How to be Friendly in Rufumbira

The church we pass on the way to the hospital.
 Hidden in clouds is the enormous volcano Muhavura.

We have both started shadowing Doctors for Global Health (DGH) employees on their frequent visits to the villages outisde the town of Kisoro.

Sometimes they are taking census data, sometimes running CDCOM (Chronic Disease in the Community) clinics where medicines are distributed, and sometimes they are checking on the health concerns that a Village Health worker (VHW) has identified.

 There is a lot of work already being done by a lot of dedicated, intelligent people, VHWs and DGH employees alike. Our job these next few months will be integrating ourselves in the organization in a way that helps them continue to do great work.

Rows of beans outside our house

Along with getting a richer sense of what the work that we've been hearing about for so many months is really like, we've each started picking up enough of the local language (Rufumbira) to be polite when we meet villagers. Here's what we've gleaned so far:

(My Rufumbira spellings are totally phonetic and would probably make a local giggle. We're also still figuring out the pronounciation, so think of these as a beginner's approximation.)

Wa-ra-ye...........................Good Morning
Wi-ri-we...........................Good Afternoon
Mu-ra-ho..........................[all-purpose greeting]
Co-me-ra..........................Are you feeling well/strong? (also a greeting)
Eh-go.................................[appropriate response to the above four]
U-me-zu-te.......................How are you?
Nda-ho...............................I'm well
A-ma-ku-ru........................[another] How are you?
Nyi-me-za...........................I'm good
Bi-te..................................[informal] How are you?
Sa-wa..................................I'm fine
Wa-ko-ze...........................Thank you
Wa-ko-ze gu-shi-ma.............Thank you for appreciating (our "you're welcome")
Wa-ko-ze cu-za...................Thank you for coming
Wa-ko-ze gu-sang-wa...........Thank you for having me
Wa-tet-se...........................Thank you for the food/drink