The many faces of Rwanda

Teacher at Sacred Heart Academy

 

Many people say first impressions are everything.  We judge people, places and things by our first impressions.  We are taught how important it is to make a ‘good first impression’ when meeting new people or applying for a job.  We walk into a store and immediately judge what we see. We pick up a book and judge it by its cover.  I came to Kigali, Rwanda and my eyes saw poverty, suffering and dirt. I saw sadness in the eyes of the young with no toys to play with, hard labor as the children worked side by side with their parents.  

In the house I live in, I noticed how many times we did not have electricity or running water.  I noticed how many cockroaches were running around or how I couldn’t sit without being attacked by mosquitos.  I saw the beauty of the rolling hills marred by a bloody history and the poverty of the people here.  We are taught young how important first impressions are, yet we have also been taught the expression, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.  There is much more to a person, a book, a place, than what meets the eye of our judgments.  

Every day that I am here in Rwanda my eyes are opened wider.  I am truly seeing beyond the media, and beyond my own initial judgments. I am seeing a people who are trying to heal as best as they can from a bloody history that many of us could not even begin to imagine.  I see a people who despite poverty do not see a need for more material objects.  They place value on health, family and friendships.  

I am surrounded by people that live day-to-day to feed their families but still find time to praise the Lord for their blessings.  I see children that can find pleasure in playing with an old water jug, a nearby tire, making their own soccer balls out of reeds, following me up the hill every day to my house, practicing their English, going to school, helping Mom or Dad look after the little ones.  It is a heartwarming and humbling experience, yet also a very difficult one as I begin to reflect on my own faults and the faults of the society and culture I come from. 

Here, I would keep count of the days we wouldn’t have electricity or running water and yet every day I walk to work there are families at 6 in the morning carrying their loads of laundry down to the trickling stream at the bottom of the hill to wash their clothes because they do not have running water in their houses.  They would then carry all of these heavy, wet clothes back up the hill where they would then get their water jugs and make the trip back down again.  Once they had lugged the heavy, water-filled jugs back up the hill they would use this dirty stream water to cook, clean and bathe with throughout the day.  Here I am feeling like I have it rough with no running water for two full weeks, or no electricity regularly and yet some of my neighbors do not even have the luxury to begin with.  

An experience like this makes you think about your priorities.  Where do my priorities in life lie?  I value my family, friends and health but I look at the people that surround me and I see room to grow.  Many people have asked me if I think this experience has changed me and each time I’ve answered with the same response…Every experience changes you.  Whether a good or bad experience, every single experience plays an important role in who we are and who we become.  We are the only ones with the power to make each experience a learning experience that we can embrace and truly grow from.  

I have been so blessed here to see the many faces of Rwanda and explore the country side. I have had incredibly moving experiences with people telling me their Genocide stories, talking about their ways of life, sharing their traditions and beliefs with me and eagerly welcoming me to their country.  There are people here from all over Africa and each one is just as proud of their country as the next person and eager for me to love it here.   I haven’t come to Africa to change the world but the impact these people have had on me, and the impact I have had on them will last a life time as we have learned from each other in such extraordinary ways.