So much to say, so little time!

I haven’t posted an entry in the past few days because I have either been too busy, too tired, or the internet has not been working. I regret having put this off because so much has happened and it’s hard for me to keep track of it all. Things are starting to prove less overwhelming and I’m starting to feel comfortable and very much at home. As our first week here draws to a close I am already getting sad that I will have to leave in three weeks. In fact, all of us have been joking around about returning next summer…If this were really possible I would jump at the chance.
Since my last post we have visited many more places in Butare. On Tuesday morning we took motorcycle taxis to the health clinic and the orphanage which is about a mile outside of town. We got a tour of the health center and the maternity ward and the make-shift lab. They explained to us that they can get malaria and HIV results within about 5 minutes by testing the ph of thin-smear slides...pretty amazing, huh? The clinic is where sessions for our program will be held and the nurses that work there will be trained to teach these sessions. The orphanage is interesting because the children are only there on Saturday (they are at school all other days), but the mothers, both adoptive and biological, were there yesterday doing work harvesting soy beans in return for food for themselves and the children. We talked to a few of the women with the help of Christophe, another RVCP member, about the work they were doing and about the children. We also met baby Naomi who was carried on her mother's back..she was one of the cutest babies I have ever seen. Yesterday was also the day that the women were given pigs and goats in return for their work. They are expected to raise and breed the animals as an income generation project. The women were so incredibly beautiful and strong and I can’t wait to start working with them for our maternal healthcare education project. They are so determined to provide for their families and it feels good to give back, even in this small way. Tomorrow morning we will return to meet all of the children and kick-start the program.
On Wednesday we didn’t have anything planned so we decided to walk around and explore. We ended up taking a trip to the market, which is filled with every kind of fruit you could ever imagine, a few dry-food goods, second-hand clothes, and the most vibrant fabrics of all patterns. I bought a papaya, a pineapple, and bananas for around $1. I finally get to fulfill my banana obsession with real Rwandan bananas, and best of all I got to exercise my French! We have been to the market everyday since Wednesday because the fruit is too good to resist. This weekend we plan on going to buy fabrics with which to have skirts made.
Yesterday we walked 30 minutes outside the town center to the National Museum. They take a lot of pride in their museums here, which made me feel a little guilty as a student that lives in the heart of D.C. and has only visited the Smithsonians once or twice. Much museum space was spent on displaying artifacts and stories from pre-colonial Rwanda at the time when Kingdoms were the ruling powers and cattle-rearing and subsistence agriculture formed the basis for the economy. Rwanda was the only African country that was not partitioned in the late 19th century, and this might have given it the chance to avoid conflict that has plagued other regions if Belgian colonial rule hadn’t stringently imposed ethnic divisions that mirrored much of Belgian society itself. Interestingly enough, the museum contained nothing at all about the genocide. I’m not sure why this is because the country is covered with genocide memorials and mass graves which people visit often; the students I have spoken to emphasize the fact that it is better to remember the horrors of ’94 than to let it be repeated. The youth here seems much more proactive…maybe I am just seeing a bigger concentration because of the small size of the country, but I don’t notice this as much at home. It seems that in the U.S. complacency is breed by comfort, and I wish more people recognized their potential.
Today we haven’t done much…I’ve just been sitting around reading. Right now I’m reading two books: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families about the genocide and Half the Sky about women’s empowerment as a way to increase economic productivity in developing countries. I think they’re complimenting my time here well. Tonight we will have our first official meeting with the RVCP. Because most members are medical students they have been very busy with exams this week so we have taken the time to settle in and get adjusted, but today we will get down to business and come up with a time-table for the rest of our stay and begin collaboration on our project. I’m excited to be getting to work and to hear the input from the RVCP on something I have put so much time into this past semester. We have nothing to lose in our attempt to implement this program, and as of now our potential is limitless. Everyday here is an adventure, and I can’t wait to see what this next week of work will bring.

