Until you are gray

by UWAYO Yves Rene (Rwanda)

A leap into the unknown Kenya

I have always felt the urge to move and discover the world. Back home they say, “a young person that travels is wiser than an old man that stayed in the village.” I remember reading “some birds were not meant to be caged” by Stephen King, in October 2016, I rushed to the world map to find that Rwanda is really small and I might be missing out on above 99% of the world. Since then I decided I should fly out though I had no money. I immediately applied to the already lurking East African Community (EAC) Debate Championship, and l was selected to contest. On the 18th March 2018, that is when I had my first trip as appointed EAC Deputy Youth Ambassador, outside the country, it was Kenya. Dear World Nomads, the previous night I had not slept, I was super-happy and did not know what to think! I was so excited that despite the fact that it was only a three days trip I said goodbye to almost everyone I know and missed my first flight. I do not come from a wealthy family so I panicked when I heard boarding for my plane had closed thirty minutes ago. I pleaded with them but they categorically denied, my biggest fear was to be asked to book for a new ticket for myself, I only had 30$ on me. My heart was pounding hard when I approached this young lady from the customer services, I was pretty much convinced she was going to charge an amount I could not afford and I could not think of the embarrassment trolling my bag back home after I had bid my farewells. As usual, She smiled at me and said "Wewe ndie passenger amechelewa? (are you the passenger that got late?") in a well-articulated lovely Swahili accent but that did not matter to me at the moment, I said: ndio (yes), she said 25$ dollars please and you go with midnight plane. Without thinking for a minute I hugged her from the other side of the counter, kissed her on the chick and I was almost detained had she not said to the security "it's okay" and then smilingly warned me of such super-excitements. Four hours later, in the midst of the night, dreams had come true, I was wondering the skies of East Africa, sipping on South African red wine, three nations, four cities at a go in a single flight, thunders, rain, amazingly angry skies, with the Kenyan carrier sliding through clouds and breaking storms! It painted the picture of how magnificent land could be, were it not the invention of borders, so beautiful, continuously endless and quite busy in its own way. Dawn 19th March 2018, it was a touchdown: "welcome to Jomo Kenyatta international airport, the temperature outside is 21 degrees Celsius, it is 3 am local time, thank you for having flown with Kenya Airways, we look forward to having you onboard again". Alas, the cabin crew had put an end to the best experience of my life. I know the message was just a formality but I went straight to the hostess to tell her I will come back, and indeed I came back over and over again! From the plane to the plane back home the experience was incredible. I had attended the Academia-Public-Private-Partnership (APPP) conference. I had made a number of friends, toured around and most importantly I improved on my Swahili (I have this love for languages), of which I am fluent now. Narrating it friends, the new commitment was unarguably clear, to master the skies and discover places! And that was just the beginning. From July 2019 alone I flew to Niger, in August to Kenya, in September to Burundi, in November to Ethiopia and Tanzania, in October to Ghana. Now speaking I am touring the north-western part of my country (Gicumbi, Buyoga, Cyumba, Rubaya, Kisaro, Butaro, Rusarabuye, Kinyababa, Kagogo, Nemba), admiring the beauty endowed with my motherland and enjoying stories of old men of my grandpa generation, the traveling experience is simply amazing! Like old Vikings say: "travel to never arrive", I say: "travel until you are gray."