Everyone being themselves at the Falls

The Crazy Taxi Park in Kampala

Kampala

Oh Kampala- big, ugly birds, crazy taxi parks, overwhelming Awino market and men calling out “Sista, sista, how is Obama?”  or “Mzungu, come, have a look!”  Garden City (essentially a mall overlooking a golf course, with a really good Indian restaurant) and Thousand Cups coffee have been the places most frequented by me.  Ciao Ciao’s, the Italian gelato place right down the street offers a heaping scoop of magic for 1000 Ugandan shillings (thankfully, that’s basically 54 cents.  Which will I miss more: chapatti the food or the kitten we adopted? African tea or Stoneys (best ginger soda ever)? The accent or the styles?  Will I miss being called mzungu? Probably not, but it’s nice that it’s not uncommon for everyone to wave as you drive or walk down a street.  Will I miss taking doxy every night or making sure my bed net is secure? Nope.  Am I sad to leave in less than 2 weeks now? Yes I am, but I’m also excited to see my mom, my brother, my grandma, my man, his family and all of my friends at home and at school.

As for Kampala the city I’ll be leaving, it’s really big and bustling.  The first weekend here, we went and saw “Ndere Toupe Dancers” which was a performance of all different styles of Ugandan dance.  Some move their hips and pound on gourds, while some shake their chest and play the drums.  That was also my first experience with a large number or mzungus (white people) other than my group and you may be surprised to find that I was very overwhelmed and felt awkward and out of place.  It’s better now because when we went rafting, which I’ll talk more about in a bit, there were even more mzungus and I was fine, possibly because people were from all over the world.

Anyways- the classes I’ve been taking have been pretty interesting.  I’m studying African Literature and African Traditional Culture and Religion.  It’s been really fast paced, with each class 3 days a week for 2 and ½ hours each, but I suppose it was tougher in Rwanda.  For out Lit class, we’ve read: Things Fall Apart, The River Between, Death and the King’s Horseman, Song of Lawino, So Long a Letter, Nervous Conditions, and Disgrace.  It’s interesting how all of these books really bring about the traditional cultures and struggles of different African tribes, and how it so clearly connects with out Culture and Religion class. For that one, we’ve visited the tombs of 4 of the kings of Buganda (one of the tribes in Uganda as well as the shrines of the Ugandan Christian Martyrs.  Both field trips, so to speak, were really interesting.  After the shrines, we also went to a waterfall in Mukono district (just next to Kampala) that was quite beautiful.

Our house here is on the same compound as the FH office and it has an amazingly beautiful backyard such that you don’t feel like you’re in Africa, except when Simon the monkey comes to hang out with us, or a big crane or toucan or hawk struts its stuff around the yard.  If you walk down the street to La Patisserie, a really nice coffee shop, on Sunday, you’ll see someone leading his cows, with their huge horns, across the traffic in the street. Here, the big homes are mixed in with the shanties and the slums.  At times I feel at home, and at times, especially at night when I see the kids on the street, I ache and think of “Slumdog Millionaire” and how real that really is.  The streets are quite a bit dirtier than those of Kigali- mostly with trash, but Museveni has actually begun a push on a “Ban against dust”.  We’ll see how that works out.  In terms of the dear Baganda president of Uganda, I know the North (places like Kitgum, where I’m headed this weekend, and Gulu and Pader) doesn’t like him, the East (Mbale and Kapchorwa) doesn’t like him, but it seems people in Mukono and Kampala, where his Buganda tribe resides, he is ever so loved.  There’s even rumor that either US or UN troops had Joseph Coney surrounded in Sudan, and called in Museveni to arrest him and he either never came, or let him go. Whether that’s true or not, it’s no wonder the Acoli and other tribes of the north hate him- it seems he only cares for the Baganda and himself. (Again, Buganda is a tribe of many in Uganda.  Colonialism created the country lines, so people still identify themselves by their clan first, tribe second, country third).

Okay- enough of politics.

I forgot to mention earlier- I’m going to miss the fruit here. The giant avocados from which 1 could make guacamole for 10 people.  The delicious, abundant, magnificent mangoes.  The perfect little bananas that are just the right size for a snack.  Oh and the delicious pineapple that no other will ever quite measure up to. (And Erica- you’d better take that as a challenge- just fly me out to Hawaii and I’ll tell you what I think ;P ).

