EWB-CU Rwanda Blog: The Great Match

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Muraho!!!

Two days ago we went up to Cyanika without Ellis, as she was recuperating from her sickness. Byishimoe was sad to know that there was nobody he could hit on that day. In all seriousness, the community noticed Ellis’ absence and wished her a fast recovery. As we were reaching the site we could hear children screaming “Mikol,” “Xilali,” and “Cristiano” from very far away. So far that we were unable to make out where the sound came from. By the way, we do not have a new team member named Cristiano. The children confused Curtis’ name after we were calling for our bus, Cristiano Ronardo. We arrived at the site to see that the eager masons had already put up gutter. In their haste, they had put the gutter on the opposite way, which in no way was a problem. The next big step was to put on the roof. Curtis and Michael supervised on the trusses, while Byishimoe and I stood against the columns to make sure the whole structure would not fall over. While I was leaning against the column, a few kids practiced their English as they pointed at objects and named them. Today my streak was broken when I made another kid cry by waving at him.

We returned to Musanze and dined at Shakies, where the people who worked there told us to make sure we told Ellis that they missed her.

Yesterday we returned to Cyanika with the plan to wait on the soccer field for the tanks. However, there was some confusion with the purchase of the tanks so Hassan ended up leaving us to look for a soccer ball. While we were waiting for Hassan, Byishimoe grabbed a child’s ball that was made out of a plastic bags and strings. We juggled for a while and played with a few kids, as more and more kids began to join. Suddenly Hassan appeared with the ball. We split up into two teams. Hassan and Byishimoe were on one side and the Abazungu (plural of Umuzungu) were on the other side. Each team also had about twenty kiddos. The kids were good as well, especially the one we had as a defender. Nobody could get past him, not even the great Hassan. We finished the game with a tie and many sprained ankles, since the fields had many rocks and divots. We were all very tired, so we all sat by the road, playing games with the children and watching the many people walk to the civil courts to get married. While we were watching these beautiful events, Curtis and I looked over and saw two kids duking it out, which was separated by their older siblings, who, like Curtis and I, were cracking up. Byishimoe also challenged Curtis to a sit-up contest, which to nobody’s surprise, Curtis won. I also do not feel as bad anymore, since Curtis made a child cry.

Back in Musanze we met up with Wally, who had come up from Kigali to give us the leaf catcher.

Today was a national holiday, where the beginning of harvest is celebrated. Therefore, there was nothing we could do in community, so we stayed at the hotel and worked on the tank situation. Wally and Jacques came to the hotel to check on Ellis, who is doing a ton better and came with us to the café and to Shakies. We all plan to go to Cyanika tomorrow for the meeting.

Murabeho for now!

Sadly, the internet is sketchy so our team members can't email pictures, and the primary photographer has been bed ridden since the last post, so there are not many recent photos for this blog. We promise to make up for it next time!