Eid's a Party!

I may just convert to Islam yet. While I did not participate in the fasting-per say- during Rahmadan, I was a supportive of my housemates and after a few weeks I even stopped offering them gum-realizing that even that was too great of a sin. I watched them sympathetically as I wolfed down pain au chocolats and of course my usual 8 carb meals while saying that at least they may loose a pound or two...So when the government announced on Monday that the following day would be a federal holiday (not sure why because only about 8% of the country is Muslim) I thought it was only natural for me to attend the family party celebrating "Eid" (or breaking of the fast) with a gluttonous BBQ/Dance Party at someone's beautiful lake house on the shores of Lake Muhazi.

So instead of tackling the pile of work rapidly accumulating on my desk (I leave next week so i have a lot of things to wrap up) I spent the day lounging by the lake, eating a wide variety of foods, enjoying the local brews, and dancing under the stars to traditional rwandese music which was quickly replaced by Lil Wayne and Beyonce...and now i have to do some work

Back to Butare

This weekend I journeyed back to Butare (if you’ll remember, Butare is home to my previous business trip aka intellectual capital of Rwanda). I went with Kuku to visit and meet some more of her enormous family. Don’t ask me to draw the family tree; I think farida and kuku have 298234 cousins, brothers, sisters, newphews…but on this particular occasion I met: Kuku’s mom, farida’s brother, (its still not completely clear to me how they are related. I think it has something to do with farida’s dad and one of his 4 wives was kuku’s mom’s sister (?!!)) two cousins, and a 1 year old belonging to another cousin, who I couldn’t quite determine the exact location of. (and I thought trowbridge family reunions are confusing!)

Anyway, I wouldn’t say this trip to Butare lived up to its namesake (aka intellectual capital), no thanks to me and my horrendous language skills. My French/Kinyarwanda skills were pretty much exhausted after we discussed my family, the weather, and the 20 or so words I know in Kinyarwanda. We did branch off on a brief discussion of flooding (apparently our water in Kigali finally came back on (after 4 day hiatus) but no one was home and it completely flooded the apartment.)

So after a delicious dinner of meat, rice, and matoke, I was led to the neighboring house (home of the brother) to watch digital TV-first time I have seen here and it was pretty impressive. I heard about the debates (in French), watched about 13 minutes of big brother Africa (the #1 reality show here), and then finally settled on a movie involving a sex offender which was more than slightly awkward watching the graphic sex scenes with the cousin and brother. I tried to insert a little social commentary, but all I got was the typical “homosexuality doesn’t exist in Africa.”

The roosters woke me up at 6 am, so I wandered out to see what was for breakfast, forgetting that I was the only one able to eat. Ramadon=fasting. So feeling like a gluttonous heathen I enjoyed my pain au chocolate avec l’ananas with the family sitting around and watching me.

Anyway, we got a ride home with a friend of kuku’s and the only thing of note (aside from my usual fascinations with driving hand signals) was the two BUCKETS of avocados purchased for $2. I tried explaining that it was $2 for one avocado in the U.S. and that my friend Erica once paid $5 for a rotten avocado in k-stan, but they didn’t seem to grasp paying more than $20 for an avocado….

Housing Update

So apparently the "forceable removal" statement was just an empty threat, because the 21st has come and gone and we are still in the apartment. No bags have been packed, furniture is still in place. Occasionally strange men come to our door write number in chalk and talk to Farida but they don't have sticks, no moving dollies, not even harsh words from what i can see.

I guess there is some benefit to living in a country where deadlines are optional after all...

Luv is in the aire!

Alana, this one's for you!

I feel (slightly) bad about posting this one, but one of the central themes of my life here has been avoiding male "suitors". A couple of these "courtships" have involved some rather humorous SMS messages. I thought i'd share some of the more entertaining:

Bachelor number 1: The guy sitting next to us at the soccer game, who was very intent on teaching me kinyarwandan and insisted we exchange numbers so that he could teach me (he was also a friend of a friend so i felt i needed to exchange numbers)...apparently i should have offered up some english lessons as well:

1.Hi! Betsy I am sorry to dista. U that time, I don’t know. When we were watching match I was very suprised. I don’t know, I thing we shall meet again. Bne nuit.

2. (my personal favorite) Hi betsy! Let me hope that u are kept hot, u are away from coldness. I am trying, but I have failed to sleep with out sending u message. Have good night, betsy with a lot of nice dreams.

3. Hi betsy I thing you are ok! Juste to tell u hi. Have good night and good dreams.

Bachelor number 2: Relative of someone who works at Tulane, who obviously took a course in business english.

