Gisimba Gisimba - my lovely children were not so lovely this week! I went to teach on Monday feeling a bit under the weather, with a very stuffy nose and having been up a lot of the night sneezing and sniffling. Since Monday was my day to teach Kharim after kindergarten, I decided I would go in and see how I feel....well it was a rough day in every way. I went through all the kleenex I had brought in about 20 minutes and I still couldn't stop sneezing! I actually was using a handkerchief which i have never done in my life! So not only was the dusty dirt and the chalk dust tickling my nose, the children decided to see how much they could get away with with the muzungu :-) They were crazy...I did some teaching (mostly review of the days of the week, months of the year and letters), but after the recess break was when chaos broke loose. Three boys, one of them (Shama) being one of my favorites, started hitting on each other and beating each other up! There were no other adults in my room because the teacher from my class was in another class dealing with misbehaving 4 yer olds....So here I was, the muzungu that no kid listens to, trying to break up this fight. I tried to separate them and in doing so, started to take one of them (Gianni) outside. He was hitting and slapping my arm (sure, no prob, I can handle that...) then he started the biting! I just let go....I walked to the other class where 5 teachers were standing and just told them, hey, I cannot handle this, they won't listen to me.....my arm was all red so they asked me what happened and so I told them. They looked so shocked and were so apologetic. Inside, I honestly just thought it was hilarious how undisciplined some of these children are...Both Shama and Gianni were taken outside by the teacher and then had to come and apolgize to me. The teacher made them kneel on the floor, with tears on their face and say, "Please teacher, I am sorry." I just wanted to hug them each, they were so adorable. I told them I forgive them and it was okay. It was such a strange position to be in, but it totally reaffirmed this feeling that is it next to impossible to be upset with kids for long. Their energy and love for life is simply too addicting to view any of them in a negative light for long.
So yes, I did take Tuesday off to recover from my head cold and by now am feeling much better. The rest of the week included the first water-color painting since I have been there, which was such a joy to watch. Paint is not a norm for these kids so to see their smiles was such a delight! I also have made a point to really learn all of their names. I wrote a seating chart (even though the kids move around ever few days) and took more pictures of them to study at home. The afternoon I did this, one of the boy's uncle who comes to help in the class every so often, lined the kids up outside on a cement ledge for me to take their pictures, too :-) They were all crouched down to the ground, squeezed together, with their arms wrapped around each other. They were just full of laughter and kept knocking each other over - it was so contagious. I snapped some pictures and as I reviewed them at home I couldn't help but laugh myself. Their smiles and energy is just so incredibly addicting, even through the photos....gosh, how i love those kids! But hey, it's helping, I think I got about 5-7 more names by the end of the week to add to the 10 or so I already knew!
And so to the real animals! Yesterday was such a beautiful day. After spending a lot of time during the week arranging for a car and driver, the four of us volunteers at the house headed out for an African safari of sorts in - Rwanda style! We were on the road at 5am for a 2 1/2 hour drive to Akagera National Park in the eastern province. The vehicle we had was so perfect - one of those safari type 4x4's with the roof-top that opens and big windows on the sides. As soon as we got into the park, we immediately saw two impala. After picking up our guide, it was just moments before we found our first exciting African animal - the Masai Giraffe! They were so beautiful, surrounded by the green trees with the early morning haze floating just above the ground, wrapped around them. We soon came upon zebra, with their stripes looking as though they could have been painted on with stencils, they were so perfect! The hills too, were breathtaking in the morning haze. Rolling green, vibrant in color, spotted with trees of green and brown and ruby red....There is certainly no autumn here, these are simply their natural color, but I couldn't help but feel a little closer to home as I thought how the trees will soon be changing and I will be missing my favorite season - here was my chance to take in autumn! :-)
All along the way we found so many other animals - warthogs (which I appropriately yelled, "Pumba!" ;-) ), baboons, topi, waterbuk, cape buffalo, and so many beautiful birds including these vibrant, metallic blue colored starlings! Part of the journey led us up this incredible hill where Robert, our driver, proved his awesome maneuvering abilities as he inched his way up these very unsteady and uneven rocks. When we reached the top of this hill, we all immediately shot up from our seats...the views were breathtaking! There was a lake and marshland in the distance, across which you could see Tanzania! All in front of us were the sprawling hills, just dusted with trees. You really felt on top of the world....Ad the silence was deafening...absolute stillness in every direction, yet to know how time was still moving forward with the animals going about their business in the valleys below....to see the stillness from a distance but to know the bustle below, it was like being let in on a beautiful wild secret of mother nature.......at one point, one of the volunteers exclaimed, "Now this is Africa!" Wow - what a crazy thing to hear...this is the Africa that is sold to outsiders to welcome revenue into their country to hopefully help better the other real Africa - the impoverished communities all around....I know the comment meant no harm, but I really couldn't help but wonder what our driver or guide would be thinking when they heard that....where would they fall into this Africa? It is incredible how two very different, polar opposite, contradictory images are painted of this massive continent.....
At any rate......as we came back down, we headed to the lake to look for hippos! And goodnss did we see some hippo! Our car was so close, on multiple occasions, to herds or troops of them. Lying in the marsh, soaking up some rays, and then cooling in the lake. They disappear so quickly under the water - makes you curious to know just how many are cooling under water without our having the slightest clue.....they stare at you with their huge heads and then you see their massive jaws when they yawn, showing their enormous white teeth - it was just amazing the immensity of their presence.... We rode on then, circling the huge lake to reach the elephant we could see hanging out on the other side. Making our way around, so near to the wet marshland, a HUGE Nile Crocodile ran down the embankment into the water, just in front of our car! We apparently disturbed his slumber...Approaching the elephants I was again so impressed by how close we could get and by their incredible size and presence. The most I could count at one time was 15 but there were more. A couple young babies and some youth, too, made up the group. It so reminded us of Dumbo at first as a huge group of them were suddenly walking out from behind some trees, single file march! :-) After we had been there for some time, one other big adult came from behind a tree, looked our way, displayed his massive trunk and then the guard informed us rather nonchalant, "Oh, he's preparing to charge." After a couple brief moments, we decided it was best to head back ;-) ....I couldn't help but think of my mother while I was there, wishing so much she could be there watching them with me - her love for elephants so great!....So I got a video for you mom! ;-)
While the drive back to the main gate was very long and bumpy, it was just so incredible to look out and see all the fields spotted with animals, clear to the base of the hills. This park has done a fab job reinventing itself from after the war when numerous animals were killed while Rwandans made their way back into their country and settled in camps in the park after having escaped to Tanzania. Overall, it was a really amazing journey and probably will be my last major "adventure" from Kigali....
