My highlight of Week 2: Happiness is near and dear to us.
For two weeks, I was out and about in Kigali finding stories that are worth sharing, but I never expected to see that happiness is next door to us.
And that happiness is in a small neighborhood of little houses tucked in alleyways.
Although the houses are in the outskirts of Kigali and far from the center of the town, those who live there make the best out of everything despite how little they have.
I met Bashir, a toddler who ran up to me when I first came to the neighborhood. He saw me with his googly eyes. My translator told me that it was OK for me to give him a hug to me, person he’d never met, as it is part of Rwandan culture.
After shaking Bashir’s chunky fingers, I started talking to more people in the neighborhood, they then welcomed me to their house. Some also waved at me.
“Muraho,” they said, waving at me.
“Muraho,” I told them back.
They smiled, which was a sign of their appreciation for me trying to speak their mother tongue.
Then, I finally arrived to the house owner whom I strived to get to know during my trip to Rwanda.
After hearing his story about his family’s economic struggle, I am compelled to learn more about him.
Like me, he is a college student who is trying to make a better life than what his family had.
He invited me to meet his whole family. I went inside their house and talked to the whole family.
They told me their struggles and their family situation despite the economic and housing difficulty.
But they still allowed me in their house to ask them about the daily life of a Rwandan family. Their warm welcome taught me that to always be grateful for every life situation.
