I've had an amazing past few days. I wish I had a few hours to tell you all about it but I have about twenty minutes before it starts to get dark and I need to return my friends lap top before I head home (If anyone is planning international travel DO bring a laptop!) I've kicked myself so many times over not buying one before I left. There are times when you just want to write about your experiences, to vent, or as a way of working out your thought process and doing it all by hand takes forever!
Last Thursday I headed to Buyumba, a village high in the Mountains in the Northern part of Rwandan claos to Uganda. It was a two hour drive in what they call a mini-bus taxi. Back home we'd call it a 15 seater van. The inside of the van is gutted and another bench is added so that 20 plus people can "fit" inside. To spice things up there is some random type of animal print covering all of the inside of the vehicle either in a furry fabric or a type of vinyl. If you're lucky, as I was one of the four times I've been in these vehicles so far, there will be a loud speaker set up at the front to play music. Rwandan radio is hilarious as it jumps genres from classical to R and B to Reggaie and Rap within a twenty minute span. Surprisingly, Canadian singers get a lot of air time here (Celine dion, Bryan Adams) and they are mixed in with select cuts from snoop dog and Phil Collins. The funniest part is that hardly anyone speaks english so they don't understand the lyrics...but often at least one person will be humming along.
In Buyumba Jeanette, my Rwandan co-worker and I met with 19 women who had participated in a Conflict Resolution workshop. THe workshop is supposed to establish a group of women who will continue to work together to solve their own, and their communities, problems. Another purpose of these groups is to serve as a co-op in which women pool their resources to produce something (baskets, or providing a comunity phone, or setting up a hair straigtening stand etc.). The questions I'm asking through my translator are to help my NGO to evaluate the effectivness of these workshops. When Jeanette and I first arrived she had to leave to take a phone call so I was left alone with the women, none of whom spoke french or English. I was seated at the front of the room on a counch and they all sat facing me on wooden benches and chairs which lined the walls. It felt really awkward but I tried to pretend that everything was normal and just smiled at everyone. When Jeanette came in I thought it might break the ice if I asked one of the women who had a little baby how old her child was. I did this through the translator. Everyone started laughing and asked if I wanted the baby...I was like sure! Next thing I knew I was holding a two month old baby and wondering if I had just adopted a child. Thankfully after a few minutes of me hoping that the little guy wouldn't start crying when he saw my white face one of the women took him back amidst much laughter. I was told that here, there are too many babies. The interviews seem to have gone well.
The next morning Jeanette and I caught the 6 oclock bus to Kibuye, a three hour drive to the south of Rwanda. The town is on a Lake which also borders the Congo. Kibuye is an absolutely beautiful fishing village. Laura came along on this trip and after I finished my interviews, Jeanette returned back to Kigali and we stayed there for the weekend. Before Jeanette left she pretty much insisted that we go swimming ( I don't think she believed we knew how) as a lot of Rwandans don't swim. We wanted to find a place out of the way where we wouldn't stand out. Jeanette said she knew a perfect spot, an abandoned resort that closed about two years ago. It had a private beach where we could swim in peace. Long story short..much against the wishes of Laura and I, she convinved the AK 47 wielding guard to let us pass if we would return later in the evening with Fantas for them. Half way through our swim the guards came over with a big orange life jacket. If that whole experience wasn't surreal enough, later on in the weekend Laura and I were walking through the village when we passed a group of about 20 or 30 prisoners marching home after their days work. My usual routine is to look at the ground and keep walking when we run into prisoners. This is exactly what I was doing when the guard carrying the gun at the end of the line shouted "Bonjour" to Laura and I. He was grinning, and we realised that it was the same guy we bought a fanta...weird.
I hope to get back to a computer sometime soon and fill you in on a few more stories
much love, Kathryn (sorry I don't have time to read over this I realise that phrasing and spell check is probably attrocious!)
lundi 24 septembre 2007
mercredi 19 septembre 2007
No longer unemployed!
