well! I played with her one morning! So much fun. I am going to visit frannies family maybe this week sunday. I will continue to keep in touch with all from Ubumwe over the holidays and try to be as useful as I can be.
One of my favorite things about Rwanda is the Christianity prevalent everywhere! Like for example the other day on the bus we saw a truck burning at the side of the road. The front of the truck looked totally munted. The driver of the bus yelled out 'how is the driver' to the people on the side of the road. They said that he was alive. The driver of the bus murmered loudly 'Praise Jesus' which several other people also said. It was so refreshing! A common greeting in Rwanda is 'Jesu Coskwe' which means Praise Jesus. Also as I am writing this message in the internet cafe they are playing some of my favorite songs from church It is so different from living in New Zealand, particularly around the university where christianity is so often ridiculed or even hated on.
Rwanda is so fantastic. I often forget to wash eat and drink. Those things come second to living in the moment. In New Zealand I am often worrying about future things, or looking back at past things. But in Rwanda I very much am living in the moment. Being happy that I am alive and loved!
Please pray that I make wise decisions with my time, money and with relationships.
I hope this blog post finds you all well. Sorry if I haven't gotten in touch with you all lately. I have always been rubbish at communication. I don't think that is about to change any day soon
Much love
from Keza
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