A Very, Merry Un-birthday

It came to our attention that Dinah and Agnes, the young women who help around the compound, had never had a birthday celebration, much less cake or a gift. Dinah’s birthday is June 6, and she was 26 and Agnes’s birthday is December 26 and she was 21. So we planned an “un-birthday” party for them….. cake, noisemakers and presents.

It was wonderful to watch the surprise as they walked in the door, wondering what we were celebrating now, never expecting it to be them! With “Happy Un-birthday” sung, it was time to blow out the candles, with the reminder to make a wish. The cake was cut and passed out, with excitement from the girls and semi groans from the rest of us. Rwandan cakes are beautiful, elegantly frosted with cherries or candies placed on top but the cake itself leaves much to be desired. The best description one could give would be akin to sawdust, held together by paste, but it is the best cake in Kagli!

For gifts, everyone staying in the guesthouse pitched in and got the girls a piece of traditional fabric and paid for the local seamstress to make them a new dress. They were so overwhelmed by the entire ordeal that they could not imagine getting a new dress (not something received as a hand-me-down from people leaving the guest house).

A great time was had by all and we all vowed to remember this un-birthday date for a party next year! This is not a difference in culture it is a difference in status! Many Rwandans I know celebrate birthdays and even have big parties. Yet due to their position in society as servants, even something lower than a servant for which I do not know the name, many of life’s basic joys are personally foreign to them. They see the celebrations, create the meals, serve and clean up after all the people who attend, yet it is never for them. Will our small effort make a difference in their lives? I do not know, I hope it did, I do know it was a very, merry un-birthday!