My Conversations on Facebook
By: Zephyrin Nzirabatinya
Published by WSIC EBooks Ltd.
Copyright February 18, 2012 by WSIC Ebooks Ltd.
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A few words about this book
This book contains personal correspondences between myself, the author of this book living in Rwanda and Monika Gonzales (whose names have been modified for her privacy) living in Peru.
This is not an educational book and the ideas contained herein are not the result of any kind of research. I don’t claim any authority in any field discussed about in this book. The discussions move back and forth about subjects that are, apparently not related. We talked about many issues, even though there is much more to say on each subject in each chapter, I preferred to somehow keep the words we used and leave some room to the readers for their own contributions in these discussions. I hope that readers will forgive some omissions. These are just some ideas coming from ordinary conversations on the Internet. Some spelling mistakes have been intentionally left in the text in order to keep the chatting character of the conversations. This book is the result of the actual conversations that I held mainly with Ms. Monika Gonzales but also with some other people. Some sentences have been added or suppressed in order to have a logical, readable and entertaining book.
I was then on Facebook the other day when someone knocked on my wall. As I have so many friends on Facebook, I told myself that this was just another one. I thought that we were just going to say Hello! Hello! How are you doing? etc…and finish our one conversation as fast as we had started it. What happened was the reverse of what I had expected! I could not imagine being able to chat with someone for hours and hours without wanting to stop, because previously, I had never loved chatting on the Internet and whenever I did, it was rather by necessity than for pleasure. I very much appreciated the conversations I had with Ms. Monika Gonzales from Peru. In the beginning, we only had casual conversations and as time was passing by, the conversations became more and more serious. A question brought another one, and another one, and another one again and again…until we could not continue our conversations on chat and decided to use our e-mails to send our questions and answers to each other. At the moment I write this book, our conversations continue. Let me rather share with you some of the points on which we talked…..
Chapter One
A Fortuitous Encounter
Monika----- Hello! Is anybody there?
Zephyrin----- Hi!
Monika----- Hello Zephyrin!
It is very nice to know you.
I am Monika Gonzales, I live in Peru, where are you from?
Zephyrin – It’s very nice to know you too Monika! I live in Rwanda----- East Africa. Ever heard of it?
Monika----- Yeah! That’s great! Have you ever heard of my country?
Zephyrin – A lot.
Monika----- Oh! Really? What do you know about my country?
Zephyrin -----Machu Picchu.
Monika----- Do you really know Machu Picchu?
Zephyrin----- I read a lot of books that talk about that mysterious town!
Monika----- You know, every year we receive in our country countless of tourists coming from all parts of the world to visit that town!
Zephyrin----- I am also planning to visit that town one day.
Monika----- Really? You are most welcome!
Zephyrin----- I also read a lot about the Maya and Inca people, the Nazca lines and the Andean prophecy.
Monika----- Realky? I mean really?
Zephyrin----- Yeah!
Monika----- It seems that you know a lot about my country when I know nada about yours. But it is a great pleasure to talk to someone who is interested in my country.
Zephyrin----- It seems to me that your country has a lot to offer to the rest of the World, especially when it comes to the mysteries of the past.
Monika----- And what do you do for a living?
Zephyrin----- I am an engineer and work as a consultant for local NGOs. What about you?
Monika----- That’s great! I created a school for English teaching in my country.
Zephyrin – I suppose that you belong to those Facebook language networks.
Monika----- Yeah, I belong to some of those networks.
Zephyrin----- I love Soutj America, I mean South America.
Monika----- Me too, It is a beautiful continent.
Zephyrin----- South America looks like our Tropical Africa.
Monika----- What do you mean exactly?
Zephyrin----- I mean if you take a look at the world map you will find that our climate, flora and fauna are similar to some extent. You will also find that these two regions of the globe are among the rare green regions of the World.
Monika----- You are right; I have already read some books on the African continent. There exist some wonderful places there! Are you Muslim?
