Fun Week Fun

On Tuesday night I and 5 staff headed due East until we hit Lake Kivu. The journey was in the dark and like many roads in Rwanda they twisted and hugged the sides of the mountains. The road was built by Chinese contractors; in fact it seems the Chinese build all of the roads in Rwanda. The road to Kivu is particularly impressive as it has been cut into mountainside and hovers over steep valleys, but this isn’t something I would notice until our return journey to Kigali two days later. We arrived at our lakeside hotel in Kibuye just after 8 pm and settled in for the night.

Ten hours later I awoke to the sound of waves hitting the shore line that was just beyond my window. I opened the patio door to discover the island dotted Lake Kivu. As my eyes adjusted to the rising sun I tried to envision the shores of the Democratic Republic of Congo that were just on the other side. But that is a development tale for another day perhaps, today was the first day of Fun Week.

After a simple breakfast we headed 30 minutes into the mountains, which is a really short drive. As we arrived so did the children. A teacher and a whistle guided one of the schools down the mountain and announced their impending arrival. But to their astonishment a Muzungu was cheering on their arrival. Once they caught sight, the entire school stopped in their tracks. They slowly approached and gathered around saying nothing and only able to respond to, “How are you?” with “I am fine, teacher”.

It quickly became obvious that the chosen meeting location of the local government building was not a suitable place for 2,000 children. The solution was to send them to the “field” on top of the nearby mountain.

It turned out the “field” was a pine forest, but this was a blessing as the day was spent in the shade rather than the equatorial sun. The event started with the signing of the National Anthem. It’s always a wonderful experience feeling the National pride of a country beaming through the voices of young children. Short introductions, including the Muzungu trying her best to speak the very few words of Kinyarwandan she knew, lead to the children’s performances.

All of the songs and dances were written and choreographed by the children. The theme was fighting against child related violence and the promotion of children’s rights. Each school took their turn dancing, singing, reading poems and entertaining the crowd. Given the number of children at the event it was a bit of every child for themself and they slowly pushed in on the stage area, while other children took to the trees to get the best view in the house. I’m pretty sure if I would have climbed a tree at my school’s event I would have been very quickly escorted from the event.

After the performances prizes were handed out to the top children in each class. One prize was for the overall top student, while the second was for the top performing female in the sciences. This is done to encourage female students not only to stay in school, but to work just as hard at classes that typically thought to be only for boys. The children were very proud to have won the prizes, but they really didn’t know how to react. There were so many people looking at them, they were given such nice things (new backpack, English dictionary, math set, notebooks and pens) and a Muzungu was asking them to smile for a photo! It’s a lot to deal with for sure.


After all of the prizes were handed out it was time for the good stuff, Fanta and a Rwandan donut for all! The children were organized into their classes and made to wait for the arrival of their treat. As the tops were popped off their eyes were fixated on the fizzing sweetness just out of their reach. Fanta, Coke, Sprite and a few rogue Tonics were dispersed throughout forest. Their sticky smiles were quickly filled with baseball sized donuts.

As I wondered the forest I was greeted with curious eyes and eager handshakes. I’ve recently taken to the Obama style fist bump over the grubby handshake. Thankfully they love it and laugh when I complain they are too strong. We exchanged names, said hello, found out our age and then resorted to the camera for endless entrainment of taking photos and then showing them off.


The day ended with a typical meal of bruchett (meat skewers) and chips (French fries). Contrary to my travel goals and practices I don’t have any photos of Rwandan food, but I intend on taking some photos and sharing the Rwandan cuisine with you all soon.

Videos from fun week

Children dance and sing about Children's Rights and ending violence against children.
This dance is traditionally done by boys. Today girls join in on the fun.






I don't know how they dance with pots on their heads! They are great!

The settling of dust

As I write this entry I am sitting in our gazebo in the front of our house in Kacyiru. We are incredibly fortunate to be living on a newly paved road as most homes are off a road that is off a dirt road that is off another dirt road. We are in the middle of the long dry season so many of these dirt roads have now become dust roads. Walking down any of these roads results in a dust cloud Pigpen would be jealous of. The dirt covers the lower half of your body, and somehow chemically binds to your ankles in a way that only a pumas stone and Listerine can remove it. We are told that the rainy season is coming, actually we have not been told that is coming but we have been give exact dates as to when it will be here. One source told us August 15th, another September 1st, and yet another September 15th. Each person makes their claim with great conviction. August 15th is less than 24 hours away and as it stands the skies are blue and partly cloudy, depending on the part you are looking at. Either way, once the rain starts it will be here for at least 2 months, with downpours expected twice daily, this is yet another reason we are incredibly fortunate to be living on a newly paved road. Those living on the dust roads are excited for the rains to come and wash off the 6 inches of dust, however given that all roads are on hills and they are already rutted and potholed I don’t see how a muddy, slick, rutted and potholed road is a better option. But then again, what do I know, I have only been in this country for 3 weeks. I’ll keep you posted on this one.

