Thats right folks the Gideons came to my school today.
I had known that the Gideons were in all the Holiday Inns to the Motel 6s.. but you have to give them props. Today they came to my school and distributed over 500 New Testament/Psalms/Proverb books. And you know what, I got myself a copy. Here I was worried because I had read all the books I had brought with me, but never fear, the Gideons saved the day. I will now be able to read the New Testament.
I wonder how long it will take me to read it? I will keep you posted. :)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
My School and Home for the Next Year
So my school, I don't even know where to start.
I guess the logical place to start would be the location of the school. My school is in the north west section of Kigali, called Gisozi. If you are ever looking on a map of Kigali and you find the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Gisozi, well my school is up, up, and away on the hill that the memorial is at the bottom of. By foot it is about 80 minutes away from Town, aka the area we did our orientation training at.
So the layout of my school is actually very large. There is just over 700 girls boarding and attending the school, so you can imagine the amount of dormitories are needed. Then there are all the classrooms. The classrooms are generally built 2 or 3 together(the same building). The design of the school truly takes into account the land the school is on, meaning that the buildings are tiered-like on the hill. Now the main entrance to the school grounds is at the 'top' of the hill, while a good portion of the grounds is then on the north-sloping side. This means that from my front door I face out of Kigali, so its a nice change of view [the hills I can see are not city-hills].
That then takes me to my house for the year. So in the rear of the school grounds, the farthest part down the hill,there are a set of teacher homes. The best way I can think to describe them are like one floor duplexes. I'm in the second duplex. I have 2 doors into my house, one from the side that enters into the kitchen and one from the front that enters into the living room area. When you walk in the front door there is a living room that has a couch, 2 chairs, and coffee table. Then the room next to it, it is open, not closed off by doors, is the dining room. I have a long table with 6 chairs. Off the dining room is a kitchen area, which does have a door. The kitchen has shelves and then a sink. And off the kitchen is a closet/cleaning room/I don't know what to call it. Now if you go back into the dining room there is another door that leads you into a hallway. Off this hallway are the 2 bedrooms on either end of the hallway, and in the middle is the bathroom. I do have running water, a flushing toilet, and electricity.
In my room I have a full bed, with a horrible mattress, aka foam, bureau/shelving unit, and then a desk. It took me forever but I did end up riggin my mosquito netting, so I'm 'safe' from them mosquitos at night. :)
Literally as I am writing this is my living room I found out that my neighbor, the other half of my duplex, is the Headmistress of my school. Guess that means I can't have any raging parties on a school night.haha.
And to end the entry about my school and home I must mention the fact that my school has cows, yes that is right, cows. And as many as you can guess that thrills me. And as if it could not get better, every evening the cows are brought right infront of my house so I can look out my window at them :) .
I guess the logical place to start would be the location of the school. My school is in the north west section of Kigali, called Gisozi. If you are ever looking on a map of Kigali and you find the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Gisozi, well my school is up, up, and away on the hill that the memorial is at the bottom of. By foot it is about 80 minutes away from Town, aka the area we did our orientation training at.
So the layout of my school is actually very large. There is just over 700 girls boarding and attending the school, so you can imagine the amount of dormitories are needed. Then there are all the classrooms. The classrooms are generally built 2 or 3 together(the same building). The design of the school truly takes into account the land the school is on, meaning that the buildings are tiered-like on the hill. Now the main entrance to the school grounds is at the 'top' of the hill, while a good portion of the grounds is then on the north-sloping side. This means that from my front door I face out of Kigali, so its a nice change of view [the hills I can see are not city-hills].
That then takes me to my house for the year. So in the rear of the school grounds, the farthest part down the hill,there are a set of teacher homes. The best way I can think to describe them are like one floor duplexes. I'm in the second duplex. I have 2 doors into my house, one from the side that enters into the kitchen and one from the front that enters into the living room area. When you walk in the front door there is a living room that has a couch, 2 chairs, and coffee table. Then the room next to it, it is open, not closed off by doors, is the dining room. I have a long table with 6 chairs. Off the dining room is a kitchen area, which does have a door. The kitchen has shelves and then a sink. And off the kitchen is a closet/cleaning room/I don't know what to call it. Now if you go back into the dining room there is another door that leads you into a hallway. Off this hallway are the 2 bedrooms on either end of the hallway, and in the middle is the bathroom. I do have running water, a flushing toilet, and electricity.
In my room I have a full bed, with a horrible mattress, aka foam, bureau/shelving unit, and then a desk. It took me forever but I did end up riggin my mosquito netting, so I'm 'safe' from them mosquitos at night. :)
Literally as I am writing this is my living room I found out that my neighbor, the other half of my duplex, is the Headmistress of my school. Guess that means I can't have any raging parties on a school night.haha.
