My new site...The Village

Well I have finally moved sites. I used to live in Gitarama, Rwanda’s second largest city after Kigali. I liked it there but with 4 other PCV’s, a ton of other volunteer organizations and NGO workers located there it was very crammed with outsiders. I now live in a tiny village in the district of Ruhango, about 1 hour from Gitarama, 2 hours from Kigali. I am the only volunteer and only white person and the first PCV to ever be placed here. The village contains a hospital and about 10 little shops. There is a bus station, a Seventh Day Adventist Church and some primary and secondary schools. There is a University with 1,000 students who live in dorms during the school year (Jan-Oct). That literally is what makes up my entire town. There is not even a market, to go to the market I have to take a 20 minute bus to the next town which is only open on Wednesdays. The town is mostly Seventh Day Adventist, meaning everything is closed on Saturday’s because that is the day everyone goes to church. My house is amazing. In order for my organization to afford it they had to combine my house with the office; to do that they built a wall between my living room and the three bedrooms. So the living room is the office and I still have three rather large rooms. One I have made into the Kitchen, one is my bedroom and the last room contains a huge 100 liter water storage tank and my bicycle. I have electricity but no running water in site. I pay someone to fill my 20 liter jerry cans with water every few days. I have an outdoor shower area. (really just a room with a locking door and a drain). Luckily I brought a solar shower with me to Rwanda so I fill it with hot water and still get to take hot showers. Then my bathroom is in the room next to my shower, also outside. When I first came to look at the house it was just a hole in the ground, a pit latrine. I told them that was fine with me. It’s what I used all throughout training so it really doesn’t bother me anymore. But when I arrived on move in day they had stuck a real toilet overtop of the pit and cemented it in. I have no running water so I have to keep a bucket full of water next to my toilet to flush it but it actually works out pretty nicely.
I am also in the process of completing a $500 water charity project for a primary school nearby. They need a second water tank and I will be trying to get that for them through appropriateprojects .com. The school is 1200 students who travel 2 km by foot a day. There are only 14 classrooms and 20 teachers for the 1200 students. I think they could definitely use a second tank to collect rain water in. The other water source is 300 meters down a steep hill meaning a steep hike up hill carrying the water. Anyway wish me luck and if its accepted my project will be posted online to ask for donations.

Good things come when you least expect them

Well since I have a cat now, I have to have a litter box now too. Since litter does not come easily in stores I use dirt instead. And it works just fine; it just starts to stink faster and has to be changed more often. It’s no big deal though because kids love to change the litter box for me at no cost. Because it means they get to play in the dirt and help a muzungu (white person) at the same time. So today I went to go find a good spot to dump the litter and was looking for some fresh dirt when I saw some kids playing volleyball and decided to go play with them. As I was playing the kids put new dirt in my litter box and I got to play volleyball with some secondary school students. Also the school year has officially come to an end here, the kids finished final exams yesterday. Until the end of January there is no more school. This of course means kids will be playing outside on the streets all day every day. It would normally not bother me but they love to follow muzungu’s wherever they go so just walking to the market can catch a crowd of 20 or so children. It can be super frustrating some days and other days really nice.

Secondary Project at the Special Needs School

A few weeks ago I found a school for special needs children near my house. The school is huge and has over 300 children attending. It is one of 10 schools in Rwanda for special needs students. They have deaf children in one part of the school and autistic children in another. I don’t think they have gone so far as to diagnose other mental disorders, they just combine everyone into these two categories. Sadly the teachers have not been trained in any way to teach or discipline these children. If they are running around outside not coming to class nobody seems to care. They told me they don’t know how to get the children to come to class. So my job has been rounding up the children who don’t come and dragging them to class and sitting with them to make sure they stay. Also positive reinforcement is completely lacking in the classrooms which is especially important when children have these conditions. It’s also sad that they place deaf students with autistic children because many of the deaf students have no brain disabilities at all. So I have been trying to stress positive reinforcement. Also for the children that act out they are usually doing this purely for attention. So I have found if you ignore the students acting out and pay attention only to the students being good, and giving the good students lots of positive reinforcement the children acting out and refusing to do the exercises eventually feel left out and learn that to get the teachers attention they have to be good. During my first week at the school I was shadowing one particular teacher. One day when I arrived he was not there. I asked another teacher where he was, and was told he was at the bank. So his class was left completely unattended, no one subbed in and no one seemed to car. So I just took over the class and taught that day because the teacher went to the bank. You can see the standard these teachers are held to…none.

Things acceptable in the Peace Corps; that maybe aren’t acceptable elsewhere?

- Eating food off the floor
- Stealing strangers leftover’s that they didn’t eat
- Sharing a paper napkin with 3 or more friends
- Eating off of tuberware lids and sharing forks at a dinner party b/c there aren’t enough
- Eventually learning to just keep silverware in your purse at all times
- Bringing tuberware to events with free food and taking enough to eat for two days.
- Buying 2 gallons of soft serve ice-cream and putting it into a tuberware container
- Paying children to get you things when you’re too lazy to leave your house.
- Only showering when you can see a layer of dirt over your skin and have such greasy hair that just touching it makes your hands greasy
- Only washing your clothes after 5 or more wears, when they start to stink and have stains all over them
- Taking 2 liter bucket baths to conserve water during the dry season
- Hoarding buckets and jerry cans full of water b/c you never know when you might get water again.
- Trading care package items or using items as PCV currency
- Wash your dishes in the rain
- Save your pasta water to reuse over and over
- Letting nothing go to waste. Scraping out last bits of peanut butter with your finger. Licking the ziplock bag that cookies were in.
- Begging people at the market to sell you things for cheaper because you’re a poor volunteer not a rich white person.

Gabo the Cat

So one day I was walking down the street to my host family’s house and there were a bunch of annoying children following me as usual. They asked me if I wanted a cat, not thinking they were being serious I said yes, bring it to my family’s home. About 20 minutes later, ten kids’ show up together one of them holding the cat by its neck out as far away from him as possible as if the cat were the plague or something, I instantly take the cat and give him some chai (the only thing I had at the time) as my family is outside arguing with the kids about the price of the cat. Cat’s are suppose to be free by the way, a Rwandan would never pay for a cat. But since they knew I am not Rwandan, the kids were being difficult. So eventually we gave up, my host sister throws the cat back at the kids (which makes them all scream and run because for some reason Rwandan’s are extremely scared of cats.) Anyway the kid’s didn’t want him so I got to keep him for free. He is a really, really cute kitten about 10 weeks old I think. I feed him eggs, avocado and bread. He goes crazy for eggs! I named him gabo from the Kinyarwanda word imigabo which means refuge.

It’s my Birthday!

Well last week on October 1st was my birthday. I had told my Rwandan family over a month ago and not mentioned it since. I told them on Friday I was leaving to go visit my friends in Rwamagana, only 2 hours by bus from my site. So they invited me over for a birthday dinner on Thursday night. They even asked me what my favorite dish was because they wanted me to have my favorite food on my birthday. I requested noodles because of all possible Rwandan dishes that is my favorite. So they said ok. I come to the house with my roommate. I think this is just going to be like any other night. I show up and am put in a room as usual and kind of left alone as usual. I think we are just waiting for them to finish up dinner. Maybe an hour later they lead me out of the room into another house and there the whole family and friends of the family (over 30 people) are standing around a cake with candles lit and they are all singing to me. It was such a surprise. They had a DJ and speaker system set up, used toilet paper for streamers on the walls (which actually looks really nice) and my name is written in huge letters on one of the walls using toilet paper. It was crazy. The cake was cut and dancing began. At 10:00 we finally got come real food. They had made me pasta salad with green beans and carrots and mayonnaise. I have never seen a Rwandan make pasta salad before. They gave me fries and seasoned rice too. (They sure do love their carbs here.) It was a really great birthday party that I was completely surprised about.
Then in Rwamagana, my friends had another surprise for me. Sushi for dinner made from dried seaweed that one of them got in a car package. So we made avocado and cucumber sushi. To make sticky rice we just added a little more water than usual, and to put the rice into Ziploc bags to sit for an hour. For dessert we had homemade brownies from a package also! The next evening I got my favorite food pierogies that we made from scratch. We made the pasta with eggs and flour. Rolled out the pasta stuffed it with cheese, and mashed potatoes with butter, garlic, milk and onions inside. (The mashed potatoes alone were incredible. My Peace Corps best friend is from Sicily so she knows how to cook really well. Then we fried the pierogies in oil. Also she made a cream tomato sauce for dipping and calls it her disaster sauce because she discovered this sauce after ruining the sauce she was trying to make and then adding ingredients to try and save the sauce. Now she purposing does all those things and makes an amazing sauce to go with the pierogies.

