Escaping Kigali for the Day

Saturday, Taran and I had our colleague's car, so we drove down toward Butare, which is in the southern part of Rwanda near the border with Burundi. We only got as far as Nyanza and the national history museum there because we got a late start due it being community service day.

Just outside Nyanza was where the Mwami (king) during the late 1800s decided to build the first permanent royal capital. Previously, kings had 50-60 dwelling throughout their lands.

The existing museum is a few kilometers away from the actual 1899 settlement.

We weren't quite sure what the museum was or where the King's Palace was in relation. After circling around a one-way loop twice, we just decided to park and turned up at an official looking building looking very confused. Did I mention that there are pretty much NO signs for anything here (including streets and major roads) so its easy to be confused or at least that's what we told ourselves? Turns out the history museum is in the last King's palace, which was built by the Belgians for the Belgians' hand-picked king in the early 1930s. The history information is inside this building. Of course!The building itself is in a beautiful location on a bluff overlooking pretty gardens and, of course, more of those thousand hills. Some pictures of the palace and environs are below.

So, after we figured that out, we got tickets for the palace and the "huts", which are reproductions of the original kings huts that they have started building on the palace site. In all, there would have been 15 and the king's hut, but they've only gotten 3 done so far (the king's hut, the all-important beer hut, and the milk hut). We basically got a private tour by a lovely woman named Mary, whose husband actually supervised the building of the huts in the traditional manner. She's in a couple of the pictures below. Eventually, they will build all 16 on the site. It was a fascinating perspective of Rwanda's history.

The King's Hut

The ceiling of the hut and the inner sitting room for the king. The first four rings on the ceiling represent heaven, thunder, earth, and the netherworld.

Mary showing us a woven grass "straw holder" for the wooden beer drinking straws. She said that of course now they don't share straws...everyone must have their own straws because of diseases.

Wood milk jugs with woven grass tops and fired clay pots for holding beer. The beer taster and the milk taster were very important as they were responsible for picking the best of each for the king. These jobs were passed down through families.

After our tour, we had to head back to Kigali so that we'd get back before dark. I did take a few pictures of the landscape on the way, including a picture of some guys playing soccer in a distant field.

Sunday, we had a wonderful brunch at the Serena hotel. It was a bit crowded as the WHO African regional meetings are this week, so all of the ministers of health and their staff are in town and have filled the hotels. After, we went to an artist's village and bought some baskets, wood carvings, and cow dung painting (they are really cool, actually). The government gave the land to the vendors and they built the stalls.

A very good weekend!

(PS - sorry about the bad formatting - still trying to figure out how this darn thing works!)

Dog Sitting

This week Taran and I have been house/dog sitting for a CDC couple who are back in Atlanta having a baby. Taran was actually the one who agreed to do it but once I heard there was black lab involved, I jumped at the chance. The house is really nice and both of us have remarked several times that we're not sure we can go back to our spartan apartment after living the life of luxury here for a week.

To the left are pictures

of the house and front yard, as well as the one of two living rooms and the gigantic front porch/sun room.

I have, of course, fallen in love with their dog, Koko, who is constantly putting his head in my lap and looking at me with those sad dog eyes in hopes of some more rubs and scratches.

Here he is during one of our games of fetch the rubber newspaper (he loves that thing!).

This morning, the three of us are having a lazy morning because it is the monthly service day. The Rwanda government has declared that the last Saturday morning of every month must be spent doing service in the community, from sweeping the sidewalks to painting a school. No one is allowed to drive and the businesses are closed. Apparently, most of the expats stay inside - not sure if that's because they've been told to by the embassies, or they just don't want to do it for whatever reason. I think we could learn a lot in the US from this practice. I am sure as many people here think it is a pain as think it is worthwhile but I think it is a great way to promote community service and pride.

We have a car this week since we are house sitting, so our plan for the afternoon is to get out of Kigali for the first time. We're headed south toward Butare (now called Huye) to a cheese-making factory (leave it to me to find cheese makers in the middle of Africa), a pottery studio, and the national museum. If we actually get motivated to do it, I will let you know how it went.

Tomorrow we move back to the apartment and say goodbye to our posh pad in Kigali.

Things are Looking Up and the Sun is Shining

This has been a much better week than last for me. On Monday, I got a new computer, which seems to be working much better than the old turtle I had before. I also got a crisp US$100 bill on Wednesday from Brussels Airlines for my suitcase troubles. It was little consolation for a bag that had been lost for 12 days, but it is good to have more US money here since you need it if you travel out of the country. I grabbed the cash just in time because my suitcase showed up on Wednesday evening.

Taran was kind enough to document the suitcase arrival event for me since I still don't have my camera charger. I especially love the one of all of the bag tags on the suitcase. I think there were about 7 in all.

So, collecting my bag was a bit of a circus as well since I left my passport with the security officer at the airport due to my excitement. So, we had to make 2 trips to KGL to collect all of my belongings. Along the way, we also had to pick up Taran, who I supposed to go to dinner with before I got the call from the airport, and Ann, who was at the office and also wanted a ride from the driver when we were on our way to the airport the second time. It was a bit like that scene in National Lampoon’s European Vacation where they kept going around the same traffic circle over and over again.