And to end the entry about my school and home I must mention the fact that my school has cows, yes that is right, cows. And as many as you can guess that thrills me. And as if it could not get better, every evening the cows are brought right infront of my house so I can look out my window at them :) .
Friday, January 23, 2009
All Eyes on One Man
As everyone in the entire world knows, last Tuesday, Obama became president of the United States. I have to tell you it was very interesting being in Africa, and specifically Rwanda during this week. Most of my students made some sort of comment to me about Obama, all my fellow teachers asked if I would be watching on TV, and on the actual day many strangers on the street made comments to me.
For the inauguration I went to the US Embassy in Kigali to watch it on CNN. This was a very well attended event. Evidentally you had to be on a list to get in, and of course we were not aware of this, but we somehow managed to get in anyway. On the lawn of the embassy they had tents set up that had TV monitors on CNN, and in one conference room they had a huge screen up with CNN on.
Now first I was excited to see the inaugration, but of course I was also excited to get the free food, and let me tell you, your tax payer dollars are going to good use feeding us over here :).
Aside from the food it was also very nice that they provided drinks, not only soda and beer, but also wine, which my fellow volunteer and I were very excited to have.
So for the inauguration literally we were all crowded around the TVs watching in practically absolute silence; it really was amazing.
The whole event was almost ruined beause after the swearing-in portion the power went out to the entire embassy. You can only imagine how we all felt because we all wanted to hear his speech. But in times like that the only thing one can do is wait and get another drink.
Luckily in a fairly short amount of time the power was restored and we were able to watch the middle/end of President Obama's speech.
The crowd stayed pretty silent for most of the other addresses, but there was an increase in noise when the poet was reading her poem.... anyone else realize that poems delivered in that cadence is the reason why poetry does not have a more important role in American society at the moment??
Overall I am very happy that I was able to get together with a group of Americans and experience it.
A few fun things to note about the night.
1) there was a delay of the feed between the conference room screen and the TVs outside, so it was amusing to hear the reactions of the people inside a few seconds before our reactions.
2) Had a great convo at the buffet line. A guy said is it bad that I am almost more excited about the food then watching the inauguration?.. we informed him that since we are volunteers any free food is always exciting... it should be noted that because of that exchange the 5 of us got invited to a party..haha
3) Almost exactly after Pres. Obama's speech has concluded the embassy had printouts of the new government, aka the key players. And they had it in English, French, an Kinyarwanda.. we were all like wow right off the press..
4) At promptly 8.30 we were all thanked for coming..aka time for us all to leave.haha
So as much as I might have missed being in the US for such an occasion, it was very neat to be in a foreign country.
As my final note I want to say it is truly amazing how the entire world was watching and how at least here in Rwanda many people feel a kinship to him because he is part African, so I can only imagine what it was like in other African countries.
For the inauguration I went to the US Embassy in Kigali to watch it on CNN. This was a very well attended event. Evidentally you had to be on a list to get in, and of course we were not aware of this, but we somehow managed to get in anyway. On the lawn of the embassy they had tents set up that had TV monitors on CNN, and in one conference room they had a huge screen up with CNN on.
Now first I was excited to see the inaugration, but of course I was also excited to get the free food, and let me tell you, your tax payer dollars are going to good use feeding us over here :).
Aside from the food it was also very nice that they provided drinks, not only soda and beer, but also wine, which my fellow volunteer and I were very excited to have.
So for the inauguration literally we were all crowded around the TVs watching in practically absolute silence; it really was amazing.
The whole event was almost ruined beause after the swearing-in portion the power went out to the entire embassy. You can only imagine how we all felt because we all wanted to hear his speech. But in times like that the only thing one can do is wait and get another drink.
Luckily in a fairly short amount of time the power was restored and we were able to watch the middle/end of President Obama's speech.
The crowd stayed pretty silent for most of the other addresses, but there was an increase in noise when the poet was reading her poem.... anyone else realize that poems delivered in that cadence is the reason why poetry does not have a more important role in American society at the moment??
Overall I am very happy that I was able to get together with a group of Americans and experience it.
A few fun things to note about the night.
1) there was a delay of the feed between the conference room screen and the TVs outside, so it was amusing to hear the reactions of the people inside a few seconds before our reactions.
2) Had a great convo at the buffet line. A guy said is it bad that I am almost more excited about the food then watching the inauguration?.. we informed him that since we are volunteers any free food is always exciting... it should be noted that because of that exchange the 5 of us got invited to a party..haha
3) Almost exactly after Pres. Obama's speech has concluded the embassy had printouts of the new government, aka the key players. And they had it in English, French, an Kinyarwanda.. we were all like wow right off the press..
4) At promptly 8.30 we were all thanked for coming..aka time for us all to leave.haha
So as much as I might have missed being in the US for such an occasion, it was very neat to be in a foreign country.
