Day 4 Last Day

I woke up when it was still dark, got dressed, and rushed into the kitchen to make my self tea. Today I was leaving and I wanted to make the best of the half day I had left in Rwanda. Theogene woke up a little bit after me and after he made himself some tea we went outside to sit and watch the sun rise. I had never actually sat still and watched a sun rise before and may I tell you it was amazing! Watching as the sky went from black to a light blue to a sunny day was fantastic

The sun finished waking up and so did the rest of the family. The two kids slowly made their way outside to join us as we welcomed the sun to Rwanda. We shuffled our way back into the house where breakfast was waiting for us thanks to Angelique. Warm eggs, rice, and fresh milk sat on the table waiting for our watery mouths to eat them. I sat down and began to scarf down the delicious foods. After breakfast I packed my things and the whole family hoped into the car for the 3 hour drive to the airport. In the car everyone rested there eyes and chatted a little. When we got to the air port I hugged everyone at least 4 or 5 times and thanked them for everything. I went to my terminal and got ready to hope on the plane. It really had been an amazing trip.

Day 3 Walk to Water

I woke up at around 10 there time and got dressed very quickly. Today was my last full day visiting Rwanda with Theogene. I walked into the kitchen and made everyone rice and eggs which they enjoyed very much. Today I decided to go with Theogenes wife to go get water. The water was around 5 miles away and took about 4 or 5 hours to get there and closer to 5 to get back. I grapped the huge water jug that would later be filled with cold water from the well. This jug held 5 gallons of water and Angeliques water jug held 8. I felt bad for taking the smaller water jug but I didnt think I would even be able to hold the larger one. She told me I had to take off my shoes if I really wanted to experience the real deal. So I obeyed her words and pulled off my warm shoes. We stepped out the door and began our 4 hour journey. During the walk Angelique and I talked about life in Rwanda and she told me about how much she loved the Kiva program. My feet began to ache at around hour 2 and by hour 3 they were pulsing. I couldnt believe how fast and nonchalant she walked! I looked at her with awe and all she did was walk faster and giggle to herself. That made me laugh too. By hour 4 I had started to ignore my feet and focus on getting to the well. I saw the well at hour 4 1/2 along with about 20 other women crowed around it. I tried to stand in the back and wait for the women to get their water and leave but they kept on wanting more and more and more! I finally followed Angelique through the crowd by shoving other women. Warm, dry, scaly arms brushed past me and sent shivers down my spine. We finally got to the water and filled our jug and started the 5 hour walk back. I changed positions with the water constantly and tried to keep going but had to take continual breaks. By the time we got back to the house we were both tired and decided to skip dinner and go straight to sleep.

Day 2

I woke up the next morning surprisingly at breakfast time. The smell of warm cozy food and fresh juice wrapped around me and pulled me into the kitchen. I rubbed my eyes sleepily and looked at Theogene who was happily cooking eggs. Bwacyeye I said to Angelique which means Good morning. Bwacyeye she smiled and said back to me. Theogene sat down and handed me the eggs on the plate. Murakoze I said. I ate the eggs then ran into my room and got dressed. I was all ready to go. We walked out of the door on our way to an open concert in the center of town. It was a long walk but it was so worth it. When we got into the town I saw the concert up ahead. Here is a little snippet of the concert. 

After the concert we walked down to an open market around the corner to get some fresh fruit. The smell was exquisite! Ripe fruit surrounded me. Pink, blue, red, green, purple. Every color! After we picked a few fruits we decided to leave the town and walk back to their house. On the walk back we talked and munched on fruit. When we got back to their house Theogene told us that it was time to go into our rooms and just relax until dinner time. I went into my room and actually fell asleep! I woke up to Theogene's youngest poking my face telling me it was time for dinner. I got up and walked into the kitchen for dinner. I ate the rice and bean  stew again and then sleepily walked back into my room to go back to bed. This time brushing my teeth first.

