`PASSIE UMUHOZA`
THE INTRODUCTION OF MY BLOG & STORYTELLING JOURNEY
Who am I & Why do I have the urge to share my 2 cents?
BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE — I AM A F R I C A N. & — PROUD
𓇻 My story literally begins on the 27th of March 1994 when I made my grand entrance into the world, in Kayenzi (1 hour away from Kigali — Rwanda), a few days before the horrifying Rwandese genocide took place. This tragic event started on the 7th of April 1994 and lasted until July 1994 leaving in its wake, devastation, countless deaths, and a broken nation.
July 1994, was not the real ending of what many refer to as an unforgettable period of terror and carnage; it was only the ending of the mass slaughter. ;, 26years later the nation of Rwanda continues its steady trajectory of recovery. I don’t know HOW or why we survived it but we did and that on its own is a miracle and a blessingൽ
Yes, I am 26y old now, ⌙⍿ I am writing to you, and to those that care to hear my story or are intrigued by the way I live my life. Why I SMILE as loud and bright as I do, why I feel like the world can gain something if I manage to use my VOICE & MIND in a balanced way.
As I promised, I will keep the introduction short and share what I believe is relevant to my beloved readers taking their own time and choosing to join me on my new journey. ఌ
Ąllow me to dwell on my childhood memories- my first memories date back to us living in Linkhout — Belgium. I have to laugh every time I say Linkhout, cause I don’t expect people to even know where that is, let alone how living in that small flemish countryside felt like — anno 1997–1998.
For me as a toddler, my life situation was ideal, I was just innocent, ignorant, happy, and lived with my mother and brothers. There were 6 of us, My mother, and my 4 other brothers. Oh yeah, I was the first girl of my parents, they had their prayer answered. They had a girl finally. I was loved before even stepping into the world — growing up I grew more into my name and now I can proudly say I that am the embodiment of my name. I wear my name with the grace of its meaning, or at least I try to do so in every interaction I have.
PASSIE = PASSION
UMUHOZA = HEALER
For me, I believe that there is no real DOING without real BEING.
We lived with Ruddy, ⛧When people say they were saved by an angel, I know how it feels. He was and still is an angel that crossed our paths and still walks with us as one of our own. Ruddy was the local priest in Linkhout who always went out of his own ways to accommodate families who have been left shattered by life and its downfalls. My dad was still abroad and was living in Kenya. Ruddy took it on himself, to give us the best example he knew how. Until this day, I am blessed to have 2 father figures in my life who guide me closely. Blood or no blood.
For me, as the free and adventurous child I was, I was just happy and blessed to feel the warmth and to be surrounded by pure love in all its different forms and shapes.
Honestly, I don’t know how I was so careless back then because I knew something terrible happened for us to be growing up outside of Rwanda. But then again, I was young, wild, free & | CARELESS.
In Linkhout we lived with Ruddy, My brothers and I loved helping Ruddy in the church so everybody knew us as the adorable kids living with the priest, which helped the people of Linkhout to just see us as a family who was unfortunate but not evil or bad. Like most of the Belgians unconsciously do, it stems back to biases — DESTRUCTIVE BIASES (but that’s for another conversation).
When people ask me where I am from, I always say RWANDA and then Belgium. I will always be an African before anything else. That, and being a WOMAN is the only box I accepted to be placed in, for myself — IT’S PERSONAL, VERY PERSONAL. Thank God! Thank the Universe, thank all of THE above, thanking the one YOU thank when you recognize and accept your blessings. Our family never stopped showing or telling us that whatever happened, we will always be Rwandese and that we need to wear that badge with PRIDE. Even tho, it got stomped on by outsiders.
☯☯☯
For anybody who knows my family, know we are happy, proud, and blessed to know where our roots are rooted — RWANDA, Kayenzi!
Of course, it was not always in our favor but that never diminished us as Rwandese people. I grew up in OUR small family “village” with all the Rwandese cultural norms and morals, Our beloved elders who regularly visited us ensured that we never forgot who we truly were. I can only be tremendously grateful for them providing us with their strength and pride.
“RWANDA . was always in me, and it reflected in my upbringing. “
A bigger community came with bigger challenges when it involved others, with others I mean the local people from Hasselt. I never called racism out but. RACISM WAS VERY MUCH PRESENT & we all started to notice it, separately.
I had to find a way to cope with and re-cycle the anger that came with RACISM. In the house, we just were a normal happy family, with crazy, stubborn, and adventurous kids running around, playing, dancing, bickering, and laughing.
I always had a best friend within our family walls, if it was not my smaller brother it was another one, depending on many different factors. The upside to a big family is definitely that you always have a close friend, maybe not the same one every day, but you never played alone or cried alone.
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Fast forward, I went to school in Runkst, just a few streets from home, where I had my other best family friends who were also in the same school — De Boomgaard (Runkst), I even had my favorite cousin in the same class as me for a few years. Until they moved to Denderleeuw, this was maybe my first heartbreak ever! I was always at home whether it was in their home or our home, we lived very closely together. The year went by and we all had to adapt to the unforeseen change and we found new ways of going about life.
