Ijoro ryiza! (good night!)

My goodness...just a few days on the ground and I have so many thoughts already...

Sunday I spent most of the day getting lost around Kigali with two other volunteers....you would think following a map in a guidebook to an arts and crafts cooperative would have been an easy task for three intelligent women..apparently we were wrong! After walking for a few hours after my last post, unbeknown to us, we walked in one huge circle around the city and never made it close to the co-op...but really, we were not entirely to blame...somehow the map I had in my book has street names but no one, I mean NO ONE knows ANY street name here! It is really quite interesting...it would have been better to have directions staying, "make a sharp right at the blue sign at the bottom of the hill where the bus turns after the second round-about..." LOL that is how people give directions here :-) At any rate, although we did not accomplish our goal, I feel confident I can find myself around town here now, no problem!!

Monday was our orientation day for the new volunteers so I spent the day with three others and our coordinator, Claire. After a morning of introductions, we went to exchange money where I learned that they really do take it seriously when they say they won't exchange bills before 2003! Apparently $20 printed before 2003 has no value here....it makes absolutely no sense to me, what it is what it is....oh well, at least I know I will come home with at least $20 in my pocket! :-)........After the exchange bureau we went to have lunch at another Rwanda buffet....I have to say, I am loving the food here! A traditional plate costs just around $4 and will fill you up for the day, with rice, beans, green bananas (cooked like boiled potatoes), cassava leaves, fruit, vegetables, salad and meat....pretty much like what I mentioned in the last post, but every place seems to have their own flavor....it's really nice.....after lunch we headed to the Rwanda Memorial Center which is really an amazing remembrance for the victims of the 1994 genocide. It took us a few hours to make it through all of the exhibits. They detailed the intense history between all the peoples of Rwanada over the last couple hundred years, the constant exodus of certain groups from the country based on other battles, and then talked about how the Belgium's influences further divided the country....and it was really interesting to see the facts proving how the genocide really had been planned for years, as leaders had spent numerous resources importing machetes and clubs etc from various countries. It was turning the corner and seeing the images of the bodies left to rot in the churches that really choked me up.....There were videos with some survivors talking in various exhibits about their experiences during the killing, about forgiveness and about remembering the loved ones they lost. It was really quite moving for me, but what continues to amaze me is the resilience of the people in the country to bounce back so well from such maddening hatred....really, it was like people just went mad! One of the most interesting parts of the exhibit were the videos of the Gucaca, which are the semi-trials where the perpetrators actually face the family members of their victims and talk about what happened...in some ways, with bodies lost, this is the only real closure some people could get...it was really very interested to watch the human dynamics of that process....Two quotes I remember from the site include:

"To save one life is to save the world."

and

"There will be no humanity without forgiveness; there will be no forgiveness without justice; but justice will be impossible without forgiveness."

Yesterday was our first day going to the orphanages. We started by going to the FVA office to go through all of the supplies that we brought. We then went to see a plot of land that FVA has purchased ad is started to develop another orphanage that likely will not be ready for years, but will hopefully house up to 500 or so children! It was an incredibly beautiful area and would truly be a great place for lost children to call home....We drove to another place that I am not working at, but two other volunteers will be. It is called Pefa Orphanage, and compared to Gisimba where I am and saw afterward, Gisimba is like the Royal Palace compared to Pefa. The woman running the place took it over herself after her husband dies in 2005 - it was his original project, but they have lost some funding since his death. She is really having a difficult time, it seemed, though she is pouring her love out as much as she can for these kids. She herself gave birth to 12 kids but has just 10 of them now, and they live in the orphanage with 65 other children. The place I must say had a smell that was a bit challenging to cope with at first, but as the children ran up to you, all that mattered, all that you noticed, was their love for you and your immediate love for these innocent lives....They ran up to give all of us hugs, kids were jumping into my arms, grabbing at my legs, begging to be picked up, all with smiles ear to ear....Their clothes were soiled and wet and some of the children had visible health issues, including a couple who had some serious eye infections. They wanted so badly to have their pictures taken and would grab at my camera taking pictures of their friends. Kneeling down, at one point I had girls all over me, pulling at my ears and my hair and trying to dig the sunglasses out of my bag that I foolishly stuffed away too late :-) I have to be honest and say I as a bit unprepared for the conditions of this particular place. I am really looking forward to getting back to the house tonight to hear from the other two volunteers about their experience there today....

