One Big Girl Thing At A Time
Today marked the 3rd day of me being in my village. While these few days have not been bad it has become Clea that I could easily hide in my room all day and never meet anyone. While the first day I walked to the next village to go to the market, the second day in my village I spent the majority of the day in my house. I chose to be a hermit that day to allow my body to rest and hopefully recover from this terrible cold. I was also in desperate need of clean clothes, which takes a long time when cleaning by hand. I did leave the house for my landlord to show my how to fetch water from the spout. I know after carrying these jerrycans for 2 years, I will be extremely fit!
Today, I set myself a goal. Each day I will do one adult thing in town that forces me outside. By chance I actually did 2 today. After spending most of the morning cooking and relaxing, I went in search of my landlord. He is the only person I knew who could help me with my job today. I needed to buy electricity and was told I needed something called a Mobile Money account that connects to my bank account that then gives me number to type into my electricity box on my house. After trouble translating this issue with my landlord he walked me down our hill and took me into a salon to meet a man who could help me set up this account. After several tries, we were finally successful and we made the walk back up this hill to put the number into my electricity box. I finally had electricity again!
Before my landlord went back into his house, I quickly asked him to help me get furniture built sometime soon. To my surprise he said right now. After drawing out what I wanted he took my drawings to the carpenter to get prices without him knowing it was for the ‘wealthy’ American. After negotiating, I ordered a wardrobe for my clothes. After all of this interaction and meeting many people on the street and having to explain over and over again who I am and what I’m going in this village, I went home exhausted. After resting and making dinner, I was bored once again. I looked out my window and heard music coming from somewhere close by. Taking a dip breath I walked outside determined to get out, even if that meant I only take a picture of the sunset. Quickly I was surrounded by children all wanting to know my name. I quickly ran inside to get a ball and all played volleyball in my front yard. Soon, what seemed like every child in the village was in my yard, including my landlords wife. We played until we could not see anymore, which is until about 7pm here (there are no lights anywhere). My landlords wife asked if I wanted to walk down the hill to the night market, so of course I said yes. As we walked it become extremely apparent that she knows everyone in town. We went to the market for her to buy food for dinner and on our way back I met Marie-Claire.
Marie-Claire came up behind me and immediately wrapped her arm around my waist. In true Rwandan culture, she asked me for my name, my husbands name, and how many children I have. To her disbelief I explained that I was single and did not have any children. Next thing I knew I was being pushed into her house while she calls her son to tell her she met a very nice umuzungu he should marry. While I am not completely comfortable with Rwandans forceful attitude towards marriage, I am not offended or astonished by this, I don’t think I will ever get used to it. After she insisted I eat dinner with her, we finally extracted ourselves from house and she walked me home, explaining how I need to visit her tomorrow at 8am.
I would say I completely my goal today and did at least one big girl, adult thing today. While it is extremely intimidating to leave my house everyday, I know the only way to integrate myself into my community is to push myself to meet everyone, to play everyday, and to let others know I’m here to help them.