Day 1

After a very long flight I finally landed in Rwanda to visit my friend Theogene. I walked off of the plane and saw Theogene wave to me and yell my name. Even though I had never met him I ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug ever. That same wonderful smile that made me pick him for Kiva made me smile once again. We hopped into his car and drove to his house. Just as I stepped out of his car 2 little kids ran up to me and started to poke me. I thought it was very cute and funny so I started to laugh. These where Theogenes Kids! One was 4 and the other was 6, two little girls. I looked up from his kids to see his beautiful wife step out of the house and smile and wave to me. I also gave her a big hug feeling like I already knew her. She invited me into the house to put my stuff down and get ready to eat dinner. I said yes and thank you in Rwandan which is,yego, Murakoze. I set my stuff down on the bed in the room they were planning to have me stay in and went into the "kitchen" to have lunch. Dinner was a bowl of rice with some sort of bean sauce. I was a little hesitant to eat it but seeing the kids dig in like it was a hamburger made me smile. I took a huge spoon full and shoved it into my mouth. It was surprisingly delicious! I finished the bowl in a matter of minutes and offered to clear the table right away. Theogene said that it wasn't needed and had the kids take the dirty dishes away and bring back smaller dishes. These dishes were about the size of my palm and had intricate blue designs painted all over it. Theogene's wife, Angelique, then came around and put small cookie like things on my plate. I took a small bite of the cookie more willing this time. It was AMAZING! A mixture of sweet, mushy, and crunchy. Like a really good chocolate chip cookie. I finished the chocolate chip cookie and this time with out asking took all the plates outside and washed them in the water bucket. The water was cold and a light shade of brown. I ignored the discoloring and took the clean dishes back inside. I was so tired that I didn't even think of brushing my teeth. I fell onto the bed just thinking I would lie on it for a minute and then get up and brush my teeth but no. I fell right to sleep.

Currency for my journey to Rwanda

$1= 607.06 Franc


$5= 3035.31 Franc

$10= 6070.62 Franc


$15= 9105.92 Franc


$20= 12141.23




Here is the sight so you can convert more! http://coinmill.com/RWF_USD.html#USD=$20

My visit with Theogene to Rwanda

10 sayings in rwandan 

Hello = muraho
Thank you = murakoze
Goodbye = mwirirwe
I love you = ndagukunda
Where is the bathroom = he ri dushe
Can you give me directions = amajyo
I am lost = guhaba
Help = gufasha  
How are you = umeze ute
Nice to meet you = neza guhura mwe 

Maruge Visit: Plane Ride There

Tess and I got to the LAX airport at 8:30 for the long plan ride from LAX to Eldoret Kenya at 10:20pm (planning to arrive in Kenya at 7:20pm the next night). We we were already very tired from a day of packing and saying our goodbyes so it was great that from years of traveling we learned to fall asleep on anything that moved. After walking through an hour long security line we decided to stop at Starbucks on our way to our gate  so we could get a little bit of energy to journal in the plane and read a little about Kenya. I got a delicious steaming vanilla soy latte and Tess got a grande nonfat latte. After taking a few sips we started walking to our gate. It was now about 10:15 so the line was very small. As we finished walking into the gate tunnel we patted the outside of the plane like we always did for good luck and walked into the plane. We found our seats, sat down, sighed and looked at each other. Drinking our coffees we started to read. A booming voice came over the inner come, "Please fasten your seat belts gang we got a long plane ride ahead of us. Food will be served 3 times this flight and blankets and pillows are provided. We will be flying at approximately 33,000 feet through out the flight. Have a great flight gang you are in good hands with you captain Roger." We stared to taxi out onto the runway so Tess and I put down our books and looked out our window. Being the "nice" sister I am I let her sit in by the window seat. Faster and faster the plane went until the captain pulled up on the handles and we lifted into the air. I closed my eyes because I hated the feeling of going straight up. I was so tired that just from lightly closing my eyes I fell into a deep DEEP sleep. I later got woken up when one of the flight attendants came around with drinks and our BREAKFAST! I had slept all the way through the night and so had Tess! I shook her to wake her up so she could eat and drink a little. I was so hungry that my mouth was watering and my teeth were chattering. Before I knew it I had a plate of juicy chicken and buttery vegetables lying in front of me. It smelled SO good! Tess got the chicken as well and we both started to eat it. Once we were done we decided to watch a movie to pass the time. We watched a movie about a man who wants to share the Internet with the rest of Kenya. The movie was called "Growing Knowledge" here is the trailer!

The movie was about 2 hours and 30 minutes. By this time it was about 12 in the afternoon and the flight attendants were coming around with another round of beverages. I got a hot tea and Tess got a coffee. The rest of the flight was uneventful. At around 7:00pm the captain came back on the intercom and told us to buckle our seat belts, turn off our electronics, and get ready for landing! It had been a very long day and finally we were about to reach our destination.

We landed about 15 minutes later. As we walked off the plane a heat wave smacked us right in the face. We walked into the Airport where it was much cooler. At our left was a man. Tall, thin, with white hair, and a cane. He said hello and introduced himself as Maruge. We said hello and started to walk to the parking lot. To our surprised instead of Cars parked in the parking lot there where bikes! Tons of bikes! Maruge led us to his bike and the bikes that he had brought us. Mine was red and Tesses was a purple eggplant color. We rode the 60 miles back to his hut with the stars sparkling over our heads and collapsed on the mattress on the floor to wake up the next morning with the sweet smell of pancakes hovering above our heads.