Big News- Oh what a day!

My flight left Rwanda for Ethiopia, Rome, Washington DC, Los Angeles and finally, Maui.  Yes, Maui.  I have decided to end my Peace Corps experience and come home. 

As our initial training began to wrap up and final site placements grew near, we all felt the pressure to commit to housing for the next year and to staying in Rwanda for the duration.  I decided that, although I loved my time there, staying for an additional two years didn’t seem appealing.  Days are filled with lots of down time and I found myself becoming super antsy and anxious. 

A big part of Peace Corps’ mission is to build sustainable development.   It is crucial to integrate into the community, observe the lives of the people there, and to think of ways to leave a lasting legacy of service.  Unfortunately for me, I felt a little stir crazy and found myself thinking about home a lot.  So, I am now in Maui with my family and look forward to moving back to San Francisco in the fall. 

I do not regret my experience with the Peace Corps.  It is a great organization and I am thankful they gave me this opportunity.  In my short time I have learned so much about myself, and Rwanda, a wonderful country.  I met many fun and fascinating people and if I had to do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.  

A Fun Filled Saturday Night

So last Saturday a few of us decided, hey, it's Saturday night, let's do something fun.  So, since the whole town was shut down for the Genocide commemoration week, we decided to go to a hotel, buy some beers and a bottle of J&B Whiskey and drink at our house.  In the back of our house is a big charcoal pit where all the food is prepared.  So we sipped on our beers, and filled our mugs up with whiskey and sat around the charcoal pit waiting for our oil to get hot.  We thought it would be a great activity to fry up some home made french fries to compliment our slight alcohol buzz.  We were all reminiscing how easy it was to get late night food back home, just stumble up to any place open, tell them you want french fries, hand them your money, and two minutes later, hot fries.  This is not the case in Rwanda.  We first started by getting the potatoes out of the dirt and washing them. Then we had to bleach them for 45 minutes followed by peeling.  Next we cut them into small wedges, and finally dropped them into our frying pan of hot oil.  This pretty much took all night, but damn those french fries were good! So we have all decided that beer whiskey and some hot french fries is basically the best Saturday night we're going to get!

Talent Show!

Last week we had a talent show.  And although I left my tap shoes and my Spanish Web behind in the states, I decided to do a song and dance to one of my favorite artists; Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA.  Four other girls joined me as we changed the original words to words that fit in with our experiences here in Rwanda.  Here is a brief key of words before I tell you all the song:

KGL- Kigali International Airport

Chocos- these weird hiking sandals that all of us volunteers seem to have

80 pds- Our weight limit distributed between two bags

A Thousand Hills- What Rwanda is known for

Condom sign- There are tons of Condom bilboards around this country

Yawe song- A very popular song here (pronounced yaw-way)

Yego- means yes in Kinyarwanda (the native language)

Muzungus- White people

Blue Bar- our favorite (and pretty much only) bar in Nyanza

Primus- the local brew

Crocs- see chocos

Mupemba- Head of Peace Corps (also known as Mup- pronounced moop)

 

I hoped off the plane at KGL

With my chocos and my 80 pds,

Welcome to the land of a thousand hills

Not gonna fit in,

Jumped in the bus for the first time

Looked to my right and I saw a condom sign,

This is all so crazy

I guess I’m not that lazy,

My tummy’s hurting and I’m feeling kinda homesick

Too much pressure and I’m nervous,

That’s when the driver man turned on the radio

And the Yowe song was on

And the Yowe song was on

And the Yowe song was on!

 (Chorus)

So I put my hands up they’re playing my song

The butterflies fly a way,

Nodding my head like Yego

Moving my hips like Yego

So I put my hands up they’re playing my song

You know I’m gonna be ok,

Yaaaaaa it’s a party in Rwanda

Yaaaaaa it’s a party in Rwanda

 

Went to the Blue bar to buy a Primus

Everybody’s looking at me now,

Like who’s that chick that’s rocking crocks

She’s gotta be from out of town,

It’s not hard with my friends all around me

Everyday is Peace Corps party

Cuz all I see are bright colors,

I guess I got the memo

My tummy’s hurting and I’m feeling kinda nervous

Too much pressure and I’m nervous,

That’s when the driver man turned on the radio

And the Yowe song was on

And the Yowe song was on

And the Yowe song was on

(Chorus)

So I put my hands up they’re playing my song

The butteflies fly a way

Nodding my head like Yego

Moving my hips like Yego

So I put my hands up they’re playing my song

You know I’m gonna be okay

Yaaaaa it’s a party in Rwanda

Yaaaaa it’s a party in Rwanda

I feel like hoping on a flight

Back to my hometown tonight

Mupemba stops me every time

The DJ plays my song and I feel alright

(Chorus)

So I put my hands up they’re playing my song

The butterflies fly away

Nodding my head like Yego

Moving my hips like Yego

So I put my hands up they’re playing my song

You know I’m gonna be ok,

Yaaaaa it’s a party in Rwanda

Yaaaaa it’s a party in Rwanda!

 

 

Easter

Today is Easter and I went with a group of other Volunteers to a Pentecost Church service, which sounded like a nice thing to do on Easter Sunday.  But what I didn’t know is that the Pentecost church service is 3 hours long, followed by a half an hour auction.  I had a traditional outfit made (skirt and a top) out of this very obnoxiously bright lime green and orange fabric.  I swear, when I bought the fabric, it was not the bright…  So I looked slightly ridiculous, but everyone seemed to really love my outfit.  I was even chosen to stand up in the middle of church to say “Maramustse” (Good Morning) I think all because of my outfit.

