2023 Rwanda Delegation: Sonia Mbabazi
Hospitality & Tourism, Culinary '23
7/14/2023
July 14, 2023
Honestly, it’s been two weeks since I’ve been back to Buffalo, and I have so many people ask me so many questions… questions like how it like was going back home. how did you feel and truth to be told I only tell them the fun part of Rwanda because I’m a little afraid to talk about what I saw at the Genocide memorial… my mind still hasn’t accepted what it saw and I know this is not good to do but I have been distracting myself with work and other problems in my life just to avoid facing what I saw and what I felt back in Rwanda….. the one thing that I am super grateful for is the friendships I made with the people I went with… I have always been the type of person to just keep to myself because I was always too afraid of what people might think of my personality and me as a person and it made me feel so lucky that I had such an amazing support system every difficult moment went through… to Orianna being that supportive person and encouraging me through out that entire trip to Samayiah and Jonise literally encouraging me to walk across that bridge when I was so close to just giving up. Every single person on that trip definitely made an impact on me and I will never forget that. because I’m going to cherish every moment that I spent with every single person on that trip. and I will always think of them whenever I think about going back home to Rwanda this trip definitely opened my eyes to realize that I’m fortunate enough to be part of that culture that so many people don't get to have, and it made me feel good to see how my peers interacted with my culture. The only think that I wish we could do is stay in touch with each other because we went through so many emotions together and I feel like that brough us closer together and I hope we get to stay in touch with each other because we are connected forever.
6/23/2023
Day 5
Today we went to Aziz Life to visit experience the day in the life and the way they welcomed us was nothing but smiles, they were so happy to see us and we were happy to see them. I honestly felt like I was home when we visited those women, everything looked familiar, everything felt like home and I felt sad leaving because it was such an amazing experience.
6/22/23
Day 4
Today we moved hotels from St Paul’s to Splendid Hotel where we ate dinner and breakfast and later that Afternoon we went to Mama’s… Mama was definitely a pressure to have around because she will make you feel like your her own child and that made me feel good and it made me feel welcome… We ate dinner and we also visited the school and around her house… it was impressive to see how much she has helped the Rwandan community, something not many people care to do and the fact that she takes the initiative to do that is impressive
6/21/23
Day 3
Today we visited the genocide memorial where we taught Rwandan teachers have to use story based learning in the classroom and it was relaxing to see how the teachers reacted to it. It definitely made me feel good to see how much they loved it, as a Rwandan that made me proud to see my country growing.
6/20/2023
Day 2
We visited the genocide memorial at the church and it was very hard to go through because I have never seen anything like it in my life and because it was a tough moment…. I learned that if the victims of the genocide can forgive that then I can forgive those that have done me wrong in my life…. After going through that stuff moment… we went to visit those who have been done wrong and and those who have committed the crime… it was different to see how they get along and how she forgave him to living next door to him
6/19/2023
Day 1
We visited the women center… walked around Kigali and I felt very happy doing that exploring Rwanda … later that day we explored the genicode memorial which was not a easy thing to go through.