Spaghetti Night

Yesterday I went to my Rwandan families’ house for dinner as usual but I went earlier than normal. And so they sat me down and then just left me for 2 hours. Therefore I got to watch the umucozi cook the meal. First she lit the charcoal stove and let the fire grow. Once the fire was a descent size a pot of water was placed on top to boil. When the water boiled it was moved to a plastic jug. Now the pot is empty and oil is added to cover about ½ in the bottom (way too much oil in my professional opinion). Anyway the oil sizzles and a small amount of red onions are added. A small amount of tomato paste is added, like about 3 heaping tablespoons (not nearly enough for an american“tomato sauce”). Then an entire bag of spaghetti, broken into 3 parts is added and stirred. (Keep in mind there is no water in the pot just oil, onions, and tomato paste with the pasta. In about 5 minutes they decide water is an important factor and the boiling water that was poured into the plastic jug earlier is now added to the pasta. Then it’s left to cook. For the “salad” the umucozi cut up white onions into tiny slices and added a ton of vinegar and sugar. And there you have salad to go with your spaghetti and sauce. (It was not too great but I ate it out of politeness. Surprisingly the noodles were pretty good though I’m sure my standards have dropped dramatically from living here. And that was my night of watching the umucozi cook at my Rwandan families’ home.

IST Kibuye/ Lake Kivu

Last week was IST, which stands for In-Service Training. It is a training the Peace Corps gives volunteers after 3-6 months of living at site. For us it was 4 months after we arrived at site. Kibuye is a beautiful lake side city, overlooking Lake Kivu (the lake between Congo and Rwanda). It is an easy 2 hours away from my site. We stayed at a hotel right on the water, though there was no hot water so don’t worry it wasn’t very fancy. It was so peaceful and relaxing. The training was to discuss our challenges and how people have overcome them. Our supervisors or counterparts were there to help strengthen the partnership between the Peace Corps volunteers and the NGO’s. Many other volunteers have had trouble with their organizations making them work 10 hour days or not letting volunteers get to integrate into their community. I have not had these problems, and I really enjoy working with Duhamic Adri. They are very flexible and listen to my idea’s and let me do what I want to do. After problems were discussed and everyone got to talk about how things were going at their site, we got to spend most of Wednesday just hanging out on an island playing volleyball and swimming. It was a great time.

Fresh Chicken

Well a while ago I got to have an amazing experience, one I have been wishing for since arriving in Rwanda. It started out at my friends host family, I really like them so I visit and so do many others. One this particular occasion there were 4 of us visiting. We like to cook them American food. Like grilled cheese and tomato soup, today though we decided on egg and cheese sandwiches. So we brought the ingredients to make them to their house as we usually do. The family never trusts our cooking so they always accompany our food with Rwandan food as well like beans, rice or pasta. So anyway on this particular day they really wanted to feed us chicken. This meant that we got to watch the entire process of making chicken sounds gross but it was really cool to watch. They had a ton of chickens running around their back yard so they grabbed one. Then flipped its wings so it could only sit on the floor is could not move anywhere. It was kinda sad really, we watched the chicken struggle to move many times until finally it accepted its fate and just sat still. The chickens feed were also tied up during this. Then, the chicken was picked up by its legs and with a knife the head was slowly cut off. It was not chopped of quickly maybe the knife was too dull for that or something. It was slow and blood poured out. Then the entire chicken was stick into a bucket of boiling water. And the feathers were plucked off. They even saved the head and plucked the feather off its head too. Then once the chicken was completely bare it was brought to the table to be cut open. The process reminded me of freshman year biology when we had to dissect things. They cut the chest open and we saw the liver, heart, intestines and stuff. They threw almost nothing away everything was put into a pot to cook. They cut the legs into 2 and the wings and the breast. Just like all the pieces of chicken we eat. It was put in the pot then a small amount of tomato paste was added and a lot of water. 2 hours later we ate chicken, the freshest I’ve ever had!

An update on my life

August 25
Well elections of come and gone. Luckily there is nothing to worry about, everything was peaceful and Paul Kagame won by 93%. He now has another 7 year term so there will be no more presidential elections while I’m in the country. I spent that week in Musanze with my friends. I think Musanze is one of my favorite places in Rwanda. It has the coolest weather and the town is surrounded by 4 volcano’s. The site is so beautiful. All the volcano’s are hikes that take 1 to 2 days. On my friends birthday we are going to hike Karisimbi which is a 2 day hike and it sometimes has snow on top of it, we are hoping to see snow as we will hike it in January.
Things are still going great with my new Rwandan family. Though they come knock on my door to invite me over everyday and some days I just do not fell like going over there so I have to tell them over and over I am too tired today. But they are all incredibly nice especially the Mama. She actually has a home restaurant. I did not realize this before but all the random people she feeds are her customers in her own home. She says she loves cooking and being with her family this way she never has to leave her home to make a living. Her husband died in the genocide so she is a single mom now and has I think about 6 children and at least 2 grandchildren that I have met.
A few weeks ago another peace corps volunteer who used to live with VSO volunteers moved in with me. The people she lived with were finished their service and went home. She is a health volunteer from the first group of volunteers that came in January last year. She only has a few months left before her COS (close of service). Its great having a roommate. We can come home and have someone to take to about the frustrating things that happened that day. Also because she is leaving soon I will be able to take over the projects she is starting. We are going to start and English class at the hospital soon and she want to start and Anti- AIDS club at the university near by. I have also heard there is a school for special needs children in the area that one day I want to go check out. It’s great having someone around whose been here a year longer than me.
I recently found out there is another American (not with Peace Corps) who lives in my village, 5 minutes walking distance away from me. I met her for the first time last week and we went over to her house for dinner a few nights ago. She has a real oven which is very exciting I can now make baked goods and cook them at her house. She is a food for the hungry volunteer and has been in Rwanda for over 4 years.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I’m so glad to be living in such a small country!

Holiday Camp in Rwanda- Banana's of the World Unite

August 25,2010
Well about two weeks ago I finished up working 2 weeks of overnight holiday camp each camp hosting about 500 children in secondary school (between the ages of 14- 25). The first camp was hosted in the District next to me Ruhango. And the second one was in Muhanga my District. The camps were 5 days, 4 nights and designed just like an American summer camp. They got 3 meals a day which is probably the only time those children were able to eat 3 meals a day. There were about 30 facilitators so the children were divided up by region into groups of about 30 and placed with there own teacher. The camps were very chaotic and the whole first day was spent of completing the children's paperwork and school fee’s. (One of the hidden agendas of these camps was to get all the beneficiary children in one place to deal with school fee issues all at once, its a genius plan.) CHF pays for thousands of children’s secondary school fee’s in this country. I don’t know how they choose the children I was not involved in that process it was already decided before i got into the country but they have chosen children who cannot afford secondary school. (Secondary school can cost up to $250 per year.)
The theme of the camp was Ndi Abahizi meaning I am a beneficiary who has the power to change my life. They had many activities to think about their future, what they want in their lives, what they want to be, and how to get there. One of my favorite activities was the skits they made. They were told to write skits about a 5 year reunion when they would see each other again in 5 years what they will be doing. It was really powerful and they kids got really into it. There was always at least one person playing the “loser” character who smoke and drank and got no where with their life. It was cool seeing that they knew a smoker/drinker person would not live out his/her dreams. They then acted the skits out in front of everyone and had a lot of fun with it. Both weeks that talent show ended up turning into a dance party that lasted until midnight so to say the least I was exhausted after 2 weeks of this.
The kids got to make flags and chants for their groups as well. Some got very creative having traditional dancers on their flags or colors which they made a key to say what each color represented. Many included Peace as a color. They all had a lot of fun presenting their flags and chants. A tree of hope was another activity done in each classroom. A student either drew a tree or the class used a tree outside. Each student cut out a leaf and wrote all of their hope and dreams on that leaf , then each student hung their leaves on the tree. Then the teacher made a paper watering can and asked each student to write something in the water can that would help them reach their dreams. Honesty, friends and family, and studying hard in school were some of the responses.
Though camp for sure had its problems and was terribly disorganized the kids got stuff out of it. I was even able to teach some American camp songs to the kids such as “We come from the mountains” and “Peel banana” which they loved, even the older kids seemed to enjoy singing them. I got to play volleyball and basketball with the kids. Many were surprised we had volleyball in America. They think the only sport in America is basketball which I think is pretty funny. In Ruhango I got to meet the women’s junior national volleyball team and in Muhanga I met the men’s national junior volleyball team. They even let me play a little with them but they are really good way better than I am but it was really fun.