After visiting Pefa, we all went to the place I have been assigned, Gisimba. This place gets a lot of funding from a group in Belgium, I believe, and actually has it's own water filtering system...Let me tell you, running water is a HUGE thing here. After speaking with of the directors there, we went through some of the goodies I brought and were passing out balloons, harmonicas, bouncy balls, etc. It was so exciting to see! A couple of girls played hand games with me, me teaching them some from my childhood and them teaching me some that they have learned. It was such fun...I met this incredible student who would be an inspiration to some of the other students, I am sure. He is actually teaching English at this place for a couple of weeks before he goes to South Africa, having just received a scholarship to finish his secondary school there. As a Rwandan who has overcome what I can only imagine are numerous challenges in his life, he is an example of what education and determination and dedication and motivation can really do for someone's future....

I didn't stay much longer than a couple of hours last night, but was able to spend my first full day there today. I started the morning with the younger kids, trying to teach them Red Light, Green Light. :-) I am smiling to myself now as I recall their difficulty understanding that they don't have to stay green the ENTIRE time until someone touches them...lol...maybe tomorrow we will progress :-) When it was time for some classes, I went with some of the older teenagers and spent a lot of time just talking with them, each of us sharing our interests and them trying to teach me some Kinyarwanda words. We spent a lot of the morning making the Rwanda beads that are rolled and made from paper scrapes...it was really quite a good time getting to know them. And who knows, someone on day will be wearing a necklace rolled with beads from a Muzungu :-) After bead rolling, I found some of the games I brought, including a matching game, snakes and ladders, checkers and scrabble. I started first with the young kids teaching them snakes and ladders, helping them follow rules as simple as counting to more their pieces forward :-) then when I brought out checkers, they older kids immediately started playing, although, with their rules, they can move the pieces backwards before anyone gets "kinged" :-) Then I pulled out Scrabble. Although we didn't follow all the rules exactly, it was a great way to help them practice some English words. There are at least 2 teenagers that are deaf and mute. After they played checkers, I pulled them over to play scrabble. After playing words like "should" and "but" and them looking confused, I realized that I should let them take the lead on making words. I started reading their signing to each other of letters they were looking for, and helped them spell correctly words they were trying to make and showed them how to match them to words already on the board. It was really quite interesting finding completely new ways of communicating. :-) I have learned "thank you" but I would really like to learn more signing from them before I leave. There are also two young men that have mental handicaps and although are accepted by everyone, they don't get too involved in playing. I would like to see if teaching the match game or something would be good. When I introduced myself, the one just called me muzungu, which was good enough for me :-) After lunch, the kids wanted to tackle the games some more, but now I've found another girl that I would like to "work" with. She is a bit of a bully, it seems, but she is so young, maybe 7 or something? I have no idea how, but I would like to work with her a bit in some way....for that young, she can surly change her ways with a little guidance......the other volunteer at this place with me will be here another month. She just started there last Friday. She is studying to be an ESL teacher, so she spent a lot of time with the Engligh teacher. But I think tomorrow, with her guidance, I am going to try and help a couple of kids who have received sponsorship for a private secondary school, but cannot write in English...I will be attempting to teach tomorrow....I'm excited and terrified at the same time!! :-)

