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.