Can a get a woo woo?! The internet bill has been paid at school so we now have internet access!! However, this will have to be quick because (in theory) I have a meeting in a few minutes.
My primary job thus far has been to oversee the Accreditation process of the MPH program here. Every few years the program has to undergo a review by National Accreditation Board of Rwanda, which means filling out 3284234 forms, and getting minute details about the structure of the school.
So every afternoon at 2 pm (though note it is now 2:20 pm and no one is in site), I sit down with the director and 4-5 staff members to hammer out questions. For example, how many librarians does the school have? Are there student scholarships available? What incentives are in place to attract female students?
Since I’m sure everyone is dying to know, there are currently (as of last month) three librarians, private scholarships are available, yet many students take out private loans (I feel you MPH students of Rwanda!), and none.
This is not exactly brain surgery, but on the plus side, it’s a great introduction to the school. I know the ins and outs of how things work and the curriculum, staff, etc. However, this does mean that my mornings are spent filling out at least 50 pages of forms…and this is only for the general MPH program. We still have to accredit the Masters of Epidemiology and 6 other certificate programs.
And the meetings thus far have all include Ikawa. (coffee) I am easy to please, add in a donut and I will fill out the paperwork for the entire National University of Rwanda. Anyway, it sounds like people are slowly coming into the conference room….time is currently 2:37.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Weekend
I don't know whether to begin with my experience listening to a bad lounge singer screech Celine Dion songs in the bar of the hotel des Milles Collines (a.k.a. Hotel Rwanda) on Friday night or the quest for a place to live that took us from the depths of a rat infested guest house (though only $4 a night) to an extremely wealthy rwandan who heads up the WHO immunization program in Rwanda.
I guess I will start with the housing. So as mentioned earlier, unfortunately it looks like the host family that had originally agreed to house Alana and I fell through so we began looking for other options, starting with guesthouses. The hotel that we had been staying at with access to sports center and BBC news as well as hot showers was a little too rich (at $40 a night) for our blood so we decided to check out some "shoestring budget options." We started at the bottom of the barrel at $4 a night by looking at a room that consisted of two beds in a BO smelling closet no more than 10x10-with a shared bath. We decided that we could probably afford to bump it up to $8 a night and looked at a room across the street that maintained the lovely BO smell, but at least we had a window overlooking the hills and our very own bathroom. This option was much more appealing, but we decided to check out a few on the outskirts. The winner is the one I am currently writing from now which for a mere $12 a night we have our own room, bathroom AND internet connection! (where i am writing from now) this is apparently the back packer joint in town and there are quite a few other grungy "Mazungo" (a.k.a. white or foreigners) staying here.
After finding this lovely, yet still slightly smelly, accomodation we set off for the Tulane office in town to check email...this is where we met "tharcisse" or as we like to refer to him as: thicaris. Tharcisse is a relative of someone who works at the Tulane office, whose politically connected father was killed in the Congo when he was 9 years old, and he made it his personal mission to find housing for us. Long story short, he ended up, after calling this poor man incessantly, putting us in contact with dr. rugambwa (the WHO dr.) and his family. We ended up meeting with the family-his wife, three sons age 16 and twin 14 year olds, and 12 year old daughter. So i thought the other compound (i.e. swimming pool) was impressive, but this house put the other to shame.
Thar. then proceeded to take us bar hopping, as we hit every joint in town where you can have a beer while over looking a swimming pool in the presence of rich expats. This wasn't exactly the scene we were going for, especially since we had several embarrassing moments with him sending the money back "because it was too dirty", yelling at the waiter because there was a speck of dirt on the napkin, and making the owner of the restaurant clean the bathroom before we were allowed to use it...umm...tres uncomfortable...
Regardless, it is through Tharisse that we ended up at the Hotel Rwanda (it needs renovations according to him) and sipping Guinness at the hotel lounge and listening to what at first we believe to be karaoke but later realized it was just bad lounge singers singing early 90's American pop and thankfully later, Congolese music.
It is slightly odd that Hotel Milles des Collines (hotel of a thousand hills) has ended up a popular late night dance/lounge venue for local 20 somethings. We were the only Mazungo in the place. From what I’ve encountered people are very open about talking about the genocide, though I guess its not polite for westerners to bring it up. When asking one of the local Tulane staff about her family she casually mentioned her father was killed in 1994, though we didn’t get into the details. Actually most of the people we have met, Tharisse included, did not grow up in Rwanda. Their families had moved away when the violence began in the late 1950’s usually to Congo, Uganda, Tanzania or Europe and then returned after 1994 when the current president Paul Kagame came to power.
More on this later. Since the internet has been a bit sporadic I will post now...pictures to come soon!
