Re: the stars at site

My friend Jonvi posted a blog post yesterday titled, “The Stars at Site”. To say I was inspired would be an understatement. I hope you follow the link to his post, but if you don’t, the gist of it is this: As Peace Corps Volunteers, we love to focus on the negatives. And that is for good reason – what we are doing can be painfully difficult some days. However, in his recent post, Jonvi describes the beauty and visibility of the stars at his site, reminding himself and his readers that he may not have electricity, he may be one of the most rurally placed volunteers, and he may live at the tippy top of a mountain, but it isn’t all bad! He describes being grounded by the vastness of the universe and closes his post by telling his readers, “So wherever might be your starry sky, be there.”

Jonvi, you’ve outdone yourself.

Smack dab in the middle of a challenging week – personal reasons, Peace Corps reasons, political reasons, Rwandan reasons – I decided to attend the afternoon’s community health worker meeting. I looked at my counterpart, Xaverine, and said, “Sinshaka kuba njenyine. Tugende hepfo.” (I don’t want to be alone. Let’s go downhill.)

Greetings in Rwanda are important, and not greeting people, especially people you “know” (I use the term know lightly), is downright “bad culture”. I waved from my bench and said hello, but Xaverine told me to stand up and greet everyone one-by-one. She may not have said exactly this - I wouldn't know, I understand about half of what she tells me - but I pieced a few words together and took it to mean that I must greet every single person with a handshake, a hello and a how are you.

Community Health Workers fall high on my list of people in my village who inspire me and make me happy to be living in rural Rwanda.

First, of course, are the nuns. Without fail, a meal with the nuns, or even a quick visit after church or morning prayers never fails to put a smile on my face. In numbers alone, they outweigh others, but each has their own distinct personality, which deserves a blog post of its own. They rock, they are hardworking, forward thinking and the kind of hostesses that put Martha Stewart to shame.

Xaverine, the nutritionist at my health center, easily comes second. She is unbelievably dedicated to her job – I can count two times maximum where she did not arrive at the health center before and leave the health center after me. She speaks no English, but she is incredibly patient with me, and puts up with my “amarangamutima menshi” (many emotions). She is a mother figure to me in village and asks me every day with a discerning look if I have been crying. Recently, the answer has usually been no. We sing hymns together in our office and I look forward to working with her on the uphill climb against malnutrition in our catchment area.

My tutor, Asinapole, is a close third. Our tutoring sessions are more like social hours. We catch up on the what I am working on at the health center, and recently have been discussing politics and the midterm elections. Our lessons are not solely Kinyarwanda focused, but the kind of 2nd/3rd goal culture exchange that would make JFK giddy. Every time he wants to know something about the United States and American culture, he lifts up a finger, and with a huge smile on his face, says, “Curiosity question!” and proceeds with his question. He also helps me learn all the Christian words so I can socialize with the nuns and priests. A great friend who also earns me points with the Church? Hallelujah.

Then come the community health workers. Community health workers in Rwanda are volunteers. They spend their time working in the village and providing health services to those most in need and living most remotely, who may otherwise receive no services. In addition to house calls, they run village kitchens, help garden, and walk pregnant women to the health center in the middle of the night to deliver their children. These people are literal saints, the original volunteers in Rwanda, and put us Peace Corps Volunteers to shame. They are also arguably the greatest partners we can have for success in our communities.

Today, when Xaverine told me to greet everyone individually, I begrudgingly stood up and started making my rounds. I looked around the room, and knew it would be a couple of minutes worth of greetings. Immediately, I was embraced by volunteer after volunteer, with hugs, squeezes, and slaps on the back. The rest of the volunteers were cheering, smiling and laughing out loud. It was quite a site, but also brought me joy that I cannot quite put into words.

In the middle of a day that seemed irreparable, it turned out that all I needed was a hug – or thirty. So, I challenge you to go out there and find your starry sky, find the thing that repairs your broken day, and put a dang smile on your face. Looking at you PCVs! We get back what we give out, so let that be love, kindness and enthusiasm, even in the face of grief and fear.

PS. The stars aren't half bad in my corner of Rwanda either!