Last week in Rwanda

For our last week in Rwanda, Amy spent her time up at the rural health clinic in Gisenyi helping test people for HIV, deliver babies and help with emergency care.  I decided to stay in Kigali and work with the women’s cooperative.

For International Women’s Day, I brought in cookies and nail polish to give the women a pamper day while they worked on their crafts.  They devoured the cookies while I painted their nails either pink or red (some of them had never painted their toe nails before!); a much needed break from their usual days of survival and stress.  That afternoon, I took one of the girls that FVA looks after (pays her school fees, helps with rent, etc.) to the local market to buy some new clothes.  Janine lives alone with her father, who is an alcoholic and abusive, where they share a bed (we are hoping the abuse isn’t sexual).  FVA worked with the local community to move her into a new home with a family friend.  Whenever she came by the office, she always seemed to be in her school uniform.  My boss told me she only has a few other clothes, so usually wears her uniform most days.  After trying on a few tops and pants, we tried to bargain with the market vendor to get a good deal on the second hand clothes.  When he tried to charge me twice what a local would pay, I decided to give Janine the money and hide behind the corner of the next stall.  Our strategy worked!  We got some new tops, a pair of pants, and a new pair of shoes, and topped it all of with a cold mango juice on the walk home.  It made me really appreciate all the times my parents took me back-to-school shopping; that so many kids over here never get that experience.  Janine was beaming all the way home.  Although I was sad to say goodbye, it was reassuring that Janine was in a new, safe home and had a smile on her face.  The rest of the week was spent paying for school fees for 9 of the womens' children; thanks again donors :)  One of the women was so grateful she had FVA's driver deliver a hand-beaded pen, set of handmade coasters, and a beautifully written thank you card (in English and Kinyarwanda of course) to our guesthouse.

After finishing our evaluation report to our managers, we set about saying goodbye to all the wonderful friends we had made while in Rwanda.  We had a farewell dinner at our favorite pizza place Sole Luna, and had our last night out at our favorite night spot Papyrus where we danced the night away.  The day before leaving we lied by the Embassy pool, bbq’d and talked about how much we’d miss Rwanda.  We procrastinated so badly that by midnight, we still hadn’t packed (the worst part being that our bus was at 5am the next morning).  To top it all off, our driver to the bus arrived 15 minutes late by foot, and our car wouldn’t start.  Thankfully we arrived at the bus while everyone was boarding, and started our journey to Uganda.  We will never forget the experiences and friends we’ve made in Rwanda.  To put it into words, it was challenging, fun, frustrating, exciting, confusing, and wonderful all at the same time.

Xo Cait