1. Betsy, would like to tell you my concerns. I have lot of feelings towards you. I think I have fallen in LOVE. We have many things in common. I would like to tell you face to face but maybe I am to shy. I would appreciate if we can become close friends and know well each other. Please tell me what you think about my initiative? Plse send me an sms. Bisous

2. Ma chere Betsy, j t’aime. I have been waiting for you sms with nice words as per my request but in vain…Even if you do not want to mean it, JE T’AIME FOR EVER. When are we meeting? Plse confirm the day. Have a wonderful night and streamline your dreams to what I told you. Bisous

Bachelor Number 3: Tricked me into going on a "date" with him, by informing me he was kuku's friend and that we would all be going together. This is the text i received the day after our "date" (which entailed driving around looking for an open restaurant-at least he let me drive which was exciting and a first for me in rwanda-and then finally finding one and him ordering brochettes for us. When the brochettes (meat on a stick) first came out i was impressed that he had splurged and ordered shrimp brochettes...a classy move. but i quickly realized my mistake when i popped it in my mouth. instead of sweet shrimp juices, i was chopping down on the local's fav. brochette of goat intestine. (gross!!) so unless that goat had recently had a shrimp meal i was foiled...):

1. I hope u fine? our time was social valued network c'se we planted a green flower, bt its was hard b'se of time. i thougt 2remind u again to put water and fertile soil on that flower. I think our mind set will celebrate if we see 2gether our flower adn its fruits. I think 2 say i love u something normal but difficult. i wish 4! God bless u.

So again, apologies if someone reading this is one of the afore mentioned bachelors, but thats what you get for trying to date a cold(away from warmness)-hearted muzungu...

Breaking news: Election day 2008

Well, election day came and went here in kigali (it was on monday) and aside from the vans going up and down the streets blaring loud music, and (i'm assuming) yelling wonderful things about the FPR it was pretty peaceful. Considering the mess that surrounds elections in many other african countries, it is nice to live in a country with such a stable environment.

Much of that stability is due to the total and complete political dominance of the FPR, the current president, Paul Kagame's party. for the past month the only political party i have been aware of is the FPR with their pins, t-shirts, hats, flags, organized moto parades, stickers, obnoxiously loud mega-phone parades... Apparently the other parties are not organized enough to put these things together. or they are not the president's party so they get no coverage/funding.

i even accompanied my host family to an upscale men's clothing store where they spent 45 minutes deciding which color $35 FPR polo shirt they should buy (the went with blue). $35 is a lot for my host family, considering that is probably 2 weeks worth of grocery money, so it shows their dedication to the party. that and chelsea running around the house at 6 am on election day chanting FPR!

So it was just parlimentary elections (you vote for a party, not a person) and i guess there were 5 parties on the ballot. There are also separate elections for women (who i believe automatically get 24 seats in parliment), youth and disabled (1 person). i'm not quite sure how these proportions are calculated, its definitely not proportionate because after the genocide there are far more women (not to mention disabled people) then men in this country.

Other random observations:

• The city was closed down for the day; no work-bourbon coffee was even closed.
• You vote by thumb stamps, so everyone was proudly walking around showing their purple thumbs
• the national TV station had 12 hour live election coverage for the first time in their history-watch out CNN! (though it pretty much consisted of setting a camera outside a polling station and playing rwandan music in the background...don't think there is an edward r. morrow hopeful here...)
  

The official results are out next week, but i would guess the FPR gets 70% of the vote-at least...this is no nail-biting experience like our own election, which p.s. i have (yet again) become addicted to this web-site. Go Obama!

9.11.08

Sorry folks, this ones a bit political but just wanted to share a couple thoughts on our "War on Terror" this September 11th.

Now this may come to a shock, but i am not a fan of George Bush. In fact, I would say that he is the worst president we have ever had with regards to long term consequences of his policies; except he has done one thing right. PEPFAR. The Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Now this plan, which basically provided $15 billion over a 5 year period (and was just reauthorized) for the treatment of HIV, certainly has its faults:

(Not cost effective as countries are must purchase expensive drugs from U.S. companies rather than generic brands, small % is spend on HIV prevention-and uses the largely ineffective abstinence-only programing, and my personal favorite, every organization using PEPFAR funds has to sign a waiver that they do not promote or support sex work (which creates a barrier for edcuation in many high-risk sex worker communities). Anyway, wouldn't you know it, but who had to step down when his name was leaked for using a prostitute himself? PEPFAR overseer, Randall Tobias.)

As a Public Health Student I had been somewhat biased against PEPFAR due to afore mentioned problems, but after talking to several Africans, it is clear that the benefits of this program extend far beyond our humanitarian obligation to help people. In a time where much of the world dislikes America, namely for invading Iraq, the Africans I have met actually like Bush (granted they like Obama more! an obama t-shirt over here will sell for $40). PEPFAR has provided thousands of much needed jobs in Africa, hope, and realization that someone cares....The question of sustainability is a factor, but for the moment, in a poor nation that could easily blame the west for their state of poverty and use that as leverage to build anti-western groups, they are not. they are wearing american flag t-shirts, debating american politics, and whether i like it or not, arguing about the benefits of "w".