As my final note I want to say it is truly amazing how the entire world was watching and how at least here in Rwanda many people feel a kinship to him because he is part African, so I can only imagine what it was like in other African countries.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
My Thoughts On Kigali-part 1
I have now been in Kigali for a little over 3 weeks, and even still it is hard to describe the city. Since I will be living here for a year I figure I have time to get a really good description down, but I know that till then some of you are wondering what Kigali is like, so here are my first impressions.
The city just seems massive. Now I know that sounds funny condsidering I have spent time in cities like NYC, Chicago, DC, London, and Rome, but none-the-less it seems massive. The city is spread out over several hills so when you lookout all you see is city all around you. Kigali is also packed with people. At most times of the day it is surprising how many people are out and about(on foot).
Transporation: So there are tons of vehicles on the road. Many of them are fancy cars and SUVS, while many are also good old junkers that are running on their last lives. Then there are the taxi drivers that are always asking if we need rides. There are also moto taxis, which as you most likely can guess are motorcycles that you hop on and use like a taxi. The drivers are clearly marked because they have to wear specific vests and have not only a helmet for themselves but also one for their passenger. The next step down are the minibuses. They pack 18 people into a very small place. Generally they hot and sweaty. I am thankful I am not a very tall nor broad person, because I see some of the guys on the trip in them, and they truly look uncomfortable. Believe it or not there are also a good number of bikes around. And finally there is also a boat load of foot traffic.
For those of you who have not had a chance to look at a map of Kigali: Kigali is divided into districits, so when you want to go from one area to another you go to the minibus stop and you have to wait for a bus that goes to that district. When first explained I had thought it would be crazy, but the system actually works very well. I have learned already that it is really all about what minibus you get on. Unlike in the US when a bus stops at a stop and it takes on whomever is there and then moves on, the minibuses here do not go till the minibus is full. So if you get on at the beginning when the bus is empty you might sit around from anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes waiting for the bus to fill; the key is to hop on the bus as one of the last people. Also all minibus rides are 150 rwf, which I like,while the car taxis and the motos you have to negotiate before you get in/on. Obviously I am planning either on going with the minibus option or just hoofing it. Though I have already gone in a taxi and on a moto once. The taxi because the minibuses do stop running late at night,so taxi/moto are the only options, and there is no way I would go on a moto in the dark(streets are not all lit). I also went on a moto once just to have experienced it. I will admit that it was faster than taking a minibus, but it is more expensive...aka don't think I will be doing that too often. haha.
On the topic of money, I want to describe where I have been living the past 2 weeks. We were staying at St. Paul's Mission. It is a church that on its grounds they run a guest house(motel). Each room has two beds and a sink. Then there are shared bathrooms that include showers (think dorm bathrooms). To be honest this place is really nice and we are all hoping that this is not going to spoil us. St. Paul's is located right below the heart of 'Town' (called ville), which is one way the locals refer to the district. Although the area is very nice and has a lot of good places nearby, the big banks, 24 hr store, american-like internet cafes, it also then means everything is very expensive in comparision to some of the other districts. Also the neighborhood directly across the street is where President Kagame lives, so yah as you prolly can guess its an area where a bunch of wealthy people live. BUT, if there is one thing that I have learned here, there is a huge disparity between very close places(distance wise). Literally there will be huge Malibuesqe homes and then less that 50 yards away there will be more shanty like homes. At times it is very strang to see.
The next thing that I think surprised me greatly was the air quality here. It is not that I assumed the air would be great,but I don't think I would have expected it to be so smog like. I have never really experienced true smog(I will have to inquire with my mom), but I am pretty sure that on certain days the hills are blanketed in a smog, not a fog or a mist. It is also very noticeable when you are walking up a street because a majority of the cars and motos and minibuses have literally BLACK exhaust coming out of them.Yuck. As one girl I met said,"I will never complain about having to have my car checked out." Because of this I find myself waving my hand infront of my face a lot of the time when I am walking and I always try to put myself farthest away from the road.
Now on to roads--> they are great. Everything they say in travel books about the conditions of the roads are true. At least they are in Kigai and from Kigali to Butare. I will of course report back later on the year when I go elsewhere in Rwanda.
My last impression that I want to leave you with is how I believe the Rwandans view us. First of all don't come here if you are not okay with being stared at. We get stared at all the time, by almost everyone, not only children but adults too. Now if you want to make these people have a huge grin just saying hello in Kinyarwandana works. Unfortunetly many of the people here also think that we whites are all rich so everyday at some point whilst we are walking around we get begged and followed around for money. As much as I would/do want to give them money I know that it won't stop them for asking me for more, if anything it will cause others to mob me (not to mention the fact that I am not made of money). But other than that I have found no problems with the people here. They are so humble and gracious and polite that they put most Americans to shame. Even when they are staring they are only doing it out of curiousity, hence why they get happy when we talk to them.
