3/9/09
Today I had my follow-up appointment with the urologist at King Faycel Hospital - Dr. Dania. She is a Cuban physician that has been practicing in Kigali for 2 years now and apparently I caught her in her last week here! After she struggled to speak in English for about 5 minutes, I quickly offered to speak in Spanish with her and her face totally lit up – I guess there aren’t too many opportunities for her to speak in her native tongue here in Rwanda. I had a great time actually being able to speak a foreign language (as opposed to my struggles with French and Kinyarwanda since I’ve been here) so it was a good experience for both of us. In the end all is well, I just need to get the stone analyzed when I get back to NY. From the hospital I headed over to Ivuka Arts Studio (www.ivukaarts.com) which is a space where about 15 young Rwandan artists paint and sell their work. They also have pieces on display at Heaven Restaurant and Torero Café – I saw several there I liked so I wanted to check out the studio. I know Innocent (one of the artists) through some mutual friends and so I especially wanted to check out his work. I didn’t bring any cash with me and Innocent wasn’t there so I’ll have to go back but I will definitely be coming home with a few paintings! From there I headed over to the Ecole Belge with Anita for our first “French lesson” which I put in quotes since it turned out to just be a meeting for payment and scheduling… I suppose we’ll have to keep using our French in 10 Minutes a Day book until our first lesson later this week. Since we suddenly had the evening free, Anita and I decided to head down to Republika for dinner and had a fun time telling each other our life stories.
3/10/09
The time has come - my finances have run dry… After a leisurely morning yoga practice with Gail, I headed to the bank and got a cash advance on my credit card – there are no international ATMs here in Kigali so it’s really the only option to get cash other than wire transfers or Western Union. Needless to say I got charged exorbitantly but hopefully I won’t have to do it again!
3/11/09
Despite being the start of the short wet season, I think March has actually been drier than January or February which is the short dry season supposedly. Anyway, today it rained for the first time in 3 days and so it became a lazy day at home. After some yoga practice in the morning, the biggest excitement of the day was Candida discovering a cockroach and crushing it with her bare foot while saying Ntakibazo which means “no problem.” Needless to say we were all a bit grossed out! Anita spent the day doing some creative writing and came up with the following rap based on Bernadette’s crush on me and dislike for Anita since we have the sneaking suspicion that she thinks Anita and I are a couple. I found this quite amusing:
Curve Jealousy3/12/09
You fat she say
He’s gay I say
So it don’t really matter either way
I say
Stop dissing cuz u missing
The curves I’ve been greasing
French fries, chocolate pies
I eat what I like
And the boys come runnin
From all walks of life
Ur starving more than marvin
For love n’ ingestion
So bad your gaydar
Is off like repellent
So stop dissing cuz u missing
The curves I’ve been greasing
French fries, chocolate pies
I eat what I like
And the boys come runnin
From all walks of life
We shop with amafrancs
As we cash advance from the bank
And party like muzungus
Wearing shirts that say we ain’t
But he ain’t my boyfriend sweetie
Cuz he don’t swing that way
So stop dissing cuz u missing
The curves I’ve been greasing
French fries, chocolate pies
I eat what I like
And the boys come runnin
From all walks of life
I did some Ashtanga yoga practice on my own this morning and realized I need to start working on learning the sequence of the primary series since I’ve just been following Gail this whole time and not trying to learn it myself. I had a double exercise day since I went for a run this afternoon and then Anita and I went for our first real French lesson at the Belgian School. Our teacher turned out to be Congolese and has excellent French but his English isn’t really adequate for explanation when we don’t understand things. We debated what to do after the class and I think in the end we’re just going to keep using the French book we have and then get Gail to help us with pronunciation.
3/13/09
Anita has been feeling ill so she slept in this morning and so it was just Joseph and I for yoga practice this morning. Unfortunately about 15 minutes in we were interrupted by a man wanting to spray the house with insecticide – the result of Candida stepping on that cockroach a few days ago no doubt. We just kind of let him do his thing since we were practicing but upon finishing I went into my room to discover him spraying my MATTRESS with insecticide. Then we realized he had been spraying this stuff indiscriminately all over the house including onto our beds, bags, etc. We were all rather distraught at the prospect of organophosphate poisoning (Anita and I being the med-school nerds we are went through the list of symptoms with Gail). I was really annoyed since the guy kept saying ntakibazo (no problem) despite wearing a heavy duty mask… riiiiight, no problem for you since you won’t be sleeping on a mattress wet with organophosphates. Oh well, Josee got the picture and did her best to air out the house while we went to the Ineza sewing cooperative to take some pictures and video of Gail doing yoga with the women there. Anita and I also got some aprons made out of Primus fabric and we got some yoga mat bags made out of Changachanga (patchwork fabric) to encourage our new love for yoga! We also picked up our latest order of bagels.
