Amakuru?

Amakuru?

In my last message, I told you that "murakozi" means "good morning" in Kinyarwanda. It doesn’t! It means "thank you." So obviously, my grasp of even the few words I thought I knew is still tenuous. Anyway, "murakozi" to all of you who wrote in response to that message. It was great to hear from you.

Before I visited Rwanda in February, I knew little about the country. After spending a week there, I know that I have barely scratched the surface. The photos remind me that the seven days that passed like a dream were real. The memories are joyous, warm, amusing, and haunting. I’ve been thinking about Rwanda since I left, and I’ve been "feeling" Rwanda, too.

Murakozi!

Murakozi! Amakuru?

Greetings are often the first words we learn when we visit a foreign country. "Murakozi! Amakuru!" means "Good morning. How are you?" in Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda. Jordan and I learned these words and a few others during our week in Rwanda in February. Rwandans also speak Kiswahili, English or French, which because of the Belgian and French influence, was the language children learned in school. Recently, French has fallen out of favor and English is being taught instead. We got by well in English, but there were times when I needed to use my minimal competence in Kiswahili and even my 7th grade French to communicate.