My fingers have had quite the work-out this afternoon, typing on this keyboard with keys that seem to be an inch high and hardly compress as they should! Ah, the luxuries of a soft easy keyboard.... ;-)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Teacher! Amazi!
Thanks everyone for all of your comments on my blog! :-) I have enjoyed hearing from each of you. And thanks, Mom and Jamie for the hints on songs to teach days of the week and months! I will definitely be using these this week...
So last Thursday I was asked to teach the whole class the entire day, which was really quite exciting! I did a ton of review but it was so fun to work on my own ideas and to practice calling out names of the kids all day long. I think I only know about 12 kids by heart and a few others I guess at :-) but I keep trying to pick up a few more every day. Thursday one of my boys, Filbert, was acting so unusual. He is normally so hyper and laughing and I can never get him to calm down. He sat Thursday with his head on his desk and when I would call on him to see if he was paying attention, he didn't even try. I knew he must be sick. In the afternoon, we had some guests in the class and they had me running around getting colored pencils sharpened for a special project. Next thing I knew, I heard a soft and calm, "Teacher.." I looked up and Filbert had this innocent, nonchalant look on his face. I followed his eyes to his desk and saw how he had thrown up....poor little guy! I went straight over and led him outside and had the teacher's aid try and find some water to clean the desk. I got my cottonelle wipes (thanks mom!) and my water bottle and went out to help clean his hands and arms and clothes. All the kids came running out to see what i was doing. I had him tilt his head back so I could poor water in his mouth and all the kids were shouting, "Teacher, amazi! Teacher, amazi" (water) I laughed and said, "Oya, you're not sick..." so they proceeded to start a fake coughing contest! LOL It was so adorable! At any rate, he remained calm the rest of the day and seemed to feel better, but I thought it so strange that no other teacher around seemed to check on him or anything. I think they are so used to sickness and stuff that something so minor didn't hardly phase them. Ah, who knows, I was just happy I had a few things to help. I have decided I will be taking more first aid stuff with me to the school, just in case, too.
Friday I had a meeting with a company called Manna Energy and was able to learn about 4 different water treatment projects they have in Rwanda. They are such an interesting organization in that they will be getting their funding via carbon credits for reducing the amount of wood that is used for fuel and boiling water. Through their work, they actually have a 10 year vested interest to ensure the systems are up and running correctly and are being used and monitored effectively. Knowing a little more from Greg about how control systems are used, I found it so interesting how they are using technology to monitor the health of the systems from places in the US and then use text messaging to send alerts if a bulb needs changing or if the system needs backwashed or something. It was really quite interesting. I definitely recommend checking out their site to see their project work and how their funding works. They are doing some great things! I am hoping to check out a project site at the L'Esperance Orphanage later in October, so I will keep you all posted.
Signing off for now! Ciao!
So last Thursday I was asked to teach the whole class the entire day, which was really quite exciting! I did a ton of review but it was so fun to work on my own ideas and to practice calling out names of the kids all day long. I think I only know about 12 kids by heart and a few others I guess at :-) but I keep trying to pick up a few more every day. Thursday one of my boys, Filbert, was acting so unusual. He is normally so hyper and laughing and I can never get him to calm down. He sat Thursday with his head on his desk and when I would call on him to see if he was paying attention, he didn't even try. I knew he must be sick. In the afternoon, we had some guests in the class and they had me running around getting colored pencils sharpened for a special project. Next thing I knew, I heard a soft and calm, "Teacher.." I looked up and Filbert had this innocent, nonchalant look on his face. I followed his eyes to his desk and saw how he had thrown up....poor little guy! I went straight over and led him outside and had the teacher's aid try and find some water to clean the desk. I got my cottonelle wipes (thanks mom!) and my water bottle and went out to help clean his hands and arms and clothes. All the kids came running out to see what i was doing. I had him tilt his head back so I could poor water in his mouth and all the kids were shouting, "Teacher, amazi! Teacher, amazi" (water) I laughed and said, "Oya, you're not sick..." so they proceeded to start a fake coughing contest! LOL It was so adorable! At any rate, he remained calm the rest of the day and seemed to feel better, but I thought it so strange that no other teacher around seemed to check on him or anything. I think they are so used to sickness and stuff that something so minor didn't hardly phase them. Ah, who knows, I was just happy I had a few things to help. I have decided I will be taking more first aid stuff with me to the school, just in case, too.
Friday I had a meeting with a company called Manna Energy and was able to learn about 4 different water treatment projects they have in Rwanda. They are such an interesting organization in that they will be getting their funding via carbon credits for reducing the amount of wood that is used for fuel and boiling water. Through their work, they actually have a 10 year vested interest to ensure the systems are up and running correctly and are being used and monitored effectively. Knowing a little more from Greg about how control systems are used, I found it so interesting how they are using technology to monitor the health of the systems from places in the US and then use text messaging to send alerts if a bulb needs changing or if the system needs backwashed or something. It was really quite interesting. I definitely recommend checking out their site to see their project work and how their funding works. They are doing some great things! I am hoping to check out a project site at the L'Esperance Orphanage later in October, so I will keep you all posted.
Signing off for now! Ciao!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Day by day, life is getting easier...