3/14/09
After another morning yoga practice with Joseph, I jumped into reading Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy kidder. It’s the story of Paul Farmer’s life and documents the work he’s done through Partners In Health in Haiti and Peru. Since he’s currently living and working in Kigali (Rwanda is PIH’s new focus country) I figured it was appropriate to read here. There was one particular parallel in the book to an experience that I had in Burundi that I thought I would share with you all. Hopefully some of you remember the story I wrote about when the car I was in tried to get through a mob of Congolese people in Bujumbura after we visited the national park and encountered a road block. In all of the commotion the only thing I was able to pick up from everyone’s angry French was one man saying over and over again “tout homme est un homme.” It really hit home for me then, but now reading Paul Farmer’s story (part of which I’m including below) has reminded me just how much work there is to do in the world… time to get started!
Later on that night, a young woman arrived at the hospital, pregnant and in the throes of malaria. ‘She had very high parasitemia,’ Farmer remembered. ‘Bad malaria. She went into a coma, and you know – I didn’t know the details then, I do now because it’s my specialty – she needed a transfusion, and her sister was there. So there was no blood and the doctor told her sister to go to Port-au-Prince to get her some blood, but he said that she would need money. I had no money. I ran around the hospital, and I rounded up fifteen dollars. I gave her the money and she went away, but then she came back and she didn’t have enough for both a tap-tap and the blood. So meanwhile the patient started having respiratory distress and this pink stuff started coming out of her mouth. The nurses were saying, ‘It’s hopeless,’ and other people were saying, ‘We should do a cesarean delivery.’ I said, ‘There’s got to be some way to get her some blood.’ Her sister was beside herself. She was sobbing and crying. The woman had five kids. The sister said, ‘This is terrible. You can’t even get a blood transfusion if you’re poor.’ And she said, ‘We’re all human beings.’ The words – tout moun se moun – seemed like the answer to the question he’d asked himself earlier that day. Was being an American a sufficient identity unto itself? “She said that again and again,” he remembered. “We’re all human beings.”After a nice visit from Katie this afternoon, Gail, Anita and I headed to Heaven Restaurant for their Saturday night movie special. It’s the first time I’ve been to Heaven (it’s a muzungu owned and managed restaurant which they seem to be a little to proud of so I’ve been a bit skeptical) but all in all it was actually a great evening... On our walk there (to see Slumdog Millionaire), we encountered a tiny little kitten in the middle of the road. It immediately started following us, meowing and jumping along the way until we arrived at Heaven. The manager took an immediate liking to him and her husband (the chef) picked him up and wouldn’t put him down. We were worried what would come of our new furry friend if we left him in the street and thankfully our worries were quelled when they agreed to adopt him. So, we thought the movie selection for the night was quite appropriate – it seems we made our own little slumcat a millionaire tonight!
3/15/09
We headed back to Heaven for brunch at this morning (mostly to catch up with Savannah, Crystal and Katie but partly to see the cat again – he has gotten a vet check up and has been appropriately named Moto since he purrs all the time). I ran into Felicia there (she’s in town from Bujumbura just for the day) and I had the most delicious meal since I’ve been in Rwanda – French toast, fresh fruit, mixed greens salad, gorgonzola quiche, etc. I went back to the buffet 5 times and the table was convinced I had a worm by the end of the meal.
When we got home Anita and I purchased plane tickets for our whirlwind tour of Tanzania and Uganda so I’m super excited about that. Here’s the itinerary so you can follow along from afar… and to make you a little jealous :)
April 3 – Fly from Kigali to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania and spend the night in Arusha.
April 4 – Head to Lake Manyara National Park in the morning with Good Earth Tours for a safari featuring tree-climbing lions and more! Spend the night at the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge (we were going to just camp on the crater rim but it turns out this five star resort is the same price as camping for one night in the low season).
April 5 – Descend into Ngorongoro Crater (called the eighth wonder of the world by enterprising safari operators) for a game drive exploring the short-grass plains of the crater floor. This extinct volcano covers 100 square miles and is home to lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants, buffaloes and more. Then head back to Arusha for the night.
April 6 – Bus ride from Arusha to Dar es Salaam, hopefully arriving in time to catch the 4pm ferry to Stone Town on Zanzibar Island and spend the night there.
April 7 – Exploring Stone Town, perhaps take a spice tour on the island. Overnight again in Stone Town.
April 8/9 – Head to the beach on Zanzibar for two nights of sun and relaxation!
April 10 – Head back to Stone Town to catch our flight from Zanzibar to Entebbe, Uganda. Spend the night in Entebbe.
April 11 – Explore Entebbe and head to Jinja for the night.
April 12 – Class 5 whitewater rafting on the source of the Nile River. Then head to Kampala for the night.
April 13 – Explore Kampala during the day before catching an overnight bus back to Kigali.