High School was a fun experience for me, I went to Virga Jesse College in Hasselt and later on followed one of my best friends to study Tourism in HASSELT CITY. I never really had a hard time at school, since my dad taught us important life survival skills growing up | He was a disciplinarian and that allowed us to later on stay on our ever-expanding self journey. | African parents will mostly put education first, they understand that to give their kids the best future they first have to learn them to always LEARN and LEARN — GROW & ADJUST in a world that is systematically not made for their needs and rights. Growing up out of place is also a conversation I want to plant a seed on, and hope to water it with those that can align with my personal belief or can add some fruitful inputs.
SHE had to make friends with her DARKNESS, so she could MEET her LIGHT.# ENDLESSYGROWING #LIGHTSOURCE |
WE MUST BECOME the change we expect to see in the world — passive-aggressiveness is not working. TAKE PART & DARE TO GROW WITH CHANGE.
@ FOR THOSE who care to hold an deep conversation, are free to approach me | ONLY FOR SERIOUS CONVERSATIONS. WHERE THE OPINION OF OTHERS IS APPRECIATED. NO DEFENSIVE BEHAVIOURS PLS. THANKS IN ADVANCE
Also, I was not just lucky but I was blessed to have very close friends, who also felt like a family, I called them my framily.
I said I was blessed but let me go deeper into that blessing and tell you that some of them today are still part of my framily — CHOSEN FAMILY.
Life passed with very low LOWS and very high HIGHS. My life was always a rollercoaster, maybe that’s how I learned to spread my wings and fly whenever times were low, I still felt some freedom in the flow of the wind carrying me on. What I today call | ⌙⍿ DELIBERATE FREEDOM, — free to move in the direction of the wind breeze. I learned slowly and steadily not to fight the wind, but to embrace it in the best way I know how to, in that single moment⌙⍿.
Okay, pardon me if this short story is getting long ☺.
I often get lost in telling my story, cause I feel like painting the big picture by starting very small and then adding on the different colors, layers, and feelings in my storytelling. I want my words and feelings to reflect in the story, and my readers to feel as though they were present in the experience.
ઌ ॲMY BELOVED MOTHER, BEST FRIEND AND ANGEL ॲ ઌ
An angel in her own light & right,
she was & will forever be our FAMILY TREASURE! ❤
Since the death of my beloved mother in 2015, I have lived a pretty selfish life and did not really care about anything besides my family and chosen framily. I lived life with no real feeling of purpose, nor destiny. I lived in every moment, but I never lived in the future nor the past, only at the moment.
❤ L O V E . was always the biggest and most important foundation of our family, when OUR FAMILY TREASURE — MY MOST PRECIOUS AFRICAN GEM. | Got called back to heaven. My world fell apart, it crumbled and shattered us all. My mom was and still is one of a kind in many ways, for me she is the full embodiment of LOVE. Her love was felt by everyone, even strangers. She became my purpose, her life testimony became my never-ending fuel to succeed and to become the best version of myself in all the possible ways, even the impossible ways. ❤ I am continuously learning from her example. | SOME bonds are stronger than the physical roams. ❤
She left us with HER pride of being a REAL RWANDESE WOMAN. I went back to Rwanda for the first time in 2017, with one of my brothers and one of my favorite cousins. I felt and wanted to understand what shaped her into the light sources she was/is. I also met her side of the family, before I only heard stories about them and left it at that. I met her beautiful sister who reminded me of her light and warmth, For me,IT was a magical journey, and I found more than I intended to find or can even express in words.I found my FUTURE-self.
GHANA GHANA GHANA GHANA
I am in Ghana for work, pleasure & peace of mind — in November, during the covid-19 world pandemic. I love change and I love to jump the waves of an ever-changing reality. AS I SOMETIMES FIND MYSELF BEING RESTLESS BETWEEN ADVENTURES, I NEED HIGHS AND LOWS. Like music needs silence in between the words that caress our souls and ears.
I live, to DIE another day.
IN MY NEXT SHARING MOMENT — I WILL GIVE YOU THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION: WHY GHANA? WHY NOT RWANDA? I WILL COME BACK AND CONTINUE TO ELABORATING MY 2 CENTS.
Yes, I chose Ghana to do nothing more than walk in my purpose & do everything with FULL DEDICATION & DELIBERATION. As my favorite writer of all times liked to say: ↜` S T I L L — I . R I S E ´↝
~ DR. Maya ANGELOU ~
Come along with me on this journey of discovery, love, light, and purpose.
FROM NOW ON, I WILL WRITE MY OWN STORY — WITH MY OWN PEN & PLANT SEEDS AND LEAVE MY SPARKLES EVERYWHERE I GO.
❤ THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
FOR YOUR TIME — INTEREST — CURIOUSITY -
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN. ❤
Originally published at https://passieumuhoza.medium.com on December 9, 2020.
