It has been about a week since I last blogged so I have a lit to talk about…hang with me!!! It’s been a pretty relaxing week and I have really started to love Kigali…I know the good places to eat, I’ve learned a few phrases in Kinyarwandan, and I can finally navigate the mini-bus taxis.
On Sunday, Betsy, Caitlin, Matt and I headed out to Lake Muhazi, a little lake in the Eastern Province. The lake is about two hours outside of Kigali and is surrounded by Rwanda’s characteristic verdant countryside and rolling hills. We ended up eating at “Jambo Beach” and took a quick boat ride around the lake (which was cut short once the boat started taking on massive amounts of water). While the lake and the boat ride were both fun, the highlight of the day was definitely our trip back to Kigali. After hiking for about five miles, we finally reached a small town where we caught a mini-bus back to Kigali. The mini-bus, no larger than a standard mini-van, was packed with twenty people and hot as hell. Highlights of the two hour drive included two women breastfeeding their babies right next to me, a women throwing up behind me, and more body-odder than you could ever imagine. But, we made it back safe and sound and I chalked it all up to being “part of the journey”.
Monday and Tuesday were both pretty slow with a morning class on international justice and an afternoon class on Rwanda. Both classes are really cool and I’m still learning a lot. While it is really crazy to be learning about the 1994 genocide here in Kigali, it’s also really difficult sometimes. It is so hard to hear about the atrocities that occurred here in 1994 and then go outside and see the very people that went through it all…I feel like I am constantly inundated with reminders of the genocide and it’s really tough to find any sort of physical or emotional space to digest and process everything.
On Wednesday, we were split up into groups of three and were assigned a neighborhood to go an explore. Each group had to answer a couple of questions and take a picture that captured the “essence” of the area and, just to make it a little more competitive, the group with the best picture would get a free dinner at one of Kigali’s nicer restaurants. Caitlin, Sarah, and myself headed out to one of the wealthier districts in Rwanda where million dollar homes are being built everywhere. We decided it would be really cool to go into one of the construction zones and talk with some of the workers there. So, after posing as “architecture students” interested in Rwandan development, claiming that our UNC-One Cards were “official documentation”, and convincing with the builder on the phone, the foreman let us walk around the new house. We ended up talking with a lot of the construction workers there and it turns out that most of them are students who dropped out of secondary school in order to earn a couple of dollars a month building these gorgeous new homes. There is something so sad about seeing these men, who have practically nothing, building these ridiculous homes. We ended up taking a really cool picture of one of the worker’s named Alex who had ceiling plaster all over his face, hands, and clothes. Overall, it was a really interesting experience and our photo ended up winning the contest.
On Thursday morning, I went back to the secondary school where we have been teaching English. Last week, the history teacher had told me to prepare a lesson about the Protestant Reformation…so at least I was a little better prepared this time! But, I couldn’t help but feel a little dejected when, after my hour-long lecture, one of the students raised his hand and asked “so, what was the reformation?”. After lunch and a little bit of computer science, the headmaster brought Kate and I to yet another classroom to teach “American Geography”…I’m still not exactly sure what we ended up teaching them. But, after a long day of teaching, we all headed back to the guesthouse. Before we left, the headmaster came out and asked how the students were doing, I told him they were doing well and were so smart…his response was, “smart? no, no, no…not yet”. Oh well.
On Friday we visited the Millennium Village Project right outside Kigali. The project was developed with the help of Columbia University to help the poorest villages in Africa out of poverty. The village they chose in Rwanda was the poorest in the country and had historically been a sort of “Tutsi Ghetto”. Before the project came in 2006, literacy rates were abysmal, health care was non-existent, and many children suffered from severe malnutrition or starvation. The MVP has worked with schools to increase enrollment, train teachers, and acquire necessary supplies. Additionally, the project has given out thousands of micro-loans to farmers and small businesses to jump start development in the area. We had the opportunity to visit one of these schools, two farms, and a cooperative of genocide widows who weave traditional baskets to make a living. It was clear that the MVP was making a substantial difference in this community and has really brought hope to many Rwandans. After visiting the cooperative, we headed over to a nearby “reconciliation village” where genocide survivors and perpetrators live side by side. When we got there, we were welcomed with some traditional Intore dancing, goat kabobs, and banana beer (which, for the record, is absolutely awful). In between dancing and eating, we heard about the village and listened to testimony from survivors and perpetrators. It was a really strange experience and I know that I was initially really skeptical about the whole thing…I just had a hard time believing that all of these people had really forgiven each other like they were claiming. But, the more I thought about it the more I realized it really didn’t matter if these people had truly forgiven each other…they were at least living peacefully with each other and trying to move forward, and that is a truly a beautiful thing for a country that is only fifteen years removed from a bloody civil-war and genocide.
Today, Saturday, has been pretty low key and I have gotten some much-needed relaxation. We ended up spending most of the morning and afternoon at a nearby hotel’s pool which was really really really nice. We have also discovered some of the more-western restaurants and, after a couple of days of nothing but goat kabobs and friend potatoes, I have been gorging myself on pizza, burgers, and sandwiches. On Tessa’s recommendation we also went to an Indian restaurant in the city center that is absolutely amazing (mom and dad you’d love it…family vacation to Rwanda next summer?). So, everything is going great in Rwanda right now. We’re moving in with our host families tomorrow and while I can’t wait to really immerse myself in the culture, I am really nervous! I’m pretty sure I won’t get internet, but I’ll try and update my blog as soon as possible…miss everyone at home and hope everything is going well!
Sorry for the novel,
Luke
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