What's my Job Again

Written July 23, 2010
I am understanding more and more every day what Duhamic Adri and CHF and USAID actually do and what my role is in it all, even though if i was not here everything would still go on just fine without me but that is besides the point. There are many cooperatives that already exist in the Muhanga area. What we are doing is helping them to develop. Many of them are not officially registered as legal cooperatives so we are helping with that as well. It is a very long expensive process that has to go through the district, sector and national level. Also most of these cooperatives are anywhere from 100 members to 600 members. Throughout the month of August and September my coworker and I will be traveling to different sectors to start up ISLG’s (internal saving and lending groups). The cooperatives already exist but we want to break up the members into groups of 10-20 people so they can start saving money together. There are 3 specific cooperatives of focus one makes tie die cloth, one makes baskets, purses and picture frames out of banana leaves and the other does farming.
Most people in this country do not know how to save at all. Even the rich don’t save there money. On their monthly pay day they take out all the money from the bank and spend most of it in the first week and then have nothing left for three weeks. They will go out to dinner, buy beer and fanta, or if it’s a women buy shoes and clothes at the market. Saving is a huge lesson needed all over the country. A friend of mine told me her supervisor says he cannot afford a car but he makes enough money each month where if he started saving he could buy one in about 2 years time. But they have this mentality that if they can’t afford it that month they can never afford it.
Though I do not particularly like having a real job to report to everyday (or even a few times a week.) I do love my co-workers and my supervisor. She loves to tell me that she is my Mom and I am her baby. (She has 4 children all grown up the youngest is my age.) I would prefer to just be a community volunteer as most people who join the peace corps are. But instead I am one of the 1,000 volunteers Peace Corps has who work with PEPFAR funding. (President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief.)
So that's pretty much the gist of my job right now.

MAIL!

I have a P.O Box in my town now!
Please send packages to
Sonya Alexander, PCV
PC/ Rwanda
B.P. 146
Gitarama, Rwanda
AIRMAIL

Project Inspiration

On Thursday I got to visit Mpanga vocational school which is about 30 minutes from my side. It is a school teaching hotel management, carpentry, welding, mechanics, electric, and culinary. CHF is hosting about 25 students and their mission is to talk with organizations in the area to provide internships for these students. So after the visit to the school we went and talked to a mechanics shop and a hotel. During these visits with CHF we were accompanied by an RPCV from Mali who now works in Washington DC with CHF and is visiting Rwanda for 2 months. It was really inspiration to hear about how she got started with projects and she informed me that the most rewarding projects for her were the ones involving youth. She also told me its ok to just start walking into schools and saying you want to do something. I have been re-inspired to do so many things here in Rwanda. I want to start teaching English at the vocational school, I want to start an after school kitchen garden club at a school, I want to start and Anti-AIDS club at the local university. And of course I want to help with camps. There will be a holiday camp in August that Duhamic Adri asked me to help out with. And the first group of health volunteers created Camp GLOW last year and we (the new group) will be helping with that and taking it over next year. Camp GLOW is a girl’s empowerment camp. I am excited about all these idea but implementing them is the biggest challenge especially in a country very set in their ways and not willing to make change even if it makes more sense. So wish me luck and let me know any ideas you have for me and this country.

The Dry Season

So it is well into the dry season now. The dry season started in June and will last until October. I am just starting now to notice the extreme differences between the wet season and the dry season, (beside the obvious lack of rain issue). Every day for the past week I have been waking up with extremely dry lips, an awful sore throat, and feeling very congested. My faucet only has water before about 8:00am and then no water for the rest of the day. Today I didn’t even have water in the morning. It’s time to start hoarding water in buckets and jerry cans. The rivers have started to dry out. The dust is really bad; it is hard to breathe sometimes because of all the dust around. The instant you walk outside your shoes change color and you have to squint your eyes to keep out the dust as trucks or people walk by. Food prices have risen and produce is not as easy to get. Anyway to say the least I can’t wait until it rains again. It has not rained since June 5th. Not that I’m counting or anything. Speaking of counting my close of service is in 685 days, but who’s keeping track. So the good news during dry season,, it’s a lot easier to dry your clothes, you don’t have to deal with rain or mud, not need to carry an umbrella or raincoat anywhere. At least you can guarantee it will be sunny everyday with not a cloud in the sky, so what is there to possibly complain about.

Ndi umunyarwanda

Last night was how I always imagined my Peace Corps experience to be like. It all started on Friday night, I had 2 friends staying over my house and we were making tortilla chips. Which were amazingly successful so we realized they would be great with beans? So we set off to town to find some cooked beans. After asking a number of stores and restaurants, a women tells us to follow her. So we did and she leads us to her mother’s house where there are cooked beans. She gives them to us and tells us we must come visit her again. So on Monday after my friends had gone back to their sites I go visit her. I bring my laptop so we can watch a movie and I decided to watch Charlie and the chocolate factory. There were maybe 10-15 people gathered around my laptop watching me more than the movie because it was in English and they could not understand it. After a while we moved to my friend’s bedroom to escape from all the kids. It was me, her and 5 children. I don’t know her relation with any of the children there are just always tons around everywhere. She wants me to put in a DVD of her aunts wedding, so I do and we watch that for a short while until my laptop runs out of battery. After that we go for a walk. First by a church then to a house that turns out to be her house apparently, that’s when I learn the house we were at earlier is her mother’s house. To get to the house we have to walk between houses where the spacing is so small I had to walk sideways and have the children hold my arms so that I did not fall because it was pitch black outside. We see her house then leave back for town again. I am basically just following this group of kids around the whole town stopping into shops to say hello to people. I eventually say that I am very tired and want to go home. But they insist I stay for dinner, which here in Rwanda typically eaten at 9:00. You will not see people eating in restaurants until this hour and at home they do not serve food until this time. The reasoning is possibly because it takes a very long time to cook food over a fire especially beans, rice and meat. Long story short I stay for dinner that night and every night since that I have been available I have been eating dinner with my new Rwandan family.
Side Note: Rwandan’s eat the same exact food every week all over the country no matter in restaurants or people’s homes it’s always the same.
Meal 1: Beans and Rice sometimes with avocado
Meal 2: Plantains and Spagetti
Meal 3: Umugati- bread made form cassava that is very sticky and earthy that you dip into a sauce
If the family has enough money goat, cow or chicken is also eaten with these meals. Another cultural note, they mix everything together and eat with their fingers some of the time and they pile their plates very high with food and its all carbs these people should all be over weight but with all the walking and heavy lifting they do everyday I guess it evens out.

