Humor in Rwanda

Tonight while hanging out with our Local Rwandese friends, Patrick changed our lives forever. Patrick told Synnøve that she reminded him of someone. A few minutes later he said, “Oh I remember, but it’s a boy.” Of course we started laughing really hard, then he continued on to say, “He plays football for Arsenal.” Synnøve was quite offended at this point, and seeing this Patrick tried to redeem himself, “Oh… but it’s not your muscles! It’s your face!” Talk about adding insult to injury. Here is a picture of beautiful

Synnøve to show that she looks nothing like a male football player. One of the other guys we hung out with told us he thought we all looked a little fat until he tried on Clara’s jacket and it was so tight on him. Thanks guys, you really know how to flatter the ladies.
Tim, and especially Lynn (from England) have the funniest expressions. One day Lynn said something that describes someone who isn’t quite all there as, A few scotch eggs short of a good picnic. Synnøve tried to say it back and ended up saying, Not enough scotch to have fun with eggs at a picnic. Haha
Synnøve’s computer, which she borrowed from her mother, has a piece of tape on the top. One time Lynn asked why there was a piece of “plaster” on it, and Synnøve replied by saying that her mom thought people could watch her through the camera.

Rwanda 2/5/11

We have 2 new volunteers in our house. One from Denmark and one from England/USA I already love them so much! I did a home visit yesterday to a lady named Emmerance. She told us about her experience during the genocide. She showed us 4 scars (skull, neck, hip, and leg) she got from machete wounds. One night the inahawyne came after her. They dragged her out to the street and chopped her up. They left her for dead and ran after another Tutsi woman. Some people had watched the whole thing and ran out and rescued her and took her to a clinic. Yet another woman with a terrible background, and yet she is so sweet and kind.
The next day at the clinic this lady named Florentine asked to speak to me in private. She told me her husband is abusive to her and her children, so she has been coming to the clinic to get depo shots to prevent having another child being brought in to this. But her health card was expired and she couldn’t do the necessary things to get the shot and she had no money for the health card. After a series of events I was able to get her health cards for her whole family and she got the shot. Then best of all I introduced her to Lynn and she is going to join the GBV (gender based violence). Serving and helping others is the best feeling in the world.

Rwanda 1/28/11

Today helped lift my spirits a little bit. After the usual blood taking I went and helped/learned how to make beads with the Isangano co-op (HIV + women). Their cheerful singing, and chatter was just what I needed. These ladies are without a doubt the loveliest people I have ever met. They were so loving and happy for me to join them. I decided I want to do as many home visits to them as I can. After we finished with the beads, Lynn and I walked to the “arse end of no where” to visit Abubachai

and his wife. His mother and brother were killed in the genocide, while his father and sisters were spared because they were in Belgium at the time. However his father died soon after and when his sisters came back to Rwanda to look for him they couldn’t find him so they went back to Belgium. They are coming to visit this summer, and it’ll be the first time in 17 years that he’s seen them. After the genocide, he was a soldier in Angola. He was shot in the foot and it got infected and had to get amputated so he now walks with a fake leg. Everyone’s lives seem so grim, yet they are the kindest people I have ever met.