It was our first time to leave Africa since we arrived nearly two years ago. Hannah has changed from a crawling 10 month-old into a young lady of 2.5 years, and William has almost doubled his age. What they know is Rwanda. It was fascinating to watch the children discover a western country for the ‘first’ time.
Our first chortles of laughter came in the aeroplane. On entering the tiny but very white toilet Hannah’s eyes went wide as she looked around and she uttered a very impressed, “Wow! Nice!”
A little later some of the passengers disembarked in Uganda at the official end of the flying triangle. We waited in our seats while cleaners boarded the plane to get it ready for the next lot. A vacuum cleaner was being pushed up and down the isle. Tim and I barely noticed. The kids looked at it in fascination, and Hannah asked a very confused, “What’s that for Daddy?” No need for vacuum cleaners in Rwanda. Carpet would certainly be more trouble than it’s worth in muddy rainy season!
When we arrived in Amsterdam and then finally Paris there were more discoveries; conveyor belts and escalators quickly progressed from scary to fun, toys shops were hard to walk past, trains hurtled us through long, dark tunnels in the underground and everywhere we went we (relatively) blended in. Hannah was constantly looking all around her in wonder. There was also the discovery of being cold; the children, for the first time in two years, let me put long layers on them without complaint.
On arrival in our friend’s apartment Tim said, “Watch this William.” Then filled a glass with tap water and drank the lot. William laughed at such a naughty display. He was impressed when we told him he could drink the water too and asked if he could have some. We loved having clean, reliable, even hot water whenever we needed to wash dishes, bathe or drink. I really enjoyed filling a glass with or washing salad in tap water, drinking from a glass that was clean but not dry and touching the stove without getting an electric shock. It made me smile every time.
Then the children discovered TV. “What was that? I wanted to watch that!” William exclaimed during the advertisements. One day I fell asleep watching TV with the kids and of course the TV kept working without my help. I woke quite some time later to hear William say, “You know Hannah, if you watch too much TV you’ll die!” Suffice to say there were no arguments when I switched it off.
Tim and I watched with a mixture of amusement and horror as we saw the ads in the middle of a kid’s cartoon aimed one after the other straight at our children. It was like the advertisers could see inside their heads. It started…”I want that Mummy”. I told the kids that the people who make those toys are trying to trick them into wanting to buy them so that they can have lots of money. After a moment’s pause I was really impressed when William replied, “But Mummy, then we won’t have money to buy food and things.” Score. His thought process didn’t last long in a shopping centre though. Consumerism! We already looked forward to escaping it.
At the same time we revelled in the things we could buy, and their quality. A wonderful variety of fresh and packaged produce allowed us to rediscover with delight food we had stopped thinking about. We bought plug ends and power boards, so excited that these ones might last more than a few months when we fitted them to our stove and other appliances back home. I went to a cheap clothing shop and came home feeling chuffed with new maternity clothes for the same price they would have cost second-hand in the market in Butare (where the opportunity shop left-overs end up after being sent to Africa). Inevitably, we went overboard and bought treats and other special items. We felt guilty, and justified, and rather confused. We missed being able to buy all this stuff and yet longed to be away from it again. In Rwanda, we mostly enjoy being away from over-the-top choice and advertising enticing us to want things we don’t need.
It wasn’t all play for Tim. He attended the European Gastroenterology Conference and came away feeling it had been very worthwhile. He learnt much and made some great new connections for his work in Rwanda.
Towards the end of our time we ended up at the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France. Rwanda is in the middle of Africa, far from any beach, and the children had no memory of sand and sea. They ran down the sand in delight towards the sparkling water. William had a ball constructing a sand castle with Tim, like he’d read about in books. Despite the chilly breeze and cold water, Hannah quickly stripped off and didn’t stop squealing with delight as she jumped in the water for the next half hour. I couldn’t help feeling like a bad mother the whole time, relieved there were no Rwandan mothers present to witness my child getting so cold. In Rwanda, I get told off if the kid’s aren’t wearing a jumper in 20 degrees as people worry children will die if they get too cold. It was a pleasure to watch Hannah’s delight, but I couldn’t help feeling relief once she finally came over and said, “I’m cold” and I could warm her up again and stop feeling guilty.
During our stay we saw wonderful places and had wonderful experiences in France. However, like always, it was the people that mattered most. We spent precious time with Tim’s parents and one of his sisters. We stayed with and saw dear friends. It was a special time that we are most grateful for.
We boarded the plane with mixed feelings. We were leaving people and pleasures behind, and going towards others. Then as we drove from Kigali to Butare the next day, the children asked if they could visit their best friends who they had missed a lot. By the end of the next day they had played with them twice. We were home. After a great adventure with people we love, it is good to be back.
In Paris we saw lots of parks, via metro.
The village we stayed in, Northern Burgundy
Aunty Janet arrives and quickly becomes the number one favourite!
When we asked William what his favourite thing in France was, this was it:
