{"id":2908,"date":"2019-11-02T13:24:58","date_gmt":"2019-11-02T12:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visfoundation.org\/international\/?p=2908"},"modified":"2019-11-02T13:25:56","modified_gmt":"2019-11-02T12:25:56","slug":"un-dia-en-la-cite-testimonio-de-dos-voluntarios-de-la-misionhumanitaria-ruanda-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/international.visfoundation.org\/en\/2019\/11\/02\/un-dia-en-la-cite-testimonio-de-dos-voluntarios-de-la-misionhumanitaria-ruanda-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"A day at \"La Cit\u00e8\": testimony of two volunteers of the Rwanda Humanitarian Mission 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new day dawns in the town of Kabgayi, located in western Rwanda, near Lake Kivu. The locals are already busy with their first tasks of the day. Women carrying baskets on their head walking through the roadsides, men dragging bicycles carrying all kinds of belongings, boys and girls in uniform are seen with their backpacks on their way to school. Moto-taxis buzz around and minibuses bring their occupants closer to the nearest towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team of volunteers set out early in the morning for the Cit\u00e9 des Jeunes de Nazareth, the educational center where we carry out our mission. It is about three kilometers away and allows us to see how Rwandan women cultivate the fields, sweep the streets or are occupied in their housework. Children come out to meet us and ask us smiling for a \"bonbon.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the gates of the Cit\u00e9 the little ones are already waiting for us, wishing to be one of those who clings to one of the volunteers' hands to accompany us to the building that houses the volunteer units. Along the way, the first songs, the first games, with smiles always on their faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the morning we are occupied with the letters that the boys and girls of the Cit\u00e9 write to their godfathers and godmothers. We teach them songs, play games or propose models to draw. Show us the photos of the mobile phones! Kevine asks me. In a minute I have fifteen children looking at the photos of my city, monuments that I have visited, landscapes, family, friends. I put on music for them. They don't stop asking. It is the world outside the Cit\u00e9, far away from Rwanda, out of their reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the afternoon we talk in a class with the older boys and girls of the center. Young teenagers are interested in knowing things about our lives and countries of origin, about our families and about our professions and jobs. They are concerned about their immediate future, as their life at the Cit\u00e9 is ending and they would like to continue studying. Their dream is to become doctors, nurses, lawyers or engineers to study at the university and have a job to help the development of Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The daily celebration of the Eucharist culminates our journey in the Cit\u00e9. A church with a heart-shaped plant welcomes us to give thanks to God for all the experiences of the day. Prayers, songs and dances rise to the sky of Rwanda glorifying the risen Jesus who loves us as the only Father of all the volunteers and inhabitants of the Cit\u00e9 des Jeunes de Nazareth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorge and Manuela<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n