Spreading Peace Through Actions

Last Sunday, I celebrated American Thanksgiving in style in a small remote village in Rwanda. The village is called Karembo and is home to a Peace Corps educational volunteer who hosted the holiday feast. 

Byron trussing the ducks

I met Byron for the first time when he graciously agreed to be a judge for me at the English Club debate that I hosted at the school where I’m working a couple of weeks ago. He told me then he was planning a Thanksgiving get-together on Sunday, November 26^th and asked me to come.
 There were eight PCV’s (Peace Corps Volunteers) in attendance, representing only a small portion of Peace Corps’ largest distribution of volunteers in the Eastern district of Rwanda. (Rwanda is divided into four sections covering the all the compass points, i.e. north, south, west, and my section, east.)

Byron at the outside oven

Everyone worked hard all day adding his or her personal contribution to creating a familiar dish that related to the holiday. This was no easy task given the tools we had to work with to create our masterpiece meal.

Outside view of Byron's humble abode

Christine, her daughter and Esther peeling apples for the pie

Caroline peeling mountains of potatoes

Dish washing station manned by Chris

"Imbabura" or Rwandan Hibachi

There were ten of us in all for dinner, including Byron’s adopted Rwandan mother Christine and her husband Vincent. We made traditional American fare for the feast and Christine and her little girl sat next to me, and I watched with amazement as the two of them devoured a huge plate of food shared between.  

My contribution of guacamole and salsa

The menu included:

Guacamole with chips and salsa

Roasted Duck
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole
Stuffing
Steamed mixed vegetables
Fresh biscuits

Fresh pumpkin pie
Fresh apple pie
Fresh fruit salad

Truly a piece of art

Didace and Stephanie engaged to be married in 2018

Looking at everyone around the table as we all held hands in a thank-you prayer before “digging in,” I realized … this is truly what the mission of Peace Corps represents… spreading peace and friendship through actions just like these.