I guess I will start with the housing. So as mentioned earlier, unfortunately it looks like the host family that had originally agreed to house Alana and I fell through so we began looking for other options, starting with guesthouses. The hotel that we had been staying at with access to sports center and BBC news as well as hot showers was a little too rich (at $40 a night) for our blood so we decided to check out some "shoestring budget options." We started at the bottom of the barrel at $4 a night by looking at a room that consisted of two beds in a BO smelling closet no more than 10x10-with a shared bath. We decided that we could probably afford to bump it up to $8 a night and looked at a room across the street that maintained the lovely BO smell, but at least we had a window overlooking the hills and our very own bathroom. This option was much more appealing, but we decided to check out a few on the outskirts. The winner is the one I am currently writing from now which for a mere $12 a night we have our own room, bathroom AND internet connection! (where i am writing from now) this is apparently the back packer joint in town and there are quite a few other grungy "Mazungo" (a.k.a. white or foreigners) staying here.
After finding this lovely, yet still slightly smelly, accomodation we set off for the Tulane office in town to check email...this is where we met "tharcisse" or as we like to refer to him as: thicaris. Tharcisse is a relative of someone who works at the Tulane office, whose politically connected father was killed in the Congo when he was 9 years old, and he made it his personal mission to find housing for us. Long story short, he ended up, after calling this poor man incessantly, putting us in contact with dr. rugambwa (the WHO dr.) and his family. We ended up meeting with the family-his wife, three sons age 16 and twin 14 year olds, and 12 year old daughter. So i thought the other compound (i.e. swimming pool) was impressive, but this house put the other to shame.
Thar. then proceeded to take us bar hopping, as we hit every joint in town where you can have a beer while over looking a swimming pool in the presence of rich expats. This wasn't exactly the scene we were going for, especially since we had several embarrassing moments with him sending the money back "because it was too dirty", yelling at the waiter because there was a speck of dirt on the napkin, and making the owner of the restaurant clean the bathroom before we were allowed to use it...umm...tres uncomfortable...
Regardless, it is through Tharisse that we ended up at the Hotel Rwanda (it needs renovations according to him) and sipping Guinness at the hotel lounge and listening to what at first we believe to be karaoke but later realized it was just bad lounge singers singing early 90's American pop and thankfully later, Congolese music.
It is slightly odd that Hotel Milles des Collines (hotel of a thousand hills) has ended up a popular late night dance/lounge venue for local 20 somethings. We were the only Mazungo in the place. From what I’ve encountered people are very open about talking about the genocide, though I guess its not polite for westerners to bring it up. When asking one of the local Tulane staff about her family she casually mentioned her father was killed in 1994, though we didn’t get into the details. Actually most of the people we have met, Tharisse included, did not grow up in Rwanda. Their families had moved away when the violence began in the late 1950’s usually to Congo, Uganda, Tanzania or Europe and then returned after 1994 when the current president Paul Kagame came to power.
More on this later. Since the internet has been a bit sporadic I will post now...pictures to come soon!
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.
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.
Rwandan Early Impressions
The first thing I noticed when getting off the plane was, like in Kazakhstan, the smoky air situation. I don’t know whether its because of the hilly landscape which traps smoke in the valleys (as was the case in k-stan), the burning of trash, or lack of air quality regulations. I would imagine it’s a combination of the three. Despite the poor air quality, the rest of the city is extremely clean. Much cleaner than anywhere I’ve been in the developing world, or New Orleans for that matter. Maybe this wasn’t always the case because apparently plastic bags are illegal here. That’s right. No paper or plastic debate over here. A couple of years ago, the government banned the use of plastic bags as they were piling up and becoming a nuisance for disposal. Hmm…not a bad a idea.
Second thing of note is the Western presence here. Whereas in Kazakhstan I would do a double take every time I heard someone speaking English, today as I was briefly walking around the city I saw at least 25-30 Americans or Europeans. Most are either missionaries or are working/interning for NGO’s. As such, Rwandans are used to seeing foreigners and I don’t feel like there is a ton of unwanted attention. Unlike K-stan I have not, nor am I likely to give any autographs here.
Food thus far has been delicious and plentiful. Buffets are quite popular, though you can only go through one time (which is probably a good thing given my dietary habits while living overseas of the past…). Apparently, there was an article written in the local newspaper last week advising people about how to pile the most food on your plate. Will have to get my hands on the article for pointers. Something about starting with a good starch base that can support the rest of the food???
Anyway, my buffet lunch consisted of several plantain dishes, beans, rice, beef, potatoes, a bean and carrot salad, cream of spinach, fresh avocado(!!), and a coleslaw of sort. All fairly flavorful.
Second thing of note is the Western presence here. Whereas in Kazakhstan I would do a double take every time I heard someone speaking English, today as I was briefly walking around the city I saw at least 25-30 Americans or Europeans. Most are either missionaries or are working/interning for NGO’s. As such, Rwandans are used to seeing foreigners and I don’t feel like there is a ton of unwanted attention. Unlike K-stan I have not, nor am I likely to give any autographs here.
Food thus far has been delicious and plentiful. Buffets are quite popular, though you can only go through one time (which is probably a good thing given my dietary habits while living overseas of the past…). Apparently, there was an article written in the local newspaper last week advising people about how to pile the most food on your plate. Will have to get my hands on the article for pointers. Something about starting with a good starch base that can support the rest of the food???
Anyway, my buffet lunch consisted of several plantain dishes, beans, rice, beef, potatoes, a bean and carrot salad, cream of spinach, fresh avocado(!!), and a coleslaw of sort. All fairly flavorful.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
IT Capital of the World
Kinyarwanda word of the day: Bite=How?
