Goodbye Rwanda

Friday was our last building day. We got there at 8 and cleaned up around the building. We bought a bunch of pineapples to cut up for a party with the workers. At 10 we had the party and our group and a representative from the 80 of them spoke. We thanked them and they thanked us. Ido, the Israeli long-term volunteer in charge on construction, spoke to the workers and thanked them for welcoming us and also told them they were disappointed they never took the opportunity to get a Muzungo wife. All of a sudden, a man from the second row steps forward and says Jenna's name. He wanted to marry her, but clearly that wasn't going to happen. It was very funny.

All the 80 workers.

At 11, we left for the market in Rubona. It was a race to get to the sumosa stand because I everyone wanted a lot! I bought 8 but could only eat 6 because of the spice. I bought some more things in the market and hung out with people. We said goodbye to the market and Rubona and headed back.

At 4:30 I took a shower to get ready for Shabbat. We didn't have a Shabbat story so two people from the group told two of my favorite stories. Lecha Dodi then we taught another song. In Rubona, we bought some fruit to serve with the challah we made. I went to our last village time. One of the kids was asking word questions to the village and I knew one of the answers so I got up and said it on the microphone! The question was, "what does DJ stand for?" The answer is Disc Jockey! I was also in the ASYV News TV! We were filmed during our work at the clinic during Tikkun Olam.

I skipped dinner to eat soup with the group in a dark circle looking up at the beautiful night sky. After dinner, instead of the every other week dance, there was a Birthday celebration for everyone's birthday in February. There was a small concert from one of the kids in the village to the birthday kids. Then the birthday kids stood up in a line on stage and slowly people got up and went down the line hugging each person. Once there was a huge crowd, I got up and found some girls I knew up on stage. Little did I know, two girls in my family's birthday was in Feb! I wish I had known! After the hugging was a 30 minute dance.

I went to bed early for Muchaka Muchaka in the morning!

Muchaka Muchaka up to the school.

Saturday
I woke up early at 5:45 AM for a 6 AM Muchaka Muchaka. This Muchaka Muchaka is a 30 minute run in a big group all around the village up to the school and back down to breakfast at 6:30. The run isn't very difficult, but if you are screaming the sounds the leaders make then you'll be tired. It is incredible how motivated these kids are to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to run when they could easily sleep in until lunch time. As we approached the dinning hall, a large group of kids stood in a circle doing a fun chant. I have it all on a video!

I didn't want to go to lunch so I went back to the guest house to go back to sleep. I woke up at 10:45 to lay out in the African sun until lunch. After lunch, we had a culture club/talent show meeting but ended up not having to do anything because the village kids already got the job done. We went back to the house and found out we actually had to do something. We went to the amphitheater where the Talent Show was taking place and helped set up in cultural decorations. We weren't needed much so we went back to the house. At 4:30 Aliza and I went to my family's house. Two girls, Agathe and Rose, gave us sweet cards claiming they would miss and and G-d bless us. At 5 we had Thorns and Roses and talked about how to talk to people when we get back to Israel. What do we say when people ask us how Rwanda was? It was life changing.

Talent Show!

Modeling at the Talent Show.

It started 20 minutes late because of African Time. First up was a traditional dance that was beautiful. Then the Culture Club and our group went up. We started with a traditional dance, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, The Cupid Shuffle and finally Amahoro, a Rwandan Gospel song we all love. It was extremely embarrassing and went horribly because the Rwandan kids weren't loud and we pretty much had to lead/start everything. But it was still fun and I am glad I was part of their culture club. Other acts in the show were two kids rapping, apparently the kids love the rappers. There were more dances, one almost like a sign language dancing. Matt's band performed even thought Matt didn't perform after and there was some modeling on traditional African wear. The modeling was my favorite part. The boys and girls were so elegant and beautiful! They walked with such elegance; it was amazing! At the end of the show, Ilan, the village director, said a few words about tradition. To finish off the Talent Show, there was some sort of traditional ceremony, two people from our group were asked up so Aliza and Ilyssa went up. They had to sit there, eat ugali, a fried dough ball, and drink gross milk. I went right to bed after the talent show to get ready for our last full day in Rwanda.

Sunday

Tree with plaque.

Church started at 9 AM. A few of us went to the protestant service. It was a beautiful service but Aliza and I got bored. I didn't understand the girl that was translating for me so we just listened to the beautiful music then left around 11 AM.  Back at the guest house, I started to pack. After lunch, Talya and I went to our family's house but almost no one was home. I met up with Ilyssa at the construction site to take lots of pictures of the building. At 3, we all had a meeting with Ilan. He talked about the impacts we have made at the village and asked us about how they can improve in some ways. At the end of the talk, we all received Thank You letters addressing incorrectly. I was Tamar Gaffin and my friend was Talya Cahn Curtis, woops. Our group also got 2 trees to plant where ever we wanted in the village. We planted on outside the administration building and one on the corner of a few pathways so when the kids walk by, they will always see our tree with our plaque.

Social Action Rwanda group in front of our building
we built.

At 5:00 I had a meeting with Talia and Ariela about my experience. They asked me how my trip was and what I plan on doing with the rest of my life. Ariela told me she could see me coming back to Africa and doing similar work as Ariela wants to do - work in social action with teens in a (somewhat) Jewish setting. She will be a great person to talk to if I want do that.

The meeting went well then I went back to my family's house. We took a lot photos then went back to the house.

For dinner, the family and I sat together. In the middle of dinner, Jenna M. stood up on her chair and started singing Amahoro. Then the rest of us stood up on our chairs and did the same. After a few choruses of singing we sat back down. I think the kids loved it, but just one minute after we sat down, the soccer champions came walking in. In the village that day there was a tournament and ASYV came out victorious. The soccer team came walking in with their uniform still on holding their trophy and a soccer ball. The kids went wild! The timing of both events at dinner worked perfectly. Even though the soccer team stole our thunder a little bit, we also got the dining hall riled up for them.

Family 2 and I.

I rushed my family out of dinner so we could take a family photo back at their house because we had a meeting right after dinner at the guest house. I got the kids all together but Talya never showed up so I took a photo of the family with mama then mama took a photo of me and the girls. I ran back to the guest house thinking I was super late but the meeting hadn't even started yet and Talya was there. Talya forgot about the picture so we ran back to our family and took a photo. We finally got a big family photo, gave everyone big hugs and left with tears in my eyes.

Thorns and Roses was extra long because it was our last one in Rwanda. We did two final activities, one about what we gave in our time in Rwanda and another activity complementing our fellow group members. They were nice wrap up activities then bed.

Monday
We woke up for breakfast to say goodbye to the kids before they went to school. I sat down with some of the girls from my family but then got up later because most of the kids in our group would stand near the door and hug kids while they came into the dining hall. It was really hard to say goodbye to the kids. To think that I might never see these kids again is such a scary feeling. Jenna M. and I went up to school to say another goodbye to our kids then back down to the guest house to take my final bucket shower. I finished packing, said goodbye to some of the long term volunteers then we were off, leaving ASYV.

Our first stop was an artists colony to finish our souvenir shopping. Then to an Indian restaurant for lunch. After yummy palak peneer, we headed to the Kigali airport. At duty free, everyone bought a lot of cheap alcohol and final final souvenirs. The flights were fine, I didn't sleep.