Danielle and Dave Pt 8

Day 9 (Kigali Day, Monday)

The first thing that struck me about Kigali was the streets crowded with people, cars, and motorbikes; each aggressively asserting their right to go. Traffic laws seem not to exist in some places and people have to rely on their gut to determine when to drive. The capital city is hot and active; many cars are packed on the streets and navigation seems impossible. There are so many stores and they seem to all be overflowing with people shopping and hanging out.

Our main stop is the main Genocide Memorial. This museum reflects on the build-up to, the beginning of, the duration of, and end of the Tutsi genocide in 1994. The museum had an informational video at the beginning, walk-through of the gardens, and in-depth exhibitions on the genocide (along with information on other genocides around the world). The museum’s objective was to inform the public of what caused the genocide and how to prevent another one from happening again. I believe the memorial is doing a good job of promoting this objective.

Danielle and Dave PT 7

Day 7 (Cleaning Day, Saturday)
The kids call Saturday cleaning day. This name is fitting as everything is being swept, scrubbed, and washed. All the kids and adults are working together in making things spotless. I decide to join in the spirit and wash all of my dirty clothes. I had a warm bath for the first time since arriving as the water started running again (the last time the water was coming out of the pipes was the day we arrived).


Day 8 (Day of Rest, Sunday)
Everything sings in Rwanda. We attended our first church service here in Rwanda. Being raised in a predominately Black Baptist Church, most of my worships centered on singing to praise God. The service with the orphans and their caretakers was only different in the words and type of music used. The music was all in Kinyarwandan and mostly everyone got up to dance and sing. Though I could not understand the words of the hymns, I felt a connection with the people around me and their faith in God. Soon I was swaying with the music and clapping my hands enthusiastically.

Danielle and Dave Pt 6

Day 5 (Another Rainy Day, Thursday)
It rained early in the morning and throughout the afternoon. This means another day where some work could not get done around the orphanage. We were most worried about the feed in the silo getting too wet and being at risk to rot again. Grandpa Howell and I got someone to drive us into town as soon as possible since it was raining too hard for motorbike taxis. He bought two large tarps and we rushed back to cover the silo. Hopefully, it will be fine.

We checked on the rabbits and found they had chewed two large holes in the siding of the wire. One of the rabbits was sitting on top of the feed outside of its cage. We repaired the hole by stringing wire through. Hopefully, the fix will last. Not much else can be done on a rainy day.

Day 6 (Play Day, Friday)
There was a man singing outside the orphanage around 3 a.m. He was the only sound for the 20 minutes his song lasted. After he finished, there was silence for over an hour. No cars, no chirping, and no wind.

Today I spent most of the day playing with the kids. We went on the playground and I took pictures of them playing with each other. I’ve noticed that the kids in Rwanda are more open with each other than kids from America. They hold hands more often and make sure that everyone is included in play, despite gender differences. In America, play is usually determined along gender lines; the boys usually play sports and the girls play games that involve being quiet. That doesn’t seem to be much of a problem with the kids in Rwanda. The girls and the boys play with each other in all sorts of games.

Danielle and Dave Pt 5

Day 4 (Rabbit Day, Wednesday)

We got the rest of the hutch finished today. It took a few hours and a couple of trips into town. We used a whole pound of nails and over 3 meters of wire. Over 5 of us spent hours hammering, snipping wire, and measuring wood to complete the hutch. We made the cages larger than the ones the orphanage used. The hutch has two cages to hold two rabbits separately. The feed is put into a grain holder inside the cage or in a wire divider between the rabbits. The bottoms of the new cages are wire so the rabbits’ wastes fall through, hopefully improving their quality of life and reproducing abilities.

When we finished, we tried to bring the new cages into the rabbit house, but our measurements must have been off because it could not fit through the door. Some of the men suggested tearing down the doorframe or tearing the hutch apart and rebuilding it inside. However, Grandpa Howell came up with the idea to saw off the legs and reattaching them once inside. The crisis was averted.

