I was right! The bunch of little Africans sharing St. Paul with us this week are Twa people (though obviously not the ones we went to visit last week). They’ve been staying here for at least five days now and are all around five feet tall. The women wear beautiful, brightly colored cloth, and wake us up at 6 AM with their joyful humming. (Our windows don’t close here, so we can hear everything that goes on outside our door).

I was walking back from the other side of the compound yesterday when I noticed they were trying to take a group photo. I heard them mumble something, something, muzungu something, and realized that maybe they needed help taking a photo. So I walked up and offered them my assistance, and they seemed glad to have it. I took several photos of the group as well as some individual portraits. Then two of the women started pointing at me and saying muzungu again. I finally figured out that they wanted a photo of me. So I handed the camera over to some guy and before I knew it I was surrounded by a sea of indigenous Africans and being told to say cheese. I really wish I had a copy of that photo… twenty Twa people with me in the middle.

Anyway, later that night I spoke to one of the men in the group, and he told me they are here for an education seminar for the Batwa people. About half of them are from Burundi, and the others are from the south of Rwanda. The majority of them have never been to Kigali or seen so many muzungus before. They really are very nice and like to give us hugs whenever we pass.

I ran into Laura Jordan again today randomly at a craft shop. We had a really nice conversation… I expressed my disappointment in the fact that my volunteer work has not been what I expected it to be. But she confirmed that many short-term programs in Africa have the same issue… you can’t expect nine days of volunteering to make a real difference anyway. All you can do really is make connections with the people you meet, practice cross-cultural communication, and learn as much as you can about your host country.

This morning, we visited the American Embassy for a discussion with a USAID worker. It was a very interesting session… the staff worker actually said: “The current government is not receptive to criticism… you have to tread carefully.” It was refreshing to hear someone say this aloud as we’ve all known it to be true. Very few young Rwandans acknowledge this fact – or ever say anything negative about the RPF for that matter.

Tonight we are going back to the American Embassy to watch the movie “I Love You Man.” Apparently the marines are throwing this get-together and are serving popcorn!!! I’m very excited as I have watched neither a movie nor television in four weeks and am feeling seriously cinema deprived.