Seeing first hand what a little investment can do has made me question our foreign policies. Why are we spending $12 billion a month fighting an ever growing group of terrorists when we could be spending a tenth of that, investing in education and health care in these countries, and fighting the root of the problem of terrorism (namely poverty, lack of education) rather than contributing to the problem. Basically, we are spending over a five year period on PEPFAR, what a month in Iraq costs us. Does this seem wrong to anyone else?

Evicted!

So last night, as Farida (host mom) and I are polishing off our dinner of fried bananas and stewed beef, there is a knock on the door. Farida talks to the person at the door for a bit and then strolls back nonchalantly. We discuss the Rwanda Expo-a business/craft fair which we went to on Saturday, and then I inquired, “oh, who was at the door.” And she replied, “ah, it was no one. Here, look at this.” (keep in mind this entire convo is in our Frenglish language we have developed.) she hands me a piece of paper, where in English, it informs the tenants of block 6, apartments 1-6 (we are block 6, apt. 3) that the building has been sold, and we must vacate by SEPTEMBER 21, or be “forcibly removed”. We must also allow free access over the next two weeks to the renovators who are at liberty to come trounce through our place and rummage through our closets (and hopefully not find and pillage my stash of emergency chocolate). Farida said this all very calmly like it was normal to have someone-on two weeks notice-force you to leave your home of the last 4 years.

I immediately went into panic mode. Where will you live? Will your rent be as cheap? (we currently live in a block of 10 apartment buildings that were once owned by the government-in fact it reminds me a lot of my housing in Kazakhstan-and apartments were given out to employees as part of their salaries. There is an apt. building for national school of Rwanda employees, and we live in the one for journalists (hmm…the government employing journalists?! Never!) Anyway, Farida rents out the apt. from someone who works for Rwandan television who doesn’t charge much rent, because she was given the apt. for free…) It’s sad that these affordable apartments in a great location (the president’s mom lives in our neighborhood) are being privatized and as is remniscent of gentrification in the states, middle class families (such as mine) are being forced out to less desirable locations.

In fact, this is happening all over the city, where large mc-mansion type homes are going up where little clusters of lower-income huts had just stood. In fact, I remember when we first arrived our elitist “friend” Thar informed us “don’t worry. Our president will is planning on cleaning this area out.” Thinking we were offended by the clusters of one-room homes on the side of the hill. Where everyone will be relocated to, I have no clue, but I also have no idea who can afford these mansions that are going up everywhere you look…sadly I think most of them are for mzungus and other foreign investors.

I know Farida has family she can stay with and she is a lot better off then other single mothers I have met—she manages a petrol station, so has a steady income. Actually I went to her “office” last weekend, and I can’t believe how boring her job must be. She sits in a completely bare office from 7am-6pm 6 days a week. She has to manage money that comes in, but other than that, there’s not much. No computer, no company. She says she brings a book to read sometimes, but for the most part she is extremely bored.

So as of Sept. 21st, I guess I will be part of the homeless diaspera myself…(just kidding of course. I’m sure I can find something for two weeks.) From what I’ve heard there are no tenant laws here, and even if there were, few could afford to take a landlord to court. I hope Farida can find housing as comfortable as our current set up.

My room (which is more comfortable than it looks!!)

Carb-Nation

I know food is oftentimes a focal point of my blogs, but bear with me as I briefly summarize the contents of my lunch buffet plate yesterday:

1. White Rice
2. Ugali (cornmeal starch)
3. Chipote (not to be mistaken for chipotle-i miss you!-but an equally tasty, fried bread product)
4. Matoke (mashed banana's-which i found out during my ugandan class, contains virtually no nutrients and a large amount of calories)
5. Boiled Potatoes
6. Stewed peas
7. 2 Large Meat Balls.

hmm...what are the common themes of this list? hmm...anyone?

if you answered Carbs, Yes! You are correct! 5 of the 7 elements on my plate were starchy, caloric, waistline inducing carbohydrates...So, i've decided to take matters into my own hands and last night I went to my first African Aerobics class. I paid my $3, changed behind a curtain while (unfortunately) establishing eye contact with some gentleman who was trying to get water next to the "changing room", and got ready for 1 and a half hours of shear motion. And constant motion it was. It was like a regular aerobics class with ADD. We ran in circles, we did some twists and every kind of arm raise possible, we grabbed a step mid-way and did some step aerobics, then we ran in a circle again-which "ran" is probably not the appropriate term here...we danced in a circle. We did abs, followed by more circle dancing and finally, when on the verge of passing out, we stopped and had the person next to us give us a back massage. (as the only muzungu in the class, i fear i had a few more takers to give me a massage than would be otherwise expected by a sweaty, exhausted person)

The room was packed, half male, half female. several extremely obese, several that were ready for the rwandan marathon team. But the majority were like myself trying to clap to the beat while do a grape-vinesque motion while not tripping over the person 2 inches from you.

