Pasika Nziza!
That means "Happy Easter" in Kinyarwanda.
It was really fun to
meet Quentin and Sabine more in depth (they were at the Fidesco training
session in August). It was also enlightening to learn about their way of
life in the DR of Congo. What I'm about to describe is not indicative of
all of the DRC, but since it is a huge country and that makes it hard to
develop, I'm sure it's true for a lot of the interior. Wow, Quentin and
Sabine painted quite a picture. They have solar panels on their house,
which gives them light in the evening, but there are no wall outlets.
That means no refrigerator, TV, or electronics charging. The office where
they work has a generator so they charge their laptops and cell phones
there. There is no running water. They have tanks that collect rain
water and one of the tanks has a faucet and a connected shower head in the
house so they don't have to go outside to bring in the water or shower, but the
other two Fidesco volunteers in the city don't have those things. They
have to bring in their water from the outdoor tanks and take sponge
baths. If there's no rain, there's no water. They don't have a
kitchen. They have to cook with charcoal over miniature clay BBQ's for
every hot meal they want. Just imagine that. No microwave, stove,
or oven. Only charcoal. I get so frustrated trying to light
charcoal so I can imagine that making a meal is quite an ordeal. Once
they get the charcoal going, there isn't much variety to cook. At their
disposal are rice, beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, manioc and corn flours,
fruit, and bread. They can buy chicken and pork, but they have to eat it
while it's fresh because there isn't a fridge. Can you imagine? In
Rwanda, we eat like kings and queens compared to the Lodja volunteers.
There aren't asphalt or cobblestone roads and even if there were, there are
only villages around Lodja so there is nothing to see outside of the
city. The only way to get far from the city is by plane and those don't
come around very often. They were evacuated by a UN-chartered plane and
had to follow the updates once they were in Rwanda to learn when there would be
a plane back to Lodja. Wow! They are certainly getting an African
experience, one that is very different than the one I am having.
We had a great time
together. Saturday and Sunday night, the six Fidesco volunteers enjoyed
dinner on the Kigali house's patio. On Sunday we crammed into an SUV for
our trip to Akagera and saw animals we didn't see the first time: an elephant,
a buffalo close up, and hippos out of the water. On Monday the couple,
Rita, and I said goodbye to the Kigali guys and headed to Butare. Rita
was working so I played the tour guide on Tuesday and Wednesday. They
left on Thursday morning. I took them to the usual places: the school
tour, the market, the cathedral, the coffee shop, and the handicrafts
store. Other than those places, there isn't much to see in Butare.
The main activity when they were here was eating. Sabine had lost 6 kgs
in Congo and Quentin, 10. That's 13 and 22 pounds! So I put them on
what I called the "get fat plan." We cooked pizza, a quiche,
pancakes, cheeseburgers, etc. The goal was to help them put on weight but
also to treat them to the foods they miss while in Lodja. There are no
cows in Lodja so no hamburgers. No ovens in Lodja so no quiches or
pizzas. It was great to spoil them while they were here. |
| Left to right: me, Quentin, Timothee, Jeremie, Sabine, Rita |
 |
| Clowning around |
Once they left on
Thursday morning, I headed off to a local Benedictine monastery for an Easter
retreat. Comically, the moto-taxi I was riding ran out of gas twice on
the 10 minute ride. The first time the driver was able to get the motor
started again by moving the motorcycle all around so the remaining gas could
hit the right spot to burn, but then he ran out of gas again only 300 feet or
so from the monastery. I walked the rest of the way.
My time at the
monastery was great. I read, slept, prayed, ran, and ate. I turned
off my phone. My room had glass doors facing outside and a covered
balcony so I could pray, read, and look out over the grassy garden without
getting wet (it rained a lot). I started reading a book about Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, a Protestant pastor who was executed by the Nazis just months
before the war ended for being involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler, and
the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. I attended solemn Masses and
different times of prayers with the monks and the other retreatants and even
though everything was in French, I could follow along with the help of my Bible
and Kindle. Something unique that I had never experienced before
was an Easter Vigil Mass at 4 am on Sunday. The monks started drumming at
3:30 to wake us up and they kept at it until 4 am when the candle blessing and
procession began. I was pleasantly surprised to see children from the surrounding
villages around the bonfire and in the Mass. I am impressed how the
children will go to Mass without the prodding of their parents, especially at 4
am. It probably helps their motivation that there isn't much
entertainment in the villages so drums at 3:30 am signal that something new and
exciting is happening.
Anyway, the vigil
Mass was beautiful and I realized for the nth time during the retreat how much
I will miss the simplicity and pace of a Rwandan life and the beauty of the
Rwandan people. There aren't a lot of things to make people busy so they
are more available for others. They are humble and devout.
Connections to others are still important. Even if they don't have a lot
of things (many of the kids showed up without shoes and with dirty clothes),
they have each other and God and that makes them very rich.
Blessings on the rest of your Easter season!
