"Lend me your shoes."

Le 26 fevrier   Rwandan people are quick to share with others. They also are eager to help one another out, even if that means their personal space is smaller than Americans’. In church, for example, I will sometimes see a woman fixing the collar of the person in front of her or an old man tying the dress of a small child walking by. Sometimes I’m the one whose personal space will be violated – but violated with love.

When my parents were here, they caught the first football match of an interscholastic tournament. The boys’ volleyball team and girls’ football team made it to the finals. Today was the girls’ game, way down by the lake and along the road that leads right out of Gisenyi town. I was hoping to capitalize on the opportunity and walk home with the group from the match, so I wore my running shoes and just prayed that I’d be able to shake the dust out of them and hit the road.

All was going well when we arrived at the field – all of our girls had showed up, and a good number of our boys were there, too, to support our team. I was pretty excited. Once the teams were both present and ready, they headed out to the center of the field. And then I got beckoned. “Laura, Sr. Gisele needs you.”

I hustled out to the edge of the field where I met my dear friend Petite Gisele. “Laura, please, can Diane have your shoes? The game’s about to start and she cannot play in her sandals.”

Never having been asked such a question before and fully used to Rwandan culture, I willingly handed over my lovely Asics trainers (with my orthotics, by the way) and my socks. I felt slightly selfish, knowing that these shoes cost more than one trimester of this girl’s schooling. The orthotics, too, were made especially for me and even with insurance they were expensive.

Before I had too much time to think about it, my friend Ferdinand had taken off his sandals and thrown them by my feet. I tried to object, but he had already made up his mind.

What more can you ask for than a culture where a friend will literally give you his own shoes?