Anyway, the class is 3 times a week, my carb addiction 5. we will see which one wins out.

An Eventful Weekend!

Coffee, Tea, the mountain gorilla. The 3 major exports or income generators of Rwanda. So far I've done a pretty good job of supporting the coffee industry (thank you bourbon coffee), but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to fork over the $500 for a permit to see the gorillas. Plus the waiting list to see the gorillas is often 3-4 months, and when i checked last month they were already booked through October. So last week on a whim I decided to check the tourist office to see if there were any cancellations and lucky me, there was one for this past Saturday.



Volcanoes National Park (where the Gorillas are found) is in the Northern park of the country about 2 hours away from kigali. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes from Musanze (the closest city to the park) as I was enjoying the beautiful scenery along the winding scenic hills the little boy sitting next to me started vomiting in a plastic bag (which was dangerously close to my leg). *warning. i have a major barfing phobia* Just when i thought it couldn't get any worse, the woman seated 3 mm to my right quietly opened up her purse and began vomiting inside. (I hope she took her wallet out first).

Anyway, quessiness aside, i later found myself at the Kinigi Guest House-originally set up as an incoming generating venture for widows of the genocide-- a very peaceful guest house overlooking the Volcanoes very close to the park entrance.

Early on Saturday morning we arrived (a couple of people i knew from kigali were randomly staying at my hotel) at Gorilla central were the 40 of us lucky enough to get permits (there are five habituated groups of gorillas, with 8 people allowed to visit per day) milled around, reading facts about tourism, gorillas, volcanoes. etc. The information that has stayed with me two days later:

1. Gorillas each have a distinct marking above their nose which is used as a sort of finger print
2. Silverback's are the adult male gorillas (over age 11?) who indeed have silverbacks, are the leaders of the group, and don't allow other male gorillas in the group to mate with the females.
3. Gorillas make a new nest every night, because there old one is not only a bed, but a toilet.
4. Americans are by far the largest group of tourists who visit the gorillas in Rwanda.

Anyway, once all of us were divided into our respective groups of 8 (ours included 5 of us who loosely knew each other from kigali) and 3 people from Minnesota who were in country for a Project Rwanda event (more on that later), we set off to see the Umabano group, a group of nine gorillas including an infant (11 months) and "Charles" the Silverback of the group.




So other trekking experiences i have had in Africa would best be describing as "chimp strolls" or "colobus monkey ambles". The gorilla trekking is aptly named, as we scrambled up somewhat muddy at time near vertical "paths" for about 1 hour and 30 minutes to find the gorillas. But once we arrived, it was worth every scrape, breath, and penny to get there...We had to scramble amongst weeds and dense vegetation to get to the group who were mostly resting in a big pile near a large valley.

You are only allowed to spend 1 hour with the gorillas, but within the first 2 minutes a curious youngster jumped on over to us, and ignoring the guides grunting noises--which was supposed to be a "hey, get away" in gorilla speak--and grabbed on to my pant leg. i wasn't sure what to do, i tried to scramble away but because we were on a very steep and slipperly slope i didn't have much room to manuever. Eventually he let go and rolled down the hill to the fam. but it was (yet again) one of those amazing life moments, when i thought, hmm..here i am on the side of an ancient volcano overlooking a beautiful valley with an endangered mountain gorilla grabbing my leg...how on earth did i get here?!

Anyway, lets just be glad that it was little X grabbing my leg, because if it had been Mr. Charles, the monstrous silverback I may have needed a change of underwear. He grunted at our group once and it was enough to have me jump behind the guide. So our hour (which seemed closer to 10 minutes) entailed watching the family pick berries from trees, pick bugs off each other, quite a few nose pickings, some general flopping around, some breast feeding, scratching, the baby attempting to climb up towards its cousin only to have the cousin roll down on top of it pushing the baby down the hill, a couple of the infamous chest beatings (though in play, no fear of sudden attack), wrestling at all levels, and some human/gorilla staring competitions. (which at nearly $9 per minute, the humans usually won). Its truly amazing how similar our behaviors are-not that I’ve picked bugs off of anyone recently, but they way they fling their arms over there face when sleeping is reminiscent of some recent slumbers.

All too soon, our guide was telling us it was time to go and we struggled back down the volcano-much easier than going up—and we drove back to headquarters with village kids chasing our van for much of the trip. While the trip was expensive, it is nice to know that most of the money goes back into the surrounding communities for school fees, conservation lessons, infrastructural improvements etc. again, worth every penny.

