week 2 and counting on a more positive note

ok. well yesterday was a little difficult! but i'm alive and well and better. I'm still waiting for teachers to acually let me do my work - which is why i actually have free time to write - but whatever. My vacation, their loss.

Let me describe some cool things that have happened so far:

FOOD. Yesterday i ate rabbit for the first time. It was surprisingly delicious. Yumm! Sunday, i made chopatis for our world cup party. For those of you that came to my birthday, this might sound familiar! I was like a pro since i've had practice. But it was fun kneeling over the fire with my host mom and stoking the coals and grilling our flat bread right on the fire. I've had matoki which is boiled banana - also awesome-, mush banana, deep fried banana, and grilled banana. We eat lots of rice and sauce. Sauce made from peanuts. sauce made from mushed peas. sauce made from old chicken bone broth. And the cabbage...oh man the cabbage. It's like the most delicious thing ever. and then you add the greens and you've never pooped so good in your entire life!

KANATAPE. Have i talked about this before? It's where the students and teachers circle the chairs and talk about where we are. Then we do these exercises that cause us to think, own our experience, and then to share it with the community. Today was about recognizing our ability. We each had to write our top 3 best qualities on a card. Then we put the cards in a bucket. Monique, the director, read off the qualities and we had to guess who they belonged to. It was fun to watch the girls complement each other. I guess it's just not part of the culture. After we guessed everyone, the cards were passed back to us and we had to proudly say I am Shai. and I am passionate, energetic, and adventurous. And then every one clapped. It was so powerful to see these girls own their own powerfulness. One girl said one of her best qualities is that she's big. and she said it with a head held high. I am big. and it's awesome. Rock on sweet sister!

FAITH. Literally and spiritually. Spiritually, i've sort of already mentioned. The nightly prayers with my host mom really take me down a notch. You should hear they way she addresses God. Just the change in her voice, the humility, and the debth of the love, it's so overwhelming! How? How do these people go every day with what they do, and still bow down and night so full of gratitue for living. It takes my breath away.

And then Faith the person. I met her yesterday when i went to dinner with a girl from Vanderbilt who is also doing work here this summer. Faith is my friends host mom. She lives in a HUGE house. Not because she's rich or pretentious but because she's filled it with children she has adopted. She's at 10 so far. All under the age of 10. And you should here these children sing. Last night they sang a song about following Jesus. I recorded a verse. I'll try to find a way to post it on here. And i asked Faith how she came to this life and this calling. She said she herself was rescued as an orphan after the first genocide of rwanda. She owes her life to the goodness of others. And when she was 20 and leaving university, she found a baby in the dumpster. She knew it was her calling to care for the child. That child didn't live more than 2 weeks but Faith knew she now had a responsibility to care for those that can not care for themselves. Faith doesn't run an orphanage. She adopted them. They are her children. And as if this amazing kindness to this crazy planet wasn't enough...yesterday my shoes gave me blisters. By the time i got to Faith's house, i was struggling to walk. Faith pulls out two pairs of shoes and just gave them to me. Just GAVE them to me. Like it was nothing. She's raising 10 kids and she gave me 2 pairs of shoes! She wouldn't take payment and only wanted a hug. And for me to call her Auntie becuase we are family now too.

ANA & RUTH. Since we're talking about amazing people, i have to mention my sweet host sister Ana and my host mom Ruth. These women work so hard. They are not revolutionary feminists. They don't refuse to cary water or scrub clothes or cook dinner. They do all of those things with outcomplaining. But they ARE revolutionizing women because they are educted, literate, God fearing women who want better for their daughter. They are the generation that will tip the tide for the African woman. They will not settle for their girl children to be kept out of school. They are not bucking the system in a joan of arch way - they just go about their daily lives expecting better for the future. And it is their hope that will make this work. Their dilligence to scrub floors every day knowing that their daughters are going to change the world. And sweet Ana is only 21 years old. She sneaks in every day to do my laundry even though i try to hide it from her. And we pinky promised to be sisters for life. So now it's official.

Sunday their was a bomb in Uganda. 65 people were killed at a club watching the world cup. Uganda is the country just north of here. There are threats on Barundi, the country just south of here. I'll admit - i'm a little freaked out. One of the teacher's sister was there at the club but she managed to get out alive. She's terrified and tramatized but she's alive.

My host family assured me that here in Rwanda we are safe. The security is better than any country in East Africa. We will be protected. Please pray for those that have been effected by that terrible act of terrorism in Uganda and for our continued safety here in this country.

Only 35 more days!

Shai