Photos of everyday life in Rwanda

Traditional Dancers at a local organization fair

A cooperative in Kigali that sews cloth bags.

A farmer cooperative proudly standing in front of their land

Deforestation of tree's in my own village :(

Rwandan children loving each other

The heavy rains of rainy season

Close up of the little fishes or in kinyarwanda isambasi

My neighbor laying out little fishes to dry

Some cow skins for sale at the local market

21 Months

Well, Friday marks 21 months living in Rwanda. I am very excited to be finished kinda soon! On dec. 5 I will have exactly 5 more months. My training group started with 37 and now has 22 making our Group- (Health 2) have 40% early termination rate. Most of my closest friends have left not making things easier for me. I got very very close to going home also. But I decided to stay for a number of reasons, the biggest being friendships, new travel experiences and the goal of just finishing.
So what am I doing now?
I am trying to keep myself busy and trying to stay in my village as much as possible. My organization lost a lot of its USAID funding and is now as a loss for what to do. For now they seem to still be paying staff and paying rent but as for all the activities, they have to be cut. It doesn’t really make much sense to me what’s going on; I think they are trying to do what they can with as little money as possible. Personally I think it’s for the best, they were getting too much money before anyway and not really doing anything useful with it. So now I get to be a true “community development & health volunteer”, which gives me a lot of freedom to do anything. The problem is knowing what is needed and where can I help. Lately I find myself hanging out at the health center. Here I can talk with women and families about hygiene and nutrition. (They never realize how good avocados and carrots can be, instead they by glucose biscuits and fried bread for the same cost.) There is a nurse there who is really good in English and can translate for me. I can say it very simply in Kinyarwanda and he then goes into detail. I talk about when hands should be washed and how children should not run around bare foot (if they can afford shoes) which almost everyone has a least cheap foam shoes, ect. Then when paperwork/names are being filled out I play with the babies and keep them occupied using my phone, my house keys, and sometimes even my earrings. After work I hang out in the town center, usually with my bike (as I have to ride it to the health center). Everyone wants to take turns riding it around so I usually let them for a short time. Then I head to a shop to take some tea. Last week I somehow managed to spill a mug of hot tea all over myself, the guy next to me, the bench and the floor. It caused quite a mess, but the shop owner happily cleaned it up and gave me a free new cup of tea. I had to sit and drink while everyone who came into the shop got told the story of how I spilled tea everywhere. But I do love Rwandan Tea. I also recently “designed” a number of dresses that I had a tailor make for me. They all came out great!
The school year is over now but I will maybe start teaching English again in January at the primary school.
In December I head to Zanizbar for a second time (because its just that amazing) and Zambia to see Victoria Falls!

Training Teacher’s to be Child Friendly

Lately my job has been going to different schools in the area and teaching about child-friendly schools. This is basically showing teachers other ways to teach besides lecturing the students for 8 hours a day. My co-worker and I taught teachers how to use teaching aids and about the active learning method. We talked about using role play activities, puzzles, and the game of BINGO. That was training number 1. A month later we went around to all the schools again evaluating and checking if they had tried to use any of the teaching aids. We then discussed how the process went and how to make things better. Most of the teachers had tried to use these aids and the ones that tried had little to complain about. Sadly in one of the schools not a single teacher tried any of the methods. This was very discouraging for both me and my co-worker. It meant that the hours we had spent before training them were pointless. They said they could not use teaching aids due to lack of time, too many students and a lack of materials. We attempted to resolve these problems and taught four more teaching aids; board games, word blocks, letter blocks and the around the world flash card math game. The teachers seemed to like all these ideas and promised to try at least one in the next month. It was really fun teaching these games. The teachers had never heard of or played a board game before in their entire lives. So I made a simple board game to show them how it works then had them all come up with their own games. This also involved teaching how to make a dice out of paper. The word blocks games is a packet of cut up English words, a team of 4-6 people receive these letters and must make as many sentences as possible with the words provided. The team to come up with the most correct English sentences wins. The letter block game is similar. Each team is given a packet of letters and must spell the word said the fastest. All in all I have really enjoyed my work the last few months teaching Child Friendly Schools in Rwanda.

