Becoming a Minyarwandan Kaze
'In de shyake kauba Minyarwanda kaze' ' I want to be a Rwandan girl', probably one of the most commonly used Rwandan phrase in Keza's vocabulary...
Well two significant (lets be honest they are pretty minor) events in my life yesterday prove that I am well on the way to being a Rwandan girl
1st: I bought some beautiful African cloth (its pink orange and brown), then I designed my dress (for all those who don't I am a closet clothes designer) , then I went to the UCC cooperative for all the people who have been trained by UCC and have left UCC . I got my dress made for about 10 NZ dollars, which in my opinion is a steal. Anyway I went to collect my dress and it was too tight in some areas (!) and too loose in others, so had to come back the day after to have it fixed. Of course I arrived the next day and it was far from being ready so I had to sit there for two hours, playing with the cute wee baby (poor me!). Anyway wore the dress yesterday, and was not prepared for the millions of compliments I received. I felt like a bride on her wedding day. Everyone says I should buy 5 more dresses like it , and just wear those every day. For some reason people may think I am wierd if I wear them in New Zealand, probably even my own sisters won't want to be seen with me on the street...
Can I just say something - I have been meaning to say it for a while, but girls in New Zealand (particularly in Dunedin, where I study).. have NO FASHION SENSE ,or self respect when it comes to clothes. The standard outfit in Dunedin is leather look tight pants, baggy striped black and white tops (or dresses or skirts), one of those charm bracelets, puffer jackets, etc. If they are not wearing that they are wearing baggy tops that are grey , browney , black or white. No colour, no shape, no patterns to be seen. I don't understand there are so so so many beautiful colours and beautiful patterns in the world, and beautifully cut clothes with lace and other types of decorations - why on earth would you be SO SO boring?? Thats what I love about Rwandan girls- they KNOW how to dress. They wear beautiful colours, beautiful patterns- and there are no baggy-shapeless clothes to be seen! They love the clothes I wear here, which apparently look wierd in New Zealand (but I am okay with that)... so this note of encouragement for all young girl readers , please wear what you like and not what everyone else is wearing!!
OKAY RANT OVER:
2.) I mastered my first charcoal fire! Wahoo, as some of you know I have been cooking on charcoal since I got to Rwanda. Its ridiculously difficult and slow, but finally I managed to get my own charcoal fire started nicely enough to cook my pasta! I feel so accomplished with my life!
Soo.. I am going home in a few days, which is very very sad, but at least I have many things to look forward to!
These past few weeks have been so busy.. I stayed with my friend Claire for the night, and subsequently decided to sponsor her for her last two years of school, so this week I have been busy organising that and now she is studying at the local boarding school in Gisenyi, which is very exciting.. I have been to kigali twice where I decided to support Setto one of the boys from the turning point house (where I always stay in Kigali), with art supplies, and have made a plan with him to bring his paintings to a local art gallery (which they have accepted). Its very exciting!
I made an appeal on facebook recently asking for money for rain water tanks, which some people kindly gave money towards. However after posting the appeal, Zacharie (director of UCC) informed me that there was a greater need at the moment for UCC which was to purchase hand knitting machines, so that more blind people could learn a skill. Previously there were about 2 or 3 students crowded around one machine, so we bought 5 more and now most students have there own machine, which means that they can accept even more people for their programme!! Also 1 machine was bought for the new cooperative which two of my friends Franny (who is blind) and Mukesina (who has a physical disability) will be working in!
The last two weeks I worked with the more difficult adult group. What a struggle that was! I have such respect for Jeff the leader of the group. They listen to everything he says, and he is so kind to them. I am also kind to them ( I hope), but they definitely do not listen to everything I say. We have done some fun things together like rolling hula hoops outside(which they LOVE) and we went for a walk to see the border. I think it was there first time to be outside the immediate area of UCC and the orphanage (as the majority of this group come from the orphanage).
Last weekend I was in Kigali, for two reasons. One to bring Noella to her flash boarding school with her 'big brothers' Setto and Gatto from the turning point house. I shed a few tears, Noella and I have a very special bond which has been strengthened so much these last few years. Also I went to one of the schools High Hill, where I knew about 100 children from Noel orphanage would be. These children are part of the His Cchase sponsorship programme and they go to about 7 schools in kigali and they were all there for the weekend where they were collecting their supplies and waiting for transport to come to take them to all of their schools. It was so amazing to see all of my old favourites again Adolfe, Nobert, Benoit and Olivier...They had all grown so much! I was especially excited to see Adolfe again! And he was equally excited to see me as we recounted stories of how I had tried to teach them at the nights in the orphanage ...(groan , I remember... I am not a very good teacher of maths!!). So I spent some time with them all - it was a short but very sweet visit!
In other exciting news a few weeks ago we opened 'Diane and Keza's Boutique', in other words we played shops, by raiding my house and UCC store room for things like cups , toothpaste and toilet paper, and then we gave all of the mentally challenged adults fake money and we played shops.. so much fun!!! Also the other group i have been working with have decorated our class room with paper streamers and so much more!