It has been far too long since I have written - but I find that I am in such a routine these days that I being to forget that the small things I experience throughout the day may in fact be interesting to others :-)
Last Monday, before I wrote my previous blog entry, was a national holiday due to the inauguration of President Paul Kagame. It was an interesting ceremony to watch on TV. Most of it was in Kinyarwanda, but there were some parts translated into English. The event took place in their national stadium and I had heard that people were lining up at 6am as it was first come, first entry - no tickets. The stadium was PACKED and the crowd was all dressed in Rwanda colors (blue green and yellow) spelling Kagame's name in the crowd - it was crazy! There were MANY other heads of state here which was so interesting because the night before and for two nights following, we heard so many helicopters flying overhead near the airport, probably added security for these folks. At any rate, after the introduction of each person, they had a blessing from a Muslim imam and a Catholic priest and then had the infamous Rick Warren speak on behalf of the US....that was interesting, to say the least.....there was much talk from all parties speaking about how Rwanda people have taken to the polls and have spoken their minds freely about what they want for their future. I won't get into the details too much of his speech, nor my impressions of them as you can surely find the news online, but it was quite interesting to see how the country thinks they are viewed from the international perspective and how they have come together under some sort of national unity against outside influences for the better of their country....The rest of the ceremony included a very beautiful group doing an intore dance, with men dressed as warriors with a spear and shield (symbols of Rwanda's security) and women dressed in their traditional toga-like dress, with the most graceful, swaying movements I have witnessed in dance - this part was worth it! There was a signing of sorts, a presentation of their flag and national symbols and national emblem and then an inspection of their troops - and much laying of their anthem. All in all, it was a unique experience to have witnessed....
The last week and a half I have been feeling exhausted with the children in the kindergarten! You would think with time they lose energy, but these children just continue to find it somewhere! LOL I have continued to work on teaching the days of the week and months of the year. It is hilarious, actually, because I was asked to teach them as "day 1 is...day 2 is..." and the same with the months. So, I hold up fingers and ask now, "What is day 1?" and they should back Monday! But after Monday, every day seems to be Friday! And I taught them a little rhyme, "No school Saturday, no school Sunday!" So those are a cinch...but, the as I ask for day 4, they are shouting, "April!!" with such vigor and enthusiasm, I hate to tell them they are wrong... LOL They are just so freaken adorable! I love these kids!
Another thing I was just asked to do was to teach Professions....so...we opted for Teacher, Carpenter, Bus Driver, Doctor, Policeman, and Pilot (much at the teacher's direction...) Last night I went home and used my VERY little artistic skills to draw these for class. I presented them today to the class and the kids really loved them! The teacher did, too, and asked me to do them again on white paper (instead of on the colored paper like I did) so that they can make photocopies and distribute to the students :-) This made me so happy to hear! Although, my Carpenter is going to do a better job at making a bureau that isn't lopsided and my doctor will hopefully look a bit more professional this time around :-)
So yes...I was in school today helping the teacher write the homework assignment for the kids (since there was no power to use the photocopy machine...) and I started thinking that I really do enjoy the teaching part of my day more than I had thought I would. I was just so terrified of not having enough direction or thinking my ideas wouldn't be good enough, but I think that is more due to the culture of teaching here, and how there isn't really a set curriculum that the teacher follows, at least not for that young age....but maybe, perhaps, just maybe, teaching kids will be something I may find myself doing more of at some point in my future....I really enjoy teaching these small concepts and helping the students...and it is so incredibly fulfilling when I see them really get something right! So yeah....just another idea to throw in the mix in my mind's potpourri of thoughts.......
I have been making more progress with Kharim, too....bahoro bahoro...he was doing so well last week at sounding out words, so just yesterday I started working on speaking words and having him write them down. I was also provided a great little activity book by another volunteer who just left and it went along perfectly with the way I was trying to teach vowel sounds. So yes, I feel I have a new resource and even more motivation, day by day, to keep working with him. I told him yesterday that he will be able to read a short book before I leave. He laughed and shook his head........I told him how proud I was already of his progress and insisted it WILL happen - so I have my work cut out for me!
Back at the house, yesterday was the departure of John - the older volunteer who was here for three months and whose words of advice really helped me cope with adjusting to life here for the long haul (as compared to the others...) And then today, my dear friend Charlotte, who has become such a close friend during her month here, left to get back to Germany....I am now in the house with just three new people who just arrived yesterday. It makes for an exciting six more weeks as the dynamics in the house are sure to be very different from my first six weeks. There is an 18 year old girl (staying for one month) who will likely join me at Gisimba starting Friday. The other two are 22 (staying for 6 weeks) and 25 (staying for 1 month) and are both in the literacy program.
Well - that seems to be all the pertinent news from here...I hope everyone is enjoying the coming of autumn...my favorite season!!
And here I will give a warm shout-out to Alan and Emily, getting married on Saturday, September 18 - I miss you two and will be sending you warm wishes across the oceans on your special day.... :-)
Hugs to all,
Tracie
Last Monday, before I wrote my previous blog entry, was a national holiday due to the inauguration of President Paul Kagame. It was an interesting ceremony to watch on TV. Most of it was in Kinyarwanda, but there were some parts translated into English. The event took place in their national stadium and I had heard that people were lining up at 6am as it was first come, first entry - no tickets. The stadium was PACKED and the crowd was all dressed in Rwanda colors (blue green and yellow) spelling Kagame's name in the crowd - it was crazy! There were MANY other heads of state here which was so interesting because the night before and for two nights following, we heard so many helicopters flying overhead near the airport, probably added security for these folks. At any rate, after the introduction of each person, they had a blessing from a Muslim imam and a Catholic priest and then had the infamous Rick Warren speak on behalf of the US....that was interesting, to say the least.....there was much talk from all parties speaking about how Rwanda people have taken to the polls and have spoken their minds freely about what they want for their future. I won't get into the details too much of his speech, nor my impressions of them as you can surely find the news online, but it was quite interesting to see how the country thinks they are viewed from the international perspective and how they have come together under some sort of national unity against outside influences for the better of their country....The rest of the ceremony included a very beautiful group doing an intore dance, with men dressed as warriors with a spear and shield (symbols of Rwanda's security) and women dressed in their traditional toga-like dress, with the most graceful, swaying movements I have witnessed in dance - this part was worth it! There was a signing of sorts, a presentation of their flag and national symbols and national emblem and then an inspection of their troops - and much laying of their anthem. All in all, it was a unique experience to have witnessed....
