Day Two (posted on Day four)

Day 2:

Kinyarwanda (local language) word of the day: Ikawa (coffee)

Coffee is the main export of Rwanda, and yet I have found it difficult to find non-instant coffee. I guess that’s because Starbucks is buying up Rwanda’s most critically acclaimed (US study claimed number 2 in the world!) coffee, Maraba Bourbon Coffee. I hope you guys try it at starbucks because I have been unable to find anything other than Nescafe…

And feel good about caffeinating, because this coffee comes from a local co-operative mostly made up of female widows from the genocide who were struggling to get by. The profits from the co-operative have allowed them to pay school fees, rebuild their homes, and buy livestock.

Update: Now that I have the wisdom of day 4 (originally wrote this on day 2) I can now say that it is fairly easy to find relatively inexpensive Maraba Bourbon Coffee at none other than the Bourbon Coffee-which is decorated with “rue de Bourbon” signs-- yet I haven’t seen any beads, hurricanes or drunken tourists there yet. Apparently the cafe was opened by a Rwandan who lived in California for awhile and it quasi resembles a Starbucks, yet is classier and has food like veggies burgers and chicken pesto panini…(I thought of Jo when the Cappuccino came out with a foam tree design on it-guys if Illinois doesn’t work out, you have a home in Rwanda-lots of wasps here Al.)

Started this morning off with a little jog. Two things surprised me about this experience. 1. Although I appeared to be the only person jogging through the early morning rush hour traffic (which in Kigali is more foot traffic than car traffic) very few people gave me weird looks or called out to me. 2. I thought I was in decent shape but the hills of Kigali proved me wrong. Downtown Kigali is on top of a hill so to get anywhere other than the two main streets you must eventually run uphill-and what appeared to be a mild slope while walking is more like a vertical cliff while running….Anyway, I made it back to the guest house where Alana, the other Tulane intern, and I are staying and was rewarded by a nice (hot!) shower, and Sports Center. (what the hornets lost?!) really roughing it so far in Rwanda….
Then Josh, the former Tulane grad who works at the school of public health here, took us to meet a potential host family. We just met Diana, a mother of three, who moved back to Rwanda in December of 1994 after living her whole life in exile in Uganda. She and her husband own a HUGE compound complete with guest house (where if we opt to live there, one of us would stay), beautiful swimming pool, a cook, avocado trees, etc…

Update: Again, from the hindsight of day four. We met with Diana yesterday morning and informed her that we wanted to live with her family. She gave us both big hugs and told us how excited she was to have us, but then proceeded to tell us the rent would be $200 for a total of $800 a month-which short of my NYC east village apartment would be the most by far I’ve ever paid in rent. And not only would it be $800, but we would have to pay half of the entire three months up front. Unfortunately, I don’t have $1,200 laying around and even if I did, the whole process seemed a bit ridiculous and insulting. We explained to her that we could definitely pay the money, but we don’t get paid until we have been working here for a month and judging by former interns’ experiences, it may take longer than that…she was unyielding. She needs the money now, and said if we couldn’t give it to her then, we couldn’t move in. (not sure if the crystal clear tiled swimming pool needs a wash or the Mercedes she drives needs a tune up, but the entire thing seemed sketchy…) Also, for $800 there is no hot water and it would be bucket baths—which again, no problem adjusting to those-that was my life for part of k-stan-but I wasn’t paying $800!! More on our housing dilemma to follow.