The Hardest Job You'll Ever Have

As most of you already know, doing the Peace Corps has been a dream of mine for a long time. I don’t remember the exact moment I found out about its existence but I know as soon as I heard about it I wanted to do it. It seemed perfect for me since I not only love traveling but I love actually living and getting involved in other countries. Meeting and befriending the nationals. Traveling is one thing but living there is a whole new challenge. Exchanging culture with neighbors and attempting to help even if by help all you’re really doing is teaching a child to stop saying “good morning” at night time or trying to teach children that not all white people have a lot of money. Also in America there are poor people and dirt roads … who knew??
So now that I am about 4 months into my 27 months of service what have I done? Well nothing, yet. That said I’m not giving up hope, it’s just much harder than I imagined figuring out what I am suppose and how to help. I am assigned to work with a Rwandan NGO which is partnered with an American government organization, you would think I should know exactly what to do, but that is not really true at all.
I work with two Rwandans, one is an education advisor the other is an economic strengthening advisor. I have been out in the field visiting sites everyday for the past 2 weeks now. And I am so grateful that I’m not stuck in some office job. But at the same time I am not much help in the field because I do not speak the language. And I can try and practice all day long but even if I get good at this language I’ll never be able to run field visits alone. So what is the point? Riding around all day with my co-workers, tagging along when all along I know if I was not there, this would all still be happening just the same without me.
Don’t get me wrong I know this isn’t suppose to be easy, they don’t say it’s the hardest job your ever love for nothing. And I do really enjoy living in this country. I know I can and will make a difference. I mean today I told a school the point of composting was for it to go in the garden not in the woods 100 feet away from the garden. Slowly by slowly I guess…buhoro buhoro.
Well luckily for me this country is the size of Maryland so it is very easy to visit friends. 3 weeks ago I traveled to Rwamagana to visit a friend. Then 2 weeks ago traveled to Musanze. Last week I went to Gatsibo. Weekends away are amazing and it’s great that it is so easy to get together with friends here. I really think I might love that most of all about this country.

A day in the life of a PCV in Rwanda

May 25th
Today definitely deserves a blog entry that is for sure. So today is Monday, I’m back from the workshop I had in Butare last week finally ready to spend a few weeks at site and not at workshops or meetings in Kigali. I wake up bright and early ready to go to the office in Muhanga for the first time since I moved in. So I walk to the office to find no one there and it’s closed and locked. It figures, so what do I do now. I could call my supervisor who is at work in Kigali or I could just enjoy a day in town getting to know the area and meeting neighbors so that is just what I did. I decide my goals today will be to make French toast and to buy another kitchen towel. I bought 3 towels on Saturday but 2 were stolen off my fence while they were drying. I was very disappointed in my neighbors and now I don’t trust to leave anything to dry outside. I did leave them overnight which I probably should not have done but luckily it was just towels and not clothes. So anyway I go to the market to buy another towel. I check all the vendors prices and go back to the first guy who I got down to what I thought was 400 FRW. My Kinyarwanda is still not the greatest. I gave him 1000 expecting change and he asks me for 100 more and gives me 500. I’m very confused but wanting to move on so I give up take the loss and move on. It’s time to look at fabric; fabric is a very handy thing to have here it can be used as a rug, curtains, apron and towel. So I need more of it. I found some I like buy it and when I turn around a man is standing there that I do not recognize telling me I owe more money. I then realize it’s the guy who sold me the towel and I’m like “No, the sale is over I don’t owe any more”. And he keeps standing there speaking to me in Kinyarwanda. I’m like great this happened to someone else once so I was a little worried. As it turns out he was trying to find me because I paid too much and he wanted to give me the rest of my change. He hunted me down, 10 minutes after I left to tell me I paid too much. This just made my day and restored my faith in the Rwandan people. Though someone stole 2 towels someone else hunts me down because I paid too much.
I also have made friends with the hardware store man. He sold me a lock for my front door the other day and while I was there I wanted nails to hang things around my house. Since I wanted so few he just gave them too me which was incredibly nice. It defiantly insured I would be going to him for all my hardware needs and not some other shop.
Anyway off to make French toast. I’ve realized it really helps your spirits to have 1 or 2 small goals everyday rather than making week or month goals, it makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something everyday rather than feeling useless which is how I feel a lot of the time here.

Meetings,meetings, meetings and the view from the window of my house

Written May 14th
Well it looks like my first two weeks are going to consist of many meetings. Day 1 I helped interview and hire 6 new people for Duhemic Adri. Therefore there are many new people here with me so we are all getting to be trained and learn together. It’s good but boring considering the meetings are in French or Kinyarwanda. The funny thing is that the meetings start 2-3 hours after they are suppose to so I end up sitting and literally twiddling my thumbs for hours, then after they are over I do some more sitting until its time for my supervisor to leave. I forgot to mention I have to go the Kigali for these meetings, that’s where headquarters are, so I stay at my supervisor’s house. I think in a few weeks things will calm down a bit and I’ll get to stay in muhanga with the cooperatives. But I thought my first few weeks would be slow and they have been nothing but go go go for me. Next week I am going to Butare for a 3 day training by CHF (American organization funded by PEPFAR- the presidents emergency action plan for AIDS relief) on how to train trainers.

And things just keep getting better
Written May 10th at night

So after a nice relaxing day of unpacking and getting an idea of the area I hear a knock at the door. It’s my co-worker coming to say hello. Or so I thought, apparently he was actually coming to pick me up and take me to Kigali for a workshop. It was so unexpected but I just go with the flow, quickly pack up some clothes and my computer and I’m off and ready to go. We tell the neighbor I’m leaving so they know to watch the house. As I get into the car I realize I must tell Peace Corps whenever I leave sight. So I get out my phone and call to let them know I have to go to Kigali for work. I am then told this will not be possible, I cannot drive at night, Peace Corps prohibits it, this is being told to me as I’m driving down the road. Luckily we had only left minutes ago but I don’t know what to do. The co-worker talks to the Peace Corps. He then calls my supervisor. Then the safety and security officer is on the phone wanting to speak with him also. By this point he already understands the situation and takes me back to my house. He has a conversation with the safety and security officer. I am told everything’s ok and they understand these things happen but I feel so stupid for not saying anything sooner. Peace corps did tell us 300 times not to drive at night but things were happening so fast that was the last thing on my mind. Long story short it only takes me 1 day to get myself into trouble but all is well and I suppose I will go to Kigali tomorrow. They so were not kidding when they say be flexible you never know what’s going to happen next.

Site Installation on Monday May 10th

Written May 11th
I was installed yesterday at approximately noon. Installation is Peace Corps fancy way of saying site move in day. And yes it really is as traumatic and scary as everyone says it is. At 7:00am I woke up to finish some last minute packing. With all the shopping days in Kigali my luggage seems to have doubled yet space has not, except we were given large trunks so that is where I was able to fit most of my stuff. So then comes time to load the trucks. I and one other girl shared a pickup truck with our stuff. It was very full but it all fit. Then I and 2 others took a bus to our sides. At the guest house we were staying at we had to say goodbye to all our other friends not knowing when the next time we may see them again. The first stop was Kamonyi to drop off one of the girls in my bus. She had her own pickup truck with all her stuff so she got out and we drove away. Just like that she was at her site and we were off to my site. After seeing how that went I think I got even more nervous. I live just off a paved road, but my house is on a dirt road. It’s a perfect size in my opinion. It has 3 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. My bathroom has a flushing toilet and a working shower. My house has electricity and running water. I am definitely not roughing it in this house. But this may only be temporary for 2-3 months.
So once arriving at my house the whole neighborhood helped unload the truck and bring stuff inside for me. I then road around with my counterpart to see all the places I needed to see. We went to both markets one very close but small and one is very large and a bit farther away. We stopped to see the office and then we went to two carpenters to compare bed frame prices. We went to the gas station to get petrol for my kerosene stove which is how I will cook my meals. And then I was dropped off at my house again and abandoned. I had all my things to unpack and organize but I can’t even explain how alone I felt and the feeling of having no idea what I was supposed to do next. So taking the advice from another peace corps volunteer who said do not just sit in your house and feel sorry for yourself that will only make things worse. I was also told the first 2 weeks would be a lot of sitting and waiting and meeting the neighborhood and letting them know who you are. So I went out to my front porch and sat there, saying Mirirwe to everyone passing by. My next door neighbor came out and sat next to me. She is at an English speaking university studying Psychology and computer science. She was really nice and we got to talk for a while. I even got invited over her house to meet her brother and sister. They all are very intelligent English speakers. I watched 24 with them in French. It was a lot of fun and I felt like I already have friends. Then as I leave their home for the night the man who I knew was coming to meet me came to take me to meet the boss of my umudugdu. I was surprised and happy to find out she is a women. Then I was invited to the man who took me to meet her back to his house which it turns out is right behind my house, in fact our houses are attached. I later realize he is my land lord and owns my house. He feed me beer and somosa’s and I met his whole family. Everyone is so nice. His wife even walked me home and gave me curtains to hang over my windows. This morning I woke up and finished unpacking then walked around town to see what I could find. I was happy to find a shop that sells French baguettes. I also found how to get to both markets, found a gym and a sauna. Muhanga is the second largest city in Rwanda so I think almost anything can be found, it just may take me a few weeks to really learn my way around.

