Random VIllages, Rwanda

So we decide to stay an extra day. Why? mmmm we never know. My friend Laurent drives us out to the lakes and Nikki and I wander down into the villages along the shore. We hear singing coming from the church so we decide to go. 10 minutes later we are addressing the congregation and being told that the minister is praising god for delivering guests. The children and adults are dancing and singing through the whole service. What strikes me about these moments is how nurturing the environment is here. The babies are everyone's children. The responsibility is shared. Babies are running around with knives, hitting each other over the head, 6 year olds are toting their infant siblings on their backs, moms lying back and watching it all happen. Moms are lying around together. The men here hold hands and hold each other. Sure everyone knows everyone's business but they obviously take good care of each other too. We receive a friendly greeting at all the villages we go to. Older women stop to receive us and invite us into their homes. At these remote villages we gather a crowd of about 20-30 people wherever we are. Everyone laughs and jokes with each other, hugs each other. This is the Rwanda that we were hoping to find and we did. This is the spirit that makes me say people in these small villages complaining about money can't see how rich they are in community. Once you have a roof and food and safety- community is the most important thing to a human being. We travel all day. We've prefected the art of hitching, the ability to communicate without knowing the language, and the ability to make people laugh when they have their hand out. I have spent 3 days on the back of Laurent's bike with a Swahili dictionary in one hand. From what I gather- he considers himself a cowboy.