What a day.For lunch, we
met with one of my favourite people in the world,Eloge.Eloge is a survivor, and I blogged about him early on the first thing we did when we arrived in Rwanda was to attend a memorial service for his father. We talked about the program, and Eloge told us how impressed he was and how much he believed in us. He’s really part of the team, so it didn’t need to be said—but there’s something about approval from this guy that just makes your day perfect. As always, he gave a little impromptu speech that made everyone cry, but was uplifting at the same time. I don’t know what I believe in religiously—its come up a lot in this country—but I know that when I sit with Eloge I see all the best things the world has to offer. Whatever God is, it shines through him. I know he will change the world.
We also had a little cry with Faustin, our “guide”/BFF. We thanked him for everything he did for us, and he made a little speech. He said he has no family, and he has been searching for someone to be his sister.He took Sara’s hand, and said he had been waiting for her— to be his family.He is getting married to his beloved “bebe”, and he always thought she deserved a sister—Sara is that woman. SO sweet. He told me that I was tranquil and said everything with my eyes—and that I had the qualities of a leader. I countered that if he remembered my RDB experience, I certainly wasn’t always tranquil haha… but I think I was quieter around Faustin because he was always explaining things in French and my mind isn’t fast enough to translate and make informed commentary before he went on to the next thing. I generally understood him, but translating took me too long!
Sara’s mom took us all out to Heaven, an amazing expat restaurant.We had, hands down, the best meal in Africa. Sara even got a free little cake and birthday song—the humiliating type where 10 people come out of the kitchen singing and bring a little cake with a candle.The best part was they set it in front of me, so I got the abject humiliation while I tried to tell them to move the thing to her.
Alas. Today is the end of Kigali, for now. I woke up to WATER for the first time in 4 days, and despite its freezing-ness, I had the best 20 min shower ever. You appreciate everything much more here. A cold shower is far, far better than no shower. Richard, one of the survivors we met along the week, stopped by the house to visit this morning. He just wanted to say goodbye. So sweet of him. Everyone has been very welcoming and wants us to come back as soon as we can. I think they would keep us here if they could! The generosity is astounding.
Everyone else if off to a wedding tonight. They’re going to get traditional African clothes today. I’m at the airport right now, in Kigali, waiting to fly to Cairo…via Addis Ababa and Khartoum. Trying not to think about that second one.
No comments:
Post a Comment