Preggers

Meet Christine. She is the second mental health nurse, who I am also privileged to call my friend. She is Rwandan - roughly 33 years old. She lives in Kigali but commutes into work at the hospital. I instantly took a liking to her because she has a no-nonsense, maternal sense about her. Some women just seem to exude that. I, being a bad judge of age to begin with, am constantly astounded to learn the ages of Rwandans. Most of it isn't my fault because they look young and most are stunted from malnutrition. I was shocked when I found out that Christine was in her thirties, especially because I knew that she had recently got married. Getting married in your thirties as a female in Rwanda is the equivalent of coming out of the old maids club in the 1920s to be married that late.

Instead of the usual reason of not getting married while completing your education, I learned that Christine had a much bigger reason. Five people bigger. Turns out she is the oldest of six children. Both of her parents were killed during the genocide. Ever since she has been taking care of her siblings as if they were her own children. She felt like she had to get all their lives settled before she essentially started living her own. Now that their education is well on its way if not over, she felt like she could get married.

Lately Christine has been playing hooky from work in the afternoon. She goes to eat lunch every day at the house of the other mental health nurse, Jeanne. Most days Jeanne comes back to the hospital and explains to us that Christine is taking a nap because she was exhausted. After a few instances like this Edison and I started joking around the Christine was pregnant. We spread a little workplace gossip, to the people we can trust of course. She laughed in response to our pressurized questioning but didn't deny. I just learned today that Christine told Jeanne that it is definitely a possibility and that she is going to go to the doctor for a pregnancy test! Exciting news. Although I'm selfishly hoping this doesn't push Christine to become a stay at home mom, I am excited to see her adorable Rwandan baby.