The last week and a half I have been feeling exhausted with the children in the kindergarten! You would think with time they lose energy, but these children just continue to find it somewhere! LOL I have continued to work on teaching the days of the week and months of the year. It is hilarious, actually, because I was asked to teach them as "day 1 is...day 2 is..." and the same with the months. So, I hold up fingers and ask now, "What is day 1?" and they should back Monday! But after Monday, every day seems to be Friday! And I taught them a little rhyme, "No school Saturday, no school Sunday!" So those are a cinch...but, the as I ask for day 4, they are shouting, "April!!" with such vigor and enthusiasm, I hate to tell them they are wrong... LOL They are just so freaken adorable! I love these kids!
Another thing I was just asked to do was to teach Professions....so...we opted for Teacher, Carpenter, Bus Driver, Doctor, Policeman, and Pilot (much at the teacher's direction...) Last night I went home and used my VERY little artistic skills to draw these for class. I presented them today to the class and the kids really loved them! The teacher did, too, and asked me to do them again on white paper (instead of on the colored paper like I did) so that they can make photocopies and distribute to the students :-) This made me so happy to hear! Although, my Carpenter is going to do a better job at making a bureau that isn't lopsided and my doctor will hopefully look a bit more professional this time around :-)
So yes...I was in school today helping the teacher write the homework assignment for the kids (since there was no power to use the photocopy machine...) and I started thinking that I really do enjoy the teaching part of my day more than I had thought I would. I was just so terrified of not having enough direction or thinking my ideas wouldn't be good enough, but I think that is more due to the culture of teaching here, and how there isn't really a set curriculum that the teacher follows, at least not for that young age....but maybe, perhaps, just maybe, teaching kids will be something I may find myself doing more of at some point in my future....I really enjoy teaching these small concepts and helping the students...and it is so incredibly fulfilling when I see them really get something right! So yeah....just another idea to throw in the mix in my mind's potpourri of thoughts.......
I have been making more progress with Kharim, too....bahoro bahoro...he was doing so well last week at sounding out words, so just yesterday I started working on speaking words and having him write them down. I was also provided a great little activity book by another volunteer who just left and it went along perfectly with the way I was trying to teach vowel sounds. So yes, I feel I have a new resource and even more motivation, day by day, to keep working with him. I told him yesterday that he will be able to read a short book before I leave. He laughed and shook his head........I told him how proud I was already of his progress and insisted it WILL happen - so I have my work cut out for me!
Back at the house, yesterday was the departure of John - the older volunteer who was here for three months and whose words of advice really helped me cope with adjusting to life here for the long haul (as compared to the others...) And then today, my dear friend Charlotte, who has become such a close friend during her month here, left to get back to Germany....I am now in the house with just three new people who just arrived yesterday. It makes for an exciting six more weeks as the dynamics in the house are sure to be very different from my first six weeks. There is an 18 year old girl (staying for one month) who will likely join me at Gisimba starting Friday. The other two are 22 (staying for 6 weeks) and 25 (staying for 1 month) and are both in the literacy program.
Well - that seems to be all the pertinent news from here...I hope everyone is enjoying the coming of autumn...my favorite season!!
And here I will give a warm shout-out to Alan and Emily, getting married on Saturday, September 18 - I miss you two and will be sending you warm wishes across the oceans on your special day.... :-)
Hugs to all,
Tracie
Saturday, September 4, 2010
"When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future." ~Dian Fossey
Musanze - what a beautiful escape from the harshness and clouded Kigali! We took Friday off from work to begin a three-day adventure to the north, in search of relaxation, solitude, some village scenes and gorillas! You have no idea how happy I was from the early morning hours when the breakfast table was set with the delicious fruit salad which I have been blessed to have only three times so far! What a welcomed change from the daily bread - the bread varieties always remind me of Bubba in Forrest Gump and all his shrimp varieties! LOL I mean how many ways can you have bread served before it sadly becomes a bit dull....the little joys we find here in fruit, flat land and hot water ;-)
Charlotte and I arrived in Musanze in the early afternoon and knew immediately how lovely this town already was. As a base community from which many people begin their gorilla treks, they are seemingly used to tourists around, so the infamous "muzungu" wasn't shouted at us nearly as often. After meeting with the tour company through which we were planning a community visit, we decided the walk would be best for Saturday. So for the afternoon we planned a short excursion on our own to Mukamiira - a less-frequented village 30 minutes away in which a small but tranquil lake would be our destination for some reading and journaling. But first, LUNCH! I must say it is so great to travel with someone who enjoys eating the local food as much as I do! We found the Green Garden buffet just off the main road and had such peace enjoying our lunch in their small garden area behind the building. From here, taking in the scenes around us, we spotted an oddly shaped figure in the hills off in the distance. As we starred at it, we soon realized it was a person...but this man towered over the few buildings surrounding him. Thus, we aptly named him, the Musanze Giant :-) Our story of this man involves some injustice he faced due to his towering figure and thus he was ostracized to this mountain to overlook the community for eternity....and somehow, the moral of the story will involve the community embracing him when he saves the town from a landslide, likely to be caused by some earthquake...So that is about as creative as we could get.... :-) But I am telling you, this "giant" continued to interest me and if I had had the time, I surely would have tried to find a path up this hill to speak to him myself!