A South African Dream

The three days in Uganda was just not a long enough vacation. So I took a weeklong trip to South Africa to visit some of my friends from my semester abroad. I flew into Johannesburg and meet up with a friend before I headed to my destination. Walking into the airport from the plane was very overwhelming. There were shops and restaurants everywhere and people of every race. I didn’t know where or how to even begin. There were so many things I could get here that I cannot get in Rwanda, choosing something on a menu at this point was too much for me. I sat down at Mugg and Bean where I was to meet my friend and told the server to bring me anything cold because I could not decide. He brought me a delicious strawberry cheesecake milkshake and I was in heaven. It only took an hour to get out of culture shock and enjoy South Africa and all it had to offer. After chatting for hours with Sarah my Johannesburg friend it was time to travel to Durban, the home town of my best South African friend Kirstin. I had been here before during my semester abroad, I spent a week here during a vacation from university. Durban is South Africa’s third largest city on the east coast with a population of 3.5 million people. Durban also has the largest concentration of Indian people making it the best place to get bunny chow a south African Indian specialty involving a half loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with beans, meat and curry stew. One day one my friend and I and her cousins drove around Durban to a small not well known Lion Park. It was a short drive around safari where we were able to pet huge elephants. We also saw a dozen lions trying to catch a monkey that was in the top of a tree. This is the first and only time I will probably every see a full grown lion climb a tree. Sadly the lions did not succeed in catching the monkey. He was too quick for them and jumped from tree to tree. It was very entertaining for the tourists though. I also saw a lager, a mix between a lion and a tiger. Yes, they really do exist! The next day we went shopping in a 3 story mall! It was crazy and amazing! Then it was time for some wave surfing. At one of the malls in Durban there is a wave machine. So for one hour we bungee boarded and surfed on a wave machine. It was more fun than can ever be explained here but I do believe I have a video from it that would win on America’s Funniest Home Video’s of a complete wipeout by me. Another day we went to the new Moses Mabhiba Stadium which was built for the 2010 world cup. Now they have a lift you can take to the top to see a great view of all of Durban. The rest of the time was spent relaxing, catching up on GLEE episodes, and eating amazing food!

Over to Uganda for the weekend

A few months ago I took a vacation to Uganda, boarding the north of Rwanda. I went with a friend and we squeezed a week trip into 3 days. First stop was Sabinyo volcano. It has a jagged top with 3 peaks. The third peak is at the border of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. To get to each peak you have to climb up and down ricked wooden ladders because of how steep each peak is. In Kinyarwanda Sabinyo means bad or old teeth which is a very fitting name because from a distance the top of the volcano looks just like that. We spent the night in a hostel right at the bottom of the volcano. Then bright and early at 7am we woke up to begin the daunting climb. Funny story here, we did not know there was a time change as we are merely 1hour from Rwanda directly north, but yes indeed there is a one hour time change and therefore we had not set our alarms for 7 but 8 instead so we had a very sudden awakening by the staff who knew we were intending to climb the volcano that morning. We made it to the base by 7:30 only 30 minutes late and began climbing. We were accompanied the entire way by an armed guard in case of elephant attacks mostly is what we were told. We did see elephant tracks and elephant dung but no actual elephants sadly. We reached the first peak at 1:00ish and then it was onto the second peak going down first and then further up the summit peak two. Unfortunately during our climb it was foggy and rainy and we had absolutely no view. As we climb onward to the third peak all I am thinking the entire time is please let the fog clear so we can get a few. At 2:30 we summated the third and highest peak of Sabinyo and got to stand in 3 countries at once, Rwanda, Uganda and Congo. The third summit is 3669 meters high. The climb in total is 14 kilometers and took about 8 hour’s total. To say the least by the end of the climb we were absolutely exhausted, sore and completely wet by the end of this climb but there was no time to rest as next we had to go white water rafting and bungee jumping. We took a bus, rested at our hostel on Saturday and on Sunday morning, took a 44 meter leap of faith off a ledge over the Nile River with a bungee attached of course, then took on the white waters of the Nile River. It is said to be one of the world most spectacular rafting destinations in the world. And I must agree. In the morning we took on four class 4 and 5 rapids one being a 15 foot waterfall that yes we went down it and survived and did not even flip the boat which most of the other boats that did hit ended up flipping. (By the way the highest level rapid is a class 6 but those are deadly, the highest rapid that can be rafted through is class 5.) There is a way around the waterfall for wimps. Then it was lunch time, which was amazing by the way chicken and ham and fresh vegetables wrapped in chapatti with hot sauce. This may not sound amazing to those living outside Africa but let me tell you the vegetables are limited in Rwanda and it is amazing when there is a buffet full of them. After lunch we hit 4 more rapids flipped in one of them. Flipping is really the adrenaline rush with rafting. You get sucked under the water for a few seconds by the rapid and it is scary but really fun to do. We tried to flip more times but just didn’t hit the rapids quit right to cause a flip. Yes that’s right flipping is a skill you have to try for its not as easy as it seems to flip. So then it was time to return that night to our beloved home of Rwanda. In three days we were able to trek a volcano, bungee jump and whitewater raft and it was an amazing weekend.

