Big Changes

Hello Everyone! I’m sorry it has been so long since I’ve written. I’ve been very busy here trying to finish up my work and spend time with my friends because…

I’m coming home at the end of April!!!

There are a number of reasons for this decision, but the main one is that Travis and I are starting an aquaponics urban farm. We’re not sure where it will be located yet, but we are thinking probably Oakland or somewhere in inner city LA. Aquaponics is an emerging form of agriculture that combines hydroponics and aquaculture. Meaning that you have fish living in a tank and the water gets cycled through grow-beds of plants growing in an artificial medium, like small rocks or clay balls.  The fish waste fertilizes the plants, giving them all the nutrients they need, and the plants clean the water so that the fish can survive. Its a symbiotic relationships that once in balance, functions essentially on its own. Plus, it is super sustainable and the yield you get for the amount of inputs necessary is awesome.

It will likely start as a business to make sure its profitable, but the end goal is to turn it into a non-profit that aims to improve food security and nutrition in the inner-city. We will be tackling the “food-deserts” phenomenon by growing and providing fresh high-quality affordable organic produce in poor urban communities where, right now, people literally don’t have a grocery store within a mile radius or more of their house (plenty of fast-food places though). Without a car, its not hard to imagine how this scenario affects obesity and other illnesses in these areas. Eventually, we would like to partner with schools in various ways and do a lot of community outreach and participatory activities. The other wonderful thing about aquaponics is that it can be designed to be pretty compact and it is relatively cheap. Travis and I built a small system before I left using three old plastic barrels that we got for like $5 a piece, a little pvc piping and some 2x4s. The only real expense is the pump, something we will be working on making more affordable. This simplicity means that we can hold workshops and teach people to build and run their own family-sized systems in their yard, on their roof, or even, on a very small scale, in a well lit kitchen or living room. The ultimate dream is that if we can create a working model in the states, we can design a system suitable for certain African countries and bring it over here. How great is it that I’ve been meeting tons of people involved in agriculture in this small but rapidly developing country whose GDP is dominated by agriculture and has serious land scarcity issues? That would be a pretty long way off of course, but we like big ideas.

As you can see, I’m very excited about this new step. I will be sure to keep you all updated on our progress when I get home. In the meantime back to Rwanda.

I have timed my departure so that I will be able to finish the report I have been working on about Akilah’s agricultural diploma program. I finished up my site visits last week and am now just organizing and analyzing the data. The last two universities that I visited were NUR (National University of Rwanda) in the southern province and I.S.A.E. (Higher Institute for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry) in Musanze to the northwest of Kigali. See map from last post.

NUR in Butare

The visit to NUR was pleasant. I met with Dr. Rukazambuga, the Dean of Agriculture, and he was really helpful in answering my questions and giving me advice on the curriculum design. NUR is the largest and most prestigious university in Rwanda and therefore does not face as many of the resource issues as the others I have visited. It is also located in Butare, which is kind of like Rwanda’s version of a college town. It is inhabited largely by students and because of NUR is known as the education capital of Rwanda.

After our interview I got to speak more personally with Dr. Rukazambuga and he raised a number of interesting topics. For one, he spoke about Rwanda’s development strategies and how they feature many aspects of traditional Rwandese culture and institutions. The gacaca system and lower courts that I described in an earlier post are a good example of this. Another is umuganda, the day once a month when everyone must do community service projects, which are organized by the local umudugudus – small administrative units that serve as the community center for every few blocks and are run by chiefs or managers. Before colonialism, Rwanda was a very advanced society with an established monarchy and developed institutions and social hierarchy. Mr. Rukazambuga pointed out how Rwanda is a great example of a country that has adapted many of its preexisting and functional social and cultural institutions to the modern day rather than overhauling the entire system to fit a western model.

The other subject we discussed pretty extensively was Rwanda’s perspectives on women. I find it very curious how warped people’s impressions of gender equality are here. Mr. Rukazambuga emphasized how women are not oppressed here in Rwanda the way they are in other African countries. Granted, this is probably true, but it definitely doesn’t mean that there aren’t some serious issues here with regard to gender. To start, beating your wife is considered to be, well, perfectly acceptable to a disturbing number of people. The other day Laura described to us a conversation that took place in the staff room at Maranyundo last year about corporal punishment in schools. The teachers were sharing stories about if/how they were hit as children. When Laura revealed that she was never hit by her parents, one of the male teachers asked jokingly (but not really) what she was going to do when her husband hit her. She replied, trying to make light of the matter, that she would hit him back. Her colleague’s response? “Oh. Then he will kill you.” This anecdote reveals a slightly exaggerated but not entirely far-fetched reflection of Rwandese society.