The other excellent news is that I seem to be fully recovered from my intestinal illness and am on solid food again. It’s a good thing that I like Italian food because this seems to be what you get everywhere in Kigali. My roommate and I were chuckling last night that all of the restaurants, no matter what they sound like from their name, are really Italian. For example, the place down the street from us called Havana Club (you’re thinking Cuban, right?) offers pizza and pasta. Papyrus (perhaps north Africa, you say?) also offers pizza and pasta. I’ve been eating a lot of pizza and pasta. They also REALLY like French fries here…with everything.

I did get my first taste of grilled goat last night, which is very popular here. A group of us met at this really isolated bar in the middle of the valley that specializes in grilled meats. We were celebrating the birthday of another TDYer here named Cecil. Just getting there was an adventure! We had grilled chicken and goat and…you guessed it…French fries and local beer from Uganda (the beer was really good). The goat was either really undercooked or really overcooked and so was really chewy. About halfway through, we just started saying “please pass the gum” and everyone knew what we were talking about. It wasn’t as bad as the gigantic zebra steak I had to eat in Botswana but it was pretty inedible despite having good flavor.

My work is getting more interesting and more stressful. There are a lot of policy changes going on with PEPFAR at the State Department so all of us in the field are continuing to guess what is wanted and jump through hoops while trying to get the work done on time. I think my planning experience and ability to facilitate processes is going to come in handy.

I also got excellent news on my dissertation this week. It was approved by the outside university reviewer and with no comments whatsoever. I think this is unheard of and so I am ecstatic. It is now in the hands of the editorial staff. Once it is back, even if I have some style or formatting issues that I have to fix, I can do my defense and then I am pretty much done. My goal is to have my degree completed by end of September, though I am secretly hoping it is sooner.

My final piece of good news for the week is that Brian’s company finalized a contract to develop the national disaster management plan for the Government of Kenya. As a result, he’ll be in Nairobi for about a month, starting this Tuesday. Nairobi is one of about 3 places you can get to directly from Kigali and without emptying your savings account, so we will be able to see each other several times while he is here. AND we will be able to spend our 10^th wedding anniversary together on September 11 because it is a Friday.

All in all, a banner week.

My first week

This week has been a bit of a disaster. You know its bad when your roommate says, "its ok to cry, I would have started crying days ago..." First on the list was my missing suitcase, which still has not arrived one week later and is now embroiled in a Kenya Airlines strike. This is funny (not really), since I did not fly to Rwanda on Kenya airlines or through Kenya for that matter. Its the first airline strike in the 32 year history of the company and just HAPPENED to start on the very day my little lost suitcase was transiting through Nairobi on its way to me. According to news accounts, 3500 of its 4000+ employees are being fired and the president of the workers' union has been arrested. So, I figure that either my suitcase will be lost forever in the chaos of all of those cancelled flights in and out of Nairobi or some disgruntled airline worker will just make off with it because he's been fired. I've tried to find humor in this situation (what else can I do at this point?) by posting a Bag Watch List on the left and a poll for people to guess when (and if) it will actually show up in Kigali. Feel free to vote.

So, I also managed to get a really nasty intestinal bug this week. I had to miss work on Thursday and really should have stayed home on Friday as well...but taking two sick days in the first week doesn't really say 'hey, I can hack working in an international setting' now does, it? So, I trudged in, armed with Pepto and Immodium, and suffered through. I haven't really eaten anything for days but after several doses of Cipro, I am feeling much better.

Work has been interesting as well. Everyone uses mobile phones but I was given 2 that didn't really work before they acknowledged that they just needed to buy me a new one...perhaps it was because one died while I was on the phone with the office director. Hmmm....not good. My computer is also about 15 years old and sometimes takes hours to decide to even boot up. Also not good. The IT guy told me it did not meet any of the requirements or specifications currently used and some software could not be run on it. GREAT!

Luckily, I haven't fallen down, walked under a ladder, or had a hex put on me yet. Maybe next week. Seriously, it can only get better from here, right?

A Little About Rwanda

Rwanda is a beautiful country nestled in East Africa. It is land-locked and very small - only about the size of Delaware. It is so small it is usually not labeled on full maps of the continent but lies between DRC, Tanzania, Burundi, and Uganda. The terrain is mostly high elevation hills and rain forest, though apparently there is some desert area off to the east. So far, I have found the country to be fascinating from a policy perspective. The national government is relatively authoritarian, meaning that decisions are made from the top down. However, nearly everyone in Rwanda seems to agree that this is what is needed at least right now as the people of Rwanda attempt to move forward together after the genocide and subsequent conflicts.

The Government of Rwanda (GOR for short, which took me well into Monday afternoon to figure out) has done extraordinary things in the health and human services area. In just a few years, they have instituted a single payer community-based health system that covers more than 83% of the citizens, and have a vast network of more than 400 health care facilities. Their goal is to make quality primary care available to any Rwandan within a 1-hour walk. They are only about 50% of the way to their goal but I find it laudable. On the down side, a significant percentage of their health care facilities have no electricity and many are not staffed at appropriate levels. If there are any green energy entrepreneurs out there, this would be a great place for solar since it is sunny every day (even in the rainy season).