I think for now this will do as my first impressions. As the year goes on I plan to add more and possibly amend whatever I have said here if I discover it is different.
The city just seems massive. Now I know that sounds funny condsidering I have spent time in cities like NYC, Chicago, DC, London, and Rome, but none-the-less it seems massive. The city is spread out over several hills so when you lookout all you see is city all around you. Kigali is also packed with people. At most times of the day it is surprising how many people are out and about(on foot).
Transporation: So there are tons of vehicles on the road. Many of them are fancy cars and SUVS, while many are also good old junkers that are running on their last lives. Then there are the taxi drivers that are always asking if we need rides. There are also moto taxis, which as you most likely can guess are motorcycles that you hop on and use like a taxi. The drivers are clearly marked because they have to wear specific vests and have not only a helmet for themselves but also one for their passenger. The next step down are the minibuses. They pack 18 people into a very small place. Generally they hot and sweaty. I am thankful I am not a very tall nor broad person, because I see some of the guys on the trip in them, and they truly look uncomfortable. Believe it or not there are also a good number of bikes around. And finally there is also a boat load of foot traffic.
For those of you who have not had a chance to look at a map of Kigali: Kigali is divided into districits, so when you want to go from one area to another you go to the minibus stop and you have to wait for a bus that goes to that district. When first explained I had thought it would be crazy, but the system actually works very well. I have learned already that it is really all about what minibus you get on. Unlike in the US when a bus stops at a stop and it takes on whomever is there and then moves on, the minibuses here do not go till the minibus is full. So if you get on at the beginning when the bus is empty you might sit around from anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes waiting for the bus to fill; the key is to hop on the bus as one of the last people. Also all minibus rides are 150 rwf, which I like,while the car taxis and the motos you have to negotiate before you get in/on. Obviously I am planning either on going with the minibus option or just hoofing it. Though I have already gone in a taxi and on a moto once. The taxi because the minibuses do stop running late at night,so taxi/moto are the only options, and there is no way I would go on a moto in the dark(streets are not all lit). I also went on a moto once just to have experienced it. I will admit that it was faster than taking a minibus, but it is more expensive...aka don't think I will be doing that too often. haha.
On the topic of money, I want to describe where I have been living the past 2 weeks. We were staying at St. Paul's Mission. It is a church that on its grounds they run a guest house(motel). Each room has two beds and a sink. Then there are shared bathrooms that include showers (think dorm bathrooms). To be honest this place is really nice and we are all hoping that this is not going to spoil us. St. Paul's is located right below the heart of 'Town' (called ville), which is one way the locals refer to the district. Although the area is very nice and has a lot of good places nearby, the big banks, 24 hr store, american-like internet cafes, it also then means everything is very expensive in comparision to some of the other districts. Also the neighborhood directly across the street is where President Kagame lives, so yah as you prolly can guess its an area where a bunch of wealthy people live. BUT, if there is one thing that I have learned here, there is a huge disparity between very close places(distance wise). Literally there will be huge Malibuesqe homes and then less that 50 yards away there will be more shanty like homes. At times it is very strang to see.
The next thing that I think surprised me greatly was the air quality here. It is not that I assumed the air would be great,but I don't think I would have expected it to be so smog like. I have never really experienced true smog(I will have to inquire with my mom), but I am pretty sure that on certain days the hills are blanketed in a smog, not a fog or a mist. It is also very noticeable when you are walking up a street because a majority of the cars and motos and minibuses have literally BLACK exhaust coming out of them.Yuck. As one girl I met said,"I will never complain about having to have my car checked out." Because of this I find myself waving my hand infront of my face a lot of the time when I am walking and I always try to put myself farthest away from the road.
Now on to roads--> they are great. Everything they say in travel books about the conditions of the roads are true. At least they are in Kigai and from Kigali to Butare. I will of course report back later on the year when I go elsewhere in Rwanda.
My last impression that I want to leave you with is how I believe the Rwandans view us. First of all don't come here if you are not okay with being stared at. We get stared at all the time, by almost everyone, not only children but adults too. Now if you want to make these people have a huge grin just saying hello in Kinyarwandana works. Unfortunetly many of the people here also think that we whites are all rich so everyday at some point whilst we are walking around we get begged and followed around for money. As much as I would/do want to give them money I know that it won't stop them for asking me for more, if anything it will cause others to mob me (not to mention the fact that I am not made of money). But other than that I have found no problems with the people here. They are so humble and gracious and polite that they put most Americans to shame. Even when they are staring they are only doing it out of curiousity, hence why they get happy when we talk to them.
I think for now this will do as my first impressions. As the year goes on I plan to add more and possibly amend whatever I have said here if I discover it is different.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Never Again--don't ever let yourself forget those words
On Monday we went to the Rwandan Genocide Memorial in Kigali in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to the Genocide site Nyamata, about a half an hour outside of Kigali.
