The German Delegation

My colleague Pastor Celestin served in the eastern region of Rwanda before coming to PIASS. That church region has had a 22 year partnership with the Presbyterian Church in Germany where they exchange visits every two hears. This year was the German church’s turn to come to Rwanda and the group wanted to see their friend Celestin, even though he was no longer in that district. Friendships transcend geographic boundaries. So they made arrangements with the partnership committee of the district to make the trip to Butare. Celestin prepared a welcome for them that included some of his colleagues from PIASS, me included.

We were invited to Celestin’s home for lunch on Tuesday. In addition to Celestin and his family and me, the welcoming group included our colleague Juvenal and Andre, the accountant from the Presbytery. The delegation was a bit late in arriving, but this is Africa, so that is not an issue. They came in two vehicles, since there were 8 of them – the four German guests and four members of the partnership committee. We were all welcomed to Celestin’s living room and then the linguistic fun began. We were to do self introductions. The challenge was what language to use. Two of the guests speak only German. One speaks German and French and the other German and a little English. The Partnership committee speaks Kinyarwanda and some French. I speak English and a little French. The saviors were Celestin and Juvenal who speak Kinyarwanda, French and English. So translation abounded. The German speakers introduced themselves and then Elaine, the one who speaks French and who was the official interpreter for the group, translated. Juvenal whispered the English translation for me, to be certain that I understood. When it was my turn, I spoke in English, Celestin translated into French and Elaine, translated the French into German. Everyone else used French, which Elaine translated.  When I asked a question of the Partnership committee, the translation moved to Kinyarwanda, but then the response was translated into French and German, to not exclude anyone from the conversation. As you might imagine all of this took time. By the time we got to lunch, we ate in silence. Good food does not need to be translated. After lunch was time for formal speeches. Again the translations began, from Kinyarwanda to French to German, with a whisper of English in my ear, then from German to French with a bit of English for my benefit. Then it was English to French to German.

After photos, we proceeded to tour PIASS. There the vice rector spoke in French and Elaine translated into German. I know the tour well enough and follow French enough that I did not need translation. We moved in small groups and worked at communication as we walked, trying to find at least words in one another’s languages to convey some information. From PIASS we went to the Rwanda Museum, here in Butare. It is a wonderful presentation of early life and history of Rwanda. The guides spoke French and English. Again Elaine translated. We could move at our own pace and I could read the display information given in Kinyarwanda, French and English. It was a pleasant time for small groups to comment and enjoy one another.

After the tour, we parted. The farewell was multilingual as well, as each one tried to say goodbye in the other’s language. Au Voir, Auf Wiedersehen, Murabeho, Goodbye.