On a similar note, in traditional Rwandan culture women are not supposed to be educated, which probably explains the rather displeased reaction we get from a surprising number of Rwandese men when they realize that Akilah is only for women. My friend Iain even had a business man that we was working with say, “Women’s empowerment? Oh no,” as he shook his head and wagged his finger in the air. This goes hand in hand with the notion that women belong in the home and their main role in life is to get married and have and raise many children. This is changing in law and in the more educated circles, especially in Kigali, but there is no denying that this mindset still dominates in the more rural areas, which is the majority of the country.

What confuses me though is the way people seem not to see it, or at least don’t see it as a problem. Both Dr. Rukazambuga and the director of GAKO Organic Training Center, who I met with recently, quoted the following Rwandan saying as evidence of how women are valued in Rwanda: “The man with a better wife has a better home.” They both compared this to the western expression, “Behind every great man is a great woman,” but what seems to get overlooked is that the Rwandese version of this sentiment conveys the message that the only space for a women to excel in life is as a wife by taking care of a her husband’s home. Then again, as Mr. Munyerango from GAKO pointed out, the more appropriate version of our saying would probably be “Beside every great man is a great woman.” Rwanda also has the highest percentage of women in their parliament of any country in the world and far above that of the United States. This is a recent phenomenon and perhaps it will take a little while for the shift at the top to filter through to the general population, but these changes certainly bode well for the direction Rwanda is headed.

I.S.A.E. in Musanze

My final university visit was to the Higher Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (I.S.A.E.). This school is the most similar to what we have in mind for Akilah’s agricultural program in that they offer 3-year advanced diplomas in a variety of fields, whereas the other institutions offer primarily 4 to 5-year degrees. The campus is nestled in the beautiful jutting hills of Musanze, which in on the drive to Gisenyi that I described in my last post. They also have ample land and buildings including six laboratories and extensive practice fields and livestock facilities. I met with the Dean of Agriculture, Dr. Obedi, who was very helpful and friendly. He was also very impressed with the concept of aquaponics, which we got into when I told him that I would be leaving Rwanda next month. He kept saying, “I think this is a very good idea,” which felt good to hear.

One of the best parts of the trip to I.S.A.E. was my visit to the fabric market in Musanze. I have been wanting to purchase some Katenge, the brightly colored fabrics that all of the women here wear. I heard that Musanze has a great fabric market and coincidentally this trip was on a Wednesday, market day. I got there early when all of the women were still setting up, which was really cool to watch. I picked out a couple of patterns, and one woman offered to make me a dress. I had been wanting to get a traditional dress made before I leave, but I explained to her that I live in Kigali and would not be able to pick it up form her. To my surprise, she insisted that it would only take her two hours. She did it in one! while I sat there watching. It was incredible. She was so fast and made it look like the easiest thing in the world. Plus, I really enjoyed watching the market come to life around me and the women go about their day. I was nice to have a place to sit for that hour and not be the center of attention so that I could really get a sort of intimate look at my surroundings. In a country that often feels so male-dominated, this was a women’s domain. They were all perfectly in their element, adeptly sewing away and gossiping together. The dress also turned out wonderfully!

ROAM and Richard from GAKO

The last couple interviews I conducted were with people from the organic farming sector. I visited the office of Rwanda Organic Agriculture Movement (ROAM) where I met with the director, Sylvere Mudendeli. He was very welcoming and excited to tell me about the organic movement in Rwanda. I enjoyed hearing his passion on the subject and found myself also becoming invested in the topic. This curiosity was further fueled by my meeting with Richard Munyerango, the Director of GAKO, who was kind enough to come out to our farm in Bugesera for a visit. He brought a number of members from his team with him who were are very interested in our progress so far and future plans. On the ride back into Kigali with them, I got the chance to have a great discussion with Richard about organics in Rwanda and the government’s agricultural development strategies.

The current government plans for agriculture promote modernizing the industry through the increased use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Ironically however, these statements are made alongside calls to preserve the environment and Rwanda’s limited land and develop sustainably.

These tactics that emphasize chemical and capital heavy farming work on a large scale, like the kind of production seen in countries like the US with large expanses of land and an economy ruled by massive corporations. Rwanda though, is a tiny country without enough land for its population. The Rwandan labor-force consists mainly of smallhold farmers relying on subsistence agriculture who can’t afford to purchase these chemicals to begin with and who taste and live the difference that comes from handling poison all day and then eating food that has been covered in it. Does it really make sense to over-hall the entire system, consolidating these small plots of land into large ones, owned by individual corporations that will generate massive amounts of wealth to a small minority? Then what happens to these farmers? The poor and poorly educated, whose tiny piece of land was the only thing keeping them afloat. Sure, Rwanda’s GDP will likely climb with this kind of approach, but then it will be stuck with the same problems Western style capitalism has generated in the United States. Imagine the implications of a system that is proven to increase inequality being imposed on a society that is already vastly unequal and along tensely ethnic lines.