Part 2 of my epic weekend:

So as I mentioned earlier 3 people in our gorilla group were visiting Rwanda as consultants to Project Rwanda, a new NGO which aims to use bicycles to improve the daily lives of Rwandans. with their most recent success, the “coffee bicycle”

While visiting Rwanda a couple years ago, an adventurous businessman/bike enthusiast saw the importance of the bike to the Rwandan economy and started an NGO, Project Rwanda, which provides coffee bikes (A unique design, which can haul twice as much coffee beans as a regular bike, is safer, and better designed than the one speed bikes which look like they are straight out of 1904.) to local farmers through a micro-lending program. Each year as a fund raiser/awareness campaign they host the “wooden bike classic”- though wooden bikes were banned this year due to safety concerns.

(*interesting side note. Though wooden bikes were indeed banned this year, the event planner decided that “bike surfing” where one stands on the back of a bike on the coffee rack and “surfs” while being wheeled around at tremendous speeds by a team Rwanda cyclist, would be a suitable replacement…next year stay tuned for wooden bike surfing: a combination of the two most unsafe things one can do on a bike)

So my visit to the gorillas happened to coincide with the 3rd annual Wooden Bike Classic, and I was convinced to stay in town for an extra day to check out the festivities. (I actually missed the big event which was a road bike race from Kigali to musanze—umm remember those curvy hills I was describing during the barf episode…imagine those while peddling up very steep hills, dodging potholes, people, crazy busdrivers, etc..its amazing that people made it in one piece (though one girl did have to get 30 stitches in her chin…) the winner was from Rwanda’s National Cycling team who completed the ride in 2 hours and 30 minutes (!!!!!!@#!) (remember it’s about a 2 hour DRIVE)


Anyway, somehow amongst all the biking excitement I found myself filling out an entry form for the coffee bike race, despite the fact 1. As demonstrated from my previous day of hiking up a volcano, I am a lot more out of shape than I thought I was. 2. I have never ridden a coffee bike (its probably about 3 feet longer than a regular bike) 3. Gorilla trekking gear π coffee bike racing gear.

The morning races consisted of a mountain bike race, and my personal favorite, the single speed bike race where I’m sure all the bike taxis within a 40 mile radius came in to participate. At least 200 bikers, pushing, shoving, arguing over positioning, wipeouts; tour de france it wasn’t, but these guys peddled their hearts out for a cash prize—probably more than they would earn as a bike taxi in a month! (actually rumor has it that the team Rwanda cyclist who won the Kigali-muganze race got his start at age 12 as a bike taxi)

In between events, the scenes were just as entertaining. Kids trying to scramble on the backs of bikes for a trip around the track, only to be beaten back by men with sticks. A man with a Halloween mask going around the stands (which probably had at least 2,000 spectators) giving people high fives. Race officials trying to break up fights about (bike theft? Positioning? Who knows…)

Anyway, by the time the coffee bike race came around (nearly 2 hours behind schedule) my nerves had calmed a bit…what was originally going to be three laps around town, had been shortened to three laps around the track. Several other muzungus had entered the race. someone had lent me their shorts. My biggest fear now was catching the 3:45 bus back to Kigali…



So after a horrendous start where I nearly fell off the bike, (p.s. there was no on your mark, get set, go here) I regained composer and eventually caught up to the rest of the pack…The 2nd lap involved avoiding a major pileup (where unfortunately someone got pretty scrapped up) and it was actually enjoyable hearing “muzungu!” around every turn…by the 3rd lap, my lungs were ready to explode and I realized I maybe should have ridden a bike within the last 6 years (more than to and from campus that is…) regardless, I finished. I wasn’t the last, and I wasn’t the first but I escaped with some dignity and a realization that I will probably not be recruited to join team Rwanda any time soon. And with jellied legs, I “ran” to the bus and hopped on at 3:41…

What one learns on a last minute field trip...

Kinyarwanda word of the day: None

The past two weeks I have been assisting with a social work certificate course at the school, and Tuesday I found out that we would be going on a field trip to Nyagatare a small town in the north of about 8,000 described in the guidebook as "an act of febrile distortion to describe Nyagatare as any sort of travel magnet." Travel magnet it wasn't--but i did have some of the best African tea ever at the Sky Hotel--but it was interesting to take a look at some successful HIV programs in the area.

Sadly, my Kinyarwandan is not where it should be-though i just learned several fun words talking to the kitchen staff here. i.e. soup=isupu and today=none (hmm...interesting existential question for rwandans?). Anyway, unfortunately today and soup where not prominently featured during the discussions, and while adding "i" before several english words works, its not helpful when trying to understand first hand accounts of people living with HIV and stigmas associated with it. (luckily several students in the class acted as translators for me..)


For someone who has been studying/working in HIV for several years now it was incredible, touching and devastating to see first hand (as opposed to a written case study) the daily challenges people face here. One women, after revealing her health status to her family, was treated like a farm animal; she was relegated to a small shed behind the house, and fed small food scraps once a day. She was left for dead, when her sister intervened and carried her miles to the nearest health clinic. This amazingly resilient woman is now a leading HIV advocate and vice president of the women's association. She also helps out at a nearby income generating association for AIDS/genocide orphans ages 16-21. About 20 girls crammed into a small room with 5 sewing machines, learning how to hem, with hopes of making and selling school uniforms for a nearby school.

