July 5, 2009

July 5, 2009

My heart hurts. We just had a farewell dinner with the Rwandan delegates, and I’m going to miss them so incredibly much—I mean, I’m going to see some of them, and I have a lot of their phone numbers, but it’s just so….I dunno. I’ve only been here for nine days, and already it feels like home. I have amazing friends here, I’ve learned so much, and I just want to learn more.

My homestay is over, and it was incredible. I stayed with this wonderful, sweet, gay Rwandan man named Cedy and we truly had a great time. Edy, Samantha, and Valerie also stayed with me. It was an incredibly huge, beautiful house. There wasn’t a whole lot in it, but it was very roomy, and in a very posh neighbourhood. Whilst a lot of the other delegates had to deal with huge families, people trying to convert them, and two buckets of water for a ‘shower,’ we had only two others in the house—Cedy and his sister, Claire—no church, amazing food, huge rooms, and three—YES, THREE—showers and running water.

One thing made us a little bit uncomfortable, though, and that was the fact that Cedy had a houseboy. He basically did all the work around the house—cooked, washed clothes, scrubbed floors, carried our luggage, etc, etc. He was really sweet, but from what we learned, houseboys and housegirls really don’t make much money at all—about 400-600 Rwandan Francs per day, which is a dollar or less—work all the time, and have very little, if any, time off. They aren’t treated as members of the family, and are often called by rude names, or are simple called, ‘houseboy.’

Apparently, at one homestay, the youngest girl, who was 17, had to do all of the cooking and cleaning, and basically acted as a housegirl, at the cost of her schoolwork. There were two American human rights activists speaking with a couple of Rwandan activists about issues, as they were served by a woman who was denied her human right to education. She told them, ‘I might be able to go to school today if I am not needed here.’ If she does not get a certain grade in school, she will not be able to attend secondary school or college.

More later!