After lunch we checked into this lovely guesthouse where a woman has opened the front part of her property as a guesthouse and rents out the rooms separately. It boasted a peaceful porch from which we could view the "Musanze giant" and take in the serenity of this town. After settling in, we caught our afternoon bus to Mukamiira. The bus ride was really so beautiful The mountains from the Volcano Park were so prominent all around the town. The clouds softly hiding the peaks allowed for breathtaking views. It was a bit hazy in the distance, but I was unsure if it was due to pollution or the natural clouds for this time of year. At any rate, as we stepped off the bus we soon realized that the town certainly is not as accustomed to tourists as the "muzungu" shouting and the following soon began. We thoroughly enjoyed the walk as we watched the locals at a couple different watering stations and could see more closely the plots of land being cultivated with cassava, maize and bananas, to name a few. It was so picturesque as a handful of children followed behind, laughing and smiling while a man biked by packing a load of bananas and woman passed balancing insanely heavy bags of what I could only guess were potatoes of sorts on her head. We reached the turn off to head towards the lake and it was soon apparent that we were now the the main attraction. As we made our way down the narrow dirt trail, we were leading a train of one older woman and three girls which soon became quite a group of people. The views of this small lake in the late afternoon sun were really calming, but the masses of people following us was a bit unnerving. We decided to stop and sit on a small grass hill near the shore of the lake and watched a teenage boy put out a fishing net along the shore, carefully untangling and dropping it just-right along the bank. But around us, teenage boys were everywhere! At one point, I counted 21 people who were watching us. And it wasn't as though they were watching from a distance - no, there were many sitting all around, with four right in front of us, laying on the ground with the chins propped on their hands, starring at us as though we were an exhibit in the zoo.....it was really quite annoying. I put on my bug repellent and one boy tried to lean over and smell me while another I found leaning over my shoulder as I tried to write in my journal. Trying not to be rude, I asked the crowd to back away and they did, but the lake soon lost its appeal since we could not be left alone, so we headed back to the path and on to Musanze. Even with the disturbance, overall we had a really nice time just being out and about, taking in the fresh air all around us. Back in Musanze we hit up the outdoor market to buy our fruit for dinner - pineapple, bananas, avocado, maracuja, and passion fruit.
Saturday we woke around 6:30 for another peaceful morning sitting on the front porch, drinking some Rwanda black tea, listening to man singing off in the distance, the birds whistling their tunes and soon watching a new rain cloud move through. The rain started just as we were enjoying our breakfast of banana, maracuja and bread with butter & peanut butter and banana and peanut butter, which I must say have made me a bit nostalgic. With the rain falling, the temperature quickly dropped as it seems to do here, fluctuating 10 degrees or more between every time a short rain comes through and the sun chooses to shine.
We met our guide, John, and he led us through the streets to these roads heading down to a village at the base of these mountains. To walk down, past women and children living in their real homes, going about daily life was a fresh pace for both of us. It seems getting out of the main roads allows my soul to connect with something almost bigger than myself. We were told how they will be already making the trek to town at 5am with baskets full of things to sell, so those walking back that we saw, with empty baskets, were complete with round one. Many times we were joined by trails of children again - always walking on your heels making navigating down a narrow rocky dirt path a bit challenging for my clumsy self. They really are okay in spurts, but I find the constant following and touching a bit much at times. We find ourselves constantly balancing personal space with natural curiosity - something I doubt I will master before I leave here....I really do wonder if there will be a time where "muzungu" is no longer hollered and the children may not follow strangers to the edges of their villages...so we walked through so many banana fields and made it to the base of the hills where women were cultivating the land. There was his hazy fog just gently embracing the hills around us. And every so often clouds of smoke rising from the hills were they were burning fields or grasses. The silence and calm was so welcoming...we saw along the way evidence of the stages of banana beer making. The sorghum soaking in canvas bags in the river to turn them dark, the heaps of banana leaves under which the banana were fermenting, and the drying of the sorghum before they add it to the fermenting bananas. We also were able to see how they made containers woven out of banana leaves and cow dung to place in the trees for bees to capture their honey. The final destination was a basket weaving co-op. They were not really weaving that day but they did come to show us how they do it, wrapping one kind of grass around stands of another thinner type of grass. After the hour and a half walk there and the 30 minutes in the hot sun, we back up a main road - up, up, up back to Musanze. Another trip to the fruit market and lunch before we caught another bus up to Kinigi- our base before the gorilla trek on Sunday!
As we got off the bus in Kinigi, I was overwhelmed with the beauty all around. The mountains were sooo close, even with their distance. I felt so much excitement being there! We had to walk up a long hill, just about 1k, but it was up and up and for me, it was amazing. The mountains really surrounding us and the late afternoon sun behind the clouds was so beautiful. I snapped a couple photos of the sun hiding behind the clouds as the mountains prepared to welcome the setting sun. We walked with more children following behind us and Charlotte discovered the simply asking them to stop and go home actually works! We simply must remember this for next time! :-)
Once we finally found the guesthouse, relief set in so we could finally stop working so hard! The people working there seemed very sweet but the rooms were not as nice as we expected - I get the sense that most places can get by up there with the minimum since the gorillas are such a popular destination - they will get business anyway. As we were settling in, I heard very loud thunder all around, rolling through the mountains and the sky began to flash with lightning. The storm as it moved in was gorgeous - just as the sun was setting, there was nearly a straight line in the clouds separating the clear blue from the dark grey. The rain was falling so hard for most of the evening that the ceiling in our bathroom was actually leaking through the night. Back in our room, we used my swiss army knife to cut up our pineapple, which I must admit I did a fab job at, leaving only the base and the center core still standing :-) We shared a nice salad and some African Tea (like Chai tea) back in the restaurant, sitting around a hot fire, listening to the rain, and chatting with an interesting family from New Zealand. They had seen the gorillas that morning, so just listening to them talk about the experience really put me in the mood for the next day!
Sunday morning was a sign of great things to come when the rain was holding off but the skies were just overcast enough to keep the air nice and cool. After a quick early breakfast, we met our hired driver who took us to the ORTPN office to meet the guides and to be assigned to a group. It was crazy to see how many people were all around; some of whom had done treks in the past, others just as excited to have their first experience like me. My excitement was accompanies with some nerves, curious to which group I would be assigned and what family of gorillas we would be tracking. They say some came be found in as little as 20 minutes while others can take two hours or so. If you know me at all, I am sure you can guess I was really looking forward to one of the longer hikes - to really be able to experience the forest in which these amazing animals live! Well, I had 5 Australians in my group and two from Texas. We were going to be tracking the Hirwa family with 12 members, the youngest a baby of only six months! The silverback made his way to this family from two other mountains, surviving as he battled for space in two other groups before he found this one. Their names means Good Luck.....
