The kids laughter and giggles fill this house endlessly, but
having them break the silence of the evening into the sunrise is one of the
sweetest parts of being here.
I lie in bed and hear the house awaken to the possibilities
of the day.
Breakfast with the little kids lined cheek to cheek on the
benches would surely brighten anyone’s day.
Chatting about life with the big kids is always
entertaining, insightful and thought provoking.
Harvin was greeted with a hot cup of coffee from the fab
coffee maker I got in London on a biz trip, so he was sure to greet the day
with a smile despite not really sleeping last night.
I started doing my wash from the last trip as I didn’t get
time to do before I left and I didn’t’ want Mama or the Aunties to have to do
it. Esther loves to help with the wash so she eagerly grabbed part of the pile.
Mama and Auntie Grace couldn’t stand watching me do it as I have yet to
perfect the Rwandan process with the bucket, a bar of soap for white and a blue
bar for colors. They wash everything by hand and do it for hours and hours and
hours each day. They kept telling me
what I was doing wrong, but to me it looked the same as what they were doing.
They laughed and laughed at my attempt to get it right until I was finally
approved. They made me start from square
one…nothing in my hands. Then make two fists. Then turn the right upside down holding the fabric and
the other the opposite and rub. After 7+
years of doing my wash here…I finally think I am approved!
Next Harvin and 5 of the big kids went to town with us for
errands. Both of our local phones were not working, so we needed to get some
help with some resets. Then we went to
get some paper for the kids to write thank you notes and to draw. Next up was getting some bottled water for us
along with some bread.
The last stop was to the open air market. Luckily we ran into some friends, one of whom
offered to take us to the best stall for pineapple and bananas. We know the people and prices in Kigali where
we lived for 6+ year but I am still finding my way here in Musanze. The key is getting the ‘local’ prices vs the
Muzungo (white people) price for things.
Winding our way through the stalls we found someone who appeared to have
some good pineapples. She tried to take Harvin for a Muzungo priced ride, but
he was a negotiator down to the final 100 francs (20 cents). We now have our baseline prices for next
time. The woman who managed the stand loved Harvin’s negotiation.
Back in the car we head home just a lunch was being served.
After lunch we pIcked up Erika and returned to assemble the
big kids for a hike. It was clearly the
adventure of the day as it lasted 2.5 hours.
As always we fascinate the local kids and thus the trail grows longer as
we climb. I think the top count was
about 60 kids following us. We start on
a very bumpy, but basically more-flat-than- not road. When we turn from the road we head up a very
large mountain. Today we made it ¾ of
the way up. The kids wanted to continue,
but the mean ole adults (Harvin, Erica and Donna) said we needed to turn back
so we got home before dark. The path is narrow (2x2 max) and the incline quite
steep at times. Harvin was a great extra pair of hands on some tough spots.
Harvin suggested that Sande be our scout for the way
down. He assessed the situation and
decided that going basically straight down vs the way we came up (some switch
backs) would be more fun. The local kids
thought we were quite funny for trying, but went for it and made it.
A very entertaining feature of the trip was 3 of the local
kids (age maybe 16ish) had phones with cameras (probably 2 megapixals) and kept
trying to sneak pics of us, including hiding in bushes to catch us as we
passed. We finally decided to make it easy for them by posing which brought a
rumble of laughter across the hillside.
Our kids love their big sister Erica. She has them
captivated with every step she takes.
She is real blessing to all of us and so fun to have on our last two
hikes.
Returning home we were greeted by the little kids and Mama
who were very happy to see us return after such a long time.
The perfection on top of that perfection was to set up my
projector and watch Mulan2 together. The kids piled on their seats in the
dining room, we turned off the lights and let the story begin. It was so so so sweet. They are captivated by the images on the wall
and appreciate the storyline even if they don’t speak English.
Post movie Erica taught them about ‘trust falls’ and then
executed them beautifully….including putting Desami – who can’t yet walk due to
some medical challenges in a chair and tipped it backwards to catch. These kids
take very very very good care of their 2 special needs brothers and
sisters…ALWAYS including them where possible in everything.
Movie time ends with dinner served and then off to their
snuggly beds.
Harvin and I drove Erica back and enjoyed a little dinner in
route.
Just another perfect day in the land of 1000 hills with the
kids of 1000 faces and love beyond measure.
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