3 Week Recap: "What de hell is dat about?"

Quick recap of the past 3 weeks…

Pomegranate Tree!

Weekend trip to Gisenyi: A few of us took a weekend trip to Gisenyi, which is right on Lake Kivu and touches the DRC boarder. So while we were there, we: walked to the boarder, met an American actor named Gabriel Olds in our hotel, found an African buffet for less than 2 bucks, saw THE COOLEST lightening storm out over the lake, met a Ugandan soccer team, and hung out at some expensive hotels because it rained the whole time!

Lake Kivu

 Classes: We are already 3 weeks in to our last two classes. Our Post Colonial African Literature class is taught by a Ugandan woman who’s favorite phrase is, “What de hell.” For that class we are reading about a book and a half a week and then we spend Monday, Wednesday and Friday having group discussions recapping the book and diving into the culture of it. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have African Traditional Religion/Culture from 8 to 12:30. Our professor for this class is a Rwandan Anglican Pastor and he is really challenging us to look at our Christian, Westernized faith in comparison to the Traditional African people. His class requires a butt load of reading from a book that often contradicts itself and makes for a difficult, long assignment. Both classes require a lot of work, which does not allow us to get out if the house to much. When we do get out of the house, we usually head to one of the surrounding hotels or cafés to get work done.

Our less than $2 buffet

Soccer Game: We went to the National Stadium to see a soccer game between two Rwandan club teams. The soccer was mediocre and it made me want to be on the field even more! Every time they did something, my MWS training kicked in and I either cringed or approved (mostly cringed). “Take the ball across your body. Pick your head up. End line!” It was fun to be in the crowd amongst a sea of Rwandans.

Drunk fan!

Fabric Barn: Talk about overwhelming! In town, there is a “barn” that is full of fabric. You walk back into a kind of sketchy looking area and before you know it a sea of colors surrounds you. Different vendors have stacks of fabric, fabric hanging on the walls and clothes made of various fabrics. The colors are absolutely incredible and the patterns are very joyful. I have been hoarding fabric this semester…I think it may take up a whole suitcase…Good thing I have an AWESOME mom to help me make cool things J

Easter: While I missed the traditions form home, it was an awesome weekend of celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection here at the Go-Ed house. On Friday night, we watched The Passion, which is an incredible reminder of why we celebrate Easter. Seeing the mistreatment and torturing of Christ is a visual reminder that God has taken my sins on the cross with him and I have been washed clean. Every time I watched him whipped, beaten or kicked, I sank into my seat a little further. That being said, I could feel a weight being lift up off my shoulders. Being here in Rwanda, I have seen the meaning of Easter in a new light. As I stated before, this week is a time of remembrance, but it is also a celebration of Jesus Christ. It has been said, “Easter comes at a time when Rwandans need it the most.” On a lighter note of the Easter season, we had several festivities here at the Go-Ed house. Saturday was full of dying Easter eggs and team Easter trivia (losers God eggs poured on their heads). On Sunday, we went to church then came home and prepared for our Easter meal. 

The meal was a potluck, so we each signed up to make a different dish. IT WAS AMAZING! I made my mother’s baked corn and it turned out so well! Everyone told me, “I looked at it and almost didn’t take it, but it was BOMB!” So, it was a hit. We also had green bean casserole, fish, beef, mashed potatoes, salad, homemade bread, hummus, pasta, fruit salad and so much more! After eating, we had a big Easter egg hunt, a spoon egg race, and an egg toss. The house staff participated in the egg hunt and most of them did better than we did. At one point, Kimmie and Julie were struggling to reach an egg on the top of our gate at the bottom of our driveway. The next think I knew it, I saw Aidah running down the hill and climbing the gate like a monkey and she beat both of them to the egg. It was futo share the Easter season with all of these people who I have gotten so close to over the past 3 months!

Zeke's First Easter Egg!

Go-Ed Easter

For my MWS girls :) 

Noodle fangs. So not planned!

The losers of Easter trivia got egged...

Took it like a champ!

"Family Photo"

Rae and I

Zeke and Jordon

Remembrance Week: Remembrance week began on the 6^th of April and will continue Fn for he next several weeks. The first week, everything around the city has different hours and many things are closed. As the 100 days or remembrance carries on, the remembrance “activities” will not be as planned, but events will still be taking place. One thing that is happening around the country is the burial of loved ones. During the genocide, many people had family members killed in front of them, but they were not killed. At that point in time, they would burry their loved ones where they were at in order to pay respect to that person. To remember loved ones that were lost in the genocide, there are burial ceremonies performed. This ceremony, to an outsider, seems as though it has the potential to be very awkward. What happens is this: A person is to dig up their loved ones and wash them so that they can be buried on a site with others who were killed in the wars. During this ceremony, the killer of these people is also present and participating in the ceremony. As I have been praying for the Rwandan people and thinking about the washing of sins, forgiveness, and remembrance of the genocide, I have asked myself many questions. I ask myself, “Are all people remembering the genocide in a light of despair, or are there still radicals who hate the Tutsi’s and look at this week as an accomplishment of the past (which is an absolutely sickening thought)? When it comes to remembrance, do people remember the killings in 1996, 1997, 2000 and before 1994 or do they only focus into the 1994 because it was the largest mass murder? As an outsider, I can only ponder these things; I cannot answer these questions. With being here these past 3 months, the idea of reconciliation is one that is prominent. There is no doubt about it that this nation has had movements of reconciliation since the dividing of the Hutu and Tutsi groups. That being said, it is easy for westerners to just assume that reconciliation has taken place here and that is the end of it. While many people have come to peace and have reached forgiveness, there are bound to be many who still wear a mask of reconciliation.

Co-Op: These past few weeks, I went to a co-op for women who have been both effected by the genocide and have AIDS. An American woman started this co-op and it is geared towards helping to give women an active role in their own survival. The women here are taught sewing skills so that they may create quality pieces and sell them, each taking the wages from their own pieces. The women here are some of the sweetest women I have ever met. Their website is: www.rwandanwomencan.org.

Shout Outs: A lot of exciting things are going on at home! First off, Mike earned the position First Sergeant for next semester. He will be the head junior in charge of Lima company. That means, he will oversee freshman training before school starts and have some more highly regarded responsibilities within the corps. It is an honorable position that he is excited to take on the challenges of. Secondly, my mom has a NEW BUISINESS up and coming this summer. B. Sue Sews is expanding. My mom has plans to teaching sewing classes in our house this summer.  God is providing for this business! She has spoken with Mr. Zimmerman, the man who sells sewing machines (whom she has used for several years for her sewing machines at school), and he has offered to give her 6 sewing machines to put in our house so that she may begin offering lessons this summer. The machines will technically be in ownership of Mr. Zimmerman, but they will be in our house for her unlimited use. GOD HAD PROVIDED! HE IS GOOD! She is very excited to get her classes advertised and to reorganize/redecorate our living room. For both of these people in my life who I absolutely love, I am excited to see God use the gifts he has given them to reach out to other people and put them into action.

Today marks three weeks until I will be on a plane back to America. WHERE HAVE THE PAST 3 MONTHS GONE? 

Much love,

Ali