Alright, back on track-

Thanksgiving was great fun and we even entertained guests. Luckily- there was plenty of food for 35 (though my green bean casserole left nothing over- that was a hit that I was proud of).  It wasn’t the same as being at home, and we all felt it, but it was a good meal nonetheless. Now, are you ready for the kicker? Wednesday morning we had two live turkeys tied next to the house.  Wednesday afternoon, before I headed up to class, I watched as one of their heads was sliced off. If you’re going to eat meat, you’ve got to be willing to watch it die.  I didn’t watch the second one, and I’m going to return to being a vegetarian when I go back home.

Water rafting was Amazing, can I just say!  It’s definitely not something I would normally do, as adventurous as I like to think of myself, but I’m super glad I went. There was no time to think- we got on the bus at 7:30 in the morning, drove to Jinja where the New Zealand run company is set, right on the Nile. As soon as we put our stuff away, we were given directions to suit up and head to the water- life vest and helmet on, paddle in hand. We got in and set off. Did some practice drills- the rapids we went through were classes 3, 4, and 5, mostly 5.  We walked around the class 6 and when I asked our guide what made it a class 6, he just said, “Death.” We flipped once- and therefore bought the video and pictures- both of which I still need to put on my computer, so maybe you’ll just have to see those in person.

Okay- sorry it’s delayed but there’s the update!!! I’ll try to do another one after I go to Kitgum, which will be this weekend.

I love and miss each one of you and can’t wait to see you, talk to you, and hug you when I get back!

Oh- and I forgot to mention- my hair is now back to normal. It had a good run of 6 weeks, plus a day of being really crimped, which was fun, but now I’m all back to my normal hair.

K- that’s all :] Until next time!

Ok- sorry it’s been so long!!!

For the whole month of October, I was on practicum in Mbale, Uganda and unfortunately, my internet and my time simply were not enough to update my blog on everything going on- my apologies.

Right now I’m in Kampala, Uganda, where I’ll be for the rest of my stay- 5 more weeks, but for now I’m going to tell you a little bit about Mbale.

First off, the people are of the Bagisu tribe and they speak Lugisu. Since I wasn’t originally going there, I didn’t have much of a job description but you quickly learn here in Africa that a job description is really more like guidelines anyways, and you’ll be doing anything that’s needed. The three of us (Megan, John and I) lived in the Food for the Hungry (FH) main Mbale office that had 2 bedrooms for us as well as two bathrooms (one squatty potty and one western toilet- Thank goodness!) and a kitchen that consisted of a pantry and a stove. Vicky, a part-time FH staff, lives at the office too when students are there and was our cook. She was great and we had a lot of fun, but she also thought she had to be our babysitter, which probably was what she was told. She worried about us a lot and we weren’t really allowed to go out after dark because Moses, the coordinator in Mbale, said it was too dangerous (though we met a huge group from Oregon who said they go out every night and have a blast). That was a little pride issue each of us had to deal with on our own. There were times when we felt we were treated like children and had to convince the staff that we were capable on our own, and times when we felt they expected way too much of us.

In Mbale, FH primarily works in two communities: Makhai and Bufukhula. They’re very involved in these areas and mostly work with child sponsorships for education. They’ve built up schools there and sponsor over 1200 students in Primary and Secondary. They’ve also begun a vocational school. For the first 2 weeks there, my main job was taking pictures of as many of these kids as I could find, ranging over 6 schools, for their annual reports. The CAPRs as they’re called, are the letters that get sent to the students’ sponsors each year as an update. If you’ve ever sponsored a child, you’ll have an idea of what I’m talking about. The pictures were a little ridiculous at times, but still fun because we had to come up with varying activities for the students to pretend to do for the picture such as hacking weeds or milking a cow, etc. In Mbale, most of the students are sponsored by Canadians, with a few from the UK or Switzerland. It was actually kind of neat to be the one behind the camera for that and thinking of all the people who were going to be getting those. Also, one day we were doing home visits in Bufukhula to community elders and at one of the houses was one of the kids that I had missed the day before at the secondary school. So not only was I able to get his picture, but I also got to meet his family and hang out with them for a little bit. That was pretty cool.

The elders in the communities have really begun to take hold and be self-reliant and have the vision for what needs to be accomplished. FH has been in Makhai for 9 years now and their limit is 10, so that means they’re beginning to phase out and will probably have a big celebration next year. I think they’ll still support the children that they have, but haven’t been taking on anymore.

