5 posts tagged “rwanda”

         It was so great to retreat to Kigali for a few days and get a change of scenery. We slept in…for most college students in the summer that means rolling out of bed around lunchtime – for us it was about 9 am, but it felt way later since we’re used to getting up before 7 a lot of the time. We spent the day walking around the parts of Kigali that we were familiar with (don’t worry, Mom, these were the busy parts where they’re used to seeing tourists wandering) and dipping in gift shops sometimes…many times…um, yeah, that may have been our purpose for the day, actually. We ate lunch at an incredible Indian restaurant and dinner at an Italian restaurant – the same two places where we went with Olivier when we were going to/coming from the game-park. Sure, we could’ve tried a random place to get a new experience, but since so much of this trip has taken us by surprise, it was nice to feel like something was under our control (even if that “something” was just a curry dish and pizza). Sunday we did more of the same and came back to Butare late in the afternoon.

         This week we’re working at sites about an hour and a half away from Butare center, along the same spine-shattering dirt road where we went to do construction with the USA team. Yesterday we worked outside on the side of a hill where the wind was pretty fierce and kept snatching up our papers – and making avocados fall from the tree we were under. Great, I thought, if I don't die in an outhouse, it'll be from a falling avocado. Which would be more pathetic obituary? We survived though and moved to a different site for today's interviews, where there was no threat of falling vegetables.

         We’ve had some pretty interesting interviews this week, mainly surrounding the section where we ask about their HIV/AIDS awareness. One girl that Jessica interviewed said that she “always practiced abstinence,” even though she was noticeably pregnant. Hmm. Olivier wisely suggested, “Maybe she’s the Virgin Mary II?” Another girl today said that the only thing she remembered learning in her HIV/AIDS training was that HIV comes from gorillas. Nothing about using condoms or the symptoms of the disease or anything? Nope. How reassuring.

         The jeep stalled about 20 minutes away from Butare center and we chilled there with a crowd watching until a truck drove by and Alice happened to know those people so we hitched a ride with them. We piled into the truck, along with seven men and one small boy who were in the back, which could not have been safe. But it seems like pretty much anything goes here in Rwanda.

The best moment this week came right after we stepped out of the car on Monday ready to conduct the interviews. The first thing we see is an adorable little girl watching us. We smiled and waved and she smiled back…and then peed right there, through her pants (clearly no diaper). There were plenty of adults around, including her mother, and no one flinched as the girl just did her thing right there in the middle of the civic center compound. We were so confused, but I was more jealous than anything ‘cause I’d wanted to do that the entire car ride. If only I was a cute, innocent little Rwandan girl and not a muzungo with dozens of people watching us avidly, as if we were about to explode at any moment. 

Yep we actually did it - when we went to work today, we wore the cloth we bought at the market just like the Rwandan women. I was worried they'd think we were mocking them, but they thought it was great and everyone laughed watching us try to act like we knew how to put them on. I had three different women show me how to wear it even though all three different "arrangements" looked the same to me. Oddly enough, both Jessica and I thought we looked more Asian than African. Don't you see waitresses at Asian restaurants wearing long skirts that start above the belly button and go all the way to the floor? Right? Hmm, I wonder which came first...

After work we got on the "Volcano" public bus to Kigali with Olivier who is attending English classes here. Now we're at Bourbon Coffee having an oh so cultural experience: on the internet, drinking coffee, eating sandwiches and fries... Our excuse is that we're reaccomodating our stomachs to American food since we're going home sooner than we thought. Pretty convincing...? Maybe then while I'm at it, I'll get another breakfast sandwich... wait, no I can't- today I interviewed this guy who has five siblings and they only get to eat only one meal a day. Not as if my uneaten breakfast sandwich will magically transfer itself to his dinner table, but I still feel guilty now that I thought of him. Darn it!! 

