Participants Blog

Selina/Kings/Rwanda/2012

Final Reflection: Living in Rwanda this past summer was an incredible experience that
I will remember for the rest of my life. 

Living in Rwanda this past summer was an incredible experience that
I will remember for the rest of my life. The family I stayed with was
extremely welcoming and I instantly became a part of the family. It
was not difficult to adjust to the routine: spending evenings playing
with the two children and talking for hours with my host mother. I
quickly learned how to bathe from a basin in our cooking area
outside, and do my laundry by hand! I became very close with the
children: little Obama is three and sister Gasaro is almost two. We
spent afternoons playing in my room and running around the yard
playing motor taxi and football.
My host father was only home on weekends so it was mostly a house
full of women. My host’s mother’s sister lived with us as well. Her
energy, dancing, and attempts to teach me Kinyarwanda, by yelling
words at me until I guessed what they meant, kept me entertained!
The house worker and I could not speak a word to one another but she and
I spent a lot of time doing laundry and taking care of the children
together. She was always smiling and singing and we soon became good friends. After a few weeks this
family felt like my own. They made adjusting to life in Rwanda easy and comfortable. I know that through
this experience I have built lifelong relationships. I will miss my host family a great deal.