Eastern Province, Kirehe District
Every Peace Corps Volunteer has their reasons for wanting to
live 27 months away from home. One of mine was to get away from fast-paced
technology, to slow down a little bit. While the internet offers all the
information in the world, a way to know exactly what you want to know when, I
was interested in what life would be like without the constant communication. I
didn’t know then what I know now: that fate always has something in store for
you, and that connections can exist before they’re even made.
When I applied for Peace Corps in August 2010, I requested sub-Saharan
Africa as my future home, and that, even, wasn’t guaranteed by Peace Corps.
Peace Corps puts an applicant where they’re best seen fit, where their
qualifications match the needs of a country. I waited and waited some more, and
in July 2011, I learned that I would call Rwanda my home.
After three months in training, I moved to my village in the
Eastern Province, and on my first day of teaching, I noticed a girl who sat in
the front row. I had about 50 students in each class I taught, and it took me
months to learn all their names, but I learned her name within the first week:
Francine. She’s a small girl with quiet confidence. When I said a joke to the
class, she’d giggle to herself as opposed to out loud. Because she sat in the
front row, I often borrowed her notebooks and pens to demonstrate new
vocabulary, dropping them on the floor or tearing a piece of paper out. I
borrowed her things so often, that when I approached her desk, she’d have
something ready for me to grab, handing it to me. Her personality reminded me
of myself, 12 years earlier: quiet, polite, and a little nervous. Francine has
a cleft lip. Err…had a cleft lip.
Operation Smile came to Rwanda a year ago, but at the time,
I had internet problems, so I couldn’t connect with them. Another PCV informed
me that Operation Smile was coming again this year, so she gave me information
about the dates and location. I connected with a member of the Operation Smile
team through Peace Corps Rwanda and was able to get more information about who
is selected to get the surgeries. I then met with my school headmaster and
Francine, to discuss the possibility of her going to Kigali. She said she was
interested, so we kept up communication with her father. During these
conversations, her father became more and more excited – to the point that he
said I could call Francine my child. I shook his hand a few dozen times – his
happiness infectious. While in Kigali,
their food and lodging would be provided by Operation Smile. I knew their
family was poor – both of Francine’s parents are farmers – so I gave them the
money needed for Francine and one parent to travel to Kigali and return to our
village: the equivalent of $25. The best $25 I’ve ever spent.
Francine being chosen for surgery was likely because she had
an unrepaired cleft lip, Operation Smile’s first priority. After Francine left
for Kigali, I felt like I was playing the waiting game, hoping that her and her
father weren’t going to be disappointed. Five days passed, during which time I
told my landlady about what was happening. She confirmed the name with me, and
told me that just a year and a half before, Francine’s father was one of the
constructors of my house! This house, which was being built around the time I
received my invitation to serve in Rwanda. I knew in that moment: when my
recruiter and placement officer placed me in Rwanda, and when Peace Corps
selected me to serve in this village, it was all meant to happen. It may be easy
to find mutual friends on Facebook and discover how small a world it is online,
but when you’re put in the middle of nowhere and “the real world” can seem so
far away, those bonds that form through no force of will on your own but
through the actions of fate are meant to be.
I continued to wait for news, and then one of my fellow
PCVs, volunteering for Operation Smile for the week, called me to give me the
good news: Francine was chosen!
I’d like to give a shout out to the people of Operation
Smile for doing what they do. In this global world of ours, it is nice to get
away from it all, but it’s also nice to use connections to give people what
they deserve: a perfect smile.
Since her surgery and returning to school, I’ve visited with
Francine and her family. Here are a few photographs:
Francine is in the middle, wearing her school uniform. She is surrounded by her family.
Francine's father with one of their cows.
Me with Francine and her parents.
Francine's father with their other cow.
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