This post contains student writing.

At the half way point of this trip, I took some time to really interact with the people of  Rwanda like Innocent, the young music-loving boy living full-time at the AVEH and Peter, a young moto-taxi driver doing his best to educate me, a stranger.

Peter, who walked over and introduced himself to my group of friends while we were bushwhacking, embodies how welcoming Rwanda has been to our group of students. Over our first two weeks in Rwanda, we have spent most of our mornings at AVEH, a facility for children with severe disabilities. AVEH is interested in expanding their facilities so, we have spent most of our community service time clearing out over an acre of property. This morning, working with Lucia and Sofia, we were struggling to clear bushes that were surrounded by large, thorny bushes. Peter saw our struggle and taught us an entirely new way to clear the land. Instead of just driving by us and noticing our difficulty, Peter stayed and helped us for over forty-five minutes! His interest in helping us combined with his effort to use English to communicate with us is just one example of how we have been so welcomed by the people of Rwanda. After a long morning of arduous field work, I ran into Peter again, this time on his moto-taxi (with a customer side-saddle in his scooter). He still was interested in talking with us  and asked if there was anything else he could help with.

Innocent, an eight year old boy who lives at AVEH, has shown me the joyous attitude so many people in Rwanda have. Innocent is a disabled eight year old boy who lives full time at the AVEH facility. He is excitable, constantly yelling and moving around. Everyday I work with him and use calming tactics. As I walked in from the fields today, I noticed Innocent with a much wider smile than usual. As he ran toward me, I realized that his gleaming smile was not because of my presence but was for my speaker – blaring the Elton John version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Completely understanding his desire to listen to music, I let him grab the speaker out of my hands. I let him run away with the speaker. I eventually found him in the corner of the courtyard jumping to the upbeat part of the song.

-Jasper