    Today was our last day working at the construction site with the U.S. team. Today, like the other four mornings this week, we woke up as the sun was rising, wharfed down some breakfast, and hit the road… well, if you can call it a road. The two-hour bus ride into the countryside is an experience in itself. After the first five minutes, there is no pavement and no smooth stretch of road for more than 10 feet. It’s impossible to do anything like read, eat, or write because anything will fly out of your hands as we hit a pothole or some random object every five seconds. It makes Duke Transit feel smooth as ice (for anyone who’s ridden a C1, you know this is a bold statement).
    So there’s nothing much to do but look out the window, which fortunately turns out to be more fascinating than reading or watching a movie. Stories move all around us: groups of women balancing loads of goods on their heads trek to market; little children fascinated by our white skin chase our van and holler “muzungos!”; a boy leads his blind grandfather down the treacherous road; Epiphanie points out churches where people were rounded up and slaughtered 14 years ago… Every second, another lifetime of hope and suffering passes us by – thousands of lifetimes that will go untold.
    All these people move in front of the most breathtaking backdrop of terraced mountains, traced by red-dirt paths that spiral up to the top. This stunning vista reminds me of Tuscany, or the never-ending farmlands in the English countryside. But if you look closer, you won’t see ancient manors-turned-bed-and-baths; you won’t see bikers and picnickers leisurely enjoying the soft sunshine. Instead, small mud huts dot the fields and skimpy fences made of twigs and straw barely contain starved farm animals. If you see sunlight glint on something shiny, it’s not a rental car carrying carefree tourists planning their excursions for the day. That glint reflected off a thin tin roof that leaks during the rainy season and lets in malaria-infested mosquitoes that snatch lives daily. Exhausted, sweating men and women hike to-and-from their homes and markets carrying the weight of their week’s work on their heads, their children on their backs, and the world on their shoulders.  
    After two hours of soaking in these surroundings, we finally arrive at the construction site. Dozens of men, women, and children gather round to watch us jump out from the van wearing our sneakers and hiking boots, sunglasses and work gloves, waterbottles strapped into backpacks – essentials to us, unreachable luxuries to them. We greet the leaders, smile and wave to the children, assess the progress made since yesterday and get to work.
   Thursday I was hauling bricks until my wrists started to give out. Some of you may have noticed that I have weirdly thin wrists, so one wrong twist forced me to ease off (especially since it was my left wrist, the one I broke/sprained a couple years ago). I resorted to taking pictures and playing with the kids, but Friday I was thrilled that there was work to do besides hauling bricks – laying mud on the bricks! Hooray! Haha, yeah, the variety we got here is shocking, right?
    I was feeling pretty productive but we only got to work for about an hour before half of us went back to the hotel to catch up on some much-needed sleep. At first I didn’t want to leave so early, but when we slept for four hours straight, I had no regrets. The other half, though, had an amazing house visit. They went to the home of a boy whose orphanage had closed down four years ago and was now living in a space too small for him to lie down in, half of which was taken up by a rabbit hutch. This boy had no idea that he was one of the orphans for whom we’re building a house. Apparently he was in absolute shock and couldn’t stop showing how happy and thankful he was. Probably a good thing I missed it ‘cause I doubt I would’ve held myself together witnessing that kind of happiness.
   It reminded me of the house visit we had on Thursday, when we visited the home of a woman with HIV/AIDS whose daughter and adopted daughter were caring for her since she was too weak to leave the house. Her eyes looked so sad and desperate, but light that filled them when we gave her enough money to pay for the next two months’ worth of food for her and her daughters. She had no idea we were going to do anything more than come and observe her troubles. I am so happy ZOE has ensured that we are not having the kind of experience known as “misery tourism”; foreigners observe a country’s problems and identify the needs, but make no effort to change the situation. I have a big problem with that. Even though raising awareness about issues like poverty and AIDS is important to do, I would feel completely helpless if I hadn’t found a way to help. (Thanks again SO much to ZOE and the DGHI!)
    Jess and I made a valiant effort to go out running yesterday. It took about 30 seconds to realize that it was a really bad idea. EVERY person looked at us – especially the men. The way they were eyeing us, you would’ve thought we were jogging in bikinis. We finally found a path that went through a deserted field. Hmm…why was this field deserted? And why was it reeking? Oh yeah, because it was a LANDFILL. And why was there a big hole emitting thick black smoke? Because the landfill was on FIRE. Yeah, we were literally running through a dump, breathing in toxic fumes. Terrific. We tried to run along a different path away from the fire pit, and then realized we were running through a creepy cemetery on the edge of a forest from which any homeless bum could jump at any moment. We stopped, looked around for any other options, looked at each other…and laughed. It was just hopeless. We went back to the hotel and did jump-rope, crunches, and lunges. I think I felt a single bead of sweat at one point!!!
    Seriously though, it’s so frustrating not to be able to run or work out much. I can’t remember a week in the last few years when I haven’t been running a few times at least. It’s my favorite sport and pastime – I run when I’m stressed, when I’m happy, when I’m sad, when I need to take a break or make an important decision… I run before or after something big happens, I run to feel good, to tire myself out, to challenge myself…sometimes I just run for no reason, if I’m bored. Or I’ll run if I have a thousand things to do and need one more way to procrastinate. It’s a big part of my life, but like many things, “you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.” Now that I can’t go running, I’m starting to realize how much harder it is for me to keep a level head, to find ways to de-stress when I need to. And during these weeks when I’m seeing heart-stopping things every day and constantly venturing outside my comfort-zone, this is when I need stress-relievers the most. I thought running a lot made me strong, but now I wonder if it’s just an easy way to cover up my weaknesses.
    We arrived at the site today shocked to see half of the tin roof up and the walls about ¼ of the way finished. It was also the first day that I was positive the vast majority of the locals were participating, not just watching. I felt the most productive I’ve been so far, learning to catch and throw handfuls of mud across the length of the house. I was so proud when the workers would pull out two people and put me in there. Then they taught me how to flatten the side of a brick with a mini machete, and when one of the workmen held it up to show his companion, I could probably feel my head get bigger. I wish I had a picture with that brick ‘cause I’m sure I was beaming like it was an Academy Award.
After working for a couple hours, Jessica and I went to play with the hundreds of kids watching us on top of the hill. We showed them hand-games, passed a football, played volleyball without a net, and passed out stickers to hundreds of eager hands reaching up to our noses. A chorus of voices chirped, “please, please, please!” the whole time, as if we were distributing gold.
    Since this was our last day working, we had a small meeting with the Giving Hope orphans and thanked them for letting us come to work with them and praying that God will protect them in the future. They in turn thanked us for our contributions and asked us questions about life in the United States. As we said goodbye, Epiphanie announced that Jessica and I will return later to visit them even after the U.S. team leaves, which I hadn’t realized. It felt good to be able to honestly say, “See you again soon!” I remember saying the same thing to so many children in the Dominican Republic and Paraguay and I still wonder if I told them the truth.