I got to spend a few days in the clinic at Makhai with the nurse and doctor who work there. That was pretty interesting just to see how things are run in terms of antibiotics, money, tests, etc. Pretty much everyone who came in was given some sort of shot and a few pills to take home. They all had a purpose of course, but I don’t know if the man who came in complaining of back and body aches really needed de-worming tablets. Never know I guess. Susan, the nurse who worked there, was really fun to be around and I really enjoyed the days I spent with her.

Other days were spent teaching hygiene classes to Primary students, meeting people in the communities, filling out child and sponsor names on CAPR forms, teaching staff about some quirks on Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

There was a lot that went on in that short time. I learned a lot and I met some wonderful people that were really hard to leave. God has such an amazing way of blessing us- it’s so hard to describe. There was a very high Islamic population in Mbale and if I was paying attention, I would hear the prayer multiple times a day and one Saturday, after finishing a really thought provoking book called “Through Painted Deserts” (not an African book but written about a road trip from Texas to Oregon), I proceeded to write like 10 pages in my journal about different things. One weekend, if you’ve seen the pictures you’ll know, John, Megan and I went up to a place called Sipi Falls and hiked to 3 different waterfalls and it was one of the most fantastic things ever. The following weekend, John’s dad was able to come up (he was in Uganda for a few weeks working) to Mbale and I had a really good conversation with him, on top of the fact that it was refreshing to have a new person around.

It was a tough couple of weeks, and a lot of adjusting that had to be done on my part, but I really enjoyed it. We had to write journals for our class while we were there, so I have those explaining my day-to-day life and they’re typed up if anyone wants to read them. I don’t mind putting them up on here, but I don’t want to overwhelm anyone at the same time.

As a side note, the weather here is so funny, and kind of ridiculous, because in Mbale, we were towards the end of the rainy season, and in Kampala, we’re just at the beginning of it, I think. Days will start out with a heat that you can feel burning you through your sunscreen and two hours later it’ll be raining.

Anyways- there’s an overview of my first month in Uganda. I’ll be up again soon with the experience that is Kampala!

My email is abrindley@westmont.edu if you ever want to talk directly! Can you believe I’ll be home in 5 weeks?? Crazy!

 

Safely in Kampala, half of our group has departed for their practicum sites, with the rest of us leaving at 730 in the morning tomorrow.  All but 2 people actually- John and Meg are both sick and have to wait until their better before they can leave.

But, today was a down day, so naturally, what do Audrey, Mallory and I decide to do, but get our hair done African style of course!

I wasn’t planning on doing this until later, but when I learned that our showers in Mbale are going to basically consist of buckets, I decided I don’t want to deal with washing my hair- so twists it is! This is the closest I will come to ever having dreads, it lasts for 1-3 months, it took a little over 4 hours to do, cost about $24 (47000 shillings), and it’s awesome/awesomely ridiculous!

Are you ready for this?

Before!

Now!

Thank you. That is all. See you in Mbale!

So, everyone, drum role please……….(seriously)……….

I am headed to Mbale, Uganda (a city in southeastern Uganda on the border of Kenya) with Megan (a senior from Greenville) and John (a junior from Gonzaga).

I’m really excited- I mean, I’m still bummed about Ethiopia, but I’m sure God has something amazing in store here and I’m very grateful.

There weren’t any health related options left in Uganda, so I’ll be doing mostly CDP work, which is the Child Development Program that Food for the Hungry has.  I’m not exactly sure what my job will entail, but I think it will be a lot of field work and though Mbale is a fairly big city, I’ll mostly be working in rural areas, and I’m really excited for that because last week in Gitarama, doing field work research, was probably my favorite week so far! Also, John and Megan are both doing CDP-Health-esque things, and there’s a clinic nearby, so hopefully I’ll be able to be around it a little bit and observe.

At the present moment, my bags are packed and we head our at 4:30 AM tomorrow morning for Kampala, which is practically tonight.  That’s a 12-14 hour drive. Then, Saturday morning we head out for Mbale- which I think is a 5-6 hour drive.

If you could pray for safe travels, that would be much appreciated!  These roads, not to mention bus drivers, tend to be a bit crazy.

Also- I’ve been sick all week. In a group of 15, if one person gets sick, we’re all bound to catch it.  I’m on the tail end of it, but it still seems like I can’t blow my nose often enough!

If you could just pray for me in that I’ll be able to have the physical and mental/emotional ability to really jump in and get to know the people, culture and the work well and right away, since we’re only there for 3 1/2 weeks.

