For starters, the children here in Rwanda are melt-your-heart beautiful. (I guess I've said that already in previous posts.) Not that the adults aren't sweet and engaging, too. But I suppose the kids are so unguarded that we glimpse what Jesus meant when he said "Become as a little child." They're so friendly!
Then again, many here carry that child-like approach to life into adulthood. They are friendly and accepting and tend to be believing, too.
But there are other child-like qualities that aren't so adorable. (Meetings sometimes start hours after the appointed time, or the essential attendees don't show up at all. Most who can drive, drive like maniacs and it seems to be part of the culture to jerry-rig everything.) (Enough griping. They're small compared with all that is good and kind and lovely here.)
These little boys were having fun swimming. They were completely untroubled by the fact that between the four of them (one isn't in the frame) only one had any clothing on. Well, I suppose the strategically placed hand showed a little modesty. (The water in Lake Muhazi was pleasantly cool and inviting. I would have loved to go for a swim myself, but I DO require a bathing suit.) (Senior missionaries are allowed to swim, by the way. This lake has two hippos who live on the other side and reportedly only come out at night. I hope that's true! (More about our fun Preparation Day excursion later. )
We met these two little girls enjoying their walk to the bus stop together.
This little miss goes to a different school. The uniforms distinguish which school and what level the student has achieved. I can tell she's a girl because of the skirt. Otherwise, it's very hard to tell children's genders.
We've seen hundreds of uniformed school kids and exactly one with his shirt unbuttoned. Note that challenge in his expression. Oh, how I hope he learns to appreciate the privilege of an education!
The one little girl is out of uniform. . .I don't know if she doesn't go to school or just didn't have her uniform on for some reason. Judging by her footwear, and the neighborhood where we were, I believe she doesn't get to go to school. The children in uniform all have close toed shoes.
The older children that are lingering around the poorer homes, not wearing uniforms, smile shyly, and say only "hi" when we greet them.
Every time we walk our usual route, little children call out, "Hi Muzungus, hi Muzungus!" When we smile and wave at them, they laugh and get all excited. I suspect that "Musungu" has a slightly negative connotation, because when we're using it to describe ourselves, the adults always grin.
We greet everyone on our morning walks. Sometimes, both children and adults will engage us in a conversation in English. After we say goodbye, the children laugh, clearly happy that they were able to speak to us in that oh-so-precious language, English.
We would love to learn Kinyarwanda beyond the greetings, but Google Translate is wildly inaccurate, and no words seem to translate directly.
We expected more people to speak English. It turns out that only returned missionaries seem to speak it well, some others have studied it (mostly through the Church's English Connect program) and can understand most of what we say, but aren't confident to speak to us. But the majority of people don't speak much if any English. When we speak in Church, we have to use a translator.
All this said, we are finding more and more to do, and the weeks go by fast. As I listened to the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I felt so much urgency! We need miracles here in Rwanda! It's motivating to work as hard as we can.
All we can do is our best and let Jesus Christ make up the difference!
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