My Favorite Memory From PST

My favorite memory from PST was my first home visit. First off, I must point out that a much defined part of Rwandan culture is visiting people at their homes. My stay in Nyanza at “laundry house” (my home for my first 3-months in Rwanda) allowed me to develop a relationship with the house worker, Jose. My kinyarwanda was less then adequate to hold any conversation with her at that point and with her inability to speak English, our relationship was solely based off of hand gestures, broken kinyarwanda, hugs, and laughs. I learned Jose was a single mom who lived a few kilometers outside of the town.

Near the end of PST, I and another volunteer, Devin, decided to accept Jose’s invitation to visit her at her home to meet her children. It was our last Sunday in Nyanza. We along with our language teacher and close friend, Charlotte, met up with Jose in town. Jose walked us through her village along a dirt path passing house after house. We walked through what felt like the back yards and outdoor kitchens of people’s homes. We were stared and gawked at. People seemed to be surprised that two “muzungu’s” would be in that area.

When we arrived at Jose’s home, we were greeted by numerous children, all members of her family. Her home was a dry mud house with concrete floors, a typical village home. It had with small rooms, one being a room to visit with people. We sat on her sofa where we chatted (as best as we could), shared a fantas, took photos, sang songs, and danced. Slowly, neighbor children made their way to the house to partake in the festivities. It became what felt like a huge ordeal. The children fought over who would sit next to Devin and me.

Another important part to Rwandan culture is accompanying your visitors on their walk home. That evening, Devin and I walked for an hour with at least 10 children holding on to each of our arms. I recently had been taught words to a local Rwandan pop song. Of course, I pulled that out of my bag of tricks on how to relieve awkward silences. The children and I sang this one song together repeatedly. Villagers came out of their homes to join in on our parade. We literally had a line of people singing and laughing with us during out walk home.