Speaking of teaching, there are some things I have learned here and observed here that are really quite challenging for me to accept....all school here comes with a price. Children at Gisimba are sponsored to at least attend the basic schools, and some even get sponsors to attend the private schools. However, children in a place like Pefa have absolutely no sustained education. The chalk board in their orphanage is a black rectangle painted on the wall....some children may get a term sponsored here and there, but otherwise the only education they receive is when volunteers pass through and teach a few things; not at all what you would call sustainable...and regardless of which orphanage the kids are at, when they get into their 20's, if they don't get to college, there are little to no real options for them in this country....This reminds me of a book I just read last spring looking at international aid and how governments and families both face a constant battle to set priorities and let other areas fail....I asked Claire about taxes here, and they go primarily to fund infrastructure projects, which are surly needed. In the book I read, the author makes you "president for a day" faced with the statistics of the average Africa country. When you look at all the needs of a developing nation, it is literally impossible to do it all, and not everyone is going to agree with the priorities, but what options do you have...I was so frustrated and upset because I refuse to believe that smart and dedicated children can miss the chance for college simply because a sponsor hasn't discovered them yet. Education really is power, and I suppose that although one cannot save all the children in the world, starting with one child at a time, while other support structures are being developed to create a sustainable higher-education system, is good start; it has to be, right? I would actually welcome all your feedback on this as it is something I am really struggling with. I asked a 20 year old today what he plans to do when he is done with secondary school next year and he is looking at schools, but doesn't have resources to go....

OMG....thank you GOGGLE!! So we just lost power, which actually happens quite sporadically here, and this entire blog saved! Whoo-hoo, or this was going to be one unhappy chick!!!

Just one more thought about the orphanage, I am actually looking at their systems and would really love to find a way to learn more about biodigeters from EARTH :-) Since Gisimba already has running water, what a great thing to work on their waste management! Which after one and a half days, I can already see could use a little improvement....although the country itself, is actaully really surprisingly quite clean!

So, enough of that for now, I must tell you about how I ge to and from work so I can talk about my trip home yesterday :-) So, I walk every day for about 15 minutes to a round-about called Sonatube where I wait for a "bus" (which is really a van they pack full of people). I take this bus to "mu-mugyi", which is the center of Kigali, and then I take another bus to Nyambriambo (or some town spelled something like that). As you ma know, the Presidential election will be on Monday. Running up to the election, which is every seven years here, there are HUGE rallies and gatherings all over the country for Kagame (yes, they only seem to be for Kagame). Yesterday, I made it to the city center just fine, but when I went to get my second bus, the line was literally a couple of Atlanta block long!!! Apparently, there was a drive-by of Kagame at Sonatube that afternoon and all buses shut down, so there was both a huge back up of people wanting a bus and a huge traffic jam, too. My bus rides normally cost 180 between Sonatube and Kigali, or I can take a moto for 800. Obviously the bus would win on a normal day, but that was no normally day....we opted for the motos...and these motos don't seem to worry about traffic, which I experienced first hand! My driver first goes up on a sidewalk passing a "do not enter" sign and then proceed to drive on the right side of the road against the traffic! When the cars were really stopped, he had no problem weaving in between all of them, crossing two lanes and the sidewalk with absolute ease, though I was really quite terrified....people asked me if I thought skydiving was scary...skydiving was a piece of cake compared to my fear on that bike! But I was to say, it was a bit exciting!! :-) Thank goodness, I did make it home in one piece, only having bumped up against two cars :-)

As I mentioned, the election is on Monday, so it will be interesting to see how much more crazy it gets here. Just getting to the city today, there was a huge "motorcage" type of tings with supporters decorating big trucks and motos and driving down the road honking horns and singing songs...it gets more interesting every hour actually! :-)

I suppose I should wrap this up....hope you haven't given up reading this by now :-) With some of the volunteers here being only 18 and 19 years old, it is so interesting listening to their thoughts on helping internationally and how they have similar conflicting views about how you decide what help is really going to be sustainable and make a lasting impact....After a lot of discussion and sharing ideas, and recalling past conversations I've had back home, we broke our goal down to two words - enabling empowerment.....if we can do that for even just one person, then our time here was worth it....