Heart of
by Karen Unternahrer
Missi ns
A Different Perspective
Guest writer, Dan Janzen, with his
wife Rachel and their young sons, Andrew
and Alex, are serving in Rwanda, Africa,
with World Venture. Rwanda is only 100
miles long by 100 miles wide with more
than nine million people in that area.
There are two main tribes living in Rwanda; the Hutu make up 85% and the Tutsi
15% of the population. Look for Dan and
Rachel Janzen at www.worldventure.com
or web.me.com/rwandafamily .
Recently we found a Rwandan man
lying face down, unconscious, in the
street; his body rigid, his pulse steady,
his breathing regular. Carefully moving
him to safety, it became apparent he had
experienced a seizure. Others were gathering around. Soon the injured man was
moving and shortly thereafter was able to
sit up with help That’s when our cultural
experience began.
Thankfully a young Rwandan professional who could speak English happened
by and we were able to ascertain what had
occurred, who the man was, and where he
lived. Next question: What do we do with
him? The police were called, but probably
wouldn’t show up. There are only two
ambulances in town, and they wouldn’t
come for something this “minor”. This
left us, a group of ten Rwandans and
three Americans, to figure out what to do.
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In America, one person would take
the lead and direct the group, reasoning
that it was important to get this man
to a hospital quickly. Ah, but this is not
America. In the next fifteen minutes, everyone (except the injured man, because
he was still too weak) gave their opinion.
Just when the group decided the man
should be taken to the hospital in his area
of town, another man (wearing a Red
Cross t-shirt of all things) came up and
was convinced the injured man was a conartist. He said people do this all the time
so they can get money and help from
complete strangers. Another ten minutes
elapsed while the group tried to convince
him that this seizure was, in fact, real.
Finally, thirty minutes after the man was
found, it was decided he should indeed be
taken to the hospital.
The next question was: Who should
take him? As Americans with resources,
we offered to do it and began walking
the injured man to our car. But just as we
were about to drive off, the group came
to us and said, “With your children in
the car and because we don’t really know
what his condition is, we’ll take him.” So
the man climbed out of our car and into
theirs for a ride to the hospital.
This incident taught me many things
including a lesson on decision-making.
As Americans, we make our decisions
independently and value people who are
“good decision makers.” But in Rwanda,
decisions are made by the group. We
would never think of making an injured
person wait thirty minutes while the
group talks over him trying to decide if he
is a con, and then decide what to do with
him. But that is exactly what happened
this afternoon. I received an important
lesson today. Decisions in Rwanda take
time and group consensus. I can only
imagine future occasions when I will
need to look back upon this incident and
remember what I witnessed.
The Hometown Treasure · Apr. ‘12 · pg 43