I made the News in Rwanda!!!

http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14252&article=28838

34 US Peace Corps sworn-in
By Irene V. Nambi

A group of 34 American Peace Corps volunteers were yesterday sworn-into serve in various sectors in a bid to help in the achievement of the country’s major development goals.
The swearing in ceremony was held at the residence of the US Ambassador, Stuart Symington.
According to the Country Director of Peace Corps in Rwanda, John Reddy, the group has undergone a 10-week training programme in Nyanza that mainly focused on learning Kinyarwanda as well as technical and cross-cultural studies.
“The volunteers will stay in Rwanda for two years and during that time, they will be assigned to work with various organisations in the areas of health, capacity building and economic growth issues,” Reddy explained.
Ambassador Symington challenged the volunteers to strive to change the world, adding that they should use these networks to advance the vision that was initiated by President John F. Kennedy.
“In 1960, when John F. Kennedy called upon the youth to serve in other nations of the world, we were a nation of immigrants. Today, America is not only connected to the world by the things we buy, but there are direct links, even for our President.”
“Let us hold onto the vision to reach out and do something that no one else has done. It has followed generations and it is now in your hands,” Symington said.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, also noted that Rwanda is a country that has a miraculous recovery story.
She acknowledged the role of the partners, adding that the new group will join in the country’s journey to achieve major development goals.
On behalf of the volunteers, Portia Washington, said that Rwanda is a very beautiful country adding that the group is determined to play their part in the respective sites that they have been assigned to.
This is the third group of Peace Corps volunteers to serve in the country since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. So far, 94 Peace Corps volunteers have worked in the Education and Health sectors.

SWEAR IN

Written May 9th

Well it has been quite a while since I wrote a blog. I wish I could blame it on the internet never working but I don’t actually need the internet to write the blogs. So I guess I can’t really use that excuse. But Training is officially over and I am an actual Peace Corps volunteer now. (If you didn’t know before I was a Peace Corps trainee for the past 10 weeks.) Our swear-in ceremony took place on May 5th at the Ambassador’s house. He has a beautiful house and the ceremony was televised and made the newspaper called the New Times: Rwanda’s First Daily the May 6th edition. I am actually pictured on page 3 so hopefully I can put an electronic copy on my blog for you all. The oath we took is the same oath as everyone in the U.S government takes including the military and congress. That’s right Nick I took the same oath as you
I, Sonya Alexander, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, domestic and foreign, that I take this obligation freely and without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge my duties in the Peace Corps, so help me God.
So after swear in we got to spend 4 days in Kigali to buy things we need and to relax and hang out. I love shopping so this has been a really fun couple of days. The peace corps gives us a move in allowance to buy things like appliances and furniture for our houses. We have also gotten to test many restaurants in Kigali. Night one, we ate at what we thought was Thai food but in reality it was owned by a French man and mostly only had French foods. The guy didn’t even know what Pad Thai was. So I had noodles and vegetables in a peanut sauce which was as close as I could get to pad thai. The next day we stuffed ourselves at the ambassadors house after our swear-in ceremony. So for dinner we just had the famous Rwandan bar food brochettes and fires. The next day we had dinner at a pizza place called sun and moon. The pizza was really good they were just a bit stingy on the cheese but cheese is very expensive here so that understandable. My friend ordered a cheese pizza with olives and literally got one whole olive cut into about 8 pieces on her pizza. Even with all that I would recommend the place because it’s good and cheap. Friday we ate at a little coffee shop located outside the market called aromas. It was so-so but cheap and owned by a Texan. I had a burger and fries which were not as good as at this coffee shop Bourbon. Speaking of Bourbon it is like a little America in Rwanda. It’s like Starbucks but better. The food is really good and comes out really fast. Service is great. They have amazing ice cream that’s real Italian gelatti. The only glitch is that they are really expensive. We also ate at an Indian restaurant which was good but not so good non. A few weeks ago a few of us came to Kigali and ate at a really nice Indian restaurant. The food is amazing the non and chicken tika masala is amazing but it’s one of the most expensive restaurants so we can’t really afford it on the peace corps budget. Today we found a really great cheap burger place with good milkshakes so that was exciting also.
I feel like all I ever blog about is food but it’s a big part of happiness here in the Peace Corps. The theory goes that women gain weight and men lose weight. I will hopefully not be part of that statistic. Luckily in Rwanda it’s somewhat ok to go running unlike in other countries where it is completely unacceptable.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

written May 9th

In Kigali something very amazing happened the other day. So back story, there are many kids who ask muzungu’s for amafaronga (money). All the time they hold out their hands and say give me money. (By the way please does not exist in this language neither do any words we would use to be polite. This includes store and restaurant settings they say I want or give me. No please, no polite statements its just the culture not because they are rude. Oh and also hissing at a waiter or waitress is how to get their attention.) So anyway back to my story a kid was asking me for money so I held out my hand and asked him for money. He gave me 25 francs, then continued to ask me for money so I gave him back the money he gave me and he continued to ask. It was really unexpected and maybe a little rude of me but who would have guessed he would actually give me money. Well a few days later my friend did the same thing, asked the kid begging for money and she was given 100Francs. That’s actually a descend amount of money, enough to buy a lolli-pop or a chocolate truffle. She gave it back but still its so crazy that this has now happened twice in the same area.

They call me Mukundwa

Written May 9th

A little about my last week in Nyanza…
I celebrated a friend’s birthday at my other friends host family. We all went to their house together and taught them how to make grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was a really fun time but think they doubted how well it would turn out because on the side they also made beans and rice. Then later that week I had dinner with my host family. I hadn’t really spent as much time with them as I should have but they were a really awesome family and extremely nice but spoke no English so it was very difficult to communicate. I did find out however that the dad was a construction worker and also the boss of the village/umudugudu. The mother owned a fabric shop in town which I frequented a lot. They had 4 children but one I never met because I think she was at boarding school. I learned that the dad used to live in the area I am moving to before 1994 but everything was destroyed and he moved to Nyanza. This was all in Kinyarwanda and with actions so it was hard to handle and I can be sure before of the slashing actions he was showing me. I didn’t really know how to react to such a statement.
That night I got to cook dinner with them. I peeled potatoes, and tomatoes. Broke string beans, Cut potato’s simultaneously cutting my finger as well. So then I sat out on the rest but dinner was really good. We had cow meat, rice, fries, tomato sauce, green beans, and banana wine. They had me sit at a large table with me the father and mother. The kids had to sit outside and as far as I can tell they are only fed the left over’s. This does make me extremely uncomfortable but everyone says that’s how it is at their host families also so it’s just the norm here. A friends of the families came by and took like 15 photos of me eating. Then a few more with me posing with the family. They gave me a kinyarwandan name. Here it is tradition to after 10 days of birth to be given a name. Mine is now Mukundwa meaning peace. Then they gave me a gift. At first I thought it was fabric which is what I love so I was ecstatic. I took it out of the bag to find a dress that she had my umudosi make for me with the measurements she already had from the dress she made me before. It was super cute and I love it dearly. The next day we had tea and a goodbye ceremony with all of our host families. I got to wear the dress and I think that made my host parents very happy.

GUTEKA- to cook!