As for my last day in Kigali- it’s been wonderful! This morning, my project was finished for our presentations, so I got up around 730, had breakfast and read a little bit, then took a matatu downtown to the market and craft co-op, all by myself- and though I’ve been theremultiple times an before  d pretty much know my way around the basic areas, but to get there by myself reminded me a little of how I felt the first time I drove myself somewhere without anyone else- so exciting!

Then we did our presentations, came back and had an amazing dinner, finished packing and had a dance party  (which is always a good choice with good people!) and here I am, probably covered in mosquito bites, but loving it all the same because this is my last night in the gorgeous land of a thousand hills and boy am I going to miss it!  Their story is amazing and if anyone is interested in learning about it, I’d be happy to tell you, any of the long, medium or short versions. But, as one of our guest speakers told us- people must not be so sad now, 15 years later, and dwell on the past, but look to what we can do in now to help those who are actually still hurting or trying to better their lives and live in harmony amongst each other- which is an amazing feat in itself.  I know Corey understands their story, and how far they’ve come and turned around- it’s awesome.

So long, to all the Rwandese I’ve met, to the Kinyarwanda language, to the beautiful hills and valleys, to the source of the Nile, to peace baskets and banana leaf chairs, to Rwandan tea (icyayi) and coffee (ikawa), to Aida and Shakira our cooks, to TJ and Bubbles our dogs, to Bourbon the ex-pat coffee shop that was really good but really overpriced, and to Pastor Anastase- thank you for all that you taught us about your heart and your country! May we meet again soon!

So, though I was very excited about going to Ethiopia for practicum, there appears to be some difficulty about getting our visas, as they aren’t allowing anyone with visitor or student visas into the country right now because some people came in and stirred up some things they weren’t supposed to and there’s an election coming up.  The government isn’t taking any risks, so only people with business visas can enter- but those can only be attained in one’s home country. :/

So that means we either go to Ethiopia, get thrown in jail and deported- which I’d totally be down for- or we go to a different practicum site.  Since only 4 of the 15 of us were going to go there, they hopefully won’t have too hard of a time redirecting us.

I should find out on Monday or Tuesday where I’ll be.

We say goodbye to Kigali and Rwanda on Thursday and head to Kampala, Uganda for a day.  Then I think on Saturday we all split ways for a month and head to our practicum sites, only to return to Kampala at the end of October.

I know God has a plan, and though I’m bummed about missing out on Ethiopia (and you all should be too, because that means no Ethiopian coffee for you), I’m excited for whatever experience is in store.

On Monday, we packed up and drove a few hours to a city called Gitarama. There’s a Food for the Hungry (from here on out: FH) office here where a few of the girls are going to be doing there practicum, and where all of us are staying until Friday to do research for our Community Development class. In part, this is for experience for us, but the research that we do, we are going to present next week to the staff so that they can take it and see not only the impact they have been making in the community, but also what it is that they can be improving on.

What we’ve been doing is driving out, deep into the gorgeous hills of Rwanda to districts called Mbujumbari and Nsanga- it takes about an hour to get there. Two of us, myself and Rachel, and our translator, Paul, head out from there and proceed to go from home to home, sometimes having to scale the hillside to reach the next one. We have a list of questions, about 7 or 8 pages long asking about health, income, education, work, transportation, church, etc. Each house takes about 45 min to an hour and we’ve been doing 6 houses a day.

Some interesting facts of what I’ve learned:
-The main thing people believe to be the cause of death is poisoning.
-The main illnesses are malaria and worms.
-Rwanda is primarily a subsistence economy, meaning that the majority of the population grow everything they eat, and only to eat- not to sell.
-The average amount a family of, say, 5 makes in a month is 5,000 FRw… (which is not even $9), and that’s if they are able to sell any crops or do occasional labor.
-An “improved latrine” is essentially a hole in the ground, with walls, a roof and a door- maybe something to cover the hole, like a mat.
-Owning or holding a cow for someone is extremely influential because then people have their own fertilizer.
-Banana beer is a great source of income, but if I drank it, I’d probably get sick because apparently it’s made by fermenting bananas in the ground, somehow and I guess it smells really nasty. Desire to try it is not present at all.
-Rarely does anyone go beyond Primary 6 (similar to 6th grade)

These people are amazing and beautiful and I have so much respect for them. Doing this research is just what I needed. We’ve been in the city so long and been in such a routine of doing our own thing that we haven’t been meeting many of the people and the ones I have met tend to be wealthier, though they are very enjoyable. But the people in these rural towns are so welcoming and so open and the kids are so much more well behaved than US kids.