The Genocide Memorial is comprised of a museum section, a rose garden section, and then the burial sections. The museum's first floor is about the Rwandan genocide while the second floor features an exhibit on other historic genocides that have taken place around the world. The numerous rose gardens are maticulously taken care of and look great.There are also several fountain sitting areas that really reflect a serenity that is much needed. The museum itself is very well done.
I had known going in that it would be hard to make my way through the museum, but I am happy that I did. Knowing how emotional I get I had tried to prepare myself as much as possbile, but as expected it was hard to get through. I greatly appreciated the gardens and fountains so that after I had gone through the museum I was able to go and sit and just be by myself.
I will admit that the burial sites were hard to walk by just because in knowing how many people were buried right in front of me was just very difficult to handle.
As I said earlier, in the afternoon we went to Nyamata, which is a town outside of Kigali. The site that we specifically went to is one of their churches. Behind the church there is another burial site. For those of you who do not know, the church in Nyamata is where 10,000 people were killed. They had been in the church for roughly a week before they were killed. Only 5 survived. Currently inside the church is piles of all the clothing of the people killed there. Literally there is clothing piled all over the floor. It was very hard to walk in and see that right away and just know what it signified. No placecards or history was needed, one only needs to look at the clothing and know.
When we had walked from the bus station in Nyamata to the church it was erie because a group of children walked with us and were hugging us and holding our hands[they were just soo happy] and they walked us straight to the church gates and then let us all pass through as they just stood there..
I think many of you can guess what kind of emotions I had on Monday and what emotions I have just rethinking about it and writing about it. Hopefully you can understand why I am not even going to attempt to put them into words; but know that they are there and that they are very strong.
I want to leave you with 3 quotes that I found had touched me when I was going through the museum:
"Igiti Kigororwa Kikiri gito"-Imigani ijy anyen'umuco
and in English
"A tree can only be straightened when it is young"- Traditional
"There will be no humanity without forgivenes.
There will be no forgiveness without justice.
But justice will be impossible without humanity."
-Yolande Mukagasana
"If you must remember, remember this..
The Nazis did not kill 6 million Jews..
nor the Interahamwe kill a million Tutsis,
they killed one and then another, then another...
Genocide is not a signle act of murder, it is millions of acts of murder."
-Stephen D. Smith, Executive Director, Aegis Trust, 2004.
The Genocide Memorial is comprised of a museum section, a rose garden section, and then the burial sections. The museum's first floor is about the Rwandan genocide while the second floor features an exhibit on other historic genocides that have taken place around the world. The numerous rose gardens are maticulously taken care of and look great.There are also several fountain sitting areas that really reflect a serenity that is much needed. The museum itself is very well done.
I had known going in that it would be hard to make my way through the museum, but I am happy that I did. Knowing how emotional I get I had tried to prepare myself as much as possbile, but as expected it was hard to get through. I greatly appreciated the gardens and fountains so that after I had gone through the museum I was able to go and sit and just be by myself.
I will admit that the burial sites were hard to walk by just because in knowing how many people were buried right in front of me was just very difficult to handle.
As I said earlier, in the afternoon we went to Nyamata, which is a town outside of Kigali. The site that we specifically went to is one of their churches. Behind the church there is another burial site. For those of you who do not know, the church in Nyamata is where 10,000 people were killed. They had been in the church for roughly a week before they were killed. Only 5 survived. Currently inside the church is piles of all the clothing of the people killed there. Literally there is clothing piled all over the floor. It was very hard to walk in and see that right away and just know what it signified. No placecards or history was needed, one only needs to look at the clothing and know.
When we had walked from the bus station in Nyamata to the church it was erie because a group of children walked with us and were hugging us and holding our hands[they were just soo happy] and they walked us straight to the church gates and then let us all pass through as they just stood there..
I think many of you can guess what kind of emotions I had on Monday and what emotions I have just rethinking about it and writing about it. Hopefully you can understand why I am not even going to attempt to put them into words; but know that they are there and that they are very strong.
I want to leave you with 3 quotes that I found had touched me when I was going through the museum:
"Igiti Kigororwa Kikiri gito"-Imigani ijy anyen'umuco
and in English
"A tree can only be straightened when it is young"- Traditional
"There will be no humanity without forgivenes.
There will be no forgiveness without justice.
But justice will be impossible without humanity."
-Yolande Mukagasana
"If you must remember, remember this..
The Nazis did not kill 6 million Jews..
nor the Interahamwe kill a million Tutsis,
they killed one and then another, then another...
Genocide is not a signle act of murder, it is millions of acts of murder."
-Stephen D. Smith, Executive Director, Aegis Trust, 2004.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Weekend In Huye[aka Butare]
So this past weekend our group headed down to Huye for the weekend. we left on Friday from Kigali. We took Volcano buses. We weren't able to buy tickets for everyone on the same bus so we left at 4 and then 4.30. It 127 km away and that took us almost exactly 2 and half hours. This was our first time out of the city, and man was it great.