Also every thursday afternoon we have a 'meeting' with all of the adults from UCC (all those studying), sometimes I am the one to come with a topic and lead the discussion. Last week it was begging. They all love it when it becomes a fiery discussion, and me also I love a good discussion so I always try to be a bit controversial , hahaha.
Also I went to a funeral of a family member of my colleague Alexi, funerals are more joyous occasions than weddings around here! First we went to the church (a whole bunch of colleagues and I ) to find Alexi wasn't even at the church , after we went to the burial ceremony where everyone was standing, walking and sitting on all the graves. Of course this is major taboo in New Zealand, and the french girls equally horrified also said it was a big taboo in france. I felt very uncomfortable about it, but reminded myself that there are things we do all the time in New Zealand which are major taboo in Rwanda (like walking around with bare feet, and eating food/drinking on the street, like women drinking alcohol etc).
Also I have caught up with a whole bunch of my Noel friends before they went to school, for example one afternoon Camiliwe came to visit me at UCC and then we both went together to the house of ex Noel kids John bosco and Angel , all together us 4 went to visit the house of Josiane, Benita and Rachel - to find Josiane only there , then us 5 went to visit the house of stephen to find him and another ex Noel person Toby visiting him. Then us 7 went to the house of a family of 4 from Noel to find two of the kids Charles and Evelyn there , and visiting them were two other ex noel kids Bosco and Innocent, so altogether we left and then ran into Rachel (the sister of Josiane) and then we saw cute wee Mutony (who is now 8 - she used to be one of my faves from Noel) and her brother manu.. then it was to dark and I decided to go home..
The other day I was expecting only one person to visit me Om, and he brought a friend from Noel , and then 4 other ex Noel boys arrived - and then we were 7 , altogether we went to visit the house of an ex Noel girl.. and so on and so on. Life is never boring here!!!!!!!
Also I had time in my last visit to Kigali to squeeze in a quick visit with 3 of the cousins from my good friend Noella ( who is Rwandan) from New Zealand! It was a very special moment, as I know Noella would so like to see all of her Rwandan family again (it has been a long long time !!)
This weekend I have many plans but will let you know about them just before I leave! so I guess this is my second to last blog post.. which is very sad. as I could stay here for a few more weeks, actually months, years actually forever.
I hope you are all well , and I shall see so many of you (Lord Willing, or in Kinyarwanda Imana nibishyaka) very soon
xoxoxo
Keza
Well two significant (lets be honest they are pretty minor) events in my life yesterday prove that I am well on the way to being a Rwandan girl
1st: I bought some beautiful African cloth (its pink orange and brown), then I designed my dress (for all those who don't I am a closet clothes designer) , then I went to the UCC cooperative for all the people who have been trained by UCC and have left UCC . I got my dress made for about 10 NZ dollars, which in my opinion is a steal. Anyway I went to collect my dress and it was too tight in some areas (!) and too loose in others, so had to come back the day after to have it fixed. Of course I arrived the next day and it was far from being ready so I had to sit there for two hours, playing with the cute wee baby (poor me!). Anyway wore the dress yesterday, and was not prepared for the millions of compliments I received. I felt like a bride on her wedding day. Everyone says I should buy 5 more dresses like it , and just wear those every day. For some reason people may think I am wierd if I wear them in New Zealand, probably even my own sisters won't want to be seen with me on the street...
Can I just say something - I have been meaning to say it for a while, but girls in New Zealand (particularly in Dunedin, where I study).. have NO FASHION SENSE ,or self respect when it comes to clothes. The standard outfit in Dunedin is leather look tight pants, baggy striped black and white tops (or dresses or skirts), one of those charm bracelets, puffer jackets, etc. If they are not wearing that they are wearing baggy tops that are grey , browney , black or white. No colour, no shape, no patterns to be seen. I don't understand there are so so so many beautiful colours and beautiful patterns in the world, and beautifully cut clothes with lace and other types of decorations - why on earth would you be SO SO boring?? Thats what I love about Rwandan girls- they KNOW how to dress. They wear beautiful colours, beautiful patterns- and there are no baggy-shapeless clothes to be seen! They love the clothes I wear here, which apparently look wierd in New Zealand (but I am okay with that)... so this note of encouragement for all young girl readers , please wear what you like and not what everyone else is wearing!!
OKAY RANT OVER:
2.) I mastered my first charcoal fire! Wahoo, as some of you know I have been cooking on charcoal since I got to Rwanda. Its ridiculously difficult and slow, but finally I managed to get my own charcoal fire started nicely enough to cook my pasta! I feel so accomplished with my life!
Soo.. I am going home in a few days, which is very very sad, but at least I have many things to look forward to!