1st Day of English Class

Last week I started English class at the nearby primary school. I requested a class of 30 P4, P5, P6 students only. This is the last three levels of primary school. I decided to teach on Tuesday and Thursday evenings as an after-school help class. So I arrive on Tuesday evening for my first class. There are at least one hundred children all shouting at the teachers. The teachers have come up with picking a number out of a hat to see what children can be in my class. Because I am early I get to watch this process happen. Let me tell you it was not pretty. I felt so bad, all the kids wanted to be in the class but couldn’t. Do to the wild and craziness and the fact that 10 minutes before class is suppose to start we only have 10 names, the classes has now been shortened to 15. And I am so glad because I do not think I could control 30 students. But I also feel so bad about the students who can’t come but want to. As I start the class I have to take names and kick out all the people on the list. Then later children start climbing through the windows and sneaking into the class. You should think I would notice this but they are skilled. I only noticed that suddenly there are 18 students as opposed to the 15 students on my list. So I have to kick them out. Then I have to bolt the door shut with a desk to keep the kids out. There are still at least 30 kids outside watching and mocking the class. To say it bluntly the first day did not go so well. Good news though, the second day went great. The teachers had already prepared the list, (I have 2 classes one on Tuesdays and one on Thursday) and had the students who were picked already in the class and everyone else had left. There was still a few people outside watching but nothing nearly as noisy and distracting as the first day. It appears the children are used to having white people visit to give out free stuff and all the children really wanted was something from the white visitor. Once they all realized it really was just an English class, people were much less interested. So thanks AID workers for turning this culture into a NGO dependent culture and for just giving out things constantly.

In the Dark of the Night

It was about 6:30 at night. Here that is when the sun sets. Due to our location so close to the equator the sun rises and sets at 6:30 exactly everyday all year. And it only takes about 15 minutes from the time it starts setting at 6:15 to when it finishes setting.
I was taking the bus home from Kigali, and grueling 2 ½ hour ride if I’m lucky, and I arrive at about 6:30. It was dark and I was busy talking to some relatives of a university student who were coming to my site for their sister’s graduation. Remember, I live in a tiny town there is a small university. I had just been to the town where my P.O box was to pick up 3 packages. So as I’m getting off the bus I have to rummage around the bus to collect all my packages. Then when I got off the bus I realized I didn’t have my purse. I ran back on the bus to search for it but it was not there. So I started shouting to everybody that a thief had taken my purse. Then somebody said they remembered seeing someone get off the bus rather quickly and run off down the dark dirt road. so three guys ran in that direction to find him. It turns out one of the guys knew who he was and where he lived. That night they were able to get my purse back for me with all the cash still there but the guy had taken the phone and run somewhere with it. While they got my purse back at this thief’s house they stole his soccer bag as collateral for my phone. I was told I would get the phone back the next day but I was pretty doubtful. And I was now scared that I would get reported as a thief since I had this guys soccer bag. Not a good idea at all but I really had no say in the matter. I I was happy just to have gotten my purse back which also had the keys to my house, so I could now get home. I had accepted the fact that I would probably have to get a new phone. Phone’s here are high commodities; people want phones more than anything else, more than laptops or other electronic. The reasoning for this is because laptops are rare besides my co-worker and maybe some rich university students I am one of the few with a laptop, therefore it’s pretty easy to figure out who stole it when somebody tries to use it everyone will know it’s not theirs. So the only thing easiest and less traceable is a phone. If you have an iphone your safe too because nobody has those here so if one is seen with a non-westerner they know it was stolen.
The morning has arrived. I wake up to a knock at my door. It is one of my neighbors. He has a phone number written down of somebody who needs to talk to me. So I use his phone to call the number and have them call me back. (Receiving phone calls is always free). It turns out the call was from the Peace Corps Country Director. She heard I had been mugged. I cleared up the story. I had not been touched or threatened in any way. Just was being stupid and careless on the bus home. Also later that day I got my phone back and the man’s soccer bag was returned to the security who returned it the the Thief. I still don’t know the thief but I know he lives in my town and as I walk around I look at people wondering who it was. I know they know who I am being the only white person in town.

