WEEKS 8-9 (Mar 30-Apr 9):

For several weeks, we prepared for our “practical activity”. For this assignment, we were supposed to identify a target group that we would eventually give a health presentation to in kinyarwanda. I gave a presentation about HIV/AIDS to a huge group of primary school children ranging in age from about 6-16. Doing the presentation in kinyarwanda was difficult and took a lot of preparation. Overall, it was a success. I gave a presentation about the transmission of HIV/AIDS and a colleague gave a presentation after mine concerning the myths about HIV/AIDS.
We held a party for our language and cross-cultural teachers and for our resource families. It will be sad to see everyone part but exciting to go to our sites and get started. Training ends Saturday the 11th. We will go to Kigali on Tuesday and on Wednesday the 15th we will be sworn in AS VOLUNTEERS!!! From Kigali we will go to our sites and begin our service. After the party for resource families my “mama” brought me to her neighbors wedding. It was very fun and more traditional of a wedding than the last one I attended.
Genocide Memorial Week began on April 7th. On April 6th 1994, the president of Rwanda’s plane was shot down. On April 7th the mass slaughter was already in full swing. It is a national holiday here and is taken very seriously (as it ought to be). For the entire week, everything will close at noon and the public is expected to attend genocide conferences where guest speakers will give their testimonies etc… Movies concerning genocide will be shown everyday throughout the entire country. People will also visit their families and gravesites of their lost loved ones. It is a time for mourning, reconciliation and remembrance. On the 7th, we joined a silent parade through the streets to a memorial site (mass grave) nearby. It is strongly discouraged and stigmatized to not attend these events.

WEEKS 6-8 (Mar 21-Mar 29):

Some friends and I have been working on creating a peace corps t-shirt. So we have taken a couple trips to Kigali to meet with the t-shirt guy. On the morning of the 25th I was laying in bed half asleep when all the sudden my bed started shaking and I heard a rumbling. It took me a second to realize it was an earthquake (my first ever). Once I did, I ran under the doorframe. I later learned that it was a 6.1 on the Richter scale. It was the biggest one since last year that killed some people and destroyed some buildings. This time the epicenter was in Cyangugu to the west. Luckily, nobody was hurt and no structures were damaged (at least none that made news).
This last week was health week for women and children. So we all went to different health clinics around town to help out. I went to a clinic and helped distribute vitamin A to children. Blindness is a serious issue here so vitamin A is important to prevent it.
Many of our language teachers graduated from the national university here in Butare this week. I went to the graduation ceremony. The entire town shut down. Everyone was in fancy clothes too.
We had our farewell party to our resource families. Afterwards my mama took me to her neighbors wedding. It was VERY fun.
Oh yeah. My kinyarwanda name has been given to me by a friend who has been naming the trainees. It’s Mahire, which means one who is lucky/blessed.
I hope all is well back home. Amahoro (peace).

WEEK 2 (Feb 8-14)

We have been studying Kinyarwanda hard and long. This week we were assigned “resource families” which are Rwandese families that volunteered to help us learn the language and culture. We meet with them for at least three hours a week. My “mama” is very nice. She is a secondary school teacher and has three kids. Her house is a couple kilometers from here and the last kilometer is up a VERY steep hill. Each PC trainee was assigned one family.
Second we went to one of the starkest genocide memorials in the country yesterday. Mrs. Wellman, please read this before reading it to the class.
We boarded a couple small buses and drove for about 40 minutes through some of the steepest areas I’ve seen in Rwanda yet. Not without car trouble though. The bus that I was in couldn’t do it. It broke down so we started walking. The countryside was beautiful and made it worth it. We arrived at the Murambi memorial and were given notice of what we would see and were given the option to decline. There were 27 rooms filled with the bodies of victims preserved in lye. You can see the expressions on their faces at their moment of death. The deaths of these people were oftentimes horrific. Many of the bodies were missing limbs, their skulls crushed or split or decapitated. Children were no exception. There were a couple adults clenching their babies. Many of the bodies still had their clothes on. Not a whole lot of people can make is through all 27 rooms. I don’t think anyone makes it through without crying. Some of you may be concerned of why this memorial exists. The idea is that the face of genocide has been veiled so many times before. They are trying to show the true face of genocide so that it doesn’t happen again. There is much more to this story but this blog probably isn’t the appropriate place for that.
Afterwards some of us went to a local park to play volleyball. There was a wedding that was getting ready to start at the church nearby, so another PC trainee and I decided to stay just to see the drummers that were setting up. We were sweaty and not well dressed but this very nice man offered for us to attend the wedding. We ran home to change and clean up and grab our cameras. When we arrived at the wedding there was a very awkward 30 seconds when everyone turned around and looked at the Muzungus (white people). We sat down in the back but an usher brought us up closer. This is actually normal in Rwandan culture. They are VERY hospitable even to strangers. We were offered cake and drinks that they wouldn’t let us refuse (hehe). It was the most exciting experience I’ve had in Rwanda yet! The drumming was absolutely INCREDIBLE and the dancing was some of the best dancing I have EVER seen!! Some very important people were there and we met a couple of them. Anyway, this blog entry is getting long. I miss my friends and family very much! I hope everything is good back home!