Things are finally moving forward! This morning I managed to meet with the two people I needed to talk with.(arranging a meeting here is much harder than you'd imagine) My mandate has changed, but its not far off from what I was initially supposed to be doing. For those of you who don't know, I'm working with a Rwandan NGO in their women's department. To improve a country's governance it is essential to empower a country's citizens, so my work here is meant to share strategies and expertise that may help to build the capacity of women, a group that is often left out of the formal work sector. Today my task is to compile a questionnaire. Throughout my remaining time here I will travel around the country to around 30 women's groups which have already been established and pose the questionnaire to them, with the aid of a translator. David D, you may note that this is surprisingly similar to the work you did in Burkina, although I'm hoping that I won't have to ride a motorcycle to all of the locations. Yesterday my motorcycle driver almost hit a girl who ran across the road in front of us. He had surprinsigly good french and shouted to me that "that girl is playing with death" I gripped my handle bar a bit tighter and thought that it felt like we were doing the same thing. A few minutes later we swerved around a vehicle and came face to face with a stopped van. Slamming the breaks and swirving he started laughing and a few minutes later he said..."did you say your prayers this morning?" oh man
It's funny how some things are starting to feel normal here. I'm writing this email on a work computer which has two big windows right behind it. You know that feeling you get when you can tell people are watching you? Well I think that sense is being numbed here as I am watched ALL the time. As I write this, random groups of children or adults gather outside the window to stare...at the computer...and at me....I think the biggest culture shock I'll expereince at home is the ability to fade into a crowd.
On a serious note, I learned yesterday from a co-worker that five people were hit by a car or truck travelling at a high speed along the recently paved road right outside our house. Two women in the group were killed and they were both widows with large families. There was a huge funeral yesterday, and everyone that could fit into vehicles were driving down the road on their way to the burial site. One small truck had 17 people crammed into the back. People seem to be driving a bit slower today...there really needs to be a speed limit...or at least a side walk so that people aren't forced to walk on the shoulder. We could see the blood in the ditch on the side of the road..
Laura and I now have a security guard! Our neighbours convinced us that it was a necessary precaution and so we now have a 24 year guy wearing my bright yellow raincoat, sit outside from 5:30pm (dusk) until five in the morning. He is the oldest of three children who were orphaned. After staying up all night he goes to school during the day. I asked him if it was possible for him to do this and he said that "to move forward you need effort". There are two locked doors between the living room and my bedroom so I tried to convince everyone that it would be fine if he was allowed to sit on the couch in the living room as we have no guard house and it rains every night. This was deemed inappropriate so the poor guy must sit outside in the rain. We give him hot tea every night but my conscious is far from clear. Although, knowing he's there, I've started sleeping through the night.
Hope all is going well back home...I'll miss the falling leaves but to make things easier I'm planning a white water rafting trip down the nile in Uganda for Thanksgiving ...if my back permits!
It's funny how some things are starting to feel normal here. I'm writing this email on a work computer which has two big windows right behind it. You know that feeling you get when you can tell people are watching you? Well I think that sense is being numbed here as I am watched ALL the time. As I write this, random groups of children or adults gather outside the window to stare...at the computer...and at me....I think the biggest culture shock I'll expereince at home is the ability to fade into a crowd.
On a serious note, I learned yesterday from a co-worker that five people were hit by a car or truck travelling at a high speed along the recently paved road right outside our house. Two women in the group were killed and they were both widows with large families. There was a huge funeral yesterday, and everyone that could fit into vehicles were driving down the road on their way to the burial site. One small truck had 17 people crammed into the back. People seem to be driving a bit slower today...there really needs to be a speed limit...or at least a side walk so that people aren't forced to walk on the shoulder. We could see the blood in the ditch on the side of the road..
Laura and I now have a security guard! Our neighbours convinced us that it was a necessary precaution and so we now have a 24 year guy wearing my bright yellow raincoat, sit outside from 5:30pm (dusk) until five in the morning. He is the oldest of three children who were orphaned. After staying up all night he goes to school during the day. I asked him if it was possible for him to do this and he said that "to move forward you need effort". There are two locked doors between the living room and my bedroom so I tried to convince everyone that it would be fine if he was allowed to sit on the couch in the living room as we have no guard house and it rains every night. This was deemed inappropriate so the poor guy must sit outside in the rain. We give him hot tea every night but my conscious is far from clear. Although, knowing he's there, I've started sleeping through the night.