I feel in one of my earlier blog entires I was a bit negative on the food issue. I would like to tell you the wonderful foods that have been derived from the ingredients we have been able to find in Rwanda. But first a little about Rwandan cooking. There are 5 standard dishes and thats it. Rwandans never branch out and try different concoctions, its always the same. Plantins (a cross between a potato and a bananna; Ibishyimbo na umuceri (rice and beans); mashed potatos; ifiritis (french fries); dodo (greens similar to spinish); carrots, peas and green beans; umugati (cassava flour bread, very bland, hearthy taste but not bad); especial (omlette). As americans though we discovered with a little effort that many american dishes can be made here. 1: Hmaburgers, i did little in the preperation of this but my house mates spent hours grinding the meat with a terrible meat grinder. Then the ground beef was formed into hot dog shaped burgers since that is the shape of the buns here and cooked over a coal fire. They were delicious. we added avocado and tomatoes and cheese to them. Then with the French fries i learned a cool new trick and that is to always double fri. The following weekend we made macaroni and cheese starting with a rue of butter and flour then adding cheese. It was also incredible the garlic was an amazing touch to that dish. It funny because I have a roommate who can find anything in this country. Snickers and kit kats have recently been discovered, not sure if they were specially ordered from Kigali because of the group of 36 muzungu's staying in the area or not. Anyway she saw a white man and followed him and what did she find, she found French baguettes. so now on numerous occasions we have had grilled cheese on real French baguettes. To make it a little better, avocado and tomatoes are a great touch. Guacamole is another favorite especially since we don't need to spend an hour prepping a fire in order to make it. Avocado's are huge here and you can get 1 for 10 cents. Interestingly enough guacamole is not a Rwandan dish and Rwandans don't really know about it. It is definitely popular with the peace corps volunteers though. So I think i can safely say I will not be wasting away of starvation any time soon. (of course packages with american food are definitely still wanted :)

Peace Corps Talent Show

Peace Corps Rwanda had a talent show for the trainiee’s a few weeks ago. It was just like being at summer camp again which was really fun. I found out there is lots of talent in our group. Sadly I have no talents for a talent show but that did not stop me from participating, and partially because it was required everuone be involved. So a few of my friends and I re-wrote a famous song, It’s Miley Cyrus’s Party in the U.S.A.
It goes like this:
Hopped of the Plane at KGL
With our chocos and our 80 pounds
Welcome to the land of a thousand hills
Not gonna fit in
I hopped on the volcano express for the first time
Looked to my right and i see the condom sign
This is all so crazy, i guess i’m not that lazy
My tommy’s turning and i’m feeling kinda homesick
Too much pressure and i’m nervous
Thats when the driver man turned up the radio
And the yawe song was on (X3)

Chourus
So i put my hands up their playing my song
And the butterflies fly away
Nodding my head like yego
Moving my hips like yego
So i put myhands up their playing my song and i know its gonna be ok
Yeah yeah there’s a party in Rwanda

Went to the blue bar the buy a primus
Everybody’s looking at me now
Like who’s the chick thats rockin crocs
She’s gotta be from outta town
Its not hard with my firends all around me
Everyday is like a peace corps party
All i see are bright fabrics
I guess we all got the memo
My tommy’s turning and i’m feeling kinda homesick
Too much pressure and i’m nervous
Thats when the driver man turned up the radio
And the yawe song was on (X3)
(Chorus)

I feel like hopping on a flight
Bakc to my hometown tonight
Mupemba stops me everytime
And the DJ plays my song and I feel alright

(mupemba is our training director here in Rwanda)

A Weekend in Paradise

Well this has been a great weekend in mini America (or as close as I’ll get in the next 2 years). We have been staying at a very nice hotel for 3 nights to have a health conference with all the organizations Peace Corps health group will be working with while in Rwanda. We are staying in a hotel with individual huts with a roommate. But we have hot showers and flushing toilets. It has a swimming pool and what’s even more amazing is that we were actually told there would be a pool and to bring our swim suits. The pool felt so amazing I have been swimming every day at every chance we get. (So about 3 times because there has not been a lot of down time until now). Many people left for their site visits this afternoon. Me and about 10 others leave tomorrow so we get to spend an extra night in this exquisite hotel with free wireless. This is why I have been able to upload pictures to my blog and to facebook. Our first day when we arrived in Kigali in February it did not seem like such a big, amazing city before. It was not a big deal, a city in Africa nothing like even the smaller cities in America. Now after spending only a month in the semirural city of nyanza, Kigali is this huge luxurious city in which we get seasoned food and can hear cars driving by at night. Definitely a different perspective. Also the first traffic lights I have seen in a month was when we drove back into Kigali. I never even noticed they were missing until I saw them and thought it was strange seeing them.
The point of the health conference was to learn about the organization we would be working with and see all the other organizations that others are working with. It was great getting to meet my counterpart and supervisors this weekend. I also got to learn a little bit about my organization. They work with rural communities to help make sustainable living for underprivileged families. They work with farmers to raise crops like corn and flour and fruits. They sell a famous health porridge around Africa called Sosoma which I got to even sample and it’s like a runny oatmeal without the oats. The company also helps craftsman to make, sell and market wood projects such as doors and beds and cabinets. I am the very first volunteer this organization has ever had. My role as of now is still a little unclear but I know I will be working in the community with the farmers and working in the office doing business plans and organizational things. I will be living about 45 minutes from Kigali in the district of Muhanga which is much bigger than Nyanza but only slightly smaller than Kigali. I will share about what i am doing here once I have gotten to see my site and spent time in my community and with my organization.
Thank You all for reading!

Umugonda (National Day of Service)

Rwanda is a truly amazing country. On Saturday we all woke up early to go to the monthly event called umuganda. This happens on the 4th Saturday of every month. Shops close and everyone works together on this national community service day. We went to go help one particular umudugodo (village) with cultivating land for Cassava plants. The mayor recommended we help them. It was an hour and a half hike through woods and over mountains and down hills, it was beautiful but of course I forgot my camera. Anyway we get there and we see over 2 hundred people hoeing the ground, the old fashioned way to turn the soil. We all had to take turns with the hoes because they were many more people than there where tools which seems to be a common problem. Anyway we worked for a few hours on this large area of land, then everyone sat down for some sort of meeting and role check I think,(it was all in Kinyarwanda). Umuganda is a mandatory event in the country and some community’s even fine people who do not attend. After the meeting the Rwandans all start chanting and then dancing and I realized that in Rwanda everything turns into a dance party. There is never down time because anytime people are waiting to do something they just start singing and dancing. Maybe if we all did the world would be a happier place. For lunch we got to eat umugati, which is a roll of bread dough that you dip into a sauce. I really like it but it takes some getting used to. The way one person refers to it here is the most earthy taste you can imagine, but in a good way.
Sunday it was off to Kigali. We are staying in a hotel with huts as rooms. Its really nice, we have hot water showers and flushing toilets and amazing food. We had French toast for breakfast which made me amazingly happy. Today we met our supervisors of the organizations we will be working with. And we also have free wireless internet, what more could a PCV ask for!

A day with an Umudosi

So I had my first dress made last week. It was quite an experience. I found out that my host mom owns a fabric shop so I felt a little obligated to buy fabric from her shop. She had a small selection compared to some other places but I found some I liked. I had a rough sketch of the dress I wanted made but I am not very good a drawing so I was nervous of how it would be interpreted. My host mom and the umudosi (tailor) do not speak any English whatsoever. Just trying to get the point across that I wanted to buy fabric for a dress was a challenge. Agreeing on a price was also quite funny. I would write down a price then she would write her price. We haggled for a bit Then we came to an agreement before the umudosi arrived. The umudosi was not pleased with the price and refused so I had to pay a little more. It was so confusing but in the end I thought we had it figured out. Then I stood there for a while thinking I needed to be measured but I had no idea how to say that in Kinyarwanda. So I just stood there, my host mom keep trying to talk to me but I can understand her very little. A common problem with learning a language is even if you do know what the words mean; understanding them from a local who speaks fast is hard. Our teachers are really good at enunciating and speaking slowly so we can understand but in the "real world" it’s a whole different story. Eventually my umudosi comes back into the room with a tape measure to do my measurements. I show her the length I want and how thick I want the straps by spacing my fingers out over my shoulders hoping she understands. I also try to show her how I want a band around my waist. Anyway, let’s just say things didn’t seem very clear and I had no idea how to get the point across so I just hoped. I did this all on Wednesday and they told me Friday to pick it up. Well I go to my mom’s shop on Friday and ask for my dress and she tells me in Kinyarwanda something that makes no sense to me. I have no idea where my umudosi is. I give up and try to find one of my friends who had a dress made by the dame person. A few hours later I found someone to show me where to go. It straight down a dirt road, I then had to turn right into a tin door which let me to an open corridor with multiple rooms on every side. I wander into each of them looking for someone familiar and don’t see any umudosi I recognize. I forgot what she looked like; I did not have her name. it was almost hopeless. I leave and head back home when some lady comes chasing after me. Apparently I was in the right place my umudosi was just on break or something. I try on my dress and its perfect. But is didn’t fit right. I had to show her where she needed to take in. Hoping she got it. She took some chalk and made some marks I gave the dress back she made alterations tried it on again, needed a little more she fixed it again and it fit perfectly and was exactly as I drew the dress and pictured it wanting to look. I am extremely happy with it and can’t wait to get a few more tailor made outfits in my time here. The fabric they sell is just beautiful and you’ll never find the same print twice. All in all it was a great experience and everyday the language gets a little bit better. buhro buhro we say. little by little. :)