Honestly I don't even know how to describe the trip and really do it justice. Lets just say I was like a kid in a candy store. My head kept swiveling back and forth so I could try and take in as much scenery as possible. I was rockin out to my ipod and for those of you who knows that means I was having a wicked dance party in my head while I was looking around. First of all the difference between the road and Kigali was night and day. The air felt and looked cleaner and there was just green everywhere. Tons of people were out and about on the road either on foot or on bicycle. I was surpised that for the entire journey there was a legit sidewalk along the road. The hills literally just keep going on and on, it was crazy beautiful. I hope that a fraction of the beauty was able to be captured in my photos, but I'm afraid it wasn't. I will say I was impressed by all the agriculture that was going on everywhere and how the tiering on the hills truly looked neat and I couldn't help but wonder how it was done and maintained... which leads me to another thing that I am always wondering about. Power lines. They amaze me. It felt like suddenly out of the blue they would just be there and I wanted to be like where did you come from and how did you get there..
But that is getting away from the weekend. So Huye is where the National Musuem of Rwanda is located and it is also where a huge university is at. Now I will admit that when I heard univeristy I just assumed what that mean what the city woul look like, and let me tell you one really shouldn't do that..haha.. Huye is essentially a one road city. For the two nights our group was split up.Six of us(myself) included stayed at the volunteer house of VCP[village concept project] and the rest stayed at a guest house (aka hotel or motel). We were finally able to cook our own food at the volunteer house, and let me tell you it was so nice. We had fresh vegetables, eggplant, greenbeans, tomatoes,peppers, ect.. essentially friday and saturday were two of our best dinners yet.
As a side note I had my first chance to use my sleeping bag and I have fallen in total love with it. Not only for its compactability and its downyness, but really cause it is just AMAZING to lay in. I'm actually very excited to get to my placement site and use it every day.
Back to Huye.
So on Saturday morning we went to an orphanage. This was an orphanage that had its focus on children who were either HIV/AIDS postive or whose parents had been. The children only come on Saturdays, during the week they either live with relatives or with host families. When we first got there we first went through a general presentation/introduction and then we went outside to play. At first we sang some Kinyarwandan songs but then we were asked to teach/lead some songs. We did such songs as Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, The Hookey Pokey, Singing in the Rain,and the Birdy Song.. Lets just say the group was very happy that I had been a camp counselor before.. shout out to the Girl Scouts and always being prepared..haha.. After doing that as a whole group we then broke into small groups to do other games. The group I was with first did Miss Mary Mac and then I did the Beaver song. Then we played a Rwandan version of duck duck goose which was tons of fun because all of us whites really tried to sing their words which of course really entertained them. Then we joined the other groups in this massive tug of war/red rover type game. Essentially there are two sides and the one side sings and names someone from the other team, then the other team responds and picks someone from the first team. Then the two people come to the center and they clasp their own hands together while making an interlocking between the two of them. Then they tug and pull as hard as they can in order drag the other person back to their side in order to win. and WOA, this is a hard core event and the kids could just keep going. They actually did keep going till it was time for lunch. Once they had all sat down, my group then acted as a conveyer belt and pased lunch out (approx 100+ kids). After they had been served we too then get a delicious and filling plate of food. We then had a super tasty tea to finish up lunch. After lunch school uniforms and school supplies were passed out the children. School is starting tomorrow(monday) so it was pretty important to get that out to all the children. The girls all wear blue uniforms and the boys wear olive-beige ones. And then it was time to go, so we all headed back 'home.' For most of the hour+ walk we had kids walking with us. And I have to say when my two friends and I stopped for Cokes, I don't think I had ever drank such a nice thing in my life, it was just so refreshing, you wouldn't even be able to believe it.
One more note about the children at the orphanage. They loved our digital cameras. They loved having their photo taken and then being able to see it and they loved taking pictures of their friends. And I'm not sure if it is surprisingly or not but almost all of them loved to do karate moves in their photos, so I decided that their theme song should be Kung Fu Fighting.
Just to sum up the visit to the orphange: other than stating the activities that we did I feel I could not do my emotions or senses justice by trying to describe how I felt while I was there, but I can say I will never forget those few hours that we spent there and I hope sometime in the next year I will be able to go back.
The ride home was almost as great as the ride there, except for the fact that all 20 of us got on the same bus, so it was 20 whites and then 5 Rwandans, and man you should have seen their faces when they climbed on the bus. The most have thought 'man what did I just get myself onto.'
The only notable moment of the bus ride home was the man sitting next to me who used me as a chaise lounge for a portion of the ride..Oh and there was the fact that the radio station the bus was playing for us played Beyonce at least 3 times within an hour's span. Needless to say I am predicting that I will be a HUGE Beyonce fan by the time I get home..
