Participants Blog

Last blog post from Rwanda

I may be leaving soon but I leave with new people, new memories and a new land forever in my heart; and Rwandan dust on my feet.

On May 13th I wrote in my jounal about a long walk I took. I wrote about needing alone time to get away from the heaviness of my new home and adventure.  Two months later, I go for long walks or runs to submerge myself further into my new home.  I’m supposed to write today about my changes during my three months and the best way to describe it is by saying it has turned from night into day - from feeling like company to family.  I had no expectations coming to Musanze, Rwanda but I did have many awakenings while starting out.  Before now, the longest I’d been away from home was two weeks I never thought that such a foreign country could feel so much like home.  These streets feel like my own, the faces seem more familiar and the name “Muzungu” (white person) goes unnoticed.  My fears of feeling alone have been replaced by the new beings of my siblings and the school children.  New things don’t catch me off guard and the word, ‘uncomfortable’ isn’t really in my vocabulary anymore.  If someone had told me that I’d be using holes in the ground as my toilet, bathing outside with cold water in a basin, scrubbing my clothes clean once every few weeks and eating limited foods a few times a day, I would expect myself to have a difficult time with that. However, once you’ve experiened it all, become familiar with it all, it doesn’t phase you anymore, you get a feeling of strength and accomplishment about yourself.  My experiences are still the same since I’ve arrived.  The way I handle them is what has changed.  Rwanda has become a part of my life and my journey.  I may be leaving soon but I leave with new people, new memories and a new land forever in my heart; and Rwandan dust on my feet.