Rachel got up and walked to Kayenzi to buy meat for the party tonight. She wanted to get to the butcher early to make sure she could get enough meat - 7 kilos. The butcher asked R if she wanted the liver and tongue which she said yes.
She also bought "tree" (firewood) because that would be easier having to cook a lot of food. She had that delivered by bicycle.
R said that for the first time ever walking from Kayenzi she praed for the sun to stay out. It is a hot walk but we definitely want the waters to go down so we can get to Kigali.
Yesterday Chesie had gotten 24 beer and 24 Fanta (Orange, grape and Coke) for the party and had them delivered by bicycle.
Joe and I washed the dishes from the dinner last night. Katherine cleaned and swept the house. It was all hands on deck.
We took a break from working to have a tour of the Health Center which is 5 or more buildings. We were impressed how clean it was. They have administrators, insurance people, midwives, nurses, community health workers who do a lot of education, people who clean - lots of people who work there.
Chesie came around 1:00 or so. Then a little later a guy she hired to help cook arrived. They decided to cook behind Rachel's house. The man found some big rocks which would hold the pots and then built the fire to start the meat. He and Chesie looked like butchers cutting up the meat.
Joe, R, K, and I went to the Heath Center to gather benches to bring back for folks to sit. I brought one. When I went back outside, Joe was walking without a bench and said that they sent him back because an old man shouldn't carry a bench. There were 4 or 5 Heath center people along with K and R carrying the 6 and 8 foot benches.
Then they sat down and peeled 10-15 kilos of potatoes. They were very fast. There is something about these Rwandan potatoes that are so good!
The food cooked until about 5:20 which was perfect timing because folks were supposed to come at 5:30 - after work.
Surprisingly most of them can right around 5:30. They seemed to be happy that Rachel had invited them over. She has not opened her house to people yet so this was important. The food was meat cooked with a few tomatoes, tomato paste, and onions and fries. It was intended to be a full meal as they would all go home and have dinner later in the evening.
After we ate, there were speeches. All four of us had to say something. Christopher who speaks good English always translates and moves things along. He spoke about how people has walked by her fence and gate and had never come in, but how pleased they were to be in her home.
We showed them where Louisiana is on the map. Showed them where Michigan is and talked about how big America is and that we can't travel everywhere in our country like they can.
It was a very nice time.
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