Also, I learned a new phrase that I can’t wait to use more in Kigali:
Sinitwa mzungu= My name is not mzungu
=D Oh, brilliant!

3 units down.

Yesterday, we did our final presentation for our Issues of Peacebuilding class. Mine was on the international community’s influence before, during and after the genocide.  It was a group presentation and my part was on Belgium and France’s roles.  The more I researched, the more I was disappointed in the past, but I still have a week left of my Social Context for Community Development class, so maybe current development practices and expansions will show me the hope all around at the present moment.

It’s a really good balance, I feel, having these 2 classes right now- in both of them we learn about the past, present and future contexts for peace and development. Sometimes it feels like theirs so much that can be done, sometimes it seems like too much- but that’s also why I love that this is a Christian organization focusing and counting on the wholistic growth of the population.

“I looked behind me and saw a cross. I looked forward and saw a king” (http://msanjose.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/hilltop/)

If you know the difference between negative and positive peace, you can see that there will always be issues in peacebuilding, and that in any society today, we can hope for levels of both, but strive for the Kingdom in which there will one day be no need for a distinction.

I’m in my beginning stages of writing my final paper for Development and then Monday we leave for Gitarama (like an hour away) until Friday. We’re going to be doing research there- going from house to house, essentially, and asking families questions about their living situation. This is to help us see lives here, as well as to help FH begin to gauge their impact on the community and try to find other areas that need help.

Then, not only will I be done with 2 classes already, but I’ll have but 1 week left in this beautiful country before I set out to Ethiopia for the month of October for my practicum!

This week, I’ve been having some difficulties getting around town to the point of it being comical.

Monday a few of us made it our goal to get to the post office downtown, even though everyone else was going the opposite direction to a coffee shop called Bourbon for someone’s b-day (they have gelato there- it’s the prime mzungu hangout). Well, we got downtown alright- all you have to do is get on a matatu (bus) that says Kimironko (where I live)- Ville (town) and take it to the last stop. So we got off and walked a ways to where we were told the post office was (by someone who had just been there a few days before)… but no such luck. It was an empty building- luckily a man who spoke a little English was able to see how distraught and confused we were and informed us that they closed it just a day or 2 before and moved it somewhere else. Who closes and moves a post office in just a few days? Crazy.
Well, we eventually made it to Bourbon, which is a 15 min walk from any matatu stop and I got a much needed scoop of peach gelato for 1000 frw (a little under $2).
The next day, even though we had 2 papers, two of us made it to the new post office- luckily she speaks a little French so we were able to figure the system out.  As we were leaving, it started pouring rain and there was thunder and it was wonderful!

Failed attempt #2: Wednesday we set off for a huge fabric outlet downtown, and made it there alright (but it was super overwhelming and I only ended up getting one thing). From there we attempted to go to a women’s support place where they make neat bags and things called Amahoro, but we got on a matatu fro Nyamirama instead of Nyenyera like we were supposed to and that was pretty tiring, so we gave up and decided to try again another time- I was so worn out from that adventure I went to bed at 9! It was great!

Tomorrow some of us are going to try to go to a craft market and maybe Amahoro. Wish us luck!

So, this weekend, we took a little vacation to the town of Kibuye, which is on the West side of Rwanda, right on Lake Kivu.  It was so gorgeous and really fun to swim in (since I don’t run and therefore haven’t really exercised as of late).  It was so relaxing and just a great weekend! We took a boat ride on Saturday afternoon to one of the islands, called “bat island”, and hiked to the very top of it- which was in no way easy at all! It was incredibly steep and incredibly high and we had to zig zag our way up, but boy did it feel good! Not only that, but it was simply gorgeous. It was probably the biggest lake I’ve ever been to- in the distance I could make out the hazy silhouette of the Congo.  Saturday night, there was a lightning storm in the distance, so that was really neat to watch.  This morning, we went to church there and that was really fun because it was mainly composed of singing. They had 3 different age groups of choirs and at one point they had us sing- luckily we had been forewarned, so we practiced a few songs on the drive over.  It was really fun, but it made me miss our chapel band so much!