Since Charlotte was hiking the Dian Fossey tomb trail, she used our driver and I joined a couple in my group and their driver to get to the trail head. The 30 minute drive took us to the base of the mountain where our guide explained all the rules about the hike and passed our our walking sticks. We began making our way through very large bamboo forests with a tracker in front using his machete to cut through the thick bamboo for us to squeeze through. We saw fresh antelope and buffalo prints in addition to elephant dung and prints - I still cannot believe an elephant fit through this dense area of the forest! I soon began to see how helpful the walking sticks really were as we worked our way up very steep mountain sides. I kept envisioning what it would be like when we see them - sitting amongst trees while we would kneel behind surrounding trees and watch them from a comfortable and clear distance - it was nothing of the sorts! We went up and up and up, for about 90 minutes until the trackers told our guide we would find them down the side of this mountain and across the valley below. So our ascent quickly turned to an extreme descent! We were standing at what seemed to be a cliff, but our head tracker began using his machete and cutting branches of trees on the side of the mountain on which we were challenged to find some decent footing, all the while slipping on the wet stalks and trying to hang on to the branches and roots above us. You shouldn't be surprised to know I did slip and fall a couple of times....but the fall was so weird because you're walking almost straight down, as if you were going down a ladder, do "falling" was more like me losing my footing, laughing so much as I held on to a branch above my head as my feet worked to find something to rest upon. We were all slipping around everywhere but the porters were so great at helping us all in our moments where balance left us. Not only was knowing that we would soon be near the gorillas keeping all of our spirits up, but the views were spectacular! It was something I had never seen before in my life! We really felt as though we were in the tops of the trees, looking out at the small hills of the countryside sprawling to one side, with the tall Volcano mountains to the other side, the tops of which were still covered in a soothing and calming grey mist...
About 45 minutes of this, we reached a clearing in the valley where we met up with the rest of the trackers and could see the silverback off in the distance, just resting and eating some grasses. After a short hike up the other hill, suddenly they were just right there in front of us! It was an awesome feeling to be near such impressive creatures and my nose tingled as my eyes watered. We saw the silverback resting mostly, but grooming another. The baby and another younger gorilla were gently playing with each other. Another female was off eating alone, with her body showing signs of being quite pregnant. There are 12 in the family, but I do not know that we even saw all of them. They moved around quite a lot and we had to keep walking at times to follow them to their new resting place. The total experience was one hour but it was well worth it! The one I was closest to just sat in front of me, maybe three yards away, just eating - but I was so thankful she was looking my direction so I could examine the roughness of her nose and the brown on her eyes and the wrinkles in her fingers. She was beautiful! The trackers kept making some noises to try and get the silverback to turn our way, but I don't think he was interested in our presence much at all :-) He kept to himself mostly. In fact, at one point, the mother of the young baby came out of the bushes somewhere and made some noises after which the baby got on her back and she led the way off to a new destination. Even though the majority of the time we were with them their backs were to us or they were slightly hidden behind other grasses, I was still able to capture a handful of videos and over 100 pictures - just snapping away to capture any moment possible :-)
As we began our walk back, the gorillas were moving in the same path we wanted to take, so there were a couple of times we had to wait for them to decide to get a move on before we could keep walking ourselves. During the entire journey back up the mountain, through my slipping and falling backwards, I was in my own world, just hanging on to the memories of the experience. I cannot believe I was actually able to do this one thing that I never really thought would be possible....it was such a surreal experience, but one I will be forever thankful to have had.
Charlotte and I arrived in Musanze in the early afternoon and knew immediately how lovely this town already was. As a base community from which many people begin their gorilla treks, they are seemingly used to tourists around, so the infamous "muzungu" wasn't shouted at us nearly as often. After meeting with the tour company through which we were planning a community visit, we decided the walk would be best for Saturday. So for the afternoon we planned a short excursion on our own to Mukamiira - a less-frequented village 30 minutes away in which a small but tranquil lake would be our destination for some reading and journaling. But first, LUNCH! I must say it is so great to travel with someone who enjoys eating the local food as much as I do! We found the Green Garden buffet just off the main road and had such peace enjoying our lunch in their small garden area behind the building. From here, taking in the scenes around us, we spotted an oddly shaped figure in the hills off in the distance. As we starred at it, we soon realized it was a person...but this man towered over the few buildings surrounding him. Thus, we aptly named him, the Musanze Giant :-) Our story of this man involves some injustice he faced due to his towering figure and thus he was ostracized to this mountain to overlook the community for eternity....and somehow, the moral of the story will involve the community embracing him when he saves the town from a landslide, likely to be caused by some earthquake...So that is about as creative as we could get.... :-) But I am telling you, this "giant" continued to interest me and if I had had the time, I surely would have tried to find a path up this hill to speak to him myself!
After lunch we checked into this lovely guesthouse where a woman has opened the front part of her property as a guesthouse and rents out the rooms separately. It boasted a peaceful porch from which we could view the "Musanze giant" and take in the serenity of this town. After settling in, we caught our afternoon bus to Mukamiira. The bus ride was really so beautiful The mountains from the Volcano Park were so prominent all around the town. The clouds softly hiding the peaks allowed for breathtaking views. It was a bit hazy in the distance, but I was unsure if it was due to pollution or the natural clouds for this time of year. At any rate, as we stepped off the bus we soon realized that the town certainly is not as accustomed to tourists as the "muzungu" shouting and the following soon began. We thoroughly enjoyed the walk as we watched the locals at a couple different watering stations and could see more closely the plots of land being cultivated with cassava, maize and bananas, to name a few. It was so picturesque as a handful of children followed behind, laughing and smiling while a man biked by packing a load of bananas and woman passed balancing insanely heavy bags of what I could only guess were potatoes of sorts on her head. We reached the turn off to head towards the lake and it was soon apparent that we were now the the main attraction. As we made our way down the narrow dirt trail, we were leading a train of one older woman and three girls which soon became quite a group of people. The views of this small lake in the late afternoon sun were really calming, but the masses of people following us was a bit unnerving. We decided to stop and sit on a small grass hill near the shore of the lake and watched a teenage boy put out a fishing net along the shore, carefully untangling and dropping it just-right along the bank. But around us, teenage boys were everywhere! At one point, I counted 21 people who were watching us. And it wasn't as though they were watching from a distance - no, there were many sitting all around, with four right in front of us, laying on the ground with the chins propped on their hands, starring at us as though we were an exhibit in the zoo.....it was really quite annoying. I put on my bug repellent and one boy tried to lean over and smell me while another I found leaning over my shoulder as I tried to write in my journal. Trying not to be rude, I asked the crowd to back away and they did, but the lake soon lost its appeal since we could not be left alone, so we headed back to the path and on to Musanze. Even with the disturbance, overall we had a really nice time just being out and about, taking in the fresh air all around us. Back in Musanze we hit up the outdoor market to buy our fruit for dinner - pineapple, bananas, avocado, maracuja, and passion fruit.
