Rwanda: Africa
By Carlie Charp
I have the privilege of blogging about day five!
Yesterday was an awesome day for Team Rwanda. The day started out great with an extra hour of sleep. Then after a quick breakfast we went to our first church service. Sunday was the first day since we have been here that everyone got dressed nicely. We clean up well! As always when we first walk into a new environment all the kids swarm around us and yell "ma-zoon-gu, ma-soon-gu" (white person). Church was so much fun. We sang and danced and prayed with everyone. After our time of worship was over we listened to the service. The preacher and the translator would go back and forth between English and the native language and it was so interesting how they could speak both languages interchangeably so easily.
As the day continued Team Rwanda was able to provide a blessing that was a surprise to us all! We were asked to teach the second group of Bridge to Rwanda student how to SWIM! So we got in the bus, drove an hour, and went to an Olympic sized pool at a luxury hotel in Nyamata. Most the students we were working with had never been in water. The goal was to help them get comfortable in the water. Our task was to teach them simple things like how to blow bubbles and dunk their heads in the water. Our team went above and beyond and taught more then half the Bridge 2 Rwanda students how to actually swim. It was a really humbling experience to share a skill that most of us use in our everyday lives with people who were terrified of the water up until this point. Even though no one brought a swim suit, everyone was in the water fully clothed and ready to teach! We all had so much fun!
After the pool it was off to dinner with the Bridge 2 Rwanda kids. Dinner was filled with lots of laughs, stories, and questions. The Bridge 2 Rwanda students are going to American universities in just a couple of weeks, so they had a lot of questions about America. The most common questions revolved around American cuisine. The three students I was with asked me what my favorite food was. One of my favorite parts of the trip so far was explaining Chinese food. They said they had never had Chinese food. I told them that after you eat Chinese food, you get a fortune cookie. I explained that you break the cookie open and read the fortune inside before you eat it. (I am a firm believer in fortune cookies so I actually brought some fortune cookies with me to Rwanda.) At the very end of the night, I gave each of my new friends a fortune cookie and told them that they have now officially tried Chinese food! It was so cool to share something that I care about with my new friends!
After dinner we said our goodbyes and came back to Hope Haven. We had our nightly debrief about the day and then it was off to bed. Another great day in Africa for Team Rwanda!
PS: Mondays are way better in Africa :)
I have the privilege of blogging about day five!
Yesterday was an awesome day for Team Rwanda. The day started out great with an extra hour of sleep. Then after a quick breakfast we went to our first church service. Sunday was the first day since we have been here that everyone got dressed nicely. We clean up well! As always when we first walk into a new environment all the kids swarm around us and yell "ma-zoon-gu, ma-soon-gu" (white person). Church was so much fun. We sang and danced and prayed with everyone. After our time of worship was over we listened to the service. The preacher and the translator would go back and forth between English and the native language and it was so interesting how they could speak both languages interchangeably so easily.
As the day continued Team Rwanda was able to provide a blessing that was a surprise to us all! We were asked to teach the second group of Bridge to Rwanda student how to SWIM! So we got in the bus, drove an hour, and went to an Olympic sized pool at a luxury hotel in Nyamata. Most the students we were working with had never been in water. The goal was to help them get comfortable in the water. Our task was to teach them simple things like how to blow bubbles and dunk their heads in the water. Our team went above and beyond and taught more then half the Bridge 2 Rwanda students how to actually swim. It was a really humbling experience to share a skill that most of us use in our everyday lives with people who were terrified of the water up until this point. Even though no one brought a swim suit, everyone was in the water fully clothed and ready to teach! We all had so much fun!
After the pool it was off to dinner with the Bridge 2 Rwanda kids. Dinner was filled with lots of laughs, stories, and questions. The Bridge 2 Rwanda students are going to American universities in just a couple of weeks, so they had a lot of questions about America. The most common questions revolved around American cuisine. The three students I was with asked me what my favorite food was. One of my favorite parts of the trip so far was explaining Chinese food. They said they had never had Chinese food. I told them that after you eat Chinese food, you get a fortune cookie. I explained that you break the cookie open and read the fortune inside before you eat it. (I am a firm believer in fortune cookies so I actually brought some fortune cookies with me to Rwanda.) At the very end of the night, I gave each of my new friends a fortune cookie and told them that they have now officially tried Chinese food! It was so cool to share something that I care about with my new friends!
After dinner we said our goodbyes and came back to Hope Haven. We had our nightly debrief about the day and then it was off to bed. Another great day in Africa for Team Rwanda!
PS: Mondays are way better in Africa :)
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