Today was yet another incredible in Rwanda. We woke up to a
delicious breakfast of French toast bake, syrup and literally the most amazing
mango I’ve ever had. Literally, I don’t think I can eat fruit in America any
more because we have been so spoiled with fresh fruit here!! Anyway, after
breakfast we all got ready and headed off with our beyond AMAZING host, Tom, to
visit a pottery studio in Gatagara and the King’s Palace in Nyanza.
The pottery
studio was a great experience to say the least. We got a tour from some of the
workers of the studio; they showed us how they store the natural clay and how
they add lime/sand to make the actual pottery clay. Then we got to go into the
actual shop and see one of the men create a vase on the pottery wheel. As Kara said “I didn’t know Hogwarts was
in Rwanda” because it literally seemed like magic was at work when he was
creating the vase. He then offered for one of us to try creating something on
the wheel and Pavoua jumped at the opportunity. We all got a good laugh out of
her first couple of attempts but in the end her piece turned into a beautiful
candleholder. Before leaving we were able to shop in their little store and we
all just wanted to bring everything home, it was all so beautiful!!
We were
then off to the King’s Palace where we learned about the history of Rwanda.
Seeing how the royalty of Rwanda used to live was a really interesting
experience and we all learned a lot. Then we came back to the Azizi life guesthouse
filled with artisan representatives ready to sell the products their villages
had created. We didn’t have much time to spend with them at first as they were
busy selling and we had to get ready to learn some traditional Rwandan dancing.
The dancers definitely made the dancing look way to easy.
After many patient
minutes with us though we finally picked up the basics and were able to put on
a show for them, our hosts and some of the artisans resting in the shade of the
garden. While we definitely were not as graceful as them, it was nice to see everyone
having so much fun. It was one of those moments when the language barrier was
lifted between our two cultures and everyone could just laugh together. That is
one of the most beautiful things I’ve loved experiencing on this trip, amoung
many many many other things. Even though most of the Rwandan’s we have met
don’t speak English and none of us speak Kinya Rwandan, it is almost like we
don’t even need language to communicate because we kind of create our own
language with each other. Even today Amy was able to communicate with one of
the artisans and the both of us ended up buying a pair of earrings that she had
made. Everyone we have met is so open and welcoming and wants to learn so much
from us but there is no way that can possibly happen because we are definitely
learning so much more from them.
- Sarah Wohld
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