Completed Rainwater Containment Project at Kabuga Primary School.
The school headmaster was given $500 from appropriateprojects.org to buy a 2,000 liter water tank for the school. Here is is after being finished!

THE FINISHED PROJECT IS NOW ONLINE! CHECK IT OUT!
http://appropriateprojects.com/node/710

My Vacation through Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa

The trip began at 5am on Christmas morning when my friend and I had to wake up super early to take the 6am bus from Kigali to Dar es Salaam, 28 hour bus ride. The trip could have been shorter but the bus frequently stopped for bathroom breaks and snack breaks. There were many staff members on the bus some of them drivers. I don’t know how many drivers but as least three. While one was driving, one would be sleeping on a little mattress placed in the isle way in the front of the bus. Between the hours of 11pm and 4am we stopped the bus for resting because they say it is too dangerous to drive at this time. Police can pull the bus over and ransack everything. So we stopped at an area with a few restaurants, and just sat there for 4 hours. We finally arrived to DAR at 10am. After a very long 28 hours, during which my ankles swelled up almost double their size, simply due to the lack of movement. That was terrible and the swelling took 2 days to go down to normal. Dar is a coastal city in Tanzania. It is huge with lots of tall buildings. It was weird arriving to a place like this. There are almost no tall buildings in Rwanda. It was like arriving in NYC, after living in the middle of nowhere for almost a year. Anyway we went straight to Zanzibar which is a 1.5 hour ferry ride from Dar. It’s one of 3 major islands off the coast of Tanzania. We stayed in a hostel for 1 week there. We went swimming with the dolphins, went to Jozani forest to see the only red-colubus monkey’s in existence. We saw the old fort which was built by the Portuguese. We walked through a museum about the colonization of Zanzibar, the building was the first to get electricity. The people of Zanzibar thought the building was on fire when they saw electricity for the first time. We went to the beach and saw the ruins from an old freed slave’s school. We saw a slave cave where they use to hide slaves. Many blacks from Zanzibar were taken as slaves in Arab and Indian countries. Slaves for America and Europe were taken from West Africa. We saw the location where they used to auction off slaves and where the slaves lived. It was 2 tiny all cement rooms, one for the men and one for the women and children. They had to lie on top of one another to all fit in the rooms. There was also a model of slaves that were chained together. They would chain them together with others from different tribes so that they could not communicate with each other. The rest of the time in Zanzibar was spent shopping and laying on the beach. After Zanzibar we went to Dar es Salaam to stay with my friend’s friend who is an expat working with JSI and SCMS from USAID. In Dar we relaxed and enjoyed the big TV and the cool air conditioning and the hot showers. One day we went sailing on their boat. We sailed to an island where we had barbeque sea food. I tried octopus for the first time and actually liked it. We went to an amazing Sushi restaurant, and a ton of other really nice restaurants with food that we cannot get in Rwanda. Like Thai, Italian, Chinese and an amazing sandwich place. My friend got a really bad ear infection so we also got to see the Tanzania Peace corps office to see the doctor. The office was triple the size of ours with double the staff but the same number of volunteers. Both countries have about 170 volunteers even though Tanzania is 100x the size of Rwanda. Anyway after Dar we took a bus straight to Mombasa. The trip was suppose to take 8-10 hours but ended up taking 15 hours. We stopped at customs and one of the passengers owned a business and brought over 300 boxes of juice onto the bus. Nobody could store their bags under the bus all the bags had to be with the passengers. And all the passengers had to wait 4 hours for all the boxes to be unloaded and counted before we could continue. We finally arrived way late. But Mombasa is great. It is the second largest city in Kenya. And it is an island though it is only separated from the main land by a very short distance. You can walk across via bridge, but the buses take a ferry across. This was a very large city. We stayed in a rather nice hotel that had air conditioning. We had no guide book and no idea what to do so we wondered and found a coffee shop. In the coffee shop we met 3 Peace Corps volunteers from Kenya. One of the girls wrote down all these things we should do in Mombasa and that is what we spent the next 3 days doing. It was so great. She recommended this juice shop which was amazing and their burgers were also amazing. She told us about this local Swahili food place that had amazing curry and pita sandwiches called a swarmama. We ate their twice. She gave us prices for things so we could not get ripped off. Kenya and Tanzania are filled with tuk tuk’s remind of the antique car rides in amusement parks. They take you anywhere within a short distance. They are really fun and I wish we had them in Rwanda. We went to a local coffee shop where you sit on cushions on the floor to drink coffee. We met a girl from the Netherlands who had been doing an internship in Nairobi. She was headed home after Mombasa and was just waiting for her bus to leave. So we took her to our favorite restaurant and favorite shops. Have I mentioned the shopping there and in Dar was amazing? There is hardly and selection in Rwanda. Every shop has all of the same things but that is not the case in Kenya and Tanzania. The tourist shops had some of the same thing but there was always something new in each shop. Anyway that’s really all I have to talk about. It was a great trip. I can’t wait to take another vacation. Maybe Ethiopia next!