Kigali is very different than any place I have ever lived. Coming from Minnesota, Ha Noi, and southern Sweden the first thing that will hit you is the never ending hills. Each hill is basically its own suburb and each is connected by several windy and twisted roads. To get around town we usually hop on the local taxi buses. The system is simple, but you have to know how to use it and there are no written clues. So basically you need to know the neighborhood you want to go to and which stop it comes to. Standing on the curb you listen for the drivers to yell out Remera or Mumugi . Then you aggressively cue to get a one of the 15 spots on the bus. Once they are full they fly down the windy roads and you hope they are going the direction you need them to. As you approach your stop you knock on the roof to signal your stop. The average cost is 180 RWF or about $0.25. The average travel time from our doorstep to our destination is about 45 minutes, so just going into town takes a bit of planning and appreciation of cheap public transportation.

Kigali itself is a very chilled city, especially for its size of 1 million. The city is so separated by the hills that each suburb is mostly self-contained. The center or “town” takes less than 10 to circumnavigate by foot. The main taxi-bus stop is smaller than the bus park at my high school. Town is where head for treats such as vinegar (which I have yet broken down and paid the $4 for), potato chips, wine and western canned goods. Every purchase is scrutinized, do we really need it? How will we use it? If we buy it how much will our meal cost and how many meals can we get from it? Yes 95% of our treats are consumable.

We have been slowing getting to know the expats in the community, but since our budget is as tight as a sausage casing we pick and choose our activities carefully. The top our list has so far been quiz nights, movie nights (at friends), cheapish dinners and picking up returnables from the nearby “Smarter” super market. Emily has put together a hiking group so we hope to organize some weekend outings soon!

As for work nothing too exciting has happen in the past few weeks, but next week is “Fun Week”. I will be in the field for 4 days and fun is sure to happen! Details and photos to come! Whoop, Whoop

Election Day in Rwanda

Three weeks ago the presidential election campaigns began. I'm not going to go into much detail about the various candidates (not such a wise idea while I am a guest in the country). I will say that out of the 4 running for President (with others denied the opportunity to run) one is a clear "favorite". Kagame has more or less controlled the country since the RPF took over the country and stopped the genocide in 1994. In 2003 elections were held and Kagame officially became the President (7 year terms). For the past 3 weeks the streets have been lined with Kagame's face on all of the billboards, as trucks, motos, and cars proudly fly the RPF flag. Security has been stepped up and armed soldiers wander the streets.

On the day of the election everyone was given the day off to vote. Esron was out the door at 6 am to line-up, vote and die his pinky nail, to signify that he has voted. He returned to the house just after 9:30 am and began doing various chores around the house. My favorite of which was a washing of the rooftop. Turns out it's not burnt sienna but rather a dull corrugated aluminum color. I guess all this cleaning is a sign that the elections are running smoothly.

The day before the election rumors were floating that the Tuesday would be another official holiday to celebrate Kagame's re-election. This is in spite of the fact that the official count is not scheduled to be ready until Tuesday night. Funny that, but as I type this I am at home not at the office on Tuesday afternoon. I guess the RPF camp is pretty confidant.

As it stands I have not heard any violence nor incidences related to the voting, but I have made the decision to stay close to home and lay low. As far at the "free and fair" elections... I won't post my thoughts, but I will add that those I have spoken to have for the very most part been happy with Kagame and planned on voting for him again. Some even hope that he will change the constitution so that he may run for a 3 term in 7 years time.

Here is a link for a summary of the Rwandan election, including a video:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/08/20108943239684905.html

For those of you who are interested, here is a great and detailed summary of Paul Kagame's history:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/rwanda/7900680/Paul-Kagame-Rwandas-redeemer-or-ruthless-dictator.html

Back in the field

Thanks for all of the feed-back everyone. It is great to have your support and to hear from you. We have gotten a bit busier with work and classes start soon, so I have not had much time to write an update. So, here is a condensed version of what we have been up to!

Finally, I was able to get back in the field. It’s been exactly a year since I left HSCV and I have missed the work. I’m not the academic type, and I have been willing myself through assignments knowing it would lead me back to the field.

Last Monday afternoon I left Kigali with 4 staff, including our driver. Rwanda is small and even the most remote areas take only 5 hours to reach from Kigali (please don’t mind the rutted and washed out mountains roads). We headed to the Northern Province to visit and investigate a new Development Area (DA) in the Muko Sector. It took us only 2 hours to climb the mountains and reach our destination. The drive was amazing as we drove up the windy, twisted mountainside. It has been awhile since I’ve been on such windy roads, but comparably to most countries (US excluded) the Rwandan traffic and drivers are tame. Rwanda has 5 of the 8 volcanoes that make up the Virunga chain, with the remaining 3 in the DRC. Unfortunately we were clouded in, and I was only able to see a faint outline of one of the volcanoes in the distance.

