We had been hoping to visit a TIG camp today. These are camps where convicted genocide criminals live and carry out their community service. Rwanda did away with the death penalty.. so many of those convicted spend their time rebuilding and cleaning the country. I think it is a great system. We wanted to get a tour and possibly talk to some of the inmates about their experiences. Pastor Anastase wrote the TIG administration letters and gave copies of our passports to try to get us access to the camps. They denied him the first time because they had a group come and then write critical newspaper atricles attacking the camps, so they are reluctant to let Westerners in. Pastor kept trying. He called us after breakfast to say that he was at the office just up the street and that we should come up and wait with him, so that our presence might speed along the process. We sat in the hallway outside the office for a while, but nobody would see us so we gave up.
Pastor Anastase took us to the PHARP office that was nearby. We got to meet a group of young women who were learning to sew on ancient Singer sewing machines (the ones with the foot pedals - makes sense since electricity is not dependable). The girls sung us a song about being welcome. The clapped and a few of them danced for us. It was great! No better way to feel welcome than to have your hosts sing to you and then invite you to dance with them! We sat in a circle and had our class lesson. Pastor told us about the riches of the Congo. He said that there are people who live in rural villages that have piles of gold, but they don't know how to get them to the world market, so they are worthless to them. Very interesting.
We came back to the house for lunch (which I like a lot better than eating at the office). Then we had Dwight Jackson's class. As usual, it was very interesting. We talked about what we will be doing next week in the village we are visiting. We will be collecting field research for FH about the Rwandan families there that are considered "at risk" . More on that after I actually go!
Susan, Shelby and I watched The Lovely Bones. It was hard to watch. I am very easily disturbed by movies that pose real scenarios - such as the kidnapping and murder or a child. We ate dinner and then I had a very interesting conversation with Morgan, Ryan and Janae about our experiences here and how our expectations were and were not met so far.
I am learning so many things about myself. Here is a revelation about my personality that I just put into words. I am a very emotional person (I know.. nothing new there..bare with me). I am like a chameleon with emotions. I take on the emotions that others are carrying. I have the ability to feel intense joy as well as sadness. When others are hurting, it is almost as if I am sharing their pain, because I feel it too. I also have a hard time controlling my emotions, and they very often overwhelm me. In this sense I think I am a lot like a child. I may be mature, and intelligent, but I have a little child inside me that needs to be held and cared for. Being in Rwanda takes its toll on me. I am surrounded by incredible amounts of pain, and it hurts me as well! That is why, after class, I just want to lay in bed and watch a movie or sleep. The emotions of this trip are exhausting. I am quick to get teary eyed when kindness is shown to me or I get a hug. I miss hugs. Can't wait to get lots of them when I come home.
(Not sure why I felt the need to share that, but it's on my mind..)
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