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