short but sweet

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." – Nelson Mandela
I find this quotation to be so true. There has been many times here that I have felt out of place and alone. I would be walking down the road and see a mother glaring at me as she walked past (not knowing that the look on her face was really mean and scary looking) and as soon as I would say “mwaramutse” or “mwiriwe”, she would break out into a smile and say good morning back. When others would shout “Bonjour!” or “Good morning” and I say back the same, but in Kinyarwanda, they are less likely to harass me for money afterwards. Speaking Kinyarwanda has opened so many doors and has started so many conversations for me. I think by far the most common phrase I have heard during my two years here has been “Eh?! Azi Kinyarwanda?!” (What?! She knows Kinyarwanda?) said with excitement and a bit of confusion. So, while I know French would have been a more helpful language for me to learn once I am out in the working world, I am happy to have learned to speak Kinyarwanda and to have this funny, difficult language in my repertoire.

English class has been going well. Taught about nutrition and health and the women already knew the food groups! I was happy and impressed. Decided to teach about health topics because that’s what I know and I don’t know how to teach English, so I get my vocab from health lessons and then teach verbs if needed and how to conjugate, etc. Did a lesson on family planning and HIV/STI prevention and brought in condoms to do a demonstration. The ladies asked if there was HIV in America and if in America we have a drug to cure it. They say drugs here are fake and don’t work well and they say the same about condoms, that the kind they get here are bad and in America we have the good medicines and the good condoms.