There are a lot of orphaned children and women-headed households due to the genocide. The government has made human rights, especially for the vulnerable members of society, a key strategy moving forward. It believes that through education and improved health, the country will continue to grow economically into a middle-income country that is not reliant on foreign aid to survive (currently more than 50% of the government’s health budget is from outside sources).

The City of Kigali is very clean and the people are helpful and friendly. Last year, I believe, the central government changed the official language to English from French, so many people are learning English and want to talk with you in that language. French seems to be the language Rwandans are most comfortable with, though; a fact I found out when I attended an external meeting today and the majority was in French. I picked up about half of the verbal discussion and 2/3 of the written materials. Better than I thought I’d do. On my walk home from work this evening, I greeted a father and his two young boys with “bon soir” and they replied back that they spoke English and stopped and spoke with me for a few minutes. The boys were very happy.

So, all in all, this is a wonderful place filled with hope, challenge, and very hard-working people.

My first weekend in Kigali

I arrived in Kigali last evening after a long but uneventful 2-day trip. One of my bags was not so lucky and is still missing in action. Luckily, I packed a few days worth of clothes and toiletries in my carry-ons so I am ok for a while except for my lack of work shoes.

I am sharing an apartment with two other IETAs, Ann and Taran, who have been here since June. It was really nice to see their friendly faces at the airport and to have the benefit of their knowledge from being here for more than a month. The apartment is really big and nicer than you would expect, although the showers are a bit of adventure. Kigali lies in a valley surrounded by several of Rwanda’s 1000 hills. We have 2 large balconies, one on either side of the apartment, that provide beautiful views of the hills as well as excellent cross-breezes. I took a few pictures of said hills before my camera died.

I also wanted to mention a few things about my packing that may be helpful to people coming to Rwanda. First, things that I brought that I am very happy to have: vegetable peeler (although it is in my missing bags), good Wustof knife and sharpener (also MIA), thin plastic cutting boards, granola bars, gigantic container of nuts from Costco, and oatmeal packets. I also brought enough toiletries, like bar soap, toothpaste, and Q-tips to last 3 months. I don’t know that I needed to do this because you can easily get these things in Kigali, even some of the US brands like Colgate toothpaste. However, I think they are much more expensive here than what you pay in the US. Finally, many of you know that I was very concerned about whether I would get my travel space bags confiscated at the airport since plastic bags are illegal here. This did not happen and they didn’t even ask to look in my carry-ons to see if I had any in there (which is a good thing because I did).

I did manage to forget a few key items in my rush to finish packing (note to self - - do not pack at the last minute for a 3-month trip because you’ll forget important things), including my camera charger (thus the dead battery), cell phone charger, one and only suit jacket, and French/English dictionary. I’m really bummed about the camera charger, so hopefully I can figure out a way to get it here soon for as little money as possible.

My big outing today was to visit Lumbe, the 4^th IETA who is living downtown, and to the Nakumatt, which was described to me as a cross between Target and SuperWalmart. Lumbe’s apartment is brand-new and even nicer than ours. The Nakumatt was a little overwhelming and we were try to get in and out fast since the sun was going down and its not a great idea to drive at night. So, I didn’t do a very good job with my shopping. I did buy clothes hangers, a small trash bin for my bedroom (which was $16), as well as pasta, canned tomatoes, and wine. Everything is very expensive here. I believe my jar of peanut butter was about US$8 and my can of tuna was US$6. The wine is also VERY EXPENSIVE here. - I paid the equivalent of US$20 for a bottle of Alice White Shiraz. My final bill was nearly $90 and I got very little. Now I understand why my per diem is so high compared to other countries.

Mother Nature Doesn't Like Me...Or Wants Me to Start Packing

An update on my great plan for a perfect, relaxing Sunday at home...

It got rained out and its still raining!

My Last Weekend at Home

Several weeks ago, I committed to doing some of my favorite things on the last weekend I am in DC for the summer. When I come back, the leaves will be dropping off the trees and it will be dark by 6pm.

So, I started off this morning by spending a little extra time in my super comfortable bed (I will miss you, bed) then walking the dogs to Eastern Market and to the park. Unfortunately, then life got in the way. I've got new renters moving in today so I had to finish cleaning the apartment, get all of the staging furniture out, find the keys, (which took some time and contact with both Brian and my contractor) and get all of their paperwork ready. Now, I am stuck doing errands for the rest of the day. However, I will cap off the day with something fun - - dinner with friends and their new little puppy Freckles. I think seeing Freckles (approx 7 lbs) and Bella (approx 70 lbs) duke it out for hours will be the highlight of the day.

I'll try again tomorrow for that leisurely weekend day... the plan is breakfast in the garden and a leisurely read of the Sunday Washington Post to start the day, then taking the girls swimming, and dinner with my favorite in-laws. I should probably start packing tomorrow but it still seems overwhelming at this point. I also need to make a few formatting revisions to my dissertation so I can submit for university review, which the last step before I can schedule my defense. So, I guess it won't be ALL play but no weekend ever is, is it?