Hope all is going well back home...I'll miss the falling leaves but to make things easier I'm planning a white water rafting trip down the nile in Uganda for Thanksgiving ...if my back permits!
lundi 17 septembre 2007
Getting settled
I'm currently sitting at work wishing I had something to do! The lady I need to meet with still hasn't shown up and I've been sitting here for almost two hours...oh Rwanda. The drive to accomplish things that has always pushed me to suceed is driving me crazy here. I want to do things and I can't. As someone told be a few days ago..this land teaches you "to be" and not "to do"...ahhh. The organization that I'm supposed to be working with is facing financial difficulties so a lot of people are coming to work but are not being paied/have nothing to do. I don't understand how they can be laughing and joking with eachother...aren't they frustrated? The joy people have here is overwhelming at times because it seems so disconnected from its surroundings. I guess its built on something deeper than the things I can see. I had tears in my eyes at church this Sunday when the youth choir performed a song about looking to the future. Anyone over the age of 15 has been through hell and for them to have such hope is completely humbling.
A week to the day that we got here...we had to move everything out of our house because the Rwandan government is enforcing a new anti malaria program. They are spraying every house in Kigali with some type of chemical which is supposed to kill mosquitos when they land on the walls. I had to sit on the lawn with all of our stuff piled around me for almost 5 hours. One guy in a spraying suit covered all the walls in the house with the chemicals and then said that no one could enter for two hours...I decided that it was better to wait outside for longer than two hours as two children in another village died when they entered their house to soon. The advantage of being outside is that I practiced my kinyarwandan with my landlord and he practiced his english.
The best way to get around town is by motor taxi. The kichikiro district market, is about a ten minute walk from my house. I walk down to the centre of it and then have to barter with the motor cycle guys to see who will give a fair rate. Even so, its very cheap with a 12 minute ride costing less than two dollars Canadian. My worst motor cycle rideso far is the second one I ever took, and it was on my third day here. I had been in town with some Americans who were showing Laura and I where to buy the basics and do our banking. Laura got a ride back on one of their motor cycles and Bethany and I took the moto taxis back. There was a traffic jam leaving the city and Bethany and I got split up but my driver didn't want to slow down so he decided to drive in the lane for oncoming traffic. We were going full speed towards oncoming trucks and cars and then he'd dart back into a spot on the right side of the road to let them pass. I finally said "Bootero" which sorta means slow down. He adjusted his rear view me to see me when a piece of dirt managed to slip under my face guard and hit me in the eye! I couldn't stop my eye from watering so it looked like I was crying. I think he felt really badly that he had scarred me so much that I started craying (which he hadn't) so he drove me past the normal drop off and over to the other side of the street where he thought I lived. I finally insisted that he stop cuz I didn't really know where I was anymore. Through our inability to communciate I said thankyou..and then went for my first walk alone in Rwanda...in an effort to try and find my way back home. ( turns out I really wasn't that far). Trial by fire.
A week to the day that we got here...we had to move everything out of our house because the Rwandan government is enforcing a new anti malaria program. They are spraying every house in Kigali with some type of chemical which is supposed to kill mosquitos when they land on the walls. I had to sit on the lawn with all of our stuff piled around me for almost 5 hours. One guy in a spraying suit covered all the walls in the house with the chemicals and then said that no one could enter for two hours...I decided that it was better to wait outside for longer than two hours as two children in another village died when they entered their house to soon. The advantage of being outside is that I practiced my kinyarwandan with my landlord and he practiced his english.