Saturday we woke around 6:30 for another peaceful morning sitting on the front porch, drinking some Rwanda black tea, listening to man singing off in the distance, the birds whistling their tunes and soon watching a new rain cloud move through. The rain started just as we were enjoying our breakfast of banana, maracuja and bread with butter & peanut butter and banana and peanut butter, which I must say have made me a bit nostalgic. With the rain falling, the temperature quickly dropped as it seems to do here, fluctuating 10 degrees or more between every time a short rain comes through and the sun chooses to shine.
We met our guide, John, and he led us through the streets to these roads heading down to a village at the base of these mountains. To walk down, past women and children living in their real homes, going about daily life was a fresh pace for both of us. It seems getting out of the main roads allows my soul to connect with something almost bigger than myself. We were told how they will be already making the trek to town at 5am with baskets full of things to sell, so those walking back that we saw, with empty baskets, were complete with round one. Many times we were joined by trails of children again - always walking on your heels making navigating down a narrow rocky dirt path a bit challenging for my clumsy self. They really are okay in spurts, but I find the constant following and touching a bit much at times. We find ourselves constantly balancing personal space with natural curiosity - something I doubt I will master before I leave here....I really do wonder if there will be a time where "muzungu" is no longer hollered and the children may not follow strangers to the edges of their villages...so we walked through so many banana fields and made it to the base of the hills where women were cultivating the land. There was his hazy fog just gently embracing the hills around us. And every so often clouds of smoke rising from the hills were they were burning fields or grasses. The silence and calm was so welcoming...we saw along the way evidence of the stages of banana beer making. The sorghum soaking in canvas bags in the river to turn them dark, the heaps of banana leaves under which the banana were fermenting, and the drying of the sorghum before they add it to the fermenting bananas. We also were able to see how they made containers woven out of banana leaves and cow dung to place in the trees for bees to capture their honey. The final destination was a basket weaving co-op. They were not really weaving that day but they did come to show us how they do it, wrapping one kind of grass around stands of another thinner type of grass. After the hour and a half walk there and the 30 minutes in the hot sun, we back up a main road - up, up, up back to Musanze. Another trip to the fruit market and lunch before we caught another bus up to Kinigi- our base before the gorilla trek on Sunday!
As we got off the bus in Kinigi, I was overwhelmed with the beauty all around. The mountains were sooo close, even with their distance. I felt so much excitement being there! We had to walk up a long hill, just about 1k, but it was up and up and for me, it was amazing. The mountains really surrounding us and the late afternoon sun behind the clouds was so beautiful. I snapped a couple photos of the sun hiding behind the clouds as the mountains prepared to welcome the setting sun. We walked with more children following behind us and Charlotte discovered the simply asking them to stop and go home actually works! We simply must remember this for next time! :-)
Once we finally found the guesthouse, relief set in so we could finally stop working so hard! The people working there seemed very sweet but the rooms were not as nice as we expected - I get the sense that most places can get by up there with the minimum since the gorillas are such a popular destination - they will get business anyway. As we were settling in, I heard very loud thunder all around, rolling through the mountains and the sky began to flash with lightning. The storm as it moved in was gorgeous - just as the sun was setting, there was nearly a straight line in the clouds separating the clear blue from the dark grey. The rain was falling so hard for most of the evening that the ceiling in our bathroom was actually leaking through the night. Back in our room, we used my swiss army knife to cut up our pineapple, which I must admit I did a fab job at, leaving only the base and the center core still standing :-) We shared a nice salad and some African Tea (like Chai tea) back in the restaurant, sitting around a hot fire, listening to the rain, and chatting with an interesting family from New Zealand. They had seen the gorillas that morning, so just listening to them talk about the experience really put me in the mood for the next day!
Sunday morning was a sign of great things to come when the rain was holding off but the skies were just overcast enough to keep the air nice and cool. After a quick early breakfast, we met our hired driver who took us to the ORTPN office to meet the guides and to be assigned to a group. It was crazy to see how many people were all around; some of whom had done treks in the past, others just as excited to have their first experience like me. My excitement was accompanies with some nerves, curious to which group I would be assigned and what family of gorillas we would be tracking. They say some came be found in as little as 20 minutes while others can take two hours or so. If you know me at all, I am sure you can guess I was really looking forward to one of the longer hikes - to really be able to experience the forest in which these amazing animals live! Well, I had 5 Australians in my group and two from Texas. We were going to be tracking the Hirwa family with 12 members, the youngest a baby of only six months! The silverback made his way to this family from two other mountains, surviving as he battled for space in two other groups before he found this one. Their names means Good Luck.....
Since Charlotte was hiking the Dian Fossey tomb trail, she used our driver and I joined a couple in my group and their driver to get to the trail head. The 30 minute drive took us to the base of the mountain where our guide explained all the rules about the hike and passed our our walking sticks. We began making our way through very large bamboo forests with a tracker in front using his machete to cut through the thick bamboo for us to squeeze through. We saw fresh antelope and buffalo prints in addition to elephant dung and prints - I still cannot believe an elephant fit through this dense area of the forest! I soon began to see how helpful the walking sticks really were as we worked our way up very steep mountain sides. I kept envisioning what it would be like when we see them - sitting amongst trees while we would kneel behind surrounding trees and watch them from a comfortable and clear distance - it was nothing of the sorts! We went up and up and up, for about 90 minutes until the trackers told our guide we would find them down the side of this mountain and across the valley below. So our ascent quickly turned to an extreme descent! We were standing at what seemed to be a cliff, but our head tracker began using his machete and cutting branches of trees on the side of the mountain on which we were challenged to find some decent footing, all the while slipping on the wet stalks and trying to hang on to the branches and roots above us. You shouldn't be surprised to know I did slip and fall a couple of times....but the fall was so weird because you're walking almost straight down, as if you were going down a ladder, do "falling" was more like me losing my footing, laughing so much as I held on to a branch above my head as my feet worked to find something to rest upon. We were all slipping around everywhere but the porters were so great at helping us all in our moments where balance left us. Not only was knowing that we would soon be near the gorillas keeping all of our spirits up, but the views were spectacular! It was something I had never seen before in my life! We really felt as though we were in the tops of the trees, looking out at the small hills of the countryside sprawling to one side, with the tall Volcano mountains to the other side, the tops of which were still covered in a soothing and calming grey mist...