Things I love about Africa (so far)

1. Bucket/solar showers
2. Cooking on a fire and making hamburgers and fries
3. Walking 6 miles a day (back and forth 1 mile each day 3X)
4. Pretending to be a washing machine when hand washing clothes
5. Shopping at the used clothing market
6. Tailor Made Dresses
7. Somosas and Tea
8. Kinyarwanda language...?
9. The beautiful thousands of hills
10. Dance parties before and after every event
11. 10:00am tea breaks
12. Kids running after you in the streets
13. Guacamole, Beans and Rice
14. Chickens that run under your table at restaurants (also i love 1 legged chickens)
15. The lake near my house

Site Placements!!

Well last night we got told out site placements. As I think most of you know we are in training in Nyanza for the first 3 months of service before we go and live on our own. my site is in Muhangu. I am really excited about it. It is 45 minutes from Kigali and an hour or so from where I am now Nyanza (which has the best market in the country so I'm glad to stay close by). I am going to be place with DUHAMIC ADRI as a health and community development volunteer. I am the only volunteer with this co-op so it is both exciting and nerve-recking. My job description seems to include anything and everything so I am excited for what I may be able to do. So far I know they are a local co-op, with a savings and lendings group and they sell nutritious porage like drinks to make money. That is all I've been told. I will go see the group and see my site next week and will update with more information as it comes. For now I am just excited to see what I'm going to be doing and where I will be living.

Info I found online at http://www.fdh.org/Rwanda-DUHAMIC-ADRI-Association.html

Duhamic-Adri, Association for Integrated rural development, was founded in 1979 with as mission to support rural community initiatives of self-development. Duhamic-Adri works particularly on conciousness raising among peasants around the mechanics of neglect and at offering services such as projects analysis, help in negotiations, training, support options...

The objectives are several :

Fight against the neglect of the rural community
Stimulate construction and merging of peasants groups and associations
Reinforce collective actions among peasant associations by starting up or motivating the launch of independent organisational structures such as inter-grouping.
Support of rural community initiatives in different development activities (agricultural production, processing and commercialisation, reforestation, craftsmanship, etc.)

this country has come so far

3/14/10
This weekend has been the most emotional of all. We went to a city called Butare, which is about 1 hour south of Nyanza I think. It was nice to get out of Nyanza for the day. WE first made a stop at a nice historical museum; it had traditional tools, clothes, how things are made and such throughout the museum. There was also a traditional house made of weave that we could go in and see. I would give up electricity and water and everything to live in a traditional hut like that was. It was very Africa, but stayed cool and had a rather comfortable bed, just as comfortable as where I’m sleeping now anyway.
Then we went into town for lunch and the umuzungu grocery store. Basically foods from America but at double or triple the price but it was worth it for a one time treat. I got Pringles, nutella and granola cereal. Afterwards a few of my friends and I went off with 2 of our language culture facilitors to a “good” Chinese restaurant. I was not really feeling Chinese but at this point anything besides beans, rice and potatoes would be great. We first find out they do not have soy sauce because the “sauce specialist” was not in that day. So I go buy some from the grocery store and come back, I mean what is Chinese food without soy sauce. That was about 30 minute’s time and no food had come. 1 hour passes and no food comes. Our LCFs (language, culture facilitators) talk to the staff and they say their working on it. 20 minutes later 1 plate of noodles comes out. Not what ordered but we decide to eat them anyway. My food never came, my friend’s food never came, the 3 of us shared one dish. And let me not forget the fact the during our wait we saw 4 live chickens taken into the back and then one by one we heard a loud swak and them silence. Not the best feeling in the world that’s for sure.
Our last stop about 30 minutes from butare was a famous genocide memorial and a famous genocide massacre location. Words cannot even describe how hard it was to see this and nothing can prepare you for it. It was the location of an old boarding school that tutsis’s fled to for safety because it was supposedly protected by the French military. It was not safe the school was surrounded and some 50,000 were killed. Now the rooms are filled with the bodies “frozen” in time with a type of molding in the positions which they were found, not just one or two rooms, I have no idea how many rooms but we walked through at least 10. None of us knew how to handle it and it was the most terrible thing I have ever seen. I wasn’t sure how or if I should even write about it but I know how important it is that people know what occurred in this country, to prevent it from happening again.

Women's day celebration

3/8/10
I have officially been in Rwanda 11 days now. It’s funny because I feel like I have been here for a month or two already. Our training schedules are packed full each day, leaving very little spare time to think about or and even miss home and America. It also leaves no time for internet, blog writing, journal writing and letter writing, all things I wish I had a bit more time to do. Our schedule is 4 hours of language class, 1 hour language application (at our host family), then 2 of medical, health, or culture class in the afternoon.
Food is really bad and fattening, our meals are pretty much all carbs. We given potatoes every day usually for lunch and dinner, and fried in grease. We also usually have some form of really bland pasta with mystery meat, usually goat. Kale is our vegetable when we get one. But our 10:00am tea snacks are really delicious but also very unhealthy. They are made up of somosas, flat greasy bread (the name has escaped me right now), and fried sweet rolls similar to donuts.
Today was National Women’s Day. A holiday for women (obviously), apparently it is a big holiday here. As a group, we all went to a stadium area to see an event in honor of the holiday. There were a lot of secondary school students there, that sang, danced and chanted before the show started, since of course it started an hour and a half late, that’s Africa time for you. Each one of us was picked and taken to dance in front of everyone and eventually we were all down on the grass dancing with the secondary school children. It ended up being really fun. The rest of the show was speeches in Kinyarwanda (impossible to even start to understand) and some dances from school kids in African outfits. Later today we walked to a museum, where we tried to go a few days ago but with the hard we never went since it’s a 4 or 5 mile walk. Today we walked all the way there and found out it was closed. So we hiked back up a mountain through the woods as a “short cut” home. It was a really nice walk though with great scenery, so I’m glad that we got to have a walk around through areas we had never seen before. Who knows if we’ll actually ever make it to the Nyanza museum?

the beginning

2/23/10
Well the first day of staging is over and things are off to a good start. Staging was full of many ice breakers and talking about of anxieties and ambitions and going over rules and such. We also got to finally turn in all the paperwork that we were given to fill out with our invitation.
So far it seems I do have the most luggage which always seems to happen to me even though last night I weeded out so many clothes and little extras that I knew I would not need.(110 pounds, limit 100 but no charge!)Packing was quite a challenge, since its 2 years + some!
Saying goodbye to nick was very hard. What can you say knowing you won't see each other for 2 years. How can you possibly say goodbye to the man you want to marry. I know i just have to, if I decided not to join I would spend the rest of my life wondering what my life would have been like had I joined.
Staging (an event for peace corps volunteers in the US before they leave for their country) was 6 hours long and talked about our thoughts about leaving and aspirations and worries in joining the Peace Corps. It was long and boring but necessary and good for getting to know each other. Afterwards I joined three others and we went out for sushi as our last dinner in America. The next morning we all walked to get our shots together though I didn’t actually need any, and then we headed off on the bus fro 3 hours to JFK. Then the long two, 8 hour flights to Brussels and then to Kigali.
Upon arrival in Kigali, it was pouring rain. And I was so tired and so exhausted i could not really take it all in. We stayed in a nunnery in Kigali for 3 days, mostly spending those days getting shots and filling out paperwork.

