Rwamagana: A Field Journal

So it's time to get real. 

After the first month (??) of living in Rwanda, I am finally settling into my home and routine for the year. I want to start exploring stories, challenges, and lessons learned from this community, but that's hard to do without giving you an idea of what my life is like day to day.

So in the interest of creating a true jumping off point and also just to appease my mother, I would like to cordially invite you to experience a day as a YAGM in Rwamagana, Rwanda:

5:45 am – You groggily half-wake to the muted shuffling of your roommate, Katie, leaving for her morning run. She’s training for a marathon…you go back to sleep. Good start.

My bed! As you can see I literally roll out of it and into the world. 

6:50 am – After a third alarm, you finally roll out of bed. You pick the first skirt/v-neck/headband combo that will pass for matching. On good days you remember to put on deodorant, but you always put on sunscreen. I repeat: always.

7:00 am –You stumble into the kitchen and start boiling water immediately. Your only thought is for coffee-some things never change. When the water is ready, you pour it over the single-cup filter perched precariously on top of your favorite mug, the one with the picture of the seductive lady. You grab last night’s leftover chapatti, two small bananas, the coffee, A Mercy by Toni Morrison, and voila! Breakfast of champions!

The seductive lady, also known as the bigger
of our two mugs.

7:35 am – You rush, last minute, to fill your school bag with things you’ll need for the day: poetry journal, water bottle, rain coat, Kinyarwanda flashcards, and head out with Katie, locking the gate behind you.

8:00 am (ish) –You complete the 1.4 mile walk to school wherein you say “Maramutse” (Good morning) NO LESS THAN 30 times as you are met with choruses of “Muzungu!” (white person), “Good afternoon”, and of course, silent stares. You enjoy this time of neighborly greetings and gazes interrupted by smiles as you wave-plus it’s a good morning workout.

Rwamagana Lutheran School, my workplace for the next year.

8:15 am – First order of business, procure that sweet morning nectar, African Tea. It’s basically milk with a side of tea wrapped in a blanket of spicy ginger. You pour yourself a plastic mug full, add sugar at will, and get to work.

8:30 am to 12:15 pm – You attend Biology, Chemistry, and Physics classes as they are offered. You help the teachers monitor the rooms, answer questions, and brainstorm ways to make their science classes more experiential.

12:15 pm – Lunch. Good, because of course you’re already hungry; that baby banana didn’t hold you over like you thought it would. Lunch consists of the following: a starch (rice, corn ugali, sweet potatoes, or matoke) and a bean/carrot/eggplant soup. Except Wednesdays which are magical fairy dust days that involve a mid-morning snack and fries for lunch. Regardless, you are thankful for the meal you’re given-Lord knows you can’t cook to save your life and these meals are warm, tasty, and free.

1:25 pm to 4:00 pm - Player’s Choice: You write the occasional poem, sit in more science classes, chat with students, help teach music classes, or fulfill your duties as a school librarian.

4:00 pm – You hang around for one of the many after-school activities (student Bible Study, rehearsal for Graduation performance, giving guitar lessons, choir practice) where you actually start getting to know students.

5:00 pm – You and Katie start the walk home, stopping by the market or a store on the way to procure an edible item you will try to make into dinner.

Our beautiful, banana tree-lined street.

5:45 pm – You’re home! You hear the incessantly aggravating yet comforting beep of the electricity meter that indicates that the power is still on. You greet the night guard, Mose, and walk in the house to find that your house mama, Mama Eric, has cleaned your clothes and folded them neatly on your made bed. You thank the good Lord for her, and question once more whether or not she is actually an angel.

6:30 pm – Dinnertime. When you’re feeling really domestic you chop up whatever is available and sauté it or boil some noodles, most days you grab a chapatti from the corner store, slice up an avocado, add some salt, and call it good. You eat dinner while chatting with Katie about something or other; luckily she’s not judgey about your shoddy cooking practices, bless her.

An impossibly nice yet severely under-utilized kitchen

7:30 pm – You walk outside and offer Mose some tea. He accepts, and you chat with him in Kinyarwanda as the water boils. He tells you about his children and you tell him about school. You suck at Kinyarwanda so there is a lot of charade-like pantomiming involved in the conversation, but you both usually get the gist. When it is ready, you hand him his tea (with two spoons of powdered milk and one spoon of sugar), and tell him good night. He reminds you to shut your window so the mosquitoes won’t get in.

8:30 pm – You are WIPED. You chat with Katie some more, change into comfy clothes, and wash your feet, red with dust, in your small bathroom. You brush your teeth using filtered water from your Nalgene and retreat to your room for the evening.

9:30 pm – You untie the mosquito net hanging above the bed and drape it around you-your nightly cocoon. You turn off the light, read or check your messages for a few minutes by head lamp, and say a prayer of thanks for another day in Rwamagana.

There aren't words for the beauty of creation in Rwamagana.

*Editor's Note: As a YAGM, schedules may change quickly and without warning. See also being invited somewhere last minute by your pastor, receiving 20 pounds of meat on your doorstep, and/or teaching classes of students how to beat box. Anything can happen.