Day 2: Rwanda today
Today was definitely a 180 from yesterday. We started the day straight after breakfast heading to a Primary school outside of Kigali. This was a school run via donations that provided children who wouldn't be able to meet the school fees, attend school. We were welcomed extremely well there, and I discovered I am a powerful influence on the children. One child did not let go of me the entire time we were there. Sophie also got quite a lot of attention with her blonde hair. Though most of the kids did not speak English, or spoke minimal amounts, I felt able to communicate in a way that did not require language. I made up a song with clapping hands and making sounds and the kids followed along easily. It was truly enjoyable to feel so much love and to fit in so well despite not knowing how to communicate on a lingual level.
Afterwards we met up with Lauren, an Ex-Pat that is friends with Dave. She is starting a business here and was speaking to us on the growing city of Kigali and all the opportunity this holds for the people of Rwanda. Rwanda is really ahead in infrastructure and urban planning and is creating programs that are leading in all of Africa. Rwanda is also working heavily to get off foreign aid by 2025, which is interesting to think that just 20 years ago the entire country was going through hardships of genocide, and now they have rebuilt to take themselves off foreign aid. I don't exactly know what I expected when coming to Rwanda, and I did not come into this thinking the classic western idea of "there's so much poverty", but I also didn't anticipate to see so much growth from an economic stand point. I think we're all trying to still find our footing, and we're definitely getting un-comfy. Some people were uncomfortable coming to the school, because they felt as though the kids were being used to gain donation or sympathy for the school. Whether that's true or not I honestly don't see the harm in the publicity/donation asking.
In addition we were all a little uncomfortable at the market today. There we were buying items on a list and attempting to barter. It was definitely hard and though Shantih and I got the most items, but found it hard to gauge how much we were spending, and if we were asking too low. Overall, it was a really amazing day and fun, but we got a little out of our comfort zone. Nothing like yesterday. Time feels really slow here. It feels little bit like I've been here for weeks but I also feel like this is a new experience every minute.
--Clarissa