(Kinyarwanda is the local language, along with French, and supposedly English though many people I've attempted to talk to don't actually speak english...)
Long story. I had actually written a longish blog entry about first impressions on my computer and was going to transfer via flash drive to this computer, but i'll spare you the details. Actually I won't spare you. Let's just say Rwanda (who is vying for the title of IT capital of Africa) has its work cut out for it...
So this morning after going to meet my potential host family (on aforementioned blog. more on that later) we went to the school of public health where i will be working and after meeting many people whose names are all a blur, we sat down to check our email in the school's computer lab. And literally the instant I sat down, the whole school's connection went down. Since it was lunch time anyway, Josh (our Tulane grad host of sorts) decided to take us to lunch at this internet cafe, which by the way has amazing coffee (also the subject of previous unpostable blog) and american style sandwiches burgers etc. (this is no k-stan when it comes to western food...it appears to be readily available..)
Anyway, long story short, the internet at this amazingly western coffee shop was also broken so we decided to hoof it up the hill to Tulane's small downtown office. So here I sit now--after going through 3 computers. "Bite" you may ask? Well, I'm not entirely sure. One wouldn't sign on to the wireless and one ran out of battery 2 minutes after I sat down, so i better hurry up and post this (doesn't seem to have a USB port so i can download the blogs I wrote earlier) before something else goes wrong.
apparently this is a rare occurrence of internet disconnect. We will see...
(Kinyarwanda is the local language, along with French, and supposedly English though many people I've attempted to talk to don't actually speak english...)
Long story. I had actually written a longish blog entry about first impressions on my computer and was going to transfer via flash drive to this computer, but i'll spare you the details. Actually I won't spare you. Let's just say Rwanda (who is vying for the title of IT capital of Africa) has its work cut out for it...
So this morning after going to meet my potential host family (on aforementioned blog. more on that later) we went to the school of public health where i will be working and after meeting many people whose names are all a blur, we sat down to check our email in the school's computer lab. And literally the instant I sat down, the whole school's connection went down. Since it was lunch time anyway, Josh (our Tulane grad host of sorts) decided to take us to lunch at this internet cafe, which by the way has amazing coffee (also the subject of previous unpostable blog) and american style sandwiches burgers etc. (this is no k-stan when it comes to western food...it appears to be readily available..)
Anyway, long story short, the internet at this amazingly western coffee shop was also broken so we decided to hoof it up the hill to Tulane's small downtown office. So here I sit now--after going through 3 computers. "Bite" you may ask? Well, I'm not entirely sure. One wouldn't sign on to the wireless and one ran out of battery 2 minutes after I sat down, so i better hurry up and post this (doesn't seem to have a USB port so i can download the blogs I wrote earlier) before something else goes wrong.
apparently this is a rare occurrence of internet disconnect. We will see...
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Here
Just a quick note to say I got here safe and sound-minus my malaria pills and some other unidentified items that were in the front pocket of my suitcase which opened somewhere en route...not to worry though i can purchase malaria medications over here and i have yet to see a mosquito! (though i did sleep-rather soundly-under a mosquito net last night at our guest house)
anyway, i'm off to run some errands but i will report back later with more first impressions...i've only seen 2 blocks in the daylight....
anyway, i'm off to run some errands but i will report back later with more first impressions...i've only seen 2 blocks in the daylight....
Saturday, May 17, 2008
packing...
I find myself back in the world of blogging after a few year hiatus, but in Kazakhstan I felt this was the easiest way to keep family and friends updated on life in the frozen tundras of (near) siberia, so here we go at round two. This time no frostbite, windburn, or horse meat (i hope-though i was just informed that cow uterus was a popular bbq in africa?!!)
On Monday I'm off to Rwanda for about 4 months to work at the School of Public health in Kigali. What I will be doing is a bit unclear to me at the moment-from what I understand I will be compiling and researching HIV/Malaria/TB health curriculum for students enrolled in the MPH program there. However stay tuned for more.
In the meantime, I am trying to shove as many jars of peanut butter that is humanly possible into my suitcases...which was another dilemma...backpack vs. wheely suitcase. will the wheels even work on dirt roads? am i headed to dirt roads? I'm sure there are greater problems in the world i should be thinking about, but these, unfortunately, are my final thoughts...I fly to New York in 2 hours for a few days, and then onto kigali...
On Monday I'm off to Rwanda for about 4 months to work at the School of Public health in Kigali. What I will be doing is a bit unclear to me at the moment-from what I understand I will be compiling and researching HIV/Malaria/TB health curriculum for students enrolled in the MPH program there. However stay tuned for more.
In the meantime, I am trying to shove as many jars of peanut butter that is humanly possible into my suitcases...which was another dilemma...backpack vs. wheely suitcase. will the wheels even work on dirt roads? am i headed to dirt roads? I'm sure there are greater problems in the world i should be thinking about, but these, unfortunately, are my final thoughts...I fly to New York in 2 hours for a few days, and then onto kigali...
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