Wednesday, January 14, 2009

No Words.

Gikorongo, Rwanda – I made friends with a few children in Gikorongo this afternoon while waiting for one of the team members who had gone into the bank. As a series of children huddled timidly around the truck, it became evident that, for the first time on this trip, my skin colour had made me an object of fascination. We made attempts at small talk in English, French and Kiswahili, but they seemed content to just stare at the “muzungu”.

Though we tried, my Kinyarwanda is still extremely limited and their grasp of English and French was limited to a few memorized questions. Responses, understandably, drew blank stares, or giggles. It became awkward rather quickly with little to say to each other, yet they remained on the other side of the truck window, staring in.

If only we had had a soccer ball.

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