Dinner with Natacha and Family

Over the weekend, all of us interns from LHR invited Natacha and her husband to dinner at Ande’s flat (helping to set the table was the extent of my assistance since I didn’t know how to cook). Natacha, a client from our office, is a Rwandan refugee whose entire family was killed during the 1994 genocide. She and her family will most likely resettle to another country (the U.S., we’re hoping!) because of the constant harassment and threat from the man who trafficked her to South Africa when she was 7 years old; she is so afraid, in fact, that she never leaves the house—except with her husband. Natacha is only 21, but has experienced so much pain and trauma in her life—stuff you cannot even imagine. And since never attended school, Ande has been going to her home to tutor her math and English.

Unfortunately, Natacha’s adorable 4-year-old daughter, whom I met for the first time in the office, could not make it to the dinner. I still laugh when I think back to the image of the rambunctious little girl running around the office and helping to correct my Zulu (apparently, my clicks were wrong). She would also interrupt me in the middle of my work to tell me she was thirsty; and I would poor water from my bottle into her mouth, after which she would smile and giggle. We were all bummed to not see her that night. But it was a very fun night. Everyone enjoyed the food. And I even performed a few card tricks (the choose-the-card, find-the-card-in-the-deck trick) that surprised almost everyone, especially Natache and her husband. I even performed a magic trick where I purported to stick a coin through my neck and pop it out of my mouth. Seeing the shocked expression on Natacha’s face was priceless.

Natacha never laughed so hard in so long. Her husband told Ande and Melissa this after they dropped the two at their home. For someone who experienced so much pain and trauma from such a young age, we were surprised to see such a warm, cheerful person … a normal person. She appears not phased by her traumas, and, according to Ande, speaks of her past with little emotion. The human mind is extremely fascinating—the way a person (who has suffered incredible pain and ineffably inhumane experiences) can suppress their feelings, to the point that they become numb to their emotions. But it is Natacha’s sincerity and her will to overcome that has led all of us interns to fall in love with her and her family—to the point where Ande and I fervently explored the option of helping Natacha’s husband attain a study permit to attend a community college in my hometown (at least this would hasten the resettlement process, which lasts at least four years). For now though, seeing Natacha smiling and laughing and enjoying herself for the first time was definitely a highlight of the summer.



View from the 13th floor of Ande and Melissa's flat (located directly across from the beach!).