Life of the Muzungu

Today the four of us interns were thrown out on the street to find our way around town and learn the ropes. Rebecca Amos, one of our missionary hosts, had come up with a photo scavenger hunt for us to get to know Kigali better and learn important things like how to get a moto-taxi and how to negotiate with our money. Even though we were exhausted and our feet were killing us by the end of this 5 hour scavenger hunt, it was a great day. This activity was an awesome way for us to experience this new culture and get familiar with its people.

Everywhere we go, everyone is staring at us. Rwandans are so friendly! Yes, they stare at us a lot and don't know what to do, but when we wave at them they get very excited and wave back. It may wear off by the end of our six weeks here, but I must admit, I kind of like the attention we get. At lunch we stopped at a restaurant called Mr. Chips and while we were sitting there eating we would wave at the little kids that walked by on the sidewalk. One little boy, probably around 3, was walking with his mom and when we waved at him he stopped and excitedly exclaimed to his mom, "It's Mzungu!" (For those of you who don't know, Mzungu means 'white people') He probably stood there for a minute just smiling and waving at us. The four of us thought it was pretty funny because it was as if we were an exhibit in a zoo. We had so many of these humorous and wonderful moments today.

Here are some things we had to find on our adventurous outing...

We had to find two of the main roads and the main roundabout in the Kicukuro area.

There were several things we were told to find in the local grocery store.

We found a couple restaurants, this was Mr. Chips. 

Along the way we found several places with great views and scenery, but honestly this does not give the beautiful view any justice.

We had to find the homes of the other missionaries on the Kigali team. Almost every home here has a wall and a gate, so car horns pretty much act as doorbells in Rwanda.

We start working at the Peace House tomorrow, so we will be sure to keep you updated!

-Becca