I woke up this morning to go jogging with Joey at 6:30 AM.
We went up the hill, and saw a good amount of Rwandans walking on the side
walk. We had headphones on so that they wouldn't bother us. We saw students in
blue and khaki uniform walking to school. Most of them had short hair or a
shaved head, even the girls. When I saw this, it made me glad That i have long
hair. Short hair is an economic way of living because they often get fungus in
their hair, and shampoo/conditioner cost a lot. We had to buy it because we
didn't have our luggage, and it came out to $35 dollars for the cheapest kind!
It was refreshing to go out on foot and view the town. We walked down a wet
dirt road that overlooked a valley of farms. Beyond the farms was hills of
green vegetation. And above the hills, the sun was peeking out of the clouds.
It was a beautiful morning, and I couldn't wait to start the day.
After breakfast at Azizi Life's office, we took a 30 min
drive to go back to the village to build something and make banana juice. When
we arrived, we had to go fetch water in bottles. The yellow bottles looked like
the corn oil bottles at the supermarket only these were marked with sand on the
outside. We filled water twice at the bottom of the hill. The water we used was
a big puddle that had been collected from last night's heavy rain. Then we each
carried a bottle up the hill to a spot where there was a small cliff of dirt.
They hoed the dirt and mixed water and grass in it. Then I and Jennifer took
off our shoes and rolled up our pants to help the villagers stomp on the mud to
mix it. After thoroughly mixing the mud, they brought out a homemade brick
mode. Several of the group members helped too. The trick to it is to spray the
sides with water before you pack the mode with mud. This will help get you a
smooth sided mud brick when you slide the mode off. These mud bricks were left
to dry in the sun. Next, we went up the
hill behind the house to make a pig house. They said it would take about 80 mud
bricks. Each brick weighed about 30 lbs according to Joey. They used the wet
mud as glue. A typical house uses 3000 mud bricks, and it takes 2 people 1
month to finish it. After laying down three levels of bricks, it was time for
lunch. We had a hard time trying to get mud off of our shoes. Luckily I wore
slippers so all I had to do was flap them together.
Lunch was provided by the villagers and it was the same food
as yesterday. They don't have rice and meat because these are too expensive. I
only ate a little sweet potatoes and fresh pineapple because I didn't like
boiled cassava, brown beans, and avocados. After lunch, we made banana juice.
They showed us by cutting a bundle of green bananas. Then
they placed these in a hole in the ground. They used branches and banana leaves
and placed these on top of the hole. Then the bananas were placed on top. They
were covered with banana leaves and dirt. Then a fire was started in the hole
to heat up the bundle of bananas for five days. They used dry bananas leaves to
make a fire. Then they uncovered a bundle do bananas that had been cooking in
the ground for 5 days before we came. The bananas were warm. We were able to
eat the small yellow bananas, and these tasted way better than the ones in the
states. Next, we peeled the bananas into a big wooded boat looking container.
Then we used dried long grass to make the bananas mushy. You had to keep
pounded the bananas under it became foamy liquid, which took about 30 min. Next
they added water and then filtered by using grass and a homemade dried gourd.
Then it rained, and we left the villagers.
We ate one of the best homemade fajitas with romantic
candlelights because the lights went out due to the storm. We sat together
around the dinner table to talk about Rwanda and it's history. I had to use the
restroom with a candle. After a few hours the lights came back on. The good
thing is that the Internet has backups so it doesn't die when the power goes
out. :-)
Now the group is playing card games around the dinner table.
It has become a tradition for us to play games after dinner, and I am about to
join them.
- Pavoua Xiong
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