Thanksgiving always reminds me of standing around with my family taking turns saying what we are thankful for. I won’t be standing in that circle this year, so I thought I’d share through my virtual circle of friends and family here. I’ve always felt extremely grateful for people and things in my life, but being in Rwanda has blown all these things into an extreme, exaggerated view of how fortunate I really am.
I am thankful for my family.
After effects of the 1994 civil war/genocide combined with a lower standard of living has left many Rwandans without family. It is not uncommon for me to talk with someone younger than me who has lost one or both parents, or numerous siblings. If a person reaches age 45 here, they are considered to have lived a full life, and if they die it is not out of the ordinary. I love my parents and brother very much, and the thought of being without them now (or when I was growing up) is not something I have ever really contemplated until now. Thinking about this makes me extra thankful for them and my entire extended family.
I am thankful for my education.
Throughout my entire education I worked very hard, reading, studying and practicing to do my best to get good grades. Never, however, did I dig in a field for the privilege of going to school, or have to ask a person from a foreign country to pay my elementary school tuition. The Rwandan government is beginning to provide public education, but it is still limited. Therefore, children must pay for all their schooling, and often their parents (if they are still alive) do not have money to help with these costs. The result is the students working or begging for money to study. Furthermore, many bright students will never make it to university, solely for financial reasons. Many people who graduate from secondary school can get a decent job in their field, save for years, and will never have enough to begin paying university tuition. I have had a world-class education handed to me, and for this I am grateful.
I am thankful for my friends.
Because being away from them makes me really appreciate them in my life!
I am thankful for security.
While money isn’t happiness, it makes life a little more comfortable. If I am sick, I will get the money to be treated and when I am hungry I will have money to eat some food. I have become very aware that for many people in this world, these common luxuries are not the case. The other day the lady who maintains our house was in my room and I realized that I had more loose change sitting on my desk than she would earn that week. My meager $50 monthly stipend is more than a majority of the employees in the center earn every month, and they must support their families. I have never in my life been worried if I would eat dinner, or if my parents would make enough money to take me to the hospital if I was sick.
I am thankful for beer.
Because, well, who isn’t? Although even this brings up an interesting point. A large Primus beer costs 600 Rwandan Franc (just over $1). Yes, this is cheap -- for me. However, many workers I know earn 1000 Franc a day. Yes, its easy to say, then, that beer shouldn’t be a priority in their spending, which I may agree, but it brings me back to being thankful that I am in a position in society to enjoy such things. After all, the only reason that I get to enjoy Primus and the farm worker does not is because I was born in the right country with the right family.
I am thankful for opportunity.
As I have alluded to, being a white, American man from a middle class family has afforded me so many things in life. A loving family, education and security, to name a few. This privilege stares me in the face every single day in Rwanda. Every time I go to work, put change in my pocket, drink a beer or ride a bus I cannot escape this feeling of privilege. I do not feel guilty… most of the time. I pray that through my recognition of this privilege, appreciation of all it has afforded me and through some service to those who have so little, I can be comfortable living in my white, American, male, middle-class world.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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