Friday September 18

Since Patrick was feeling ill today I took headed to the girls’ school to cover his English classes for him. With much help from the school’s headmistress I was able to determine Patrick’s schedule for the day and the girls were able to direct me from room to room leaving me to stumble my way through three English classes with no lesson and little plan.
On the walk back to UCK for lunch and a short nap before afternoon classes I was stopped by an old man who as sitting on his “porch” with several other men. With his few words of English, my few of Kinyarwanda and a larger mutual base in French we chatted for several minutes while the other men only looked on curiously. The man was very friendly and curious to learn more about where I was from and what brought me to Rwanda and even gave me a free Kinyarwanda lesson – teaching me that amakuru is “how are you?”
Armed with my Canadian calendar and an idea I was much more prepared for the afternoon classes I was to manage. I split the girls in each class into groups and asked them to write and then present something using the pictures as inspiration. I failed to account for how much explanation this would require from me – the girls had never seen (pictures of) lighthouses or grain elevators or even a very large bridge before.
The evening was passed in the English Centre with Patrick (feeling a little better) and Vivens and later at Landoo’s place over beer and brochette. We shared stories and discussed the cultural difference surrounding marriage between Rwanda and Canada. Of the biggest differences age was certainly one – girls often marry between 18 and 20 though the government made it illegal to marry before 21 in an effort to delay marriage and thus decrease the number of children each family has. In addition the difference in age between man and wife in Rwanda is often much greater than the one or two years that constitutes normal at home. The last major difference is prevalence of unmarried couples in Canada contrasted to their near non-existence here. This is partly because having children out of wedlock is still largely socially unacceptable but mostly because there is no “common law” legislation in Rwanda and should an unmarried couple separate the woman is typically left with nothing. It is only recently that legislation was passed to protect the children of such unions who were previously also left destitute.

Daily Smiles

- The girls with the picture of Saskatchewan asking “but where are the mountains?” and their visible confusion at my response that there are none.
- Patrick deciding beer was a much better cure for his cold than tea.
- “Sharing” a beer with Vivens which really meant that I drank ¾ of a big bottle of Mutzig.
- Waiting to meet Patrick on the bench outside Bona’s office. He was one hour late. Everyone crowding around me and saying “sorry, sorry” when they saw that I was bleeding a little as I had scratched my own forehead. Bona being upset that I sat outside his office and didn’t come in to say hi.
- The random man in the street, after teaching me amakuru and parting ways, yelling after me that I was very pretty as I walked away.