The Pentecost Church service was different than Catholic Church because there is much more singing and dancing, and not as many scriptures, so at least, it was a little entertaining.  After 3 hours, I tried to dart to the door to make my escape, but had to stay for the auction.  This auction was a fundraiser to raise money for the church, so in my mind, im thinking of different items to be auctioned off (spa packages, a date with someone, a free meal somewhere) and then a very well fed goat was led in to the alter and people started bidding like crazy!  After the goat was auctioned off, a white rabbit was next.  Good thing I was not in charge of this auction, because what we want in America, is much different than what they want here, so I made a mental note in case I ever get assigned to organize a auction…

Site Visit!

We all spent the last week at our actual sites to meet our communities and village leaders before we actually get there in May.  Everyone seemed very nervous to be by themselves for the first time and a little overwhelmed to be meeting and staying with their whole village for the first time.  I, on the other hand, was not nervous because I was going to be staying with a current PCV along with 3 other trainees that are placed in Kigali as well.  We were assigned different tasks, such as meet the head of your village, meet the Mayor, go to the health clinic ect, which was all impossible for everyone placed in Kigali, so for us, it was not such a scary situation.

We arrived in Kigali and met everyone in the organization (EDC) and in order to welcome us, we all went out to a happy hour (yes, one of the pluses of being in a city.  I would like to see anyone in the rural villages try to go to a happy hour!) The president of the company made it clear that he was going to pay for our drinks, so I ordered a glass of wine.  EVERYONE else ordered beer, so I felt very awkward sipping on my wine.  Now I know to just order beer no matter what because they kept telling me that everyone drinks beer, and if you get invited for drinks with someone, the correct thing to do is to order beer, so I felt extremely awkward, but now I know! No wine!  We were all very tired, so the volunteers left a little early to get some shut eye.

The next few days were filled with meeting organizations that we will be working with, talking with Melanie (a French lady who started EDC) about what we would like to be doing, and we sat in on a class that was teaching different Business and Finance Modules (things we will be eventually teaching.)  A big plus about being in the city is the amount of English that is spoken (thank god.)  Learning Kinyarwanda is still important, but for the most port, all our counterparts speak English really well, which makes everything so much easier.

One of the highlights from our Kigali trip was going to the Market.  This Market was way bigger than the Market here in Nyanza.  It is an outdoor market filled with venders selling everything from spices and flour to pots and pans, to shoes and souvenirs.  We walked through the souvenir section and I noticed this drum that I kind of liked.  So I picked it up to look at it, and immediately the seller came to me and started shouting 6,000! I put it down because a.) I didn’t really want a drum right now, and b.) 6,000 was pretty expensive- even though the exchange rate is 500:1.  So I walked away because I really wasn’t interested, and he followed me around saying “sister, sister, how much how much?” I tried my best to ignore him and keep walking, but he was a relentless salesmen and so I finally turned to him and said 2,000 hoping he would scoff at me and walk away.  He then lowered the price to 4,000 and I kept walking, and finally he said OK! 2,000.  So just like that, I turned around and bought the drum.  So for the rest of my visit, I had to awkwardly carry around my drum. 

 

Umuganda

The last Saturday of every month is called “Umuganda” here in Rwanda. Umuganda is when everyone in the community is assigned some type of community service to accomplish during the day. So, as our first Umuganda, we walked for about 2 hours to a huge open field that is going to be cultivated for Cassava that the whole village would share. Once we got to the field I was shocked to see how many people showed up and how hard everyone was working, all for free too! This field was on a hill (everything is so hilly here) and was covered with men and women of all ages hoeing the hard ground to prepare for planting. I would estimate over 600 people there working away. Our group of thirty Umuzungus made quite the scene. Of course none of us had our own hoes, so we felt a little helpless, but workers would give us their hoes just for entertainment, I believe. They would first let us try to do it ourselves and laugh, then take the hoe back and show us how it’s really done, and give it back. When we were catching on, they were very excited for us! I’m telling you though, if you worked out on the farm all day, you would most definitely be RIPPED, because I “hoed” for about 10 minutes straight and was SO tired! It’s tough work, but now I know how to hoe! (for all you sick people, get your head out of the gutter…)
It was really fun to see how many people came to work so hard on their Saturday. The energy was very high; if you were not hoing, then you were singing, clapping or dancing. Umuganda went from 7am-noon. At noon we were all dead tired and all I could think about was taking a bucket bath. Everyone got together and the head of the Umuganda announced every village that had come to participate. They had also marked off how much land was hoed (I am so not a farmer, is there a correct way to say land after it had been hoed? Doesn’t sound right, someone throw me a bone here…) and even after 5 vigorous hours of working in the sun, everyone was cheering and clapping and very excited to see how much we had accomplished. When I first heard about Umuganda, I was thinking of myself walking around, and if I saw a weed growing, I would pick it. This was definitely not the case because it was serious work! I am assuming next month we will begin to plant the Casava at the field, but I am not sure. I have a picture of myself amongst sweaty, hard working Rwandans hoeing, it’s pretty comical, I hope I can upload it soon! So that was my first experience at Umuganda!