Orphans, hooligans, and baskets...

This weekend was the first weekend we had to visit around Kigali, and we didn't even know where to begin!

Saturday morning I went with Mireille to visit the orphanage that she's been going to for the past year and a half. There's a little girl there she's trying to adopt and she wants us to go visit for the 2 months that she's gone back to Canada so that Yacenta doesn't think she's forgotten about her, and wants Yacenta to be comfortable with us before she's gone. I wasn't really sure what to expect- I've never been to an orphanage, or even around orphans, in my life. It was overwhelming. We stayed with the 2-3 year olds (Yacenta's age group), of which there were about 40 children, all of whom would just run to you and lift their arms to be picked up and would just cry to be touched and held and loved. I couldn't bring myself to pick up a single child, because I didn't want to hurt any of their feelings or pick favorites and I knew if I picked one up, they'd all expect it, so I tried to just play with as many as possible. I got really choked up a couple of times when I looked around and tried to figure out how so many children are out there without someone to love them, and I just wanted to take them all home (don't worry, Mom, there's too many obstacles involved in adopting a child from here for me to take one home- you have to be at least 35 if you're single, or married for at least 5 years... but didn't Dad say he wanted another kid?!). Then the saddest thing I've ever seen in my life happened.

Mireille took Yacenta to the bathroom and while she was gone, I noticed a stampede of children running towards a group of benches and screaming, followed by some of the girls who work there (who can't be older than 15) and a woman I hadn't seen before who had some sort of developmental disability and was missing part of her hands. They got to the benches and the woman sat at one end and the children stood screaming at the other, and I saw the girls bringing the children, one by one, to the woman, but I couldn't figure out what was going on; all I knew was that these children seemed to be scared to death of this woman and that the girls working there were getting a kick out of what seemed to be a sick and twisted game for them. Finally Mireille came back and I told her what I noticed but that I didn't know what was going on and she talked to the girls and realized that they were using the children and this woman just for their own amusement, because they thought it was funny to make this woman into a monster to them. Mireille went over to the woman, with Yacenta on her back to show the little girl that there was nothing to be ashamed of, and the woman just grabbed Mireille's hand and started stroking her own face with it. Obviously she hadn't received any affection in a long time, if ever, and just wanted to be touched. She most likely just wanted to play with the children and had no clue why they were so scared of her.

It turns out, just next to the orphanage is a community of genocide survivors and developmentally-challenged children and adults. We brought the woman back down there, and hung out for awhile. I actually felt much more comfortable here than in the orphanage, because there were no expectations or energy-consuming activities. Everyone just wanted to sit and talk with you. I think I'll be back there to hang out quite frequently, and it's making me wonder again if I should go into special education like I always used to want to (which I'm sure would make Mike's dad proud as well!).

Phew.

Mike and I had originally planned to go to the Genocide Memorial that afternoon, but after my emotionally-trying morning, we decided to save that for another time and to start shopping for crafts and gifts. We went to 2 different and LARGE markets and now have a feel for how much everything that we want costs. If you want a peace basket, coffee, or a mask (or anything else) place your order with us soon :)

We heard about a Rwanda vs. Morocco soccer match that we could've gone to but we didn't really have time to get ready and didn't realize that it was part of the World Cup qualifying games (not sure what round it's up to but it was a much bigger game than we realized!). Well, everywhere we went we heard people listening to the game, and although the commentating was all in Kinyarwanda, we could tell that Rwanda was doing pretty well. We left our house to pick up dinner right when the game was let out (the final score was 3-0, Rwanda) and trust me when I say, I felt like Mardi Gras came to Kigali. EVERYONE in the country must have been on the street, and of course we were trying to go opposite of the traffic, so it took us about an hour to do a half hour walk. Cars in the street are honking, people are clapping and cheering (but still stopping to stare at the Muzungus walking by) and all that was missing was hearing "Throw me something, mister!" (although, for all we know, they could have been saying that- we can't understand a word of anything!). Then the bus with the players drove by and I thought we were going to be trampled! It was such a fun thing to be in the middle of, and I'm soooo upset we didn't go to the game, but now we know not to miss the next one!