The best way to get around town is by motor taxi. The kichikiro district market, is about a ten minute walk from my house. I walk down to the centre of it and then have to barter with the motor cycle guys to see who will give a fair rate. Even so, its very cheap with a 12 minute ride costing less than two dollars Canadian. My worst motor cycle rideso far is the second one I ever took, and it was on my third day here. I had been in town with some Americans who were showing Laura and I where to buy the basics and do our banking. Laura got a ride back on one of their motor cycles and Bethany and I took the moto taxis back. There was a traffic jam leaving the city and Bethany and I got split up but my driver didn't want to slow down so he decided to drive in the lane for oncoming traffic. We were going full speed towards oncoming trucks and cars and then he'd dart back into a spot on the right side of the road to let them pass. I finally said "Bootero" which sorta means slow down. He adjusted his rear view me to see me when a piece of dirt managed to slip under my face guard and hit me in the eye! I couldn't stop my eye from watering so it looked like I was crying. I think he felt really badly that he had scarred me so much that I started craying (which he hadn't) so he drove me past the normal drop off and over to the other side of the street where he thought I lived. I finally insisted that he stop cuz I didn't really know where I was anymore. Through our inability to communciate I said thankyou..and then went for my first walk alone in Rwanda...in an effort to try and find my way back home. ( turns out I really wasn't that far). Trial by fire.
mardi 11 septembre 2007
Snapshots
I wish so much that I could load some pics for you all to see but I think it would take a really long time to load a picture let alone one of the little videos I've made on my camera. Also, the times I've most wanted to take a picture I didn't want to draw additional attention to myself by pulling out a shiny silver camera from its case. In fact I usually don't carry it with me. THe little internet "cafe" I am writing you all from is about a ten minute walk away from my house on the second floor of a building that also houses a community bank and a pharmacie. There is always a policeman posted outside so it feels very safe. THere are 9 flat screen computers in here and it is usually packed with people, sometimes two to a chair. THe room is about4 meters 9 meters and has large open windows so it is pretty nice. THe lady who runs the centre is great and even speaks english! It costs only about 300fr for an hour which is aprox 45 cents Canadian! The downs side is that the computers are slow, but there is a computer technician available to start then up again after the power goes out. Daily power outages are common all over Kigali but they usually only last a few minutes. I could write forever but no one would ever read all that I have to say, so I'm going to give you a few snapshots in words of the things I've seen/expereienced here:
1 . Work teams of thin prisoners dressed in pale pink, a colour that stands out here, are always accompanied by a guard with what looks like an ak47 (but I really don't know my guns.) The prisoners are usually expected to spend half there time doing community service (digging ditches, hard labour) and spend the other half of their time in jail. The locals pretty much ignore them as they are a very very common site.
2. Soccer or foot ball as it is called here is crazy popular. Laura and I were in our house, which is about a ten minute walk from the Kichekiro soccer field which is a huge patch of red dust, when we heard what I thought was another plane passing over heard. I asked my neigbour who was over visiting and she said that it was the fans cheering for the soccer game! I guess a toronto parallel would be the cheers that would echo out of the skydome if the jays ever won the series.
3. THe market. The market has haunted my dreams ever since I first set foot in it! Imagine walking into a very titghtly packed series of tables and laneways comletely filled with peeople. Now make a few of the people nearest to you hiss and call you a mzungo, have little children and everyone else stop and stare at you and remember that everyone is speaking Kindyarwandan, so you have no clue what anyone is saying...except you know that its probably about you! That about sums up the market. I hope to work up the courage to go there again without a Rwandan escort, I am told it is safe, but it will take a few more escorted ventures before I want to try it alone.