Differences in Rwanda from Tanzania and Kenya

I have just returned from an amazing vacation. And to my surprise there are so many differences between Rwanda and Kenya and Tanzania. I had forgotten about all the crazy rules Rwanda has. Street food is not allowed in Rwanda. Seeing street food in Kenya and Tanzania was so cool and it was great to be able to eat cheap quick food. No plastic bags are allowed in Rwanda. I saw plastic bags everywhere in Kenya and Tanzania. Those countries are so dirty and litter is everywhere. In Rwanda you see some trash on the streets but it gets cleaned constantly so it has not been practically hardened onto the streets like it has in Kenya and Tanzania.
There is a huge difference in temperatures. Though I went almost straight east it was so much hotter and so much more humid. It was awful. I honestly don’t know how people can live there in the heat. The first hostel we stayed at in Zanzibar had no air conditioning only a fan. We had to take at least 3 cold showers a day to try and stay sane. When we went to DAR we stayed at my friends, friend’s house. They had air conditioning and we never wanted to leave the house. In fact we did spend one whole day laying around in the cool air conditioning watching movies on the big screen TV. It was great. Luckily also in Mombasa we had air conditioning. But let me just re-emphasize how hot it was and how lucky I am to live in a wonderful climate where I can where sweatshirts, jeans, and scarves. There is never a time of day you would ever where any of these things unless you are in the air conditioning. I don’t understand how it can still be so hot at 11 at night. In Rwanda it gets very cold at night. My house feels like it is air conditioned all the time. It’s great; I love the weather in Rwanda.
In Tanzania and Kenya they speak Swahili but in Rwanda we speak Kinyarwanda. There are only a few similar words. Swahili comes from Arabic, Portuguese, and English whereas Kinyarwanda comes from French. The words that are the same though are pronounced differently because Rwandans mix up the letters L and R. In the word ubugari (which is cassava bread dough) is ubugali in Swahili. I think this is really funny because the word comes from Swahili but someone probably just switched the L to an R. Anyway that is the only example I can think of but there are many words like this.
I think the people in Kenya and Tanzania are very nice and very welcoming compared to Rwandans. I have heard the opposite from other volunteers saying Rwandans are nicer but I disagree. We had many nice experiences, especially in Kenya with people being very helpful and happy. That’s the other thing the second we arrived in Tanzania there was also a way happier atmosphere. I first noticed this at the first restaurant we went to during one of our bus breaks. I don’t know how to describe it but things were different. I don’t know how much of this feeling was in my head but I know it felt very different.
There was a huge difference in customer service. At the restaurants and the hotels we received really welcoming helpful staff. And it all felt really genuine. Customer service skills in Rwanda are terrible. It’s sad but very true. There are almost no tourists in Rwanda so they have no incentive to get better in this area. Kenya and Tanzania receive lots of tourists year round. The only outsiders in Rwanda are expats that live in Rwanda working for NGO’s or volunteers living here from different organizations all over the world. I know some volunteers have decided to have secondary projects working with some of the hospitality schools in their area. Sadly there are no hospitality schools near me or I would be there helping also.
But don’t get me wrong I am so happy to be back in Rwanda. I actually missed it a little. The people here know me and I know the language and know what I’m doing. It was hard in Tanzania and Kenya not knowing the language and not having a guide book or anything. We basically winged our whole trip. It turned out great but Kenya and Tanzania are very dangerous countries in terms of crime and corruption from the police. In fact we visited an art gallery in Mombasa and almost every painting was a modern abstract design relating to the corruption of the police and other high power people.