These past few weeks have been so busy.. I stayed with my friend Claire for the night, and subsequently decided to sponsor her for her last two years of school, so this week I have been busy organising that and now she is studying at the local boarding school in Gisenyi, which is very exciting.. I have been to kigali twice where I decided to support Setto one of the boys from the turning point house (where I always stay in Kigali), with art supplies, and have made a plan with him to bring his paintings to a local art gallery (which they have accepted). Its very exciting!
I made an appeal on facebook recently asking for money for rain water tanks, which some people kindly gave money towards. However after posting the appeal, Zacharie (director of UCC) informed me that there was a greater need at the moment for UCC which was to purchase hand knitting machines, so that more blind people could learn a skill. Previously there were about 2 or 3 students crowded around one machine, so we bought 5 more and now most students have there own machine, which means that they can accept even more people for their programme!! Also 1 machine was bought for the new cooperative which two of my friends Franny (who is blind) and Mukesina (who has a physical disability) will be working in!
The last two weeks I worked with the more difficult adult group. What a struggle that was! I have such respect for Jeff the leader of the group. They listen to everything he says, and he is so kind to them. I am also kind to them ( I hope), but they definitely do not listen to everything I say. We have done some fun things together like rolling hula hoops outside(which they LOVE) and we went for a walk to see the border. I think it was there first time to be outside the immediate area of UCC and the orphanage (as the majority of this group come from the orphanage).
Last weekend I was in Kigali, for two reasons. One to bring Noella to her flash boarding school with her 'big brothers' Setto and Gatto from the turning point house. I shed a few tears, Noella and I have a very special bond which has been strengthened so much these last few years. Also I went to one of the schools High Hill, where I knew about 100 children from Noel orphanage would be. These children are part of the His Cchase sponsorship programme and they go to about 7 schools in kigali and they were all there for the weekend where they were collecting their supplies and waiting for transport to come to take them to all of their schools. It was so amazing to see all of my old favourites again Adolfe, Nobert, Benoit and Olivier...They had all grown so much! I was especially excited to see Adolfe again! And he was equally excited to see me as we recounted stories of how I had tried to teach them at the nights in the orphanage ...(groan , I remember... I am not a very good teacher of maths!!). So I spent some time with them all - it was a short but very sweet visit!
In other exciting news a few weeks ago we opened 'Diane and Keza's Boutique', in other words we played shops, by raiding my house and UCC store room for things like cups , toothpaste and toilet paper, and then we gave all of the mentally challenged adults fake money and we played shops.. so much fun!!! Also the other group i have been working with have decorated our class room with paper streamers and so much more!
Also every thursday afternoon we have a 'meeting' with all of the adults from UCC (all those studying), sometimes I am the one to come with a topic and lead the discussion. Last week it was begging. They all love it when it becomes a fiery discussion, and me also I love a good discussion so I always try to be a bit controversial , hahaha.
Also I went to a funeral of a family member of my colleague Alexi, funerals are more joyous occasions than weddings around here! First we went to the church (a whole bunch of colleagues and I ) to find Alexi wasn't even at the church , after we went to the burial ceremony where everyone was standing, walking and sitting on all the graves. Of course this is major taboo in New Zealand, and the french girls equally horrified also said it was a big taboo in france. I felt very uncomfortable about it, but reminded myself that there are things we do all the time in New Zealand which are major taboo in Rwanda (like walking around with bare feet, and eating food/drinking on the street, like women drinking alcohol etc).
Also I have caught up with a whole bunch of my Noel friends before they went to school, for example one afternoon Camiliwe came to visit me at UCC and then we both went together to the house of ex Noel kids John bosco and Angel , all together us 4 went to visit the house of Josiane, Benita and Rachel - to find Josiane only there , then us 5 went to visit the house of stephen to find him and another ex Noel person Toby visiting him. Then us 7 went to the house of a family of 4 from Noel to find two of the kids Charles and Evelyn there , and visiting them were two other ex noel kids Bosco and Innocent, so altogether we left and then ran into Rachel (the sister of Josiane) and then we saw cute wee Mutony (who is now 8 - she used to be one of my faves from Noel) and her brother manu.. then it was to dark and I decided to go home..
The other day I was expecting only one person to visit me Om, and he brought a friend from Noel , and then 4 other ex Noel boys arrived - and then we were 7 , altogether we went to visit the house of an ex Noel girl.. and so on and so on. Life is never boring here!!!!!!!
Also I had time in my last visit to Kigali to squeeze in a quick visit with 3 of the cousins from my good friend Noella ( who is Rwandan) from New Zealand! It was a very special moment, as I know Noella would so like to see all of her Rwandan family again (it has been a long long time !!)
This weekend I have many plans but will let you know about them just before I leave! so I guess this is my second to last blog post.. which is very sad. as I could stay here for a few more weeks, actually months, years actually forever.
I hope you are all well , and I shall see so many of you (Lord Willing, or in Kinyarwanda Imana nibishyaka) very soon
xoxoxo
Keza
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