The Small Things that Count

An interesting day today, in part I suppose because I spent the morning out and about in town. Got my paperwork done for the "Alien Registration Card" which entails depositing the equivalent of £5 at the bank, have the payment registered at the Revenue Authority and handing that receipt and two passport photos to the local Immigration office and of course, filling in a form with all your adresses etc. Apparently, I can collect this card on Friday which will then mean I don't need to travel around in Rwanda with my passport handy all the time - marvelous! And, being in Musanze, this all only took about 40minutes, including the driving from one place to the next - fantastic!

When I was at the Immigration office, a Rwandan lady came to speak to the officer there and noticed me and went off with a great smile to the Immigration officer in Kinyarwanda about me.

What had happened - earlier at the bank I had filled in the depositslip and put my little form and the money on the counter at the back of the queue and waited for my turn. The locals in the bank stared at me with surprised looks and suddenly the lady at the front of the queue picked up my form and money and handed it to the cashier with a huge smile. I could make out enough of what she was saying to understand that she was very impressed that I had not just pushed in as a mzungu (white person) but was willing to wait like everyone else. It was this lady who turned up at the Immigration office.

She told Andy that she wished she could speak English so she could tell me herself how much she appreciated what I had done in the bank. Through that, I had shown them respect and not considered myself above them and things like this was what convinced her that all her kids should go to school so they can understand more languages etc.

If nothing else had happened today, that would've been fine. This little incident made me feel really good about something that I had done - unintentionally really. Although it wasn't a big thing for me, this meant the world to the locals in that bank - a truly humbling experience.