Next on the itinerary was another health clinic a stone's throw away from the Ugandan border. This remote post has had extreme success in getting people to come in for voluntary testing and counseling by sending a team of HIV positive volunteers into the community to encourage people to get help. Over the past few years, this clinic went from having maybe 10 people come in for testing a month to hundreds because of these community outreach workers. One of these volunteers has been on Anti-retrovirals for 22 years, and is a figure of hope for the rest of community. Thanks to ARVs, HIV does not mean an automatic death sentence.

The next stop, however, was not as rosey. Our last stop of the day was at, what i understood, the only hospice in the country where people without any family or relatives come for treatment or, more often, to die. I can't imagine a more peaceful place to spend one's final moments, in the midst of banana trees over looking the rolling hills of Uganda. Yet, with no government financing and major overcrowding, it seems like a rather hopeless venture. They rely entirely on private donations for support, and while everyone in the class forked over several dollars for the effort, i just don't see how this hospice will survive in the long run. A boy who looked to be about 20, who was the volunteer director of the hospice described heart wrenching stories of people begging to stop taking their medication because they preferred death; and this 20 year old boy with no formal education serves as a counselor, doctor, and family for these people with no one else. for free.


So it was an amazing, yet depressing field trip, which made me glad that I've chosen a path in public health. The sacrifices people make for one another can be truly unbelievable. and give new meaning to the expression "none" is good...

some cultural observations:

I often wonder what strange and unique facial expressions Americans make. When I was in Kazakhstan, to express amazement you open your eyes very wide and shake your head back and forth for several seconds to show proper shock. And it took me a little longer than I would have liked to realize that when Rwandans raise their eyebrows several times in what we would call a “come hither” gesture it has a definite different meaning here. So the first couple times a moto driver did the eye brow raise at me, I was disgusted and thought that he was suggesting something else besides a ride to work. However, when my very nice counterpart raised his eyebrows at me to set a meeting time to I began to question the meaning, and finally when my host mom raised the brows when I asked if she had eaten I realized I was misinterpreting the gesture. I'm not that in demand after all. An eyebrow raise her actually means, “yes” or “sure, I guess so.” I will have to make sure I don’t pick up this habit because it could get me in some trouble on bourbon street…

Another lovely east African habit is when people apologize to you, when you actually do something dumb. This was a little more apparent in Uganda, than it is here in Rwanda, but for example when I whacked my head on the roof of the matatu (mini-bus) while getting out, I heard a chorus of “sorry, sorry”. And when I dropped my sunglasses on the ground (completely my own fault) and the lens popped out and landed in a dirty mud puddle “oh, sorry” . Or when I tripped on who knows what and almost did a face plant while crossing the street. “sorry”…I am clearly in a sorry state over here. (sorry for that one)

Oh, and while i am blabbing about cultural things, when you greet someone it is the three kiss on the cheek thing. not two. not four. i have had some awkward greetings with people due to inappropriate number of kisses...

Act of kindness

Honestly it has a been a bit of an adjustment coming back to Rwanda. Living with a family again (though my family continues to be wonderful, it just means about 5 minutes of personal time a day), lack of hot showers-or actually any water at my house at the moment, an endless amt. of files that need to be uploaded on a very slow system, unwanted attention from the male population ( i sat next to a man on the bus from uganda that insisted that returning to an openly polygamous society was the only way for Africa to develop. When i suggested that we poll the females on the bus to get their thoughts on the issue, he replied something to the effect of "oh, they won't tell you the truth. they aren't educated enough to know whats best for them" he also bashed homosexuality (an american export) and loved george bush)

also most of my summer friends have headed home. I was originally scheduled to return to NOLA the first week of September, but since i only have 4 credits left (3 of which i can complete online) i've decided to stay for at least another month. A decision which at the time that seemed wise, but now October seems like a long ways away...

So today on my way to work when i saw a police man escorting a man with no leg bones (causing him to walk sort of crab like with his sandaled hands supporting his entire body) across the street, preventing him from sure death by some crazy driver, it lifted my spirits to see such a random act of kindness. in my experience policemen in other developing settings would not have been so nice...its no mr. T, but it did the trick for my day!

So did this chimp:

Back.

