Building rapport with people in Rwanda is easy, because they are such warm and welcoming people.  When a minibus full of Umizungo (Rwandan's call white people this - roughly translated it means 'white people going round and round') rolls up in your village then you are quite rightly curious. 

What happens when those Umizungo don't even speak your language??  Well, then it's down to good old 'anything will do'.  Play football, let them touch your 'very strange' hair, shake hands, smile and use the 7 words of Kinyarwandan that we had been given in our 'guide to Rwanda'.

It's amazing how much energy can be created from so little and how many good friendships can be created without only 7 words!!

We visited Rwanda with the amazing local charity (local to Derbyshire) The Goboka Rwanda Trust    https://sites.google.com/site/gobokarwandatrust/home

Here's a photo of Heather Thomas of the Goboka Rwanda Trust receiving a beautifully sewn message of thanks from a school in Nyabanaga (Western Rwanda)

Although we had only these seven words of Kinyarwandan to share with the amazing people we met, we did have lots of 'non-verbal' skills.  So, as a group we naturally employed those skills. 

As we know language is far more than words when you share an experience (and there were many).  The children we met were all absolutely delighted to have their photos taken and see the results on the camera's inbuilt screen!!  Shear delight on all the faces when they searched the screen to see themselves.  Serious faces melted to brilliant smiles - everytime!!

One day in the far west of Rwanda in a tiny village far from the beaten track, I had an impromptu English/Kinyarwandan lesson with a lovely lady called Maria in Butembo village.  Maria, her friends and I were miles behind the rest of the group because we were so engrossed in chatting to each other, Maria in Kinyarwandan and me in English.  A wonderful memory!!

Here's a lovely photo of Maria (in white) and her friend.

As skilled and professional Coaches, our job is to develop our 'sensory acuity' to notice more and more subtleties of verbal and non-verbal language and Rwanda is certainly a great place to 'hone' those skills.

During a service in a village called Gikondo these fabulous children playing outside in the sunshine, loved being the 'centre' of attention as I took photos of them and - the delight on their faces was clear to see when they saw themselves on the camera screen!! 

Fabulous memories and fabulously simple lessons of life and wonderful 'lifetime' friends made in Rwanda!! 

Louise x

www.simplychanging.co.uk

louise@simplychanging.co.uk

0333 800 7777