Send Me To Rwanda!

So Sonia and I went to eat at a pizza place tonight that hosts a Trivia game by Embassy workers. It was fun. I ate an entire pizza. I was sooo hungry! I realized how lucky I am to live in Kigali, as opposed to some of the poorer parts of Africa, like the villages.

I'm exhausted so I'm going to bed. Full day of work tomorrow. Man those Rwandans work hard! Most of them were here until 8 PM tonight!! 12 hour work days!

So today marked a big day in Rwandan news... everyone at my work was listening to this as it was being projected across the radio. Please see the article below

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE60A19H20100111

I had a great first day of work. I love my co-workers. Can't wait to continue to work with NAR.

So it was a pretty boring day. I still wasn't feeling well, so I decided not to go to church, like I said. So I lounged around a lot of the day and made hemp bracelets. Then my roommate returned around 5 PM and we headed out to the market to get me some groceries. I hadn't done so yet and it was getting to the point that I had nothing to eat. Because we do not have a refrigerator in the house (or it's not in use because of the amount of power it uses), we have to buy groceries often...and monitor what we buy since they are not refrigerated. Plus most things that people buy here are organic foods and go bad easily, like most fruit and vegetables. So we took a bus to the market and it was the most intense thing I've ever seen. There were so many vendors selling food that they grew themselves it looked like. All the food looked like it had just been picked from the ground (with the dirt still on it) and brought to the market to be sold. Didn't make me want to eat it at all. But Sonia went into the market and negotiated for us.I spent a total of They always tried to charge us a lot....and all the Rwandan teenagers were following us around calling us "muzungus" and asking us for work. Most of the vendors tried to chase them away. There was a little girl that came up to me and held out her hand for me to shake it. They are so intrigued by Americans. It was cute. We bought some food (mostly vegetables, fruit, and starch) and went over to look at the fabric. I want to get a dress made here from fabric I buy. My roommate has already done so. It's pretty cheap to do.

After the market, we went home. When we got home, we made a good meal of stir fry. We had rice, carrots, and green beans. It was good but pretty plain. I was just hungry! Then she went to talk to her mom on the phone and I went to chat with Andrew on Skype. Then we played some cards together and I made her a hemp bracelet. Then we both went to our rooms and I played Hearts online with Andrew. It was fun! I beat him most every time. I went to bed and then just woke up. Now I'm off to start my first day of work with Never Again Rwanda. I am really excited to see what they have in store for me :) Later!

So my third day in Rwanda left off of my last entry, when I was going to the Genocide Memorial. Unfortunately I felt REALLY sick and didn't stay long. I had this sharp pain in my right side and had felt clammy and really hot and sick. I think it was a combination of altitude sickness, dehydration, getting used to the time zone and difference, and possibly kidney stones. I really don't know. After that I came home and took it easy. It's weird because being where we were we had to take 2 buses just to get back....as I was walking down the hill to find a bus, people kept saying hello to me or calling me "muzungu" (white person) and I just wanted to get out of there! I wish I could've got some pictures because the place was something that Americans need to see... but I just was too sick. Then we got a bus (there's no 911 or emergency number here unfortunately) and took those buses back to the center of town. Then we had to get a taxi. After negotiating a little, we got a taxi for about $6.00. That's pretty expensive here, but I didn't care. I just wanted to get home. So I got home and the NAR staff was here to help me. They tried to push me to go to the hospital, but I thought it was better for me to just lie down for awhile and see how I felt. I drank a huge jug of water and just relaxed. Then the program director, Anne, came over to see how I was doing. She said she had experienced the same symptoms before the first time she went to the memorial because of the lack of oxygen that is there (because of the altitude). So she took me to her house to have dinner with her and her fiance. We had pizza that he made and it was really good. Then they dropped me off back at the house, I skyped with Andrew, and I went to bed. I was not feeling well at the time.

Then this morning, I woke up and had a sore throat and congested ears and head. I took some Tylenol Cold Medicine...and it seems to have helped a little bit. I think getting used to the 84 degree weather and altitude here will just take some adjusting. I also have a 7 hour time zone difference, and I'm still getting used to that as well. I decided not to go to church today and just took it easy instead. I'm waiting for my roommate to get back and we're going to go to the market and get some groceries for me. Right now I'm just sitting in our living area eating some potato crisps and drinking water. It's thundering, so it might start raining over here soon. We're in the rainy season and it's rained 3/4 days that I've been here...but it will only last for about 20 minutes at a time, which is nice.