I’m back from Uganda and returned to a scene of chaos at the school of public health. The school has double scheduled classes so there are not enough classrooms to go around, not to mention projectors. Computer crashes (thankfully not mine). No internet. Not enough markers. Just got a call from my host mom about a bug infestation problem in our home...man it would be nice to be floating down the Nile again.

anyway, here are a few pictoral highlights of the trip:

Rapid fun

Over the course of the summer every once in awhile I stop and reflect, how on earth did i come to be here, experiencing this amazing continent, fortunate to see something that only 1% or every perhaps .0001% of the world gets to experience...
These past few days have been no exception. 4 months ago, I had never really contemplated the origins of the Nile river. I had no idea it started in Uganda...(or perhaps Burundi or Rwanda...depending on who you talk to) but now i am acutely aware of its source, as are my innards which have consumed at least one liter of the white nile. (so much for bottled water)
On early sunday morning sara and I, along with Joey, Brandon and Alex (friends and classmates from new orleans) set off on a two day rafting trip down the Nile. So i have been rafting several times before (west virginia, idaho, montana and peru) but NOTHING compares to the waves we faced on the Nile. Just when you think you have made it through a rapid, another one pops up and you are forced to grab onto the raft for dear life yet again. Never before have I have paddled over a waterfall (i have a bruise on my face from a misplaced paddle to prove it), lost my shorts (and almost my bathing suit(!!))) while sucked down under enormous waves and carried away 300 meters down stream before someone came to my rescue, enjoyed an amazing lunch picnic on the raft watching the passing scenery: little boys bathing in the Nile, jumping up and down completely naked excitedly waving at the strange Muzungus floating by, lush flora of every shape and size, the occasional monkey swinging in the trees, and of course to omninous (yet exciting) sound of the next rapid approaching. I really can't describe how happy, and peaceful I felt at that moment. If anyone is traveling to Uganda, i highly recommend this experience....
Anyway, today we are resting up and preparing for a trip to Chimp island tomorrow followed by a 3-day safari to Northern Uganda.

Pictures to follow (thank god for sara and her diligent photographing of all events)

BFSAO2 arrives!

Swahili word of the day: Sawa=okay

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Sawa best friend since the age of 2 has arrived safely and is sitting 3 feet away from me reading a book about a man that runs 100 miles every weekend and eats large amounts of pizza while running. in recently days i can relate to the large amounts of pizza...my one attempt running here involved lots of hills, some uncomfortable calls, and a realization that i am fairly out of shape, so it will be no longer...

anyway, poor sara. i've dragged her all the way to africa and what are we about to do? Go to a movie theater and watch the dark night. ah Heath. but we have managed to squeeze a trip to the craft market, a lunch of wildabeast (sp?) steak (for me), and a trip to the tombs to see where the king lived from 1882 to 1884. We also learned how to play a fun african game which i can't remember the name of at the moment, but it involves moving seeds around different holes...

tomorrow we are off to raft the mightly Nile.

Too tired to be funny

So school work, excessive “pause café”, and spotty internet access has not been favorable to blog updates this week. So I guess I will sum up the highlights of the week here:

1. Just got back from the Miss Uganda “talent” portion of the pageant which was held at this lakeside resort in Entebbe. There were several dramatic readings, a duet song by two twins, a contortionist, and many technical problems. However I am still slightly confused that only about half of the 19 girls actually performed an individual talent, yet all of them did design their own “evening wear” and some may even challenge project runway models (not the only wearing Cds or the one dressed in all rope though…)

2. Yesterday we went on a field trip to Mbarara, a town which was advertised as being 4 hours away, which in actuality was 6. So the goal of the trip was to see a local hospital/medical college which we did, (and was pretty sobering i.e. an extremely malnurished 4 month baby which looked like it was a week old.) We also went to a game park and saw zebras, hippos, monkeys, water buffalo, impalas, and my personal favorite the warthog. (how can you not love a little rolly polly ugly thing that trots around with its tail in the air?) overall it was an interesting trip but extremely tiring. Trip breakdown:

• Time spent on bus: 12 hours
• Time spent straddling the equator (and apparently loosing 3% of my body weight. I think I may invest in property there) 5 minutes.
• Time spent watching the Bugandan king drive by in his motorcade 10 minutes
• Time spent waiting for food to come in restaurant: 1 hour 45 min.
• Time spent at hospital: 30 minutes
• Time spent at game park: 1 hour 45 minutes
• Time spent cursing the Ugandan bumpy roads: 12 hours

3. Saw Wyclef Jean play on Friday night, which was an awesome show (I didn’t know he sang “just because she dances go go, don’t make her a ho, no” a real classic). Though 2 cameras, 3 wallets, a purse and a cell phone (mine) were stolen which did put a damper on the evening.

4. For our classes we have to develop research hypothesis’s and survey people to test those hypothesis. For one group project our hypothesis is that access to free condoms results in more condom use (which I don’t think is actually true), but it does mean we get to go up to complete strangers and ask them very personal questions about their sex life…of course initially we did happen to pick one of the only blocks in Kampala with a born again church on it…not the best data set to test condom use. “ma’am, I do not believe in condoms.” Though they were very nice about it.

5. having a hot shower at my disposal….and CNN.

6. Going to a traditional dance performance and witnessing several woman balancing SEVEN vases on their heads. (equally impressive are the young boys selling hard boiled eggs on the street that carry 4 egg carton trays on their heads while dodging the (pretty terrifying) traffic in kampala.

