Chuck Norris

I met Chuck Norris two days ago. I must begin at the beginning. A group of young Americans are quite a spectacle in Rwanda. We have been trying to come up with comparisons for others to understand the fascination people have for us. It would be a mix of the circus coming to town and talking horses moving in next door. Everything we say and do is interesting. People like to follow us, shake our hand, say hello. They have seen very few Westerners so they call us umuzungu meaning foreigners. It is sometimes coupled with the idea that we are rich and can give them money. Adults understand this is a rude term to shout but most of the children haven’t been told this. We get yelled umuzungu or abazungu meaning multiple Westerners, on a daily or really hourly basis. We try to introduce ourselves and speak to them in Kinyarwanda so they understand we are individuals not just ‘white people’ – especially since not all of us are Caucasian.

The house I live in is a beautiful 20 minute walk from where meals are held and classes are taught. As we walk back and forth, we greet nearly every person since that is customary here. The Rwandan educational system recently changed their language policy. They used to teach French as a mandatory second language in school. Just this year it was changed to English. There are many children that like to practice their English greetings. They know about as much English as we know Kinyarwanda so our usual exchange is –Good Morning! How are you? I am good, how are you? Good. What is your name? My name is…. At this point we have nothing left to say to each other in a common language so we go our separate ways. Many of the children like to shake your hand if you let them and are excited to share just those few sentences with you. There is not the practice of being afraid of strangers, although some still have shy personalities. Children are still children, they just tend to be more autonomous and social in Rwandan culture.

A couple afternoons ago, a fellow trainee Ryan and I were walking to the internet café during our lunch break. As usual we talked to all the children on the way because they were also on their lunch break from school. An exuberant little boy asked my name and I replied ‘Nitwa Kimberly. Muri bande?’. I expected to hear a French name because many, many Rwandans have French names. Instead he replied Chuck Norris. At this point we had already been walking in separate directions but I almost fell on the ground laughing. Chuck Norris was very proud of his comic skills and was roaring with laughter too. No matter how depressing the history and circumstances of this country may be, the children always make me smile each and every day. I have since also met Obama and another Chuck Norris. I hope to meet many more.

On a different note, I’d like to introduce my resource family. My pre-service training is somewhat different than most trainee groups. In some countries trainees live with host families. It helps immerse them into the language, culture and community. Because we are only the third group of volunteers in Rwanda since 1994, the foundation of host families has not been created yet. Instead the Peace Corps houses us together in four different locations with our language teachers. We are given a resource family which we visit about three times a week. We practice our language skills, learn about them and are just generally cared for. It can be an awkward situation, often coupled with confusion for weeks until we can hold a conversation above a 2-year-old level. I am very blessed to have a wonderful resource family. My resource mom, Violette, is a primary school teacher. She knows Kinyarwanda, French and a little English. It is wonderful mother and a very patient teacher. She has been helping me with my French and Kinyarwanda. She has 4 children, ages 9-2. I will not attempt to write their names now because I will butcher the spelling. I was able to meet her husband today. He works in the capital, Kigali, so he is only home on weekends. This situation is somewhat common, as it also is in the US right now with the recession happening. He comes home Friday night and leaves Sunday night. I was a little nervous to meet him but he is very kind and caring.

Being in their home and watching them interact with their children reminds me of home. The children must wash their faces and hands before Violette lets them greet me. The littlest girl often wants to hold my skirt and be by my side if she is not sharing food with her mom. The eldest daughter is a little mother to the rest of the siblings, very much reminding me of my eldest sister. The rolling eyes when she has to take care of her goofy siblings and her natural maturity and responsibility is identical. They always serve me tea with milk and sugar. Today I was also given passion fruit and what they call tree tomatoes. Tree tomatoes are about the same size as passion fruit. They are hard to describe but you eat the seeds in the middle. They are mix of the bitterness of pomegranate and sweetness of a tomato. They asked which I liked better (passion fruit for sure) and then forced me to take the remaining five and put them in my bag for later. Visiting them reminds me of visiting a grandma or great aunts and uncles. They will not let you leave before eating something. You should probably tell them you need to leave a half hour or 45 minutes before you really have to leave because they will undoubtedly want you to stay longer.

Today my resource mom was teaching me pronunciation. They have many consonant combinations in Kinyarwanda that can tangle up an English speakers mouth. ‘mw’, ‘rw’, ‘kw’ are very common here. After practicing with me for five minutes I finally got it! It was a small triumph. I skipped home and taught my housemates what I had learned. There are many pieces to the puzzle of learning this language and we often share our tips to help each other. We have many different teachers. It ranges from our 15 language teachers, our resource families, and any random person on the street. Every second here is a learning opportunity. It can be tiring but we are still all very excited.