Gorilla Treking

As you may or may not know Rwanda is most famous for its Mountain Gorilla’s. They only exist in this area of the world in Uganda, Congo and Rwanda. They are rare and almost extinct but are coming back thanks to all the protection against poachers that now exists. Rwanda is where the Gorilla’s spend the most time of their time as it is the safest and most protected area. Everyday 3 guards with guns watch each gorilla family from 6am -4pm. There are 680 gorilla’s total from the census taken in 2010 from March- May. The last census was in 2003 with a total of 380 gorillas. Dian Fossey is the famous scientist who lived (and died) with the gorillas for over 20 years. She was the first person to study them so closely and take the first census on them. For more information I highly recommend the book and movie “Gorillas in the Mist.”
I was fortunate enough to get to see them. Since Nick did not come I was looking for fun things to do. My friend and her brother, visiting from the U.S. have been planning on going for months. My other friend and I decided we would try to join them 2 days before the trek. The thing with gorilla passes is they can only give a certain number each day. Luckily they hadn’t sold out for the particular day we wanted, so we got to go! It was a truly amazing experience. I maybe rank it second next to shark diving in South Africa.
When you arrive in the morning they split you into small groups of about 8-10 people. Each group goes to see a different family of gorillas. The hike can be 20 minutes to 6 hours to get to a family. We got to see the second largest family of gorillas; 25 in total, 12 females, 12 babies and 1 male. The group name was Agasha, meaning special. We had to hike up hill for about 2 hours. The perfect length of time it was not to long but not too short. It was great weather and had not recently rained heavily so the trails we not too muddy. The hike was through thousands of bamboo trees and was very pretty. When we arrived we walked through the brush, no real trail and standing next to us 3 feet away was a gorilla. It was scary at first, it you fell you could have hit it. The guide and other escorts, a man with a machete and another man with a gun, could communicate with the gorillas. It just sounded like grunting to us but they were making sure it was ok to visit with the gorillas. It was really cool to hear and see humans talking to gorillas and gorillas talking back. They limit you time with the gorillas to 1 hour or less depending on how they are acting. We had to leave a bit early because the male gorilla was getting angry at us. I understand why, having your photo taken nonstop for an hour every couple of days would make me a little angry too. So after walking through the brush the gorillas all went to a nice grassy clearing and played and ate so we got to just watch and take pictures of them in their everyday life. They are very happy gorillas. The ones at the zoos are very unhappy and don’t do much but sleep. Here they were playing and eating and climbing bamboo, and spinning in circles and chasing each other. A guy in our group got kicked by one of the kid gorillas as they were running around. We also got to watch a sex negotiation by a female and the male but the kids got in the way and the gorillas did not go through with it. But our guide told us this rarely happens for tourists so it was very exciting. The male (named Agasha) was about 400 pounds, and is called a silverback, (all adult male mountain gorillas are silverbacks), they get the name from the fact that white/silver hair grows on their backs.
To say the least it was an amazing experience that did not last long enough. I could have watch those gorillas for days or even years. They are fascinating and we are so much like them. I don’t know when I will be able to post pictures but I will when I can.
I will be traveling the coast of Tanzania, Zanzibar (an island off the coast of Tanzania) and Kenya for the next two weeks. I’ll post a blog about the trip when I return. Happy Holidays!