Zephyrin----- No, I was born in a catholic family so I am catholic by birth! Why do you ask? Is it because of my first name?
Monika----- Yeah! Is it a catholic name?
Zephyrin----- Yeah! It is catholic.
Monika----- And it means?
Zephyrin----- In fact, it takes root from the word zephyr, which is a kind of soft wind in the Greek mythology.
Monika----- Ok. I am catholic too. Are you married?
Zephyrin----- No, I am still single and you?
Monika----- Not yet married too! Do you have a girlfriend?
Zephyrin----- No, not any! I recognize that I am not an easy person to love!
Monika----- Why do you say that? Are you rude, arrogant or something?
Zephyrin----- No, Not at all. I am even the kind of person who makes friends very easily.
Monika----- So what is the problem?
Zephyrin----- I don’t have any problem. It is just a matter of choice.
Monika----- You mean you chose to live a lonely life for the rest of your life?
Zephyrin----- No, it is not that. In fact, my way of living is governed by many principles. I would also say that I have views which are most of the times different from those which are commonly accepted, simply because of the way I was educated, the influence of my father, the sciences, etc...and on top of that, I am a very demanding person I recognize that!
Monika----- Oh! I see. I am sorry for all these questions. I hope you don’t mind.
Zephyrin----- I don’t! Are you one of my friends on Facebook?
Monika----- Yeah I believe so.
Zephyrin----- I think that we got connected through English language groups because I belong to some of them.
Monika----- It must be that!
Zephyrin----- What time is it over there in Peru?
Monika----- It is 3:23 PM
Zephyrin----- Here in Kigali it is 10:23 PM, a difference of 7 hours.
Monika----- How many languages do you speak?
Zephyrin----- Besides, Kinyarwanda the national language of my country, I speak French, English and German and you?
Monika----- I speak Spanish which is the official language of my country, English and French. I also speak some Quechua and some Aymara which are the languages spoken by the natives and I guess that Spanish does not exist in your country!
Zephyrin----- Only some few people here can recognize Spanish! But a lot of people here like Spanish songs without even understanding the lyrics. I even have 2 of my friends who speak Spanish and I am myself planning to learn this beautiful language.
Monika----- You know, I love languages, I can teach you some basics of Spanish and you teach me some Kinrwanda, I mean Kinyarwanda. If you don’t mind of course!
Zephyrin----- It’s OK for me, but I must warn you that Kinyarwanda is a very difficult language to learn.
Monika----- In which class does Kinyarwanda belong to among African languages?
Zephyrin----- It is classified as a Bantu language I guess.
Monika----- What makes those languages difficult?
Zephyrin----- Bantu languages have the same origin but they are different. Don’t think that you can understand each other speaking two different Bantu languages! I am not a linguist but what I can say about learning Kinyarwanda is that, not only the grammar is difficult to grasp for a person of European descent for example, because of a different logic but also the speaking is always a problem. Speaking our languages is exactly like singing because of high and low tones in the pronunciation of words plus the phonology that makes some syllables be long or brief etc…
Monika----- I see. But don’t worry, I love learning new things especially languages. So, when do we start?
Zephyrin----- Right now if you want.
Monika----- No, right now I have to go teach my students in a few minutes! Let’s put the fix for tomorrow at 3:00 PM of my time if you are available, that will be at 10:00 PM in Rwanda, all right?
Zephyrin----- All right! Have a good class then! Talk to you tomorrow.
Monika– Have a good night Zephyrin. Ciao.
Chapter Two
My Country
Zephyrin----- Good Afternoon Monika!
Monika----- Good Evening Zephyrin! I had not noticed that you were already connected!
Zephyrin----- I have just logged in Facebook.
Monika----- How are you doing?
Zephyrin----- I am doing fine and you?
Monika----- I am alright! It is late at your place, aren’t you tired?
Zephyrin----- It is 9:00 PM here and I am still at my office but I have already finished what I had to do.
