"You Share with Me?"

Sonya’s Story

It was already late in the afternoon. The sun was sitting just above one of the many mountain ridges that make the sprawling city so time consuming to navigate. My driver and aid, Maurice, had been running all over Kigali trying to locate some medications that the doctor at King Fisal Hospital had prescribed for me while I was a patient there. I still wasn’t feeling well after my bout with a kidney stone and I needed a strong pain killer for the flight home.
Although I was thanking God that the worst was over I was still frustrated, uncomfortable, tired, weak and hungry so we stopped at a small cafe to eat. A young women came to our table and introduced herself as Sonya. I ordered something from the menu along with several bottles of water. The choices were limited to just a few things.

Our food finally arrived and after just a few bites I was full. My stomach had shrunk during the several days of my painful ordeal. Most of my meal was still on my plate, untouched.

The young women who had taken our order came by to check on us several times. Each time she asked if my food was okay. I would smile and say “yes” and she would disappear back into the kitchen. Finally, she approached the table one last time. This time her voice was low. I nearly missed her question.

“You share with me”, she said?

Her meek and desperate plea absolutely froze me. So consumed by my own condition I had forgotten why I was in Rwanda. In an instant, through a timidly whispered question, God jerked me away from myself and back to others.

All I could do was shake my head and hand my plate to her. Sonya’s smile of gratitude is unforgettably etched in my memory forever.

Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa. It’s economy still recovering from the devastating genocide of 1994. Ninety percent of Rwandans are subsistence farmers barely surviving on what they can produce. The average Rwandan lives on a meager 43 cents (US) per day.

For more on our work in Rwanda go to www.howFar.org or www.howFarFoundation.org