Highlight of my week: I’ve been cared for more by complete strangers in Rwanda than I have in the U.S.
My highlight of being in Rwanda this week is how friendly the people I’ve been working with and just the people of Rwanda in general are. At the house of a character for my story, I was told by her and her son that they were grateful to have Peyton, one of the photographers on the trip, and I at their house and that they were happy we were their first new friends of the new year. This last week I was sick and couldn’t make it to one of the days Peyton and I were going to be with her. Later that same day, Josephine texted me to see if I was feeling better and to see if I needed anything. My and Peyton’s interpreter Sabrina texted me as well to see how I was doing and if I would be good to go to work the next day.
The little things like my characters and interpreters checking in on me meant a lot and was something I didn’t expect from people that I barely knew. On Saturday, Peyton and I made a visit to the character of my second story. I had only met him once before, and I was promptly greeted with a hug after getting out of the car. When Peyton and I were leaving after meeting with him, he asked to take a picture with us because we were his new friends. Our driver who took us to meet with him also displayed a lot of kindness toward us. When we first arrived at our location, he wasn’t sure we were at the right place, so he called our character for us to make sure someone could come and get us from the car so we weren’t alone.
So much kindness was exhibited toward Peyton and I this week that it made it easy to make that a highlight of this week. I’ve been cared for more by complete strangers in Rwanda than I have in the U.S. The people here have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and cared for which has made this last week beyond enjoyable in Rwanda.
