Thanksgiving in Rwanda!

Rwanda doesn't recognize Thanksgiving obviously but that's no reason not to celebrate it ourselves!
It was a beautiful Thursday morning, around oh... 900, at the Peace Corps office in Kigali. The forecasts called for deliciousness and after weeks of planning and anticipation, the cooking of a grand Thanksgiving dinner was underway. With 15 kilos of potatoes, a freshly slaughtered turkey that was at one time lost on a bus somewhere in Rwanda, sweet potatoes and plenteous amounts of other ingredients... the Peace Corps volunteers joined forces. Tom, armed only with pineapple and series of secret ingredients made "cranberry sauce" without the help of cranberries. We were concerned but our faith in him never wavered. What eventually ensued was around 25 people taking copious amounts of food to the face. Turkey! Salad! Stuffing! Mashed Potatoes! Gravy! Hummus! Pita! Sweet Potatoes with marshmallows! Green Beans! Cake! Pie! Wine! Beer! All this without a single domestic dispute... and on time! Perhaps one of the best Thanksgivings ever. Words can't describe how full we were... well maybe. But the Romans still would have been jealous. I guess what I am saying is... Life is good.

How can one not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak?
~Isabel Allende (Chilean author, 1942- )

Gisenyi, Rwanda

This last weekend I went to Gisenyi, which is about a 4 hr. bus ride, with my friends Emmett and Malcolm. Gisenyi is located on the northern end of Lake Kivu, which is divided between the DRC and Rwanda. The area was incredibly beautiful and mountainous. On the way we passed Musanze, which is located at the foot of the Virunga (Volcano) National Park. Through a thick fog we were able to catch a nice glimpse of these volcanoes but I can’t possibly convey the feelings it invokes or even simply give you the chills that went up my spine. I’m no Hemingway. On the other hand, the terrain is quite unforgiving. People live on the side of mountains that seem physically impossible to live on let alone farm on! People must have the physical acuity of a mountain goat. The slightest mistake would send you plummeting down in a way that only Homer from “The Simpsons” could comprehend. It looked like a completely different country than the one that I have intimately known for the past 9 months.
The first thing we saw in Gisenyi was an acrobatics group practicing on the beach of Kivu. If you haven’t seen African acrobatics before, you are missing out. Second was the frontier of the infamous and mysterious DRC but I dared not set foot there. Not until after my Peace Corps service that is. Third was a hot spring. It wasn’t developed for bathing but could potentially make a good tourist destination if people chose to make it one. We walked around a small peninsula and returned to town for lunch. For lunch I had fried sambaza! Mmmm… Mmmm…. Sambaza is a tiny fish about 2 1/2 inches long and is fried (whole) in a light batter and served with a delicious sauce. Birajyoshye! (Delicious!) We had some beers and returned to our cheap yet pleasant hotel room exhausted and satisfied. The next day we made our long journey back to our sites with a newfound deference for the northern province.
I know I said that I wouldn’t do this but I can’t in good conscience leave out the amount of human suffering I witnessed in Gisenyi. I was surprised to find that this more touristy town showed more signs of poverty than Rwamagana which has practically no tourist attraction at all. Beggars were all but few. From my short time there, children seemed to show more signs of malnourishment than other areas that I have seen in Rwanda.

Congo Wars

If anyone wants to learn more about this region in the world, I just finished a book by Thomas Turner called The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth and Reality. It is dense with information on the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) which is deeply entangled with Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. It's pure information but very accurate and thorough. Although unknown to most people, the war in the DRC is the second deadliest war in history with about 5.4 million casualties, nearly half of them under the age of 5 since 1998 when the war began. Only the holocaust was deadlier. Why they don't teach you this in school is beyond me. I know you think my posts are depressing. I don't mean them to be. But I feel that I have a duty to tell you the good and the ugly. Perhaps I will try to show more good in the next post.

More Cultural Notes

1. Many Rwandans have been told that in America, marriages are a contract with a defined beginning and end. For instance, you can sign a contract for a 2 year marriage. After 2 years... it's over.
2. For some reason, many Rwandan parents tell their children that Muzungus (white people) eat children. So it's not uncommon to find children afraid of you.
3. Old Rwandans love canes. Old women (abakecuru) and old men (abasaza) almost always have a cane it seems. Most the time its just a nice walking stick but sometimes it will be a special cane that Rwandan kings once sported.
4. The culture of Rwandans has been affected strongly by several things. I can't give the full story right now. I will dedicate a full post to that subject.

MY PRIMARY PROJECT!!

My primary project is the construction of a YOUTH CENTER in Rwamagana. My office currently sits on a pretty large piece of property which will be used for the youth center. I am very excited about this project although it will take time. I am applying for grants now and trying to get this project started ASAP. I want the center to be a comfortable, safe, and fun environment for youth to express themselves with confidential access to information and counseling that can keep them safe and HIV free. I am planning on it having several counseling rooms for VCT (voluntary counseling and testing- for HIV), and general reproductive health counseling. I am also hoping that with a collaboration with the organization called Books for Africa, the youth center will also have a public library which is something that doesn't currently exist in Rwamagana. I also want it to have a gaming room, and maybe a cinema room for showing films and giving presentations. Of course, I will need proper funding to accomplish this so it will be built in phases. I think that something like this would be invaluable in my community.

August Continued

The rest of August flew by after having in-service training which was only catalyzed by copious amounts of Rwandan coffee and not a drop of rain. I took a short trip with friends to Rusumo Falls which is on the border with Rwanda and Tanzania. It was beautiful. The bus ride turned out to be a truly cultural experience. It was over 3 hours in a small bus (these are called Twegerane "we squeeze together" buses. Guess why. It is the size of a VW bus and fits 19 people not including babies, luggage and livestock.) that took the most random stops imaginable including one for 20 minutes that involved the loud Congolese music, dancing, eggs, peanuts and an empty bus. Yes, the driver got out and danced.
At Rusumo, we walked along a bridge between Rwanda and Tanzania above the waterfall. Then we hiked up to the top of hill and got a great view of everything from there including Tanzania.
I had a very important meeting with my organization. 1) My primary project is building a youth center in Rwamagana, 2) they want to move the national headquarters to Rwamagana, and 3) they want me to design it. So I took out the little knowledge that I had on drawing a floor plan and just drew it. And that's August.