Now we are back in Kigali for another week and then we are all off to our placement sites. I am hoping to get my first impressions of Kigali down soon, so stay tuned..
Honestly I don't even know how to describe the trip and really do it justice. Lets just say I was like a kid in a candy store. My head kept swiveling back and forth so I could try and take in as much scenery as possible. I was rockin out to my ipod and for those of you who knows that means I was having a wicked dance party in my head while I was looking around. First of all the difference between the road and Kigali was night and day. The air felt and looked cleaner and there was just green everywhere. Tons of people were out and about on the road either on foot or on bicycle. I was surpised that for the entire journey there was a legit sidewalk along the road. The hills literally just keep going on and on, it was crazy beautiful. I hope that a fraction of the beauty was able to be captured in my photos, but I'm afraid it wasn't. I will say I was impressed by all the agriculture that was going on everywhere and how the tiering on the hills truly looked neat and I couldn't help but wonder how it was done and maintained... which leads me to another thing that I am always wondering about. Power lines. They amaze me. It felt like suddenly out of the blue they would just be there and I wanted to be like where did you come from and how did you get there..
But that is getting away from the weekend. So Huye is where the National Musuem of Rwanda is located and it is also where a huge university is at. Now I will admit that when I heard univeristy I just assumed what that mean what the city woul look like, and let me tell you one really shouldn't do that..haha.. Huye is essentially a one road city. For the two nights our group was split up.Six of us(myself) included stayed at the volunteer house of VCP[village concept project] and the rest stayed at a guest house (aka hotel or motel). We were finally able to cook our own food at the volunteer house, and let me tell you it was so nice. We had fresh vegetables, eggplant, greenbeans, tomatoes,peppers, ect.. essentially friday and saturday were two of our best dinners yet.
As a side note I had my first chance to use my sleeping bag and I have fallen in total love with it. Not only for its compactability and its downyness, but really cause it is just AMAZING to lay in. I'm actually very excited to get to my placement site and use it every day.
Back to Huye.
So on Saturday morning we went to an orphanage. This was an orphanage that had its focus on children who were either HIV/AIDS postive or whose parents had been. The children only come on Saturdays, during the week they either live with relatives or with host families. When we first got there we first went through a general presentation/introduction and then we went outside to play. At first we sang some Kinyarwandan songs but then we were asked to teach/lead some songs. We did such songs as Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, The Hookey Pokey, Singing in the Rain,and the Birdy Song.. Lets just say the group was very happy that I had been a camp counselor before.. shout out to the Girl Scouts and always being prepared..haha.. After doing that as a whole group we then broke into small groups to do other games. The group I was with first did Miss Mary Mac and then I did the Beaver song. Then we played a Rwandan version of duck duck goose which was tons of fun because all of us whites really tried to sing their words which of course really entertained them. Then we joined the other groups in this massive tug of war/red rover type game. Essentially there are two sides and the one side sings and names someone from the other team, then the other team responds and picks someone from the first team. Then the two people come to the center and they clasp their own hands together while making an interlocking between the two of them. Then they tug and pull as hard as they can in order drag the other person back to their side in order to win. and WOA, this is a hard core event and the kids could just keep going. They actually did keep going till it was time for lunch. Once they had all sat down, my group then acted as a conveyer belt and pased lunch out (approx 100+ kids). After they had been served we too then get a delicious and filling plate of food. We then had a super tasty tea to finish up lunch. After lunch school uniforms and school supplies were passed out the children. School is starting tomorrow(monday) so it was pretty important to get that out to all the children. The girls all wear blue uniforms and the boys wear olive-beige ones. And then it was time to go, so we all headed back 'home.' For most of the hour+ walk we had kids walking with us. And I have to say when my two friends and I stopped for Cokes, I don't think I had ever drank such a nice thing in my life, it was just so refreshing, you wouldn't even be able to believe it.
One more note about the children at the orphanage. They loved our digital cameras. They loved having their photo taken and then being able to see it and they loved taking pictures of their friends. And I'm not sure if it is surprisingly or not but almost all of them loved to do karate moves in their photos, so I decided that their theme song should be Kung Fu Fighting.
Just to sum up the visit to the orphange: other than stating the activities that we did I feel I could not do my emotions or senses justice by trying to describe how I felt while I was there, but I can say I will never forget those few hours that we spent there and I hope sometime in the next year I will be able to go back.
The ride home was almost as great as the ride there, except for the fact that all 20 of us got on the same bus, so it was 20 whites and then 5 Rwandans, and man you should have seen their faces when they climbed on the bus. The most have thought 'man what did I just get myself onto.'
The only notable moment of the bus ride home was the man sitting next to me who used me as a chaise lounge for a portion of the ride..Oh and there was the fact that the radio station the bus was playing for us played Beyonce at least 3 times within an hour's span. Needless to say I am predicting that I will be a HUGE Beyonce fan by the time I get home..