About 45 minutes of this, we reached a clearing in the valley where we met up with the rest of the trackers and could see the silverback off in the distance, just resting and eating some grasses. After a short hike up the other hill, suddenly they were just right there in front of us! It was an awesome feeling to be near such impressive creatures and my nose tingled as my eyes watered. We saw the silverback resting mostly, but grooming another. The baby and another younger gorilla were gently playing with each other. Another female was off eating alone, with her body showing signs of being quite pregnant. There are 12 in the family, but I do not know that we even saw all of them. They moved around quite a lot and we had to keep walking at times to follow them to their new resting place. The total experience was one hour but it was well worth it! The one I was closest to just sat in front of me, maybe three yards away, just eating - but I was so thankful she was looking my direction so I could examine the roughness of her nose and the brown on her eyes and the wrinkles in her fingers. She was beautiful! The trackers kept making some noises to try and get the silverback to turn our way, but I don't think he was interested in our presence much at all :-) He kept to himself mostly. In fact, at one point, the mother of the young baby came out of the bushes somewhere and made some noises after which the baby got on her back and she led the way off to a new destination. Even though the majority of the time we were with them their backs were to us or they were slightly hidden behind other grasses, I was still able to capture a handful of videos and over 100 pictures - just snapping away to capture any moment possible :-)
As we began our walk back, the gorillas were moving in the same path we wanted to take, so there were a couple of times we had to wait for them to decide to get a move on before we could keep walking ourselves. During the entire journey back up the mountain, through my slipping and falling backwards, I was in my own world, just hanging on to the memories of the experience. I cannot believe I was actually able to do this one thing that I never really thought would be possible....it was such a surreal experience, but one I will be forever thankful to have had.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Happy September!! I cannot believe one month has passed since my arrival here.....
Soon after my last post on Sunday, we were blessed with the first rain of the season!! I have never been so happy to smell the freshness of rain. I had great hopes that it would clear the air of all the exhaust and pollution, but to no avail. Sunday evening was quite lovely as it fell pretty hard and allowed for a fresh perspective, but by morning the thick polluted air was still covering the city. For some reason, I have actually found it harder to breathe this week than in prior ones - perhaps it is due to the building layer of scum on my lungs, but I am hopeful this feeling will not last. And since I will be traveling to the mountains this weekend, relief will soon be upon me! :-)
Kharim has been making great progress this week at Gisimba! As of this afternoon, he could identify every letter of the alphabet, without hesitation, except for the letter "I". That was huge today!!! I was sooo proud of him! We began this week working on sounds of letters. I separated the vowels to really have him focus on getting those sounds "perfected." I have started with three-letter words, keeping the last the same and just changing the first. Then I showed him how just changing the vowel in the middle makes a completely different word - and he has started to see why the vowel sounds are so important and I see him trying very hard to do them correctly. Today I started taking some flash cards and having him sound out the words that did not have any "exceptions" to the sounds....he was doing sooooo well!!! My nose tingled as I watched him focus and think really hard about how to sound them out. Granted, he has a long way to go, but I really think he has been coming along well. One of the ladies from the Belgium organization that has been around Gisimba for a while, told me yesterday that she thinks he has a learning disorder and that he just cannot remember anything....I was soooo upset with that comment...I see him try so hard, I just don´t think he has had anyone to really give him the attention that he needed to get this done....I am really looking forward to the progress he may be able to make in the next two months!
For once I will let this entry stay short. I am working on posting some additional pictures of kids at Gisimba with a better one of Khraim, too :-)
Hugs to all!!!!
Soon after my last post on Sunday, we were blessed with the first rain of the season!! I have never been so happy to smell the freshness of rain. I had great hopes that it would clear the air of all the exhaust and pollution, but to no avail. Sunday evening was quite lovely as it fell pretty hard and allowed for a fresh perspective, but by morning the thick polluted air was still covering the city. For some reason, I have actually found it harder to breathe this week than in prior ones - perhaps it is due to the building layer of scum on my lungs, but I am hopeful this feeling will not last. And since I will be traveling to the mountains this weekend, relief will soon be upon me! :-)
Kharim has been making great progress this week at Gisimba! As of this afternoon, he could identify every letter of the alphabet, without hesitation, except for the letter "I". That was huge today!!! I was sooo proud of him! We began this week working on sounds of letters. I separated the vowels to really have him focus on getting those sounds "perfected." I have started with three-letter words, keeping the last the same and just changing the first. Then I showed him how just changing the vowel in the middle makes a completely different word - and he has started to see why the vowel sounds are so important and I see him trying very hard to do them correctly. Today I started taking some flash cards and having him sound out the words that did not have any "exceptions" to the sounds....he was doing sooooo well!!! My nose tingled as I watched him focus and think really hard about how to sound them out. Granted, he has a long way to go, but I really think he has been coming along well. One of the ladies from the Belgium organization that has been around Gisimba for a while, told me yesterday that she thinks he has a learning disorder and that he just cannot remember anything....I was soooo upset with that comment...I see him try so hard, I just don´t think he has had anyone to really give him the attention that he needed to get this done....I am really looking forward to the progress he may be able to make in the next two months!
For once I will let this entry stay short. I am working on posting some additional pictures of kids at Gisimba with a better one of Khraim, too :-)
Hugs to all!!!!
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