Acts of Kindness

17Aug09

In between the bustle of our lives trying to squeeze everything in: doing a fantastic volunteer engagement on the task at hand, understanding the local culture, learning the new surroundings / language, trying to see a bit of the country, thinking of friends and family back home – it was really nice on this Sunday to take a few moments and say thanks for the acts of kindness we have been shown in Africa.

–       Starting with our friend of a friend who gave up two free days of his vacation to introduce us to Addis Ababa and Injera in Ethiopia

–       Catering staff at the hospital we are most obliged to for our three meals a day, everyday.  I appreciate your smiles and your fruit plates!

–       The man who sells us Rwanda-Tel airtime and asks us everyday as we walk by “Airtime? Airtime” And when we say no, thanks – he replies “you are most welcome”.  And yes, on the many times that we do need airtime, we make sure to find this man.

–       Our guesthouse has a 24hr guard and a housekeeper lady. We cooked them dinner tonight (and certainly hope they enjoyed our homemade spaghetti and sauce and fruit salad – banana, pineapple, passionfruit and fig) – gave us a kinyarwanda lesson for an hour!

–       And today, our waiter at the restaurant where we had brunch – offered on his daily break to lead us to the fruit and vegetable market we were asking about… A simple question we asked, and an going-the-extra mile answer we received.

Murakoze.

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