We get back to Kigali on the morning of April 14th and then plan to head up to Rhuengeri on April 16th (northern Rwanda) to spend the night in Volcanoes National Park before going gorilla trekking on April 17th. From there we’ll head to Gisenyi (a resort town on Lake Kivu) to spend the night. On April 18th we’ll cross over to Goma, DRC and climb Mt. Nyriagongo which is an active volcano. We’ll be camping overnight on the crater rim with a view of the glowing lava pit below. The morning of April 19th we’ll head back to Gisenyi and catch a bus back to Kigali. The Congo portion of this trip, however, is entirely dependent upon the security situation in North Kivu since up until about a month ago this was an active conflict zone… From what I’ve heard, though, things seem to be calming down in the area after Nkunda’s “arrest” at the end of January. We shall see…
3/16/09
After a calming yoga practice with Delphine and Josee this morning, I unfortunately had to meet with Eugene to sort out some logistics for my upcoming trip to Kibogora. Despite my frustrations with that meeting, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the package my Aunt Jacqueline and cousin Aminta sent finally made its way out of customs and into my PO Box. I pigged out on chocolate bars and then, feeling guilty, went for a run in afternoon before settling down for an evening of data entry galore.
3/17/09
After Yoga in the AM, I went with Anita to meet a friend of Crystal’s named Constance that has been looking for someone to travel to Zanzibar with. We had lunch with her to see if she’s interested in joining us (in the end I think she decided not to since we’re doing the safari beforehand). Then we stopped by Bourbon since our internet has been out for 2 days and Gail and I went and did some fabric shopping before she headed off to teach a yoga class at the US Embassy. I spent the evening writing cards to 12 lucky people who have been keeping in touch with me while I’m here so keep an eye out - you can expect those to arrive in about a month (unless they get confiscated by US customs since the cards are made from banana leaves).
3/18/09
Yoga this morning ended just in time for me to spend the rest of the day dealing with Rwandatel – our internet service provider. Three guys came and spent about 5 hours here trying to fix our connection which meant I had to hang around the house until they were done. Thankfully a dog decided to hang out outside our gate for the day so I had a good time playing with him. I spent the evening translating the forms used for prenatal care in Rwanda so that Lisa can figure out what information isn’t being collected that needs to be when I head out to Kibogora. I think the rainy season may finally be living up to its reputation since we had the hardest rain I’ve ever witnessed in my life for about an hour this afternoon.
3/19/09
I was joined by Josee and Anita for yoga practice this morning and then headed up to the clinic for translation of one of the forms that was in Kinyarwanda, not French. Needless to say Eugene gave me a hard time about it so we’ll see if it actually gets translated. We then headed over to meet with Davindrah (my favorite money exchange guy) who, it turns out, is friends with Anita’s family in India. It looks like he may be able to hook us up with an account in the US that we can deposit money into and he'll just give it us here so I don’t have to resort to another cash advance to pay for our Tanzania/Uganda trip! I made it to the post office to mail the cards today (they required 6 stamps so I think even the envelopes will be a fun souvenir from Rwanda for you all). From there Anita and I took a matatu up to Kacyiru to see Joy (a seamstress that Katie recommended) to get some clothes and table cloths made from the fabric I bought. We grabbed a little snack at the Flamingo Chinese Restaurant and then I spent the evening on Skype trying to get through to everyone at Einstein to congratulate them on Match Day!!!! I am incredibly sad that Rachel and Jeff are moving to Michigan but couldn’t be happier for them and I can’t wait to lay claim to their second bedroom when I visit! As for everyone else I’m super excited to have a good crew of fellow Einsteiners staying in the city and I think next year will be a ton of fun (though more so for me since you’ll all be working your asses off).
3/20/09
Today Anita and I finally finished updating the Sosoma database and to celebrate we went to Ineza to pick up our aprons and yoga mat bags. From there we headed to Roy and Sara’s for a surprise birthday party that Sara planned for Roy. They have a gorgeous home and she had prepared delicious food and had plenty of duty free alcohol on hand so we spent the evening there enjoying the good company.
3/21/09
It’s Candida’s birthday today which unfortunately we didn’t know ahead of time so we’re planning on getting her something to give her tomorrow. We met up with Constance and visited the Mother Teresa Orphanage with her (she volunteers there a couple of times a week) and got to play with some kids for a couple of hours. When we were leaving I literally had to pry one of them off of my leg which was heart breaking but hopefully we can go back a few more times while before I leave. We did some grocery shopping for my trip on Monday and bought Candida some Lindt chocolate bars at Nakumatt. Then we went back to heaven tonight for their Saturday night movie special again and got to see Revolutionary Road. It was phenomenally acted but I must admit I was a little bit disappointed. We also got a status update on Moto and he seems to be doing quite well in his new home.
3/22/09
I’m heading to Kibogora tomorrow so I’m trying to get everything in order for the trip. I bought my tickets for the 6:30am bus and will be getting to Cyangugu around 12:30pm and then have to take a 1 hour moto ride to actually get to the village… Should be a fun filled day of travel. I’m only going to have sporadic internet access out there and so there won’t be any Skyping sadly. If there’s an emergency you should be able to reach me on my cell phone at 011-250-0750329933 or else you can send me an e-mail that I’ll probably be able to check every evening. Can’t wait to update you all on my adventures out west in about a week!
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