Each of us Can Work to Change a Small Portion of Events

"Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills -- against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence... Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation...It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." -- Robert Kennedy

My host sister, Paula, picks me up from school almost everyday and together we ride two public buses to get home. Sometimes a friend walks to my school with her to pick me up. Today her friend, Anick, came with. We rode the first bus to town and then we decided to go shop for a bit, so we started heading to some stores to look at clothes, jewelry, etc... and on our way there, as no different from any other day in my new Rwandan life, locals would stare as i passed by and children reached out their hands to shake mine and wish me good morning (no matter what time of day!) Anick looked at me and said, "they look at your like your Jesus!" It was funny to finally hear somebody else acknowledge what I thought i was the only one notice. Anick was so sweet, she had an air of protector about her. Some man reached out to show me a wallet as I was walking by and she swatted his hand away...Anick laughed and said, "They just want to touch you!" She pulled me near her as busses would whiz by as if I were going to be run over and she'd push me places holding onto my bag her behind me (nudging our ways into shops and to the front of lines) after noting my less than aggressive nature. I think my dependent self has been missing a shoulder to lean on and someone to lead me through life for a while (even if just for an hour or two) God brought me Anick just when I needed her.

While in town I saw two men get in a heated physical fight over something I'm sure i'd be able to tell you about if I spoke Kinyarwanda with not a single soul intervening, legless men with flip flops on their hands crawling down the streets and women with jerrycans full of water in their hands and babies strapped to their back. Usually when I'm in town God speaks to me about how incredibly fortunate I am, it's amazing the lessons you learn when you just listen. Next time you see something that gives you an unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach, don't just brush it off, it might actually be something YOU'RE supposed to see...it might just change your life!


Yesterday afterschool I gave Deborah some chocolate that I had gotten for her over the weekend, today I saved my applejuice and corn puffs to give to her after school. I feel like such a mother stuffing a paper bag full of goodies into that little girls back pack, I don't know why I love her so much-

maybe she's an answer to one of my prayers, or maybe I'm an answer to one of hers.