Different Kind of Communication

So Ubuzima …

I loved it. We all did. We told one of the leaders we could come everyday. “No, no, no, they can not come every day," he said refering to the Ubuzima members, "they have too much to do.” :) The first part of the “meeting” is prayer and announcements. They introduced us and asked if we wanted to say anything. I was the first to go up ... for those that know me well, and know about my experiences in Malawi, this is a big deal!

There was also a woman who brought two of her friends to the group for the first time. It’s huge if you are a part of this group because that means you are essentially announcing that you are HIV positive. So many people don’t get tested for HIV because of the stigma and also because they just don’t want to know if they have it. But despite the potential ostracization and finger-pointing, the women say that this group has been such a comfort and support to them. Being around people who are going through the same thing as you, its amazing how at peace you can feel. I can relate to that ...

The rest of the time we basically just sat with the women (most of them are women). One of the women had her little girl with her (see photo) and as soon as I waved at her, she came over to sit on my lap. No hesitation or questions asked. She was so cute with her little braids! Finally, the women warmed up and started showing us different knitting/crocheting patterns. As soon as I started to get the hang of one, they’d want to show me another! None of them speak English so its gonna be interesting to communicate. They were so patient with us ... and loved it that we were trying so hard. We all laughed a lot too – mostly them laughing at us. But oh, the smiles on their faces! Its interesting how it can change the whole atmosphere. And laughter ... its amazing how much tension it can erase. And how much you can communicate with laughter. I mean, even just the grunts and raised eyebrows when you were doing something right. It was so refreshing to be in contact with Rwandans. To be in their presence and interacting. Look forward to more of that.