A Small, Thin Rwandan Wedding

I attended my first Rwandan wedding last weekend. It was a catholic wedding. To save time or money the church held two weddings at the same time. It was pretty strange. Also the wedding part including the bride and groom got to sit down the whole time which I think is a great idea. In Rwanda there is no public kissing so at the wedding there was no kissing not even on the cheek. The groom just unveils the women and they walk back down the aisle for the reception. The wedding lasted 2 ½ hours a bit long especially in another language. It was really funny though when the priest was reading one of the vows he could not read the handwriting and was struggling over all the words and the audience laughed silently at him. After the wedding the bride and groom greeted all the guests, took photos and had a reception. It is nothing like an American reception at all. All the guests sit in chairs set up in rows all faces the front of the room where the bride and groom sit. Then dancers and singers come to perform. The cake is cut and only the bride and groom eat it. There is not enough for the guests. It is just a small one tier cake. The guests are given fanta’s (which is very common at any event in Rwanda.) They refer to all soda as fanta but it can mean orange fanta, citrus fanta, sprite, coke, tonic and they have reusable glass bottles which I really love drinking soda out of. Anyway this is the point in the wedding that I left, so I can’t tell you what happens next but that is a Rwandan Catholic wedding of a middle class family here. In summary it was very boring and I will be limited the weddings I attend, I’m sorry to say. But it was a good experience and I’m glad I got to go to one.

Rwandasgiving

So for thanksgiving in Rwanda I was just going to stay at my new site and continue to meet people and make friends but then I had a great idea. I bought 20 cents worth of sweet potatoes which gave me about 7 large potatoes and I decided to try to make sweet potato chips. So I cut the potatoes into thin circles and fired them in oil. They were amazingly delicious I just had to share these chips or no one would believe me. So I took a trip to Musanze for 2 days of back to back of Thanksgivingness. Day 1 consisted was instant thanksgiving derived from instant foods from America. We had stove stop stuffing with canned chicken (instead of turkey.) There were instant sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows form Betty Crocker. We made guacamole dip for my sweet potato chips. There was canned cranberry sauce (or more like jello). And we made a salad with some fresh veggies and white wine vinaigrette dressing. It was just me and my 3 closest friends here in Rwanda. It was a great day 1 of thanksgiving. The next day was the huge thanksgiving dinner at another NGO house in Musanze. Over 30 people came including Rwandans to come celebrate their first thanksgiving. 4 turkeys were killed the day before. The turkeys are very skinny so not a lot of meat came off them. There was a brie appetizer which was devoured in less than 10 minutes. Everyone grabbed a fork and stuffed themselves with brie, no plates or cracker needed. Then for dinner everything was made from scratch. One of the volunteers’ mothers was visiting from America and brought ingredients for thanksgiving with here. We had real sweet corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, cheesy onions and salad. For desert we had 2 pumpkin, 2 apple and 1 cherry pie. The only thing missing was mac and cheese but apparently that’s only an Alexander family tradition. There was no football but there was the movie Kill Bill projected onto the wall like a big screen TV. There were speeches at dinner and everything but luckily we did not have to go around and say what we were thankful for, we were much too busy stuffing our faces with real food that we hadn’t had for weeks and months. Happy Thanksgiving!

Cacahouette

During my first weekend at site I was lucky enough to be-friend some university students. It was right after finals when I moved in so many students were on their way home but some live in the town of the university. I was invited to attend the student genocide survivor’s end of the year event. I felt a little uncomfortable at first attending an event like this. I am not a survivor and I stick out like a sore thumb so everyone knows and wonders “why is the white girl here?” But it was not like that at all. The university students are all very nice. I didn’t even get called muzungu the entire day. (Reminder: muzungu means white person.) It was great, there were many speeches which got really boring after awhile but the people here love to talk. They even had a very well planned itinerary with the time each speaker was allowed to talk for. But I don’t understand the point because everyone talked well past their allotted time and the ceremony ended 3 hours after it was planned to end. But of course they feed us and gave us fanta (aka soda) so who am I to complain. After the ceremony the members got together and had a gift exchange. My friend kept asking me if we have this in America. He said they call it cacahouette which simply means gift exchange. After watching this for a while I realized they had done Secret Santa. They drew names out of a hat a few weeks before and kept it a surprise who they we suppose to get a present for. It was really cool to see they have one of the common traditions also done in America.