Cultural Experiences

February 18, 2010

I find myself writing this blog a little overwhelmed today. I hired house help for 1 day a week, which is common to do here in Africa. She will be helping me clean, cook, do laundry, and will go to the market for me. This was her first week to start and she does not speak English. While she did a great job, I find that communication to someone that does not speak your language is very difficult. It’s a lot to concentrate on trying to act out and show the person the things that you expect. I find myself wishing that I knew more Kinyarwanda, and frustrating that after only a month here I don’t.

Culture shock is slowly staring to settle in a lot harder, and we are finding ourselves overwhelmed by things we wish we could change, or things we wish we were able to do better. Of course language is the first piece we wish we could change. We are still working on our French, but it is a slow process. Most of the French is out of the schools and public places and it is either English or Kinyarwanda. We had hoped to be able to be immersed into French; but with it not being spoken most places, it is hard to do. The communication required within the rest of the Field outside of Rwanda is in French. We are now forced to make a decision, should we spend our time still learning French, or should we spend time learning some Kinyarwanda and begin getting more involved culturally here. Of course French is very important, but so is the community in which we live. Now you can agree this is a tough decision…

We are slowly getting comfortable with the city and our surroundings; however, culturally things are different. I went downtown by myself today, and everywhere you go you are bombarded with hearing the word “mazungu” – (white person), and you are asked by multiple people if you want to buy the item that they are selling on the streets. I am finding myself wondering if you get used to these strange experiences, or if you eventually don’t notice them. While my afternoon on the town was very eventful, I am tired and worn out just from my short adventure with the culture around me. As we continue to experience the culture, we have decided to take notice of all the strange things we see, so that we can learn why each piece is important to this culture. We want to be able to transition into our new life, as quickly as we can, with all of our experiences, no matter how strange they may be.