Now we are back in Kigali for another week and then we are all off to our placement sites. I am hoping to get my first impressions of Kigali down soon, so stay tuned..
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Better Late Then Never
So I can't beleive that I have only been in Rwanda for 5 days. Time really does fly. Before I jump to what I have been doing for the past 5 days I have to first talk about the flight over here.
The fight: It was long. I had thought I was standing up and moving around enough, but really I wasn't. When we landed in Kigali and we got to walk on that tarmac I don't think my legs had ever felt so nice. Aside from the length of the flight there were only a few other notable events that happened.
1) when going through the security of dulles airport my toothpaste got taken away from me because it was 3.4 oz and not the allowed 3.0. Obviously I did not argue but man oh man I wanted to.
2)seating on the airplane. Now I know that many of you prolly don't think this could be an issue since everyone has a ticket, BUT it most def can be an issue. So when I got on the plane I walked back to my seat and someone was sitting there; I asked them about it but they said that they were in the correct seat, so I just was like oh I guess I misread the rows and I sat in the row behind. Now another girl from my group came and was like this is my row and I'm 29,so you can't be here if you are in 28. but we just sat together. Then about 15 minutes later a woman came with the other 29 seat ticket, so I let her sit down in her rightful seat. Then I went to find a flight attendent in order to help sort the seating issue out. Essentially 10 rows of people were all one back from where they were supposed to be. So the flight attendent started moving people to their correct spots when the lady next to my friend(row 29) then said oh you want to sit with your friend, ok, I will just move to the open seat. Therefore letting me sit in row 29 with my friend. I was then informed that this is very common and generally causes huge discussions amongst who is going to sit where, and all I can think is that if everyone just sat in there correct seat there would be no issues.
3) my duck tape. So we took the first leg of our leg from DC to Addis Ababa. So in Addis we had to deplane and although we did not go through a passport checkpoint, we did have to rego through security. Since my bag had been overweight in DC I had to take something out to make it under 50 lbs; that item was my roll of duck tape. Now since we all know that duct tape is amazing I did not want to throw it away,so I put it in my jacket pocket. Everything was fine in DC security but not in Addis. They wouldn't let me take it, and I will be honest I was a little hostile and I know that one shouldn't be, but come on they obviously just wanted my tape. And as many of you can guess it ended with me giving up the tape so I could get on my plane:(.
Other than these 3 things the flight was fine. Flying over part of Africa was amazing. The sunrise was stupendeous and flying over the Nile was just unreal. Landing in Kigali was great, and of course getting all my luggage was also pretty sweet:).
The fight: It was long. I had thought I was standing up and moving around enough, but really I wasn't. When we landed in Kigali and we got to walk on that tarmac I don't think my legs had ever felt so nice. Aside from the length of the flight there were only a few other notable events that happened.
1) when going through the security of dulles airport my toothpaste got taken away from me because it was 3.4 oz and not the allowed 3.0. Obviously I did not argue but man oh man I wanted to.
2)seating on the airplane. Now I know that many of you prolly don't think this could be an issue since everyone has a ticket, BUT it most def can be an issue. So when I got on the plane I walked back to my seat and someone was sitting there; I asked them about it but they said that they were in the correct seat, so I just was like oh I guess I misread the rows and I sat in the row behind. Now another girl from my group came and was like this is my row and I'm 29,so you can't be here if you are in 28. but we just sat together. Then about 15 minutes later a woman came with the other 29 seat ticket, so I let her sit down in her rightful seat. Then I went to find a flight attendent in order to help sort the seating issue out. Essentially 10 rows of people were all one back from where they were supposed to be. So the flight attendent started moving people to their correct spots when the lady next to my friend(row 29) then said oh you want to sit with your friend, ok, I will just move to the open seat. Therefore letting me sit in row 29 with my friend. I was then informed that this is very common and generally causes huge discussions amongst who is going to sit where, and all I can think is that if everyone just sat in there correct seat there would be no issues.
3) my duck tape. So we took the first leg of our leg from DC to Addis Ababa. So in Addis we had to deplane and although we did not go through a passport checkpoint, we did have to rego through security. Since my bag had been overweight in DC I had to take something out to make it under 50 lbs; that item was my roll of duck tape. Now since we all know that duct tape is amazing I did not want to throw it away,so I put it in my jacket pocket. Everything was fine in DC security but not in Addis. They wouldn't let me take it, and I will be honest I was a little hostile and I know that one shouldn't be, but come on they obviously just wanted my tape. And as many of you can guess it ended with me giving up the tape so I could get on my plane:(.
Other than these 3 things the flight was fine. Flying over part of Africa was amazing. The sunrise was stupendeous and flying over the Nile was just unreal. Landing in Kigali was great, and of course getting all my luggage was also pretty sweet:).
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