I asked my guide about the hissing, and she said that it is just a way for people to get attention, there is nothing sinister about it which is great cuz it sure sounds that way! ALso, I've now come to appreciate the hissing noise, as it is somehow more comforting than when people make kissing noises at me! Oh the things I'm learning
4. The babies and children- they are everywhere. In fact one is calling me a Mzungo right now!For the most part they stare as I walk towards them and then right before I pass them, they often quickly say "bonjour" They love when I respond but most of them don't or are to shy too shy to speak much more french. One trick I've found is that if I say "witwande" which means what is your name" in Kinyarwandan, they are usually quite pleased and may give me a shy smile, a high five or even their name! Unfortunetly, laura and I did face one worrisome moment with kids. There are no sidewalks here so everyone walks along the side of the main road, which bikes, trucks crammed with people, buses, and motorcycles all share, and unfortunelty everything is passing at a very high speed. Basically imagine that you are walking down eglinton in toronto along the shoulder, except eglinton is hardly two lanes wide and there is no centre divide line. Anyways, Laura and I were out walking, which is pretty much the only thing we have to do, when a buncgroup of tiny kids (most couldn't have been older than 3 or 4) saw us coming and started yelling Mzungo Mzungo from the other side of the street and ran across the street towards us. I was so scarred that they would be hit! To make matters worse, I was really angry when a local women, in french, laughed and told the kids to chase us. I think they may have been orphans as they were all barefooot. The all made it back to theire side of the street safely after I knelt and talked with them for a bit. Two of them had obviously been playing cuz they had stickers all over their smiling faces.
I'm really hoping to start work soon but there have been a few problems, hopefully things will be sorted out soon,
mitwili (goodbye)
Kahryn...now know as Katrine
1 . Work teams of thin prisoners dressed in pale pink, a colour that stands out here, are always accompanied by a guard with what looks like an ak47 (but I really don't know my guns.) The prisoners are usually expected to spend half there time doing community service (digging ditches, hard labour) and spend the other half of their time in jail. The locals pretty much ignore them as they are a very very common site.
2. Soccer or foot ball as it is called here is crazy popular. Laura and I were in our house, which is about a ten minute walk from the Kichekiro soccer field which is a huge patch of red dust, when we heard what I thought was another plane passing over heard. I asked my neigbour who was over visiting and she said that it was the fans cheering for the soccer game! I guess a toronto parallel would be the cheers that would echo out of the skydome if the jays ever won the series.
3. THe market. The market has haunted my dreams ever since I first set foot in it! Imagine walking into a very titghtly packed series of tables and laneways comletely filled with peeople. Now make a few of the people nearest to you hiss and call you a mzungo, have little children and everyone else stop and stare at you and remember that everyone is speaking Kindyarwandan, so you have no clue what anyone is saying...except you know that its probably about you! That about sums up the market. I hope to work up the courage to go there again without a Rwandan escort, I am told it is safe, but it will take a few more escorted ventures before I want to try it alone.
I asked my guide about the hissing, and she said that it is just a way for people to get attention, there is nothing sinister about it which is great cuz it sure sounds that way! ALso, I've now come to appreciate the hissing noise, as it is somehow more comforting than when people make kissing noises at me! Oh the things I'm learning
4. The babies and children- they are everywhere. In fact one is calling me a Mzungo right now!For the most part they stare as I walk towards them and then right before I pass them, they often quickly say "bonjour" They love when I respond but most of them don't or are to shy too shy to speak much more french. One trick I've found is that if I say "witwande" which means what is your name" in Kinyarwandan, they are usually quite pleased and may give me a shy smile, a high five or even their name! Unfortunetly, laura and I did face one worrisome moment with kids. There are no sidewalks here so everyone walks along the side of the main road, which bikes, trucks crammed with people, buses, and motorcycles all share, and unfortunelty everything is passing at a very high speed. Basically imagine that you are walking down eglinton in toronto along the shoulder, except eglinton is hardly two lanes wide and there is no centre divide line. Anyways, Laura and I were out walking, which is pretty much the only thing we have to do, when a buncgroup of tiny kids (most couldn't have been older than 3 or 4) saw us coming and started yelling Mzungo Mzungo from the other side of the street and ran across the street towards us. I was so scarred that they would be hit! To make matters worse, I was really angry when a local women, in french, laughed and told the kids to chase us. I think they may have been orphans as they were all barefooot. The all made it back to theire side of the street safely after I knelt and talked with them for a bit. Two of them had obviously been playing cuz they had stickers all over their smiling faces.
