Westmont杂志 Finding New Villages Away from Home

by Marie Odile Ndayishimiye Uwineza

It was about to be my first flight, my very first time out of my 首页 country, Rwanda. The community of my friends and family, 我的村庄, had gathered at the airport to say their goodbyes. I could see pride in my parents’ eyes but I could also see terror, the fear of letting their first daughter live in a country they have never visited. 在我的飞行途中, I remember talking to God, surrendering my life to Him, 因为在这个新地方, his presence was the only familiar thing I had. It was the conviction that God will always be with me and guiding me into his purpose over my life that gave me peace and exciting hope about what was going to be the most transformative four years of my life, 在韦斯特蒙特.

When I left 我的村庄 as I flew away, I knew that God was going to give me new villages. 我只是不知道该怎么做. You would not believe how big 我的村庄 has become, how many people came together to make sure that I had all I needed to thrive even in times when social distancing was the way of life. 的同学, you would think that after mudslides, fires and multiple evacuations, 我们都看到了. But oh no, Covid couldn’t resist to top it all off. I know everyone here has a Covid story. Some stories are more painful and tragic than others. There are those among us who are still recovering from the losses we suffered, be it the loss of loved ones, 财务损失, 丧失期权, loss of mental and emotional rest. My Covid story took place in South Bend, 印第安纳州, where I was doing remote learning at Westmont, taking classes and exams online, 努力保持积极性. As the semester neared the end, we started receiving emails about plans to move out of our campus dorms. And then it hit me, where will I move out to? To what 首页s are international students going? It was during the time when most borders in and out of different countries around the world were closed due to the increase in Covid cases. The majority of us could not go 首页 nor afford to stay here. Due to our immigration status, we could only work on campus. But even then most offices on campus were closed. Those of us who were a part of the graduating class, 这个类, could not work anymore because we were no longer students; therefore, some of the privileges that came with our student visa status no longer existed.

所以我和上帝交谈, I reminded him of our conversation during my first flight here and told him that I trusted Him to take care of me and my friends. 他做到了. 但我不只是祈祷. 2020年4月中旬, I reached out to Westmont adminis- tration and told them my concerns for international students, the challenges we were facing, 以及我们需要的帮助. 几天后, Westmont waived the housing fees that they would normally charge for staying in Ocean View apartments for a little over three months. 几天之后, a generous donor made it possible for us to have stipends that helped us to afford weekly groceries throughout summer.

I think about all things that held me up during those times, and really nothing tops this kind of support that made it possible for international students to have a summer village. We became each other’s family, 互相扶持, while trying to make sense of what the world was facing at the time. 这是一个回应的祷告, this support system I had during one of the most challenging times our generation has ever seen, 反映了什么
is my message for us today. God has and will always use the villages he surrounded us with as his channel of love in order to make his presence known and felt.

When we finished college the way we did, I had little hope that we would get together again as a class, to celebrate with families and friends this milestone. 今天, I am so grateful we get to gather, maybe not in the way we had planned or hoped, but this is beautiful indeed. 现在, we have graduated from Westmont College, hence the Commencement today, but life after college awaits. There are so many variables out there, 如此多的未知, 如此多的变化, 一些好的, 其他人不太好. I am sure we have all had a glimpse of that already.

May we always know that when we feel like our lives are up in the air, when our plans fall through, we can be confident in the simple truth that God is always going to be there to catch us and that his purpose over our lives is good, 并将获胜. May we seek his face and long for his presence, so that we don’t miss it when he is working.

I want to leave us all with a challenge: as someone who has been carried by God through the generosity and kindness of so many people and whose life is better off because of it, I challenge us all to make someone’s life better by asking them what they need, 通过出现, and by being active listeners of people’s stories of joy and pain.

Thank you and congratulations!