Ok, so you could think that we got off to a rough start
since we arrived two hours late without our luggage…. And one of our group
members got car sick on the brief ride from the airport…and it started down
pouring (when it’s supposedly not the rainy season yet). BUT – I do not consider any of this as
‘rough’ because this group makes everything go surprisingly smoothly – not one
complaint, only smiles and expressions of ‘wow, we’re actually here, here in
Africa.’
We spent our first night
at the Discover Rwanda Youth Hostel and our first dinner at a restaurant in
Kigali called Republika. Zane, who
has never been on an airplane, announced during dinner that if he had to go
home now, he’s completely satisfied because this has been the best dinner he’s
ever eaten and the best experience he has ever had. This dinner included eating whole fried sardines,
goat, stir fried beef and spinach with ginger rice. His words just echoed what the entire group felt – after
travelling for 24 hours, not showering, and having no clean clothes in our near
future. No one’s enthusiasm waned
even after waking up to find out our luggage still had not arrived. Off we went, cozy in our two-day-old travel clothes
– to Agahozo Shalom Youth Village.
A Jewish couple from Philadelphia started this village after the
genocide, modeled after a large kibbutz in Israel. They house, school, clothe, feed approximately 500 high
school aged student – selected from the most vulnerable villages around
Rwanda. We spent the day at the
village – with two students, Bella and Fred, and a volunteer from New York
City. One of our GCP
participants, Sarah Wohld, raised money for Agahozo in high school – and she is
one main reason we chose to spend the day here. Her high school donated t-shirts a few years ago – and we
saw a handful of children wearing the shirts! That was one big highlight and another was eating lunch in
the dining hall – with the 500 students and soaking in their energy, warmth and
hospitality. On the way back from
the village, we stopped at the airport – got our luggage (!) and continued on
to Azizi Life, in the southern part of Rwanda, and our home for the next few
days.
Tomorrow, we will be working
with families in a village that Azizi Life works with – spending the morning in
the fields ("helping" them hoe), eating lunch with the families, and learning how to weave baskets
in the afternoon. At the moment,
most of the group – Mary, Paige, Zane, Haden, Jenafer, Joey, Sarah, and Kara – are playing UNO
(Mary won the first game and Kara won the second. UNO is not Haden’s game – just saying). We have Azizi’s life ‘office’ to
ourselves now, they made their office into guest rooms for us – and we couldn’t
feel happier or luckier to have this experience.
-Amy Sarch (faculty leader)
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