I'm really hoping to start work soon but there have been a few problems, hopefully things will be sorted out soon,
mitwili (goodbye)
Kahryn...now know as Katrine
samedi 8 septembre 2007
"Destination Afghanistan"
This has already proven to be a bit of a crazy adventure. In some ways, I'm really glad the ticket agent in Pearson internatinal thought that I was leaving for Afghanistan. She was looking at out passports and tickets for awhile, finally looked up and said "so..you're final destination is Afghanistan." Although it was a bit concerning at the time, after everything was sorted out I'm glad it happened because it was the first time, in terms of safety, that I was relieved to be going to Rwanda!
I'm travelling with my friend Laura from highschool and I'm already sooo thankful that I'm not travelling alone. If I had any brovado in me before coming here our first walk through the local market, where we will have to buy all of our food, erased any shred of it. After three days of travel in which we had stop overs in Amsterdam, Nairobi Keny, and a surprise stop in Burundi (the national airport had one runway and some locals had gathered beside it to watch our plane land) we've arrived safely although rather sleep deprived and dissoriented from the 6 hour time difference. The Director of Friends Peace House, the local NGO we're are both volunteering for picked us up at the airport along with his co-worker Sarah. The car had no seat belts in the back and suffice to say, based on my first car ride, all the stories you may have heard about the crazy African driving experience are completely true. Best part of the ride was after turning off the paved main road, we drove up a steep "road" which was basically a really really rocky dirt slope. Our driver had to gun the car to make it up the hill and you could hear big rocks hitting the bottom of the car. I was definetly laughing by the time we reached the top of the hill.
Our lodging is in the Kicukiro district of Kigali, the capital. At first glance the room we are renting is beautiful, although I think a large part of my initial awe was because the mosquito nets hanging from the ceiling make it look like we are staying in some kinda old castle with canopy beds. We are sharing the house with the landlord Emmanuel and potentilly others as the house is used as a guest house for other Friends Peace House visitors. The downside of the house is that the toilet and shower don't work and there is no fridge. This morning I had my first ever "bowl shower", and do feel a lot better, althought I didn't manage to get all the shampoo out of my hair. All in all, for the $ 50 Canadian I couldn't ask for much more. (don't worry mom it feels pretty safe)
I beter end this before the power goes out again and this message will be lost.
Much love from Rwanda,
Kathryn (spell check's in french so sorry for all the mistakes!)
I'm travelling with my friend Laura from highschool and I'm already sooo thankful that I'm not travelling alone. If I had any brovado in me before coming here our first walk through the local market, where we will have to buy all of our food, erased any shred of it. After three days of travel in which we had stop overs in Amsterdam, Nairobi Keny, and a surprise stop in Burundi (the national airport had one runway and some locals had gathered beside it to watch our plane land) we've arrived safely although rather sleep deprived and dissoriented from the 6 hour time difference. The Director of Friends Peace House, the local NGO we're are both volunteering for picked us up at the airport along with his co-worker Sarah. The car had no seat belts in the back and suffice to say, based on my first car ride, all the stories you may have heard about the crazy African driving experience are completely true. Best part of the ride was after turning off the paved main road, we drove up a steep "road" which was basically a really really rocky dirt slope. Our driver had to gun the car to make it up the hill and you could hear big rocks hitting the bottom of the car. I was definetly laughing by the time we reached the top of the hill.
Our lodging is in the Kicukiro district of Kigali, the capital. At first glance the room we are renting is beautiful, although I think a large part of my initial awe was because the mosquito nets hanging from the ceiling make it look like we are staying in some kinda old castle with canopy beds. We are sharing the house with the landlord Emmanuel and potentilly others as the house is used as a guest house for other Friends Peace House visitors. The downside of the house is that the toilet and shower don't work and there is no fridge. This morning I had my first ever "bowl shower", and do feel a lot better, althought I didn't manage to get all the shampoo out of my hair. All in all, for the $ 50 Canadian I couldn't ask for much more. (don't worry mom it feels pretty safe)
I beter end this before the power goes out again and this message will be lost.
Much love from Rwanda,
Kathryn (spell check's in french so sorry for all the mistakes!)
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