Only small things

So, I think I know where I’m interning.

The Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa that works with “children, children with disabilities, and the dying destitutes,” has an orphanage/home here in Kigali, and it’s an amazing place.

I found the place by chance online when I was searching for orphanages to intern at (insert word here so as not to end a sentence with a preposition). I read up on the volunteer site for the original place in Calcutta (Kolkata? What’s the PC name?) and on the places in Peru, copied down the contact info for the home, and before I knew it, my teacher was calling and setting up an appointment for me to go visit. There’s this huge Catholic Church, Ste. Famille, that sits at the top of a hill close to downtown. I approached the church trying to find the orphanage, and despite my broken Kinyarwanda, I was able to find a guy who led me to the place. We walked down the hill on dirt roads behind the church for a few minutes until he pointed for me to go further down the hill and turn in at the gate. I walked/skidded down the steep hill, knocked on the gate, and was greeted by an older Indian nun. I explained to her who I was, what I was doing in Rwanda, and why I came to the orphanage. She gave me a tour of the place, which started by looking through the window at a room full of babies. I was immediately at home :) The facility/compound itself is average by Rwandan standards, but pretty bare bones by western standards. It’s the people that make the place, though, and they were wonderful. We stopped by a room next door that had about 15 toddlers, half of whom were able-bodied/minded and half of whom were mentally and/or physically disabled. I got to say hi to and play with them for a bit, then she took me to see the room where the kids exercise and do physical therapy 4 times a week. The room had toys, mats, balls, and a small set of parallel bars, which I assume they use to teach some of the kids how to walk. Next, we went to go see the classroom. From what I gather, some of the kids go to the Catholic school up the road, but some of them go to school there. I dunno, it wasn’t entirely clear. We walked into this small classroom where about 15 girls were having class. Right as we walked in, they immediately stood up and greeted me with “good morning!!” though the nun immediately corrected them and prompted them to say “good afternoon!!!” with equal enthusiasm. In the characteristic Rwandan child pitch and unison, they asked me “how are you?” to which I responded, as I’ve learned to do “I’m fine, thank you. How are you?” They told me they were fine, and then they began to sing “We are so happy you are here! We are so happy you are here!” in both English and, I think, French. God they were adorable. I clapped for them, thanked them, and followed the sister back outside. At this point, we were joined by two kids, a girl and a boy who were mentally challenged. I greeted them, let them see my notebook, and then held their hands as we continued down the hill to see the other residents. We went down the steps into a courtyard where several women and girls, who were also mentally challenged, were sitting and other people on the far end of the courtyard were praying. I greeted and introduced myself to the women and got several hugs from the girls :) After the people on the far end finished praying, we went over to meet them. Several of them were very elderly, so I felt honored to get to meet them. It’s not often you see Rwandans that are so old. We continued on, and the sister showed me the rooms where the men and women each slept. In each of these rooms, there was a person so mentally and physically disabled that all they could do was lie in bed. I tried to greet and introduce myself to each person I met and spend a little extra time with those who couldn’t necessarily respond to me. After I said goodbye to everyone, I asked the sister what the residents did all day. She said that those who were able to worked within the compound peeling vegetables, carrying water, and other things. On our way out, she took me in to meet the babies, who were absolutely adorable. I’m sure managing 20 or so babies is a bit difficult, but it’s definitely a task I’m up for. I asked her what the volunteers do, and she told me that they pretty much do anything—playing with the kids, entertaining them, and whatnot. I’m hoping I’ll be able to do as much as possible there if it works out. Even the nitty gritty like I’ve read on the blogs of people who’ve volunteered there—being with people as they are dying, being with them while they’re in pain or sick, washing, cooking, and whatnot. The volunteers can only be there from 8-10 and 3-5, so I don’t know if that’s enough time to satisfy SIT, but hopefully we’ll be able to work something out. The people there are genuinely happy to see you, and the kids are just adorable. I fully expect it to challenge me in every way, and I can’t wait to see how this internship will shape me and what it will teach me. I know that sounds like an ultimately selfish end, and believe me I do want to help and benefit this place and these people if I can, but from what I understand, people who volunteer with Missionaries of Charity feel like they’ve received so much more than they’ve given, so I’m excited to see how this turns out. And I’ll definitely have to improve my Kinyarwanda a lot :P

Also, just…Mother Teresa. I remember first learning about her in Reach in elementary school, and now I get to (at least attempt to) walk in her footsteps. She set this place up, and I can’t wait to really learn about this organization and these people.

Here’s a blog (or something) about someone who volunteered there: http://www.siena.edu/uploadedfiles/home/academics/majors_and_programs/amc/student_service_reports/Rwanda%20Wingle.pdf

That aside, this past week and a half have been pretty ordinary. Classes and two excursions—one to the free trade zone and one to a landfill/recycling plant of sorts. The free trade zone sounded pretty interesting, but right now it’s in its infancy. There was a grain elevator/factory in operation, but that was about the only thing that had been built there. Everything else was either under construction or soon to be built. I bet it’ll be great in about 5-10 years. The landfill/recycling plant (which is honestly neither in the western sense) is basically a trash collection place where workers sort out organic from inorganic waste, dry out the organic waste, grind it up, and then pass it through this machine which heated it and compacted it into logs (aka hippo poop) which were then sold and used instead of charcoal for cooking in homes, which thus helps prevent/lessen deforestation. These people are geniuses, man.

And that’s been my week. We leave for Uganda on Friday, so that’ll be fun. Safaris, muzungu special treatment, and English, here we come. Speaking of muzungus, the other SIT kids are here now. They’re adorable. And by adorable, I mean there terribly American, which isn’t terribly becoming, but they’ll learn. They’re pretty cool kids, though. Yankees and Californians, albeit, but still cool.

Tura subira :)