Upon arrival in Muko sector of Musanze district we meet with the local leaders. This trip was a fact finding/ introduction our mission. This is a new sector for our work, and it was extremely interesting to see their “rights based” approach in action from the very beginning. So far I have been very impressed with their approach and commitment they make to insure the development is happening from within. Any programs funds must come from the desire of the community. This is to stay, if they build a school, it because the local community leaders (not just the officials, but the teachers, PTA, religious leaders…) have advocated for it. AAIR acts by informing the locals of their rights (land rights, access to education, women’s rights…) and helps them learn how to obtain those rights for themselves. It is a bottom-up, top-down approach that seems to be working.

But, enough of the technical aspect of what I’m doing, which may not be as interesting to you as it is to me (I just get very excited about these things). The time in the north was absolutely wonderful. I was asked to interview a few people to create a profile for our poverty analysis of the new sector. I ended up speaking to 4 people, 3 women and 1 man. Their lives are very difficult. The land is very scarce since Rwanda has the highest population density of in Africa and over 90% of the population engages in agriculture of survival. The Rwanda’s have also traditionally had very big family as a means of security (more children to help you when you are old and a better chance of having a child that make it into adulthood). However, the reality is child mortality rates are dropping at very high rate and fertility rates are remaining at about 8 per woman. This is putting an even higher burden on the limited land and resources. Part of AAIR's advocacy focuses on family planning and education related to these issues. Needless to say their challenges are immense and it can be overwhelming to hear their stories and to try to understand how great the need really is.

Their children are so sweet and so excited to see a westerner for the first time. Many of them run up to touch and say hello and try out their English, some become speechless and others cry and run to their mothers. Once the camera comes out and the snapshots are shared; the excitement is hard to contain. They are really, really beautiful children.

Later in the week Emily and I were asked to travel to the Southern Provence to help collect “stories” that will be used in a community newsletter that is sent to sponsors. The South isn’t as “mountainous” as the North, but the hills in this country are never ending. Rwanda called the “Land of the 1,000 hills” for a very good reason, but really there are so many more than 1,000.

On the first day we visited 2 schools within the Nynaze district. The first is in the process of building a playground for the students. The local PTA is the brainchild of the project. They have overseen the construction and the parents were hired to participate in the building. This is not only a source of revenue for the family, but it also builds ownership into the project. The parents and the children really view the playground as theirs and they have all vowed to care for and protect the playground. The second school was a newly built and will be used for the upcoming school year. The old school was a very difficult 2 hour walk up hill. The school had great difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers as well as students. The new school will help the areas children stay in school and continue their education. An important addition to the new school are the 12 new and private toilets for the children to use. This basic need is a major cause of girl students dropping out of school. Once a girl reaches puberty, their period can become a major point for boys to bully them.

On the second day we traveled another 3 hours into to the remote Southern mountains that border Burundi, to the district of Rhanza. At one point we were able to see Burundi, given the declining state of security in Burundi this is likely to be the closet we will get. This school has also built new toilets and classrooms. The school currently has over 1,500 students with over 40 children to a classroom on split shifts. Some of the classrooms they are using were built in the 1950s. They are more or less made of mud brick walls with dirt floors. Before AAIR’s support most of the classrooms did not have desks or chairs for the students. The children sat on stones or logs, without a writing desk. The classrooms were also very dark, no electricity and only 2 windows in each room, a very hard environment to learn anything.

I was impressed by the teachers and the parents dedication to their children’s education. As with the other schools, they were built because of the PTA advocacy and ultimately built by the parents.

We were also fortunate to be introduced to the Sara Club. The Sara Club was stated 2 years ago. The group is managed by students with the support of teachers. The Sara Club is combating such issues as bullying and Gender Based Violence (GBV) through education, peer consoling, singing and dancing.

The girls preformed a song and dance for us and it was the most amazing performance. The girls were very proud and dedicated to the performance. Their positivity and warm spirits filled the school yard.

The average age in the Sarah Club is around 13, but Divine is by far the youngest at 5 years old. She does not yet attend school, but when heard about the Sara Club’s dancing and singing she couldn’t resist. She attends every meeting, practice and event. When asked how she feels about the Sara Club she is shy and recoils, but when she is on stage she is all business. She dances with great concentration and seriousness, keeping in step with girls 10 years her senior. She is my new hero.

Well, I have gone on for much longer than I thought I would. I hope you haven’t been too board by all of my development speak, I’ll try to minimize it next time. Enjoy your weekend and I’ll send a new update soon!