3/3/10
Yesterday started our first official day of “classes.” Language, health, safelty and tech (skills trainging). This is what will be occurring all day, everyday from now until May 8th, our ceremony for becoming official Peace Corps volunteers. I also forgot to mention that we had a beautiful 2 hour drive from Kigali to Nyanza and saw a whole lot of the countryside. The hills and tree’s and farmlands, kids running and screaming Muzungu, which means white person. We stopped on a rock with the myth that the king sent is 2 best men out to find the best punishment. They each came back with 2 different, terrible ways to die. Because they thought these horrible things for their own race they were sentenced to the punishment they thought of. The rock we were at was heated with fire until extremely hot and then have the man stretched across it until he burned to death. Lots of locals came by since we are such a huge group of Americans, many have never seen so many white people before.
Here in Nyanza the volunteers are split up into 4 houses. I live about 30 minutes from where we eat and take classes. Everyone except one house lives about that far in different directions. It’s a great walk though. Its nice to see the neighborhood and the view. It’s a great temperature here. Around 80 degrees sometimes hotter but not too hot. Today is especially perfect, slightly cloudy, and breezy outside. It is rainy season, so it rains pretty much every day for an hour or two very hard, but then its over and the sun is back out.
Yesterday I met with my host family. Although I am not living with them I am suppose to meet with them for about 3 hours a week to practice language. It was very frustrating because we could not understand each other at all. We sat together and looked at my workbook and she helped me with the words in Kinyarwanda and I helped here with the words in English. Dinner last night was the best we have had all week, beans, rice and fresh guacamole!!
The rest of the night was spent practicing Kinyarwanda eating cookie with peanut butter and sour patch kids later.
Marabutse!

Culture Notes:
- Women have no modesty when breastfeeding
- Always carry raincoat and flashlight
- Kids call you muzugue constantly- (white person)
- Kids laugh when you try to speak kinyarwanada
- The electricity is completely unrealiable
- Fanta = 250F (50C) Internet = 200F (40C) per hour CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!!
- The malaria pills are only 70% effective...
- Moto’s do not stop for pedestrians
- Chicken and bananas can go together
- Kinyarwanda words can be spelled the same way but mean lots of different things
- Valuables should be locked in trunks, locked in rooms, locked by another door leading to the rooms from the living room, the house locked, and the gate locked with a 24 hour guard!
- Three meals are eaten between 8:00 and 12:00. Breakfast, tea, and lunch. And dinner at 7:00.

The land of a thousand hills

(images from Wikipedia)
Wow its already Friday and Tuesday is when i meet everyone in Phili! I am so excited and super stressed at the same time. I have a 3 page packing list and way too much stuff that i want to bring and can't. I am so happy that I got to visit friends this week though. Went on a little trip to Gettysburg to see Maria. Met Kim in Baltimore and saw Kimmy over in Delaware yesterday. It is so hard to say goodbye to someone who you won't see again for over 2 years.
Rwanda is said to be one of the prettiest countries in Africa. A land of a thousand hills. The silver-back gorillas live here and are only 700 mountain gorillas left in existence and most live in Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo. They get up to 6 feet and are 300 to 425 pounds. Rwanda is also full of volcanoes. Mount Gahinga, inactive, 3,474 meters (11,398 feet. Mount Karisimbi, also inactive, 4,507 metres (14,787 ft). The name of this volcano, comes a word in Kinyarwanda meaning little white shell. This is an allusion to the white snow cap that can sometimes be found on the volcano. Mount Muhabura, 4,127 metres (13,540 ft, name means The Guide, derives from a historical use of the mountain to aid navigation. These volcanoes as well as many others are havens for the mountain gorillas.
So excited to be able to live in such a beautiful country.

Things are coming together and I am so excited to be leaving in 29 days. Paperwork seems to be never ending and I have no idea what to pack. I am not sure how much access to electricity or even ATM machines I will have. I have also just gotten the e-mail to call and confirm a flight to Phili where the staging event will be occurring. Staging takes place in America where all the volunteers about to leave for a country get together to collect paperwork, meet other volunteers and peace corps staff and get ready to leave for the 27 month journey. I will be volunteering with other health organizations in expanding already exiting AIDS/HIV programs to reach more people and provide support to those living with AIDS. 3.1% of Rwandans are living with AIDS and it is expected to be a much higher percentage in rural areas.

My Address until May 2010 will be:

Sonya Alexander, PCV

PC/Rwanda

B.P. 5657

Kigali, Rwanda

AIRMAIL

I would love letters from anyone and everyone!!

Thank you all for your support!!

Well i got my invitation packet last Thursday and am so excited. It will be Rwanda. I am planning on accepting tomorrow morning. Its so complicated with everything going on right now with moving and packing and I also have to take my EMT test before I leave this state so that will be on Thursday afternoon. Nick is only working until 11:00am this week since he has already completed everything he needed to complete for his ELT training. And since we just found out that he does not have to be in Washington until March 5th we decided to stay with our parents for the month. His part of the time and mine the other part of the time.

33 days until I leave for Rwanda!!

To Do:

Accept invitation

Fedex Passport

study and take EMT test

finish packing

fill out all rwanda paperwork

wait till the 22nd...

Invitataion Feb 22nd for AFRICA

Today I got a phone call and have an invitation. I will be going to Sub-Saharan Africa on February 22, 2009. My Invitation packet will be here on Friday to let me know the exact country but I was told I will be doing AIDS awareness in a newly reopened country which i have narrowed down to 4 possible choices. Sierra Leone reopening in 2010,Liberia reopened in 2008, Rwanda reopened in 2008, and Ethiopia reopened in 2007. I'm thinking Rwanda!! After reading through the peace corps facebook group it seems people on Feb. 22nd are all going to Rwanda so now I think thats the place I'm headed!! French and English are the official languages making it that much more likely!! The land of a thousand hills they call it and from the research and pictures I see online it looks beautiful. The first volunteers since 1994 were sworn in on April 15, 2009. They are still there now and the next batch of volunteers will be my group on February 22nd. There are currently 29 volunteers and that amount will likely double in Feb. That is if I am correct about my speculations in my invitation being to Rwanda. only time (and the mail) will tell!!

Nick was happier than I expected about all this. We are still doing our road trip just leaving earlier and cutting it a bit short so I can get home just in time to pack say goodbye to friends and family and head off to wherever it is they are taking me! Ironic how nick reports to duty on Feb 22. the exact date I'm leaving for PC. Crazy how the world can work out in you favor!!

Congratulations! You have been invited to become a Peace Corps Volunteer.

much to do, little time left in Charleston

Well there are 12 days left until we leave. nothing is packed up yet. I still have to take and pass my multiple choice emt exam, which i have to take at a testing center. I am working until jan 20th to save money for the cross country trip. and we have very minimal plans for where we want to visit.

For now to brainstorm:

Tampa, FL- Nick's grandma

New Orleans- My uncle Tom

Texas- Nick's Uncles' Ranch

Las Vegas, Nevada

Grand Canyon in Arizona

As well as spending a week and a half between our parents houses in virgina and maryland.

I am excited for this awesome time we will get to have together. But sad knowing this adventure together is going to have to be put on hold for a bit. Knowing that Feb 22nd may be the last time we see each other for 2 1/2 years is so sad and scary. If only I could find out when and where I am headed for the peace corps, then i can at least get busy with learning the language and talking to others who have been or are going to that country. Its so frustrating waiting around. But i've heard thats life with the peace corps!

Bangor, Washington...

Ok so officially, I want to begin this blog and keep up with it every week. The first couple of entries we just testers really.

I begin by knowing that Nick, my finance, has been assigned to the USS Henry M. Jackson in Bangor, Washington. This is good and bad. He gets 30 days leave before then to move and get situated. This brings us to February, 22 together. So hopefully i'll be leaving for the peace corps in March sometime. This is a ballistic submarine in which 2 crews switch off 3 months on and 3 months off. He will be spending 4-5 years hear, in which i will be joining after my 2 years stay in the peace corps. This is both very exciting and very scary at the same time.