We put two rabbits in the new cages and some wild grass between them. We checked on the progress of the silo throughout the day. After drying in the sun, we carried the grass over to the side of the silo where other men were chopping it into pieces. The pieces were then shoved into the silo and stomped on to compress the grass as much as possible. After carrying about 10 loads of grass, my neck and arms were sliced up and burning for the rest of the day.

Finishing the hutch and transporting the grass took most of the day and after all the work was done we washed up for dinner. This night Grandpa Howell gave the worship lesson to the kids on how everyone has different talents and each is important to God.

Danielle and Dave Pt 4

Day 3 (Rainy Day, Tuesday)
It rained many times throughout the day and sometimes hard enough to bend the trees. This was a problem. The year before the orphanage’s silo failed. The silo was used to store elephant grass during the wet season for the cows to eat during the dry season, when grass prices doubled. However, the grass had not dried enough before being chopped and stored. The result was rotted feed and an expensive order for the cows in the dry season. This year, it was decided to lay the grass out in the sun to dry enough, in hopes that the feed would not rot. The rain made the work of turning and drying the grass from the day before almost futile.

Most of the day was spent trying to beat the rain. We worked to get all the elephant grass into one big pile and under a tarp before the storm blew in. Any other work that could get done despite the rain was postponed because it was a memorial day for Rwanda. This holiday meant that all the stores and markets were closed, halting our progress on the hutch when materials were needed.

When we realized defeat, I spent the rest of the day playing with the kids and having them read to me.

*Pit Silo from last year
*Drying cow grass
*Protecting cut grass in pit silo from the rain
*Pouring outside

Danielle and Dave Pt 3B

Day 2 continued...
The day was not all virility; at one point we walked into town and visited the sewing center. The woman who runs the center, Theresa, helps make uniforms for students. The store is lined with colorful cloth and bags hanging on the walls. The six or so sewing machines in the room are antique and black, with rust colored foot mechanisms and wooden workplaces. Theresa is excited and bubbly, hugging us when we first come through the door. Her English is limited, but she tries to converse with me in broken French as her accent is difficult for me to understand (coupled with my limited knowledge of sewing terms). We invite her back to the house and give her all types of string, fabric, and lining for the center.

The rest of the day is spent getting exhausted; working on the hutch and chasing pigs until my clothes and skin are so dirty I’ve forgotten what I used to smell like back home. I bathe with the water jug, as the water is not running that day (or any other day afterwards it seems). We eat dinner and lunch with the kids, sets of them clamoring for me to sit at their table. Throughout the day some choice kids appear to watch us work or ask about my life back home. I soon find the kids who seek me out the most are too clever for their own good. They make me love them, despite the short time we have spent together and their attempts to find the most effective ways to annoy me.

That night I find out their worship practices are every night. The kids sing with vitality as they pantomime (sometimes chaotically) all the English and Kinyarwandan hymns they can remember. I clap along to the songs I know, but am mostly content to watch the kids move around, trying to catch my attention. After their gospel lesson, the kids went around the room and hugged everyone goodnight.

That night the sound of a flood against the roof wakes me up. I lay awake for hours afterwards; thinking at any moment the house would be swept away down the mountains.

Danielle and Dave Pt 3

Day 2 (Day of Labor, Monday)
Coming from a family of small women, I was not allowed to participate in hard labor unless absolutely necessary. No matter how much I begged to lend a hand with the ‘manly’ chores, my father would not allow it. Today was the first time I had been allowed to participate in such physically demanding work. We turned prickly elephant grass, which slices up bared skin and leaves you with such an insistent itching only time can heal the burning. We traveled multiple times into town to buy wood, nails and other materials to make an improved hutch for the rabbits. These trips made me realize why my courses stressed how little can get done in countries with limited resources. Most time is spent doing by hand for hours what can get done in minutes by a machine.

Pigs, who I soon discovered to be masters of escape, were chased around and rounded up every few hours. I hammered, I lifted, I pulled, and I performed all forms of manual labor I assumed were lost to my small self. The men who helped us with the work were surprised by my vigor and continuously commented on how hard I worked or how “good of a girl you are.” It took me some time to notice their comments were directed only at me, seeing as I was the only women helping in the hard labor tasks the men usually worked on.