"You are proof that there are people who will do something." -SS

I am officially a United States Peace Corps Volunteer! We swore in on Saturday in a beautiful ceremony at the Ambassador’s residence in Kigali, and even made it onto the news! We got to watch ourselves on TV from our hotel Saturday night.

Swearing in was surprisingly bittersweet.  Even though training was only 10 weeks long, it feels like I just graduated college again and am going to be thrown out into this world that (let’s be honest) I still don’t really know much about. I won’t have my new friends around, and what's even more frightening is that I won’t have the teachers and trainers around who have made Rwanda everything that it is to me. Training is the Rwanda that I know, and that’s all about to change.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I am definitely still excited about moving to site, especially since I got to go check it out on Friday! I was able to meet a few teachers that I will work with, as well as both the Director and Vice Director of my school. I also got to see the school itself and the house that (I think) I will be living in. I also have reason to believe that I was destined to be in Mukamira, because there is a TEXAS SALOON there! Now, before you get too impressed, I should clarify one thing: saloons here, though spelled with the double ‘o’, are actually salons. The Texas Saloon is, unfortunately, not a hang-out reminiscent of swinging doors and cowboys, but a place to get your hair done. Nonetheless, it’s named after Texas and that makes me happy! I’ll try to get a picture of it after I’ve been there a while.

So, back to being a volunteer. Now that training is behind me I thought I’d post a few thoughts I haven’t yet expressed about the whole thing, a few of which are in response to questions many of you have asked me in personal emails.

The genocide. We did visit genocide memorials during training, and they were, as I’m sure you can imagine, extremely difficult to see. In Kigali, the memorial has an extensive historical account of Rwanda up to, during, and after the genocide, as well as videos and pictures of victims and their families. There are a few rooms dedicated solely to children who were killed in the genocide, and I can’t think of many moments in my life that I felt more sorrow than when I was standing in those rooms. I was told that many people were killed at the site that I’m moving to, and I know I will be teaching and working with survivors, orphans, and people who have experienced tragedies I can’t even begin to fathom.

Poverty. My living conditions during training have been extremely comfortable, and a lot of that won’t change when I go to site. Peace Corps does a great job of making sure we are able to have everything we need to live here.  We wouldn’t be here, though, if everybody here had everything they need. When I went to the Eastern Province to visit a health volunteer a few weeks ago, one of the things we did was play with the kids in the local hospital. I was really nervous about doing this, because hours after I arrived at her site a doctor told her that a little boy she had been playing with that morning had just passed away. He died of malnourishment, and the doctors were struggling to keep his mother alive. Although the children I played with were very, very sick, they exuded a joy that penetrated my soul. Their faces lit up at the sight of bubbles, crayons, and toy cars, and being a part of their day was an invaluable experience to me.

Now cheer up because this post is not meant to bring you down! I just want to make sure that I offer a small dose of reality every once in a while, because it’s important to remember that there are real, crucial reasons for Peace Corps being here.  I’m sure you’ve been able to gather from my previous posts, though, that despite some of the low points, I absolutely love the experience I’ve had here so far. In ten weeks, I have seen some of the most beautiful sunrises, sunsets, and night skies that my eyes have ever met. I have begun to learn a language that will forever connect me with people and a place that will be my home for the next two years. I have seen hills so high and green that it seems like the entire rest of the earth is right in front of me, and valleys so low that driving past them feels more like flying over them. I have played with kids who greet me in four languages and climb so high into trees it's like they're just standing on top of them. I have met women who spend every day selling fruits and vegetables in the market, and women who do all of their farming with their babies tied to their backs. In ten weeks, I have met people I will know and love for the rest of my life. And, remember, this is only the beginning!

A couple of friends and myself at our swearing in ceremony! We all had our dresses made here (except, of course, that silly boy).

Some of the amazing traditional dancers that performed for us.

Those of us going to the Western Province, with our Governor! Sorry about the quality.