Monika----- Before we fix our mutual language teaching program, tell me, how do you say Good morning in Kinyarwanda?
Zephyrin----- In general we say Muraho, (which approximately means ‘Do you feel all right?’) for unknown people or if it has been a long time without seeing each other. Or else, Mwaramutse when it is in the morning or Mwiriwe, if it is in the middle or at the end of the day. But you can simply say Bite? Which means ‘How?’ It is simpler.
Monika----- Oh dear, I will just keep Bite? Bite Zephyrin?
Zephyrin----- Ni byiza Monika! (‘Ni byiza’ is the answer which means ‘Everything is alright’)
Monika----- I love that! And how do you say Good bye?
Zephyrin----- To say Good bye in general we use Murabeho which approximately means ‘Stay well’. If it is during the day we use Mwirirwe and at night Muramuke, but you can just keep Murabeho.
Monika----- Great!
Zephyrin----- It is your turn now for greetings in Spanish.
Monika----- In Spanish we use Hola! To say Hello! Chau to say Bye, Buenos días to say Good morning, Buenas tardes to say Good afternoon and Buenas noches to say Good night.
Zephyrin----- It is easy! Thanks!
Monika----- I want to know a bit about your country. What should I know about your country?
Zephyrin----- Briefly, Rwanda is a small country with an area of 26,380 Km2. The population has already reached 10 million people!
Monika----- Are you sure? 10 million is a lot of people for such a small country! What is the reason behind your country being that populated? There must be a reason of some sort!
Zephyrin----- Rwanda is among the most populated countries in the World. I myself have always wondered why, with all the migrations that happened in the history of Central Africa and distributed the population of that region as we see it today, so many people preferred to come and settle in this small portion of land and continued to multiply at a very high rate. One day, during a discussion with friends, a university professor tried to explain us one of his theories about that issue. He said that Rwanda is surrounded almost everywhere on its borders by high mountains, rivers and a big and deep lake (in fact, there are only 2 easy exit points which can be crossed on foot in the North-----West of the country at the feet of volcanoes and in the East where the level of the river is low enough to cross on foot.
So, almost all the people who migrated to the region known as Rwanda today before at east 2000 years in the past, have had a lot of difficulties getting out if it with all their belongings. Just a limited number of them succeeded to do so. As the population grew, natural resources of the country dwindled, and people began developing their land farming and cattle rearing techniques that they had already acquired for survival in the new settlements. But this is just a theory from that professor.
But when you are a foreigner visiting Rwanda, you can never have that overpopulation impression because all the towns are relatively small. Most of the Rwandan population lives in rural areas. This also has implications on the development of the population, as it is for example impossible to achieve electrification or water supply in these areas before all these people are settled together in cities. It is also virtually impossible for the moment to group the population in these kinds of cities without prior preparation as to what all these people are going to do as new jobs, having had always been either land farmers or cattle breeders.
Monika----- We also have here in Peru, a big part of the population living in the same conditions. But we have always had plans for the poorest areas of the country where some villages were gradually transformed into urban areas.
Zephyrin----- Here the problem is different. Since ancient times, Rwandans have rarely lived in villages. Rwanda is a mountainous country and each family has always wanted to own his own hill, surrounded by fields of several kinds of crops or even several hills for the wealthiest families who owned herds. Historically, Rwandans have lived like this since at least the last 2 millennia.
Monika----- I was born and I live in Lima the capital, but I have done internships in local ngos and have often worked in remote areas of my country, where the natives live in the same conditions as in the past, and for me this was a very rewarding experience!
Zephyrin----- My country is very small, we have no "remote" areas, we no longer have communities living the way our ancestors lived, and we have lost a lot of knowledge about the lifestyle of our ancestors since the end of colonization. Today we can only read it in some books and see it in museums, but the way of life of everyone has changed completely at least in my country.
Monika----- Your country has been colonized? by who?