This morning I wanted to take a shower but knew that my shower has been flooding the house, so we decided it would be best for me to get a small bucket, fill it up with water, and clean myself that way. So I got in the bathroom, filled my bucket up, got myself wet, cleaned myself, and cleaned myself off with the buckets of water...all with using a bucket and sink water. No shower water needed. Man what I would do for a hot shower right about now! There are so many things we take for granted and that is def. one of them!! 4 months to go!

I also forgot to mention that I had my first experience yesterday with local Rwandans. Most of the people here that I have met thus far are from either Uganda or the Congo, but their families were originally from Rwanda. They moved away as refugees in the 50's or later, and didn't return until after the 1994 genocide. However, the locals I met yesterday might have been here in 94. My roommate went to go buy some bread, so I went with her. There are big shops downtown, but there is a local shop right across the street. It is in a really poor area. We went over there and all the kids knew her by name. They were asking about me, and I met most of them. They all gathered around so interested in me and what I was doing there. They spoke to me by saying "hi" in English, and then proceeding to say "how are you?" Some of them asked me if I spoke Kinyarwanda, and I explained to them that I had only been there for a day and was still learning, but that I knew "muraho" "yego" and "oya." They were appreciative. They were very gentle and sweet and I look forward to getting to spend more time with the locals here. I want to make some hemp bracelets for them since I have all the materials. I think they would appreciate that.

Also, I forgot to mention, when we were in town yesterday I saw some guy with an Eminem shirt. Also, there were a lot of other Rwandans wearing different rappers on their shirts. One of the buses down here says "Kanye West" on it. They love American rap apparently. Pretty interesting. There are a lot of signs that are in English here and even more people wearing English sayings on their shirts. You'd be surprised. I also saw two Rwandans without legs, walking around the streets with their hands. That made me really sad. And there are a lot of people carrying big baskets and items on their head. One teenager I saw had a huge bag of bottles.

Well I should probably get off the computer now, after writing this novel of an entry. Hope you all enjoy it. I'll keep you posted on my adventures over the next few days. I am going to start work tomorrow so I might not have too too much to say.

Love you all!

Just wanted to send an update on how life is in Rwanda. So I arrived here three days ago and I already have so many stories to tell! I am so excited to be here and ready to start work on Monday with NAR and help the people of Rwanda. Everyone I met so far has been incredible. The people here are so generous and kind.

So let me tell you a little bit about my experience thus far... so I arrived at 9 PM Rwandan time two nights ago. The airport was really small. My boss and her fiance were at the airport to pick me up. It didn't take too long to get my luggage...and it wasn't lost! I thought for sure something like that would happen to me (since bad things always seem to find their way into my life). It was too dark to see much of Kigali at that point though. We went to my workplace/where I'm living and they dropped me off with keys. The front has a gate and security guard. There are locks on everything here....the gate, the front door, my bedroom door. I feel very safe. We got in the house only to discover that my bathroom had flooded and the water had run into my room as well. After cleaning that up, we moved my stuff in my room, I got on SKYPE and chatted with Andrew, unpacked my room, and went to bed. I went to bed that night a little homesick.