p.s. Two things that make me laugh every time: 1) Seeing people walking with bushels of hay on their heads so thick that you can’t see their heads; they look like creatures from a storybook, or walking trees. 2) Rwandan outhouses that consist of holes in the ground inside huts with cracks for windows. Looking at that hole is terrifying because I KNOW that at any moment some monster is gonna pounce out of that hole and I’ll die in an outhouse. Or not be able to have children.

        While y’all in the U.S. were shooting off fireworks, barbequing, and celebrating the red white & blue last Friday, Jessica and I were two of maybe 10 white people packed into a stadium of thousands of people watching…gosh, what to call it…theatrical military? Interpretive boot camp? Since the announcers all spoke Kinyarwandan, I really have no idea what it was, but it was pretty cool. Since Rwanda celebrates their Liberation Day from the genocide/dictatorship on July 4th, Gitarama hosted a big celebration featuring President Kagame speaking, several hours of parading and traditional dancing, and a bunch of military exercises. The military was definitely the coolest part since they had hundreds of soldiers demonstrate their abilities by mock-fighting. Every different exercise (there were dozens) was perfectly timed. My favorite was when a government vehicle drove out into the center of the stadium and then a bunch of soldiers in uniform encircled it, forcing the driver and passenger to stop. Out came a man and a woman, both well-dressed and looking very important. The soldiers started to ambush them, but the two politicians took off their shoes and took on all the soldiers at once! It was SO tight! And then when they’d floored every one of the soldiers, they put back on their shoes, straightened their blazers, dragged the bodies out of their path, and drove away. The crowd ate it up. I was cheering too, but I didn’t really get the point haha. Maybe it was just for entertainment value, but it surprised me how a country trying to show how devoted it is to recovering from a genocide implemented by a corrupt government and military would be so determined to show off its military prowess rather than its efforts to maintain peace.

        Saturday we spent the day in Kigali with Olivier, Gaston (a friend of Epiphanie’s who offered to be our driver for the weekend), and the President of the Rwanda division of the YWCA. We went all over town – visiting shops, going to popular spots like Bourbon Coffee and Novotel...The best came when we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and I got to eat the first pizza I’ve had since May! It was HEAVENLY. A good cheese pizza is one of many things I took for granted at home. After saying goodbye to the YWCA President, we drove an hour east and spent the night in a motel so we could wake up early and go to the game park for our one-day safari!

        The safari was absolutely unbelievable. You can ask Jessica, I was flipping out the entire time. At first I thought it was silly to wake up at 4:30 am, but it definitely made a big difference because we saw so many animals SO fast! Within five minutes of heading out from the lodge, we came across a whole herd of antelope grazing. Five minutes later, a herd of impala. Fifteen minutes later, a herd of zebras chillin on the plain. You would think I would’ve gotten used to seeing groups of exotic animals one after the other, but I freaked out just as much when we saw the giraffes, hippos, snake, monkeys, cool birds, and other antelope-like herds too. We got SO close to the giraffes! I couldn’t believe how they would look at us but seem completely unperturbed that a big jeepful of awed tourists was gaping at them and snapping one picture each second (props, Dad?). I was kinda nervous about seeing hippos because apparently they kill the most animals out of any animal in Africa…and this park had the highest concentration of hippos IN Africa! But they stayed off-shore and just came up to get some air and wag their little ears.

        The craziest moment came when we were walking along the shore looking at a pair of the biggest birds I’d ever seen, when suddenly some dude walks out of the bushes carrying a huge python. We couldn’t believe it! He wasn’t a park guide or anything. He just walked into the bushes, grabbed a python trying to escape into the water, and walked out like “what’s up? Check this out. I’m the man.” Haha he didn’t ACTUALLY say that – it kinda went without saying because we were all stunned. It turned out that he was a Rwandan wildlife specialist and did his PhD about snakes, which sounded pretty legit. Probably not legit enough to let him drape it around our necks, but we did anyway :)

        Afterward we went to an amazing Indian restaurant that everyone was raving about, and rightfully so. It was very fancy – waterfall, golden statues, rugs, waiters wearing turbans… I felt mildly out of my element wearing hiking boots, zip-away pants, and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up. But I was so hungry for food other than rice, beans, and fries that I didn’t care. 

 
        I wish it didn’t take like 10 minutes to upload one picture to this blog due to the slow internet speed here, otherwise I would. I’ll to put up a couple if I muster the patience. Also, I want to thank those people who have commented on my blog but unfortunately I can’t view the comment or let it be posted unless you’re a member of “vox”. So please drop me an email if you want to comment on something and I’d really appreciate it!

~Maddie