Azizi Life Reflection

Azizi means “excellent life” in Swahili.
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We got together and arrived at a home in a village where we put on some traditional skirts and head wraps. They sung a prayer and as if the sounds were different and the same, together the birds were chirping and singing as they were.
Both parties doing a part of their daily routine, the birds adding a layer to the melody with beauteous synchronization. Harmony: it all made sense after spending a day in the life in rural Rwanda.

With the family after, we did our introductions, we peeled potatoes, worked on breaking up the land for farming, went walking down and up the hill to capture fresh water, wove bracelets with, and ate a hearty lunch. At the end we danced and hugged our goodbyes.

What a life they live. I am no farmer but they were happy and so was I. That’s their life and wow those women are strong. How their environment and plants for utilization is incredible. They aren’t just balancing stuff on their heads. They tightly spin and wrap a common banana leaf and that serves as a base to hold whatever you may need to hold! That’s hands free to a whole other level! I love it!

​Rwanda has been growing at a rapid rate. My friends who have been to Rwanda in previous years say it’s changed so much. I’m so happy they are economically prospering! But what a dichotomy that the city is roaring with quick living many cars many restaurants of all types. Some restaurants seemed like they could be right here in Buffalo, NY.

Yet only an hour away there’s many villages like the one we spent time with at Azizi life experience, that their lives are not anything like ours. Rwanda is so fertile to plant and farm, what will happen if people don’t want to be farmers? Is there ways to make farming less physically demanding within the means of cost effectiveness?
I hope as long as individuals truly do what makes their heart bloom there will be room to continually grow for the better.