Yesterday was my first full day in Rwanda. I woke up, ate a small breakfast, and hopped in the shower. Mind you, the water is cold and I can't drink the water. But I got out of the shower only to realize that it had AGAIN flooded the whole bathroom and part of my bedroom. So I cleaned up that mess, and realized that the shower drain was too small for the shower. They suggest that I get a bucket and clean myself that way. I'm really roughin it, huh? Then, my roommate Sonia took me out on the town. The experience was interesting. We jumped on a bus with about 20 Rwandans. It was four people to a row, and one of the chairs in each row folded up so if someone from the back needed to get out they could. The driver was playing music the whole time, which I thought was really cool. When we needed to get off, we simply knocked on the side of the bus wall, and they stopped the bus for us. Then we paid them 180 rwandan francs (its 570 rwandan francs to 1 US dollar).... so we rode for really cheap! They actually say that Kigali is one of the most expensive cities in Africa, but compared to Fairfax, everything here is cheap to me! So we got off in the downtown area of Kigali, where the Union Trade Centre and a bunch, and I mean a bunch, of shops are. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. It was pretty intimidating because I don't know anyone. Luckily my roommate is fluent in English, French, and Kinyarwanda, so she managed to get us around. She already taught me a few words "muzungu" which means "white person", "yego" which means yes, "oya" which means no (and I had to use this one A LOT), and she taught me thank you, which I heard a lot but can't remember. So we went shopping for some stuff I needed. We got some toilet paper, coat hangers, cleaning supplies to clean my clothes (I have to hand wash my clothes), and a bottled water. Then we went to get me a cell phone. Everyone here has one, and I would be REALLY at a disadvantage if I didn't have one. We got it from one of the 3 Rwandan cell phone companies MTN. It's pretty much a pay as you go phone. There are people that sell MTN credits along all Kigali. I paid about $30 US dollars for my cell phone and 3,000 credits. It takes about 30 credits to text, so who knows how long this will last me. But since I only know work people at this moment, I don't think I will use too many minutes. They said the big thing to do here is "beep" someone...which is basically calling them and hanging up when they answer so they have to call you back. I guess minutes only count against you when you're making outgoing calls, not accepting incoming calls. I don't think I'll beep anyone until I feel comfortable haha. After the cell phone shop we went to the bank. First we visited the Bank of Kigali, which didn't accept travelers checks and I got a little freaked out. But they directed us to another bank, and they did there. After about an hour long dealing with the tellers, I finally got the money that I needed...some Rwandans were mad I think that I was taking so long. Then we met up my roommates friend Alex. He's from Mexico and in Kigali to help build the business plan for the first language center. Because Rwanda is transitioning to having English as their only official language, he was chosen to develop the plan. It's a pretty awesome thing what he's doing. He was a great person and I was excited to meet someone who had gone to college in the US. Then we went back to the office/home for a staff meeting. I met the NAR staff, and all the Rwandan people working with NAR were SO NICE. I work with a girl named Lydia and she is so sweet. She came up and gave me a big hug when she met me. Thats a big thing they do here in Rwanda is hug. After the staff meeting, I went and unpacked some more and got settled in. We just kinda all hung out and I took some pictures and walked around a bit. Then by that time, Sonia told me that there was this birthday party that we could go to for a girl she met at the Embassy (they have get togethers at the American Embassy every Tuesday night). We got dressed up, and I was lucky she had visited France and had a European hair straightner that could plug into the outlets here! I got to straighten my hair and look decently nice. Then we took a bus out to the house (that was a whole other story in itself)...we got there, and I met a lot of Americans (2 Yale graduates, and one from Brown, working in Kigali with the CDC and other offices) and some Rwandans/Ugandans/other Africans. I was stoked to talk to them and they had some amazing stories to tell. We hitched a ride with some people from the party, and came back home to sleep.

So here I am. Awake at 10:30 in the morning, writing this email to you all. I love it here so far. I'm sure some people will rub me wrong at some point, but so far people are so intrigued why I'm here and how I got involved with coming to Rwanda. I love to tell them my passion for Rwanda and they are so excited to have people here who can go back and tell Americans how Africa really is. I know a lot of people had their reservations about me coming, but it really is a great place to be. I love it, and I can't wait to tell more stories about my amazing experience in Rwanda. I need to go get ready though because I'm going with my roommate to the Genocide Memorial at 12 and then grocery shopping. This should be VERY interesting today.

Love you all <3

So we have an avocado tree in our front yard. My roommate just picked avocados and we made fresh guacamole. Yum. Now we're going grocery shopping so I can get some things to make fresh food. And we're also going to see the Genocide Memorial. Talk to you later.

So I'm here in Kigali. I will have to say more about my experience another time... I am super tired from a night of being out. Here is a picture of my work/living place. It is beautiful, no?

Love you all! And I love it here!

Well I'm off! Wish me luck!

Also, I ended my ChipIn for the internship, but you can still contribute money through the new ChipIn link. This money will go towards continuing my internship in Rwanda.

Talk to you all soon!

For mailing purposes, please send any mail to this address while I'm in Rwanda:

Never Again Rwanda, B.P. 4431, Kigali, Rwanda

I leave tomorrow. Spending the last day with my family & fiance.

Today I am in the process of packing all of my stuff for Rwanda. I still can't believe that in 3 days I will be in Rwanda. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time. I went out last night and spent a lot of money on items I will need everyday. I feel prepared for my trip...but I do have a sore throat. That doesn't help.

Also, on a side note, I sent out my save the date cards for my wedding. My wedding is set for July 24, 2010...literally 2 months after I come home from Rwanda. I also purchased wedding bands yesterday. Let me just say that planning a wedding and planning a trip to Africa are not easy. It's going to only get harder once I get there...so we'll see. Maybe I'll write a book or something.