It is a common understanding that everything moves slower in Africa. I’ll give you some examples of why people think this:
At a restaurant called Quickuku, a group of us waited 2 hours for fried chicken and fries.
When walking down a street, I am always surprised by that occasional speedy Rwandan who would pass me walking.
When we called someone to fix a plumbing problem of a faucet that was constantly in leak mode, we waited about a week for them to show up! That was an expensive water bill month.
I went to a Rwanda birthday party, and little did I know that when they said it started at 6pm, they meant you will not eat dinner until 8:15pm.
Even though the day to day things seems to move in slow motion, my time in Rwanda has gone by lightening fast! I remember thinking it was going to be ages before my parents would come to visit… and guess what. They’ve been here and gone already! It was really great having them here, getting to experience life as I see it these days. I tried to pack all the highlights of my time here into their one week experience. We ate at an Italian Restaurant called Sole le Luna:
My parents went to bed early that night—my mom almost fell asleep in this beautiful scenic eatery. The next day, we ate at my favorite and only donut place in Kigali, then headed to the market where my mom tried on some dresses.
Then we went to the Genocide Memorial. Behind me is lists of recorded names of people who were killed in the genocide.
We had a get-together with most of my friends here and ate pizza and played cards! I was so glad my parents got to spend time with the community I love so much here.
The next day we went to church and had lunch with some friends. We also made it to the Orphanage and to town to buy some gifts at craft shops. This is us in front of the orphanage gate.
We also ate at a restaurant where my mom ordered tilapia and was unpleasantly surprised to see that her fish… was probably just swimming in a lake only hours before. Her appetite was ruined by the fish eye.
I also took my parents on an adventure to a Ugandan National Park where we went on a safari. In this photo, they are in front of a village that lives inside the national park… right down the shore was a bunch of hippos that are apparently the biggest threat to humans.
The place we stayed had a great view of the flat safari.
We came into close contact with some lions—this one thought to have been a young male, with a snack in his mouth.
This elephant walked along side our boat tour for at least 5 minutes. He was really happy carrying a sweet “stick” or log to us.
After all the safari action, we went to one of my favorite places in Africa, Lake Bunyonyi. We stayed in a beautiful geo-dome and enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere and played cards, of course.
My parents leaving was a mile marker. With less than 5 weeks left, I am forced to think about leaving this place and the friends I have made. I feel like I just went through this when I left Bloomington. I realize I will be returning to Rwanda for another go, but I predict every year to be quite different. This change of mostly people for next year reminds me of my primary purpose for being here. It’s not for the community—it’s to serve God. The community is a big bonus, but it can’t be my main motivation. That has to be Christ. Pray with me about this unwanted change; that God would uphold me and that my eyes would be set on Christ alone.