More later.

Uganda...

After dancing the night away for my "host mom's" 34th birthday celebration (i decided it was a good idea to stay up all night and then hop on my 5 am bus) i spent a lovely 9 hours on the bus to uganda. some gems of the trip that cannot go unrecorded include the following:

1. I was told Jaguar was the premier bus to take to uganda. So i was expecting a greyhound with maybe a slightly older decor. I was not expecting 12 inch seat allocations, sans bathroom, an older man next who repeatedly spit on the floor 2 inches from my flip flops, or the women sharing her seat or rather my seat with me continuously falling asleep on my shoulder.

2. The 70 man in front of me reading in an english newspaper and article entitled, "how to give your woman the ultimate orgasm." Not bad for a country with a history of Female Genital Cutting.

3. The toothless "doctor" with a kermit-esque monologue who spent the last hour of the ride pacing up and down the bus selling such useful remedies from anything for headaches, to worms, to some sort of stomach remedy that he gave to the woman across the aisle from me who was quietly vomiting into a bag. (!!) It involved rubbing a chap stick type liquid on her palm and her licking it. Pleased to report it seemed to work, but was i a little concerned when the woman next to me bought the worm pills. (how's that for a squeamish public health practitioner. but in my defense, she was taking up 3/4 of my seat and who knows what other little parasite we were sharing during the 8 hour drive.)

4. When people were lining up (10 minutes before we actually arrived at the station) jamming into the 6 inch aisle one woman repeatedly wacked me in the head with her purse. luckily another kind woman interjected (i'm assuming) "hey watch out. don't hit the muzungo" very polite these people.

5. When looking for my luggage upon arrival, they opened up a flap containing the gas tank and out popped 4 chickens who apparently had came along for the ride-even though they may have been slightly baked.


Anyway, I arrived safe and sound, albeit exhausted, and classes start tomorrow...

What one learns on a trip to one of the remaining virgin rainforests in the world….

1. The disappearance of elephants in Nyugwe national park (by poachers) has greatly effected the forests’ eco system, allowing evil plants (that only bloom every 15 years) to grow unchecked. Every 15 years when these plants bloom bad things tend to happen, i.e. genocides or famine. Watch out 2009. And even when they are not blooming, they contribute to forest fires, and kill trees.

2. The army ants in Rwanda are more aggressive than the ones encountered in Paraguay. And it is preferable to have your brother pick ants off your naked legs, than your African forest guide.

3. Reservations for chimp trekking are necessary. For some reason guides don’t hang out at the office at 4 am waiting for tourist groups to randomly show up…go figure.

4. But should you show up two hours before the office opens without a reservation, have no fear because you can always sleep in the car or catch up on the 4 required 300+ page readings for your class in Uganda which begins in 6 days. And trekking Colubus Monkeys is a pretty amazing alternative.


5. While stopping in a rural town’s market en route to by bananas, it is perfectly acceptable for the markets “security guard” to beat the 20+ people that have gathered around your car with a stick. They will leave and stop staring.

6. Squirrels looks surprising like monkeys to the untrained eye. And its possible to make your entire group stop and look for said monkey in a tree for 10 minutes only to later discover your error.

7. 4 hour walks on the “pink trail” will cause your calves to be in intense pain 3 days following. (even if you have long prided yourself in strong calf muscles)

8. Chimps (even if you don’t get to see them) are very smart creatures that use leaves for sponges, sticks to beat (and kill L) Colubus monkeys, and beat on tree trunks to communicate.

9. Potholes.




10. If you decide to drive the 5 and a half hours to sleep in the supposedly picturesque Cyumbe (sp?) at the base of lake kivu, you may want to attempt to see it in the daylight, something that won’t happen if you hike until 5pm. And then get up at 4 am to go chimp trekking.


That being said, I had a great time and highly recommend the trip to Nyuguwe. Beautiful. Lots of Gorillas in the Mist type scenery

Beacoup du travail

i apologize for my lack of posts this week. The Canadian consultant whom I have been working with on the Curriculum review process arrived on Saturday reminding me that my life here is more than just over-indulgent buffets, (speaking of which tried the $22 (!) Mongolian dinner buffet at the Serena Hotel last night, and despite the sub-par desserts, it was heavenly) and traveling to lake side resorts.

Instead, I have been inundated with setting up meetings and attending meetings (entirely in french! mon dieu), digging up WHO research reports, hounding the professors to give me power point lectures from 2003. So i'm using my free moments between 8:47 and 8:59 to update. Didn't want the mongolian buffet to pass without note :) (take that cait! :))

TSS....

Kinyarwanda word of the day: ni byo (That's right)

Ni Byo, I think i've officially hit local status. this morning I "TSSed" (loud hissing noise used for anything from getting a waiters attention, to local kids trying to get my attention (so they can insult my legs)) a moto without even realizing it.