Day 1

Where to even begin? So much has happened since we landed in Kigali yesterday afternoon. After an hour of confusion in the airport, we finally met up with two members of the RVCP (Rwandan Village Concept Project) named Aurea and Otto that had come to pick us up. They took us to Bourbon Coffee to wait for the RVCP coordinator to meet up with us, which is somewhat ironic considering a Bourbon Coffee just opened recently a few blocks away from GW. After eating we walked to the bus station which was completely chaotic and unorganized. Thank god we had the RVCP's help buying tickets, otherwise I don't think we would have ever made it, and we finally caught a bus to Butare.
The bus was packed with people and traveling at scary speeds... luckily it was dark so I couldn't see what was going on because I think in daylight I would have been completely terrified. On the bus we sat next to a man a few years older than us named Jude who told us that he is coming to George Mason University in August to get his PhD in Economics. He then told us that he worked for the Ministry of Finance and is the head of Microfinance for the country. Really, I don't think it gets much cooler than that. He has never been to the States before but is very excited to come to D.C., so we told him we'd show him around the city. We talked for a long time about the economic development of Rwanda, and he had many questions about the new healthcare bill passed in the U.S. I never expected to have such an interesting conversation on my first night in Rwanda, but I think it goes to show that students and young people all around the world are interested in the same issues, and in this I find much comfort. We exchanged email addresses with Jude and when we finally arrived in Butare after a very bumpy journey he made sure that we were safely in the hands of RVCP members that had come to welcome us. At night the the town is almost pitch black (there are no city lights to cloud the night sky) and we stumbled with our luggage down a dirt road to our new home. There is also another girl staying at the house, Saskia, who is medical student from Germany that is doing a clerkship for 6 weeks. They call us all IP's or International Partners. The house we are staying at has 3 bedrooms with bunk-beds (clad with mosquito nets of course) a makeshift living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. The kitchen is very basic; there is no stove or refrigerator, only a sink. The bathroom is also fairly basic with a toilet and a bathtub and shower head, but its definitely nice to have running water considering that many restaurants and stores around town lack this. There is also a landlord of sorts named Nimwata, he speaks no English (only Kinyarwanda) but has one of the most gentle smiles I have ever encountered. He comes in and out of the house as he pleases and loves to have his radio on full volume while he works, but I don't mind this...I quite enjoy Rwandan music.
This morning we went to breakfast with Saskia to a little shop that sold muffins and African tea, which is a lot like the chai tea that we know in the U.S. After breakfast she gave us a short tour of the city. We wove our way through the market where many people called after us "muzungu" which means white person. Alfonse, the head of initiatives for RVCP, explained to us that this is not a derogatory term, but just a sign of interest. Nevertheless, I wish that I could be a little more inconspicuous. We then came home and I took a nap, I've been so exhausted...I think its a combination of traveling and culture shock. When we were all rested Alfonse took us to the National University of Rwanda, which is where all of the members of the RVCP go to medical school. The campus was lush and vibrant with students bustling around on their lunch break. The students are currently in their hardest week of exams and Alfonse tells us that they are all very stressed, but I could not tell beneath their warm welcomes and constant hospitality. Accompanied by Chrisopher and Ephrem (more RVCP members), we ended the day with dinner at a nearby hotel. For only 4USD we were served a full plate of plantains, rice, beans, frites, and a "Rwandan sized" Primus, which is a locally brewed beer. At dinner we were joined with more RVCP members, Getete and Hovaire who had just finished studying for the night. We chatted for a few hours over dinner and they made plans on to throw us a welcome party on Friday. I have never met so many generous and beautiful people in my life. They show as much interest in learning from us as we want to learn from them. It's hard to describe the connection I already feel with these people. Within 2 days I already feel that I can call them my friends.
Tomorrow we have planned a trip to the orphanage where we will be with the children for the afternoon and be introduced to the women with whom we will be working with for the next month. I can't wait to get our maternal healthcare education program up and running. With such driven and gifted students on both ends I have no doubt that we will be able to accomplish a lot in the next few weeks.

En Route to Rwanda: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The adventure has officially begun! After a 5 hour delay out of Dulles, an 8 hour flight to Dakar, Senegal for refueling (and they wouldn't let us off the plane), and another 7 hour leg to Addis Ababa, we are finally able to have a little rest before the last stretch of our journey to Kigali and eventually Butare tomorrow. Excitement is overpowering my exhaustion at the moment, which is surprising considering the one hour of sleep I got before boarding the plane in D.C. It's been quite a long 24 hour with many unexpected curve balls thrown at us, and despite everything that we've been through we are already managing to have a good time and make friends. I just came upstairs after a free dinner provided to us by the airline after delaying our flight to Kigali for a day. I'm a little disappointed that dinner wasn't traditional ethiopian (injera bread is maybe one of my favorite things in the world), but it was nice to have a real meal after a day of only airplane food. After dinner we hung out in the bar and drank Castel, a traditional ethiopian beer, and made friends with some of the other hotel guests. One man, also stuck overnight on his way to visit his family in Sudan made a point to make sure that we were feeling welcome in Africa. Another, Frank, who we had met earlier at the airport and was on his way to visit his family in a town 6 hours from Kigali sat and chatted with us for a while. He gave us suggestions for things we could do in Kigali before our bus-ride to Butare and answered all the random questions we threw at him. I like that many people have been approaching us in attempt to make us as comfortable as possible...it's a big change from city life in D.C. where people don't dare to even look at each other in passing. We have to wake up at 6:30am tomorrow to catch our bus to the airport so I won't write a long entry tonight. I'm glad to finally be on our way to a month of excitement and experiences unlike anything I have ever encountered. A demain!