I put up pictures on my facebook if you want to look- I took a lot of the countryside as well because it’s just so beautiful! Hills upon hills of farms and banana trees… I think I’m really starting to love this place.  And the women wear such colorful fabrics and attach their babies to their backs with a blanket, somehow, while also carrying full baskets on their heads… it’s amazing.

Also, I forgot to mention that last weekend I went to a soccer match at the stadium right up the street: Rwanda vs. Egypt, and it was amazing! We had prime seats in the front row, shade, for 5,000 Rwandan Franks, which is less than $10. It was so fun!

AAAAAnd, drum role please….

We found out our practicum placements for the month of October, essentially:

Ziway, Ethiopia! Title: Junior Health Officer. Once I’m doing it, I’m sure I’ll be able to explain better my position- but for now, I’m going to Ethiopia! I’m so excited! It’s not for another 2 1/2, 3 weeks, but it’s good to know =)

Ok, that’s all for now, thanks for staying tuned to, well, to my life!

If you’re wondering about how to pray for me, this next week is going to be tough class wise, with 3 papers and  a group project, so just that I’ll be able to focus and comprehend everything in my peacebuilding and community development.  Also, that God would prepare my heart for being on practicum- I’ll only be with one other person from my group- Noel, who’s from Cal Poly SLO- so both of us need prayers for being able to connect on a deeper level with one another as well as God preparing our hearts for the extreme poverty that we’re going to be in first hand. Those are the main things right now, on top of health.

Sorry these are always so long- I’ll do my best to do more blurbs more often!

Murabeho!

In the past week, I’ve gone to 3 memorials. The first was here in Kigali. They had a few mass graves but I don’t believe it was a directly impacted site; it was more about teaching. The whole downstairs had pictures and videos and the walls were covered with the history of Rwanda, mainly focussing on the events and attitudes leading up to and during the genocide. It helped that I had already learned most of the history in my peacebuilding course, so it was a lot more of the individual stories that I was able to pick up on, and it was hard. Upstairs, they had the same set up, but about 5 of the other genocides that have happened in the past century, in our world.  The Hereros in 1904- 80% of the population, Armenia 1915- 75%, the Holocaust 1939- 11 million deaths, Cambodia 1975- 30%, Balkans (Bosnia) late 1990s- over 215,000 deaths. I only knew about the Holocaust and that really disappointed me.

That was on Saturday.

Yesterday we went to 2 different churches which were the sites of mass killings, since people saw churches as holy places where they would be safe.  One of them had only 8 survivors in the church where 5,000 people were killed.  The other one crammed 10,000 people in the church and only 2 small children survived the horrors. That town had 80,000 Tutsis living in it before the genocide…only 1,500 survived.

In all, the genocide was 3 months long- from April 6, 1994- July 4, 1994.  Over a million people died in that span of time, but not one person was left unaffected.  15 years later, there are still orphans and widows, still people hurting, and over 60% of the country is living in abject poverty= less than $1 a day.

It’s been a lot to take in- yesterday I decided to decompress by writing a poem, or something resembling such:

Oh Surely Truly Honestly

It has to be exaggerated.

There’s no way that could have happened.

Everyone near my heart,

I can’t bear to see.

Oh surely this cannot be.

We fled to the church.

It’s a Holy place,

no danger would dare to pass the gates.

It was so crowded.

Barely room to breathe.

There was only one other beneath the bench.

He didn’t say anything.

Oh truly this cannot be.

I sat there for a while,

Listening,

Confused.

Do you know the feeling when something is so hot,

that it feels ice cold?

This was like that.

It was so loud,

that everything was silent.

Pause.

I can never go back.

It’s loudest when no one makes a sound.

All you can hear are the cries,

the prayers, the screams, the machines.

He cried that day,

The boy under the bench.

So did I, 15 years ago.

He’s 17 now;

I’m 20.

They tell us that there were ten thousand people in our tiny little church.

As little ones, he and I were the only to survive.

My city was big at that time.

There were eighty thousand people!

The day the church became loud, seventy eight thousand of them left.

Oh honestly, this cannot be.

No, they did not move.

Their bodies remained, but their souls are gone forever.

I was once called a Tutsi.

So was my family, but they left too.

They called the killers Hutu.

Today, I am no longer a Tutsi,

and my neighbor is no longer a Hutu.

We finally chose peace,

because hate is too heavy,

it is too loud.

Oh Surely, Truly, Honestly.

Pause.

Somehow, I still live.

There is no other way but Forgiveness.