In the meantime, Rwanda has a fascinating network of agricultural cooperatives, where small-hold farmers collaborate to work their land and bring their produce to market. Why not use this system already in place to pool produce from individual Rwandan farmers? In this way you still create a space for industries to develop, creating forward linkages through the processing and export of large quantities of Rwandan goods. Yet you preserve the livelihoods of the smallhold farmers that make up the majority population of Rwanda. Plus, with improved education in organic and sustainable practices, like those promoted by GAKO, you can get these farmers vastly increasing their yields without costly and dangerous chemicals. These are the kind of frustrating political circumstances that I have been wrestling with lately and that Akilah’s new program will have to navigate.

St. Patty’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day was a lot of fun in Kigali, as are most western holidays, which expats make a point of celebrating with fervor. A couple of my friends, Luke and Ray (who is Irish), threw a sleepover the night before where they cooked a delicious stew and we all drank Guinness and Baileys, danced a lot, slept on a bunch of mattresses on the living room floor, woke up and made a delicious breakfast, and played Settlers of Catan for hours. Plus, I won for the first time ever!!!

Breakfast at the St. Patty’s Day Sleepover

The Settlers Board When I Won – I was green, duh

That evening, Denise and Kim, two of the teachers at Akilah, had a little potluck, which was equally delicious and adorable. A bunch of my Akilah colleagues were there and it was great to spend some time with them outside of the office, especially because I really only see the local members of our staff once a week when I come in on Fridays. Kim made this St. Patrick’s Day Jeopardy game, which was definitely fun but a little hard, especially for those of us from the African continent and therefore not particularly familiar with the holiday (a.k.a. my whole team). Afterward, there was a big St. Patrick’s Day Party at the Manor, a fancy hotel and restaurant in town. Ray and some of the other Irishmen in Kigali gave the hotel managers the low-down on the holiday, so it was done quite well, complete with Irish dancing lessons and lots of green party-favors.

The Hike from Hell

It may be a bit of an exaggeration, but this is what my friends and I have not-so-affectionately taken to calling the hike we did last weekend. We chose to climb Gahinga, the smallest in the chain of five dormant volcanoes on the Rwandan side of the Rwanda-DRC border. It was beautiful, as everywhere in Rwanda tends to be, but whether or not the aesthetics compensated for the level of difficulty is up for debate. It took us a total of 8 and a half hours to get up and back. The first half was fine, but the last hour was just about straight up, on a pretty much non-existent muddy path, through THICK jungle – like thorns and stinging nettles smacking you in the face and grabbing your soaking wet and muddy legs, feet and ankles. The view from the top was nice, and you could see Uganda, but the knowledge that we had to go back down through that put a bit of a damper on the experience. Laura and I also found some bullets and casings at the top left from when the RPF hid out there in the early 1990s. That was pretty cool.

The Intrepid Explorers, from left to right: Emmy (our guide), Kim, me, Amy, Rebecca, and Laura

Some views from the start of the hike

 

Foggy Jungle and Bamboo Forest

The Top – Uganda in the distance and me feeling exhausted

A baby chameleon we found on the way down 

The Farm

Everything is going well at the farm. We were a little worried for a moment there however, because right when we transplanted our seedlings, the rain stopped for about a week and a half. Anytime the rain stops it gets super hot and dry in Bugesera. Fortunately, we had the funds to pay laborers to lug buckets of water from the lake to the field. Nevertheless, this inconvenience diverted some of our time and limited funds from other priorities we are trying to take care of at the farm. What’s more, most small farmers don’t have the luxury of hiring people to move water for them when the rain stops unexpectedly. Agriculture in Rwanda relies heavily on the generally consistent wet and dry seasons.  The drastic changing weather patterns we are seeing this year due to climate change have a particularly acute affect here and in other areas of the world where people rely on predictable rainy seasons for their food, livelihoods, and survival. I knew this in theory, but we are so buffeted against the negative affects of unreliable weather at home that I had never seen or experienced first-hand the massive life or death problems that climate change is going to bring on.

I have just under two weeks left in Rwanda at this point, and some big experiences and adventures ahead, so I’ll keep you all informed. Thanks for reading.

On the Move

So I have been traveling a lot these past couple weeks, both for work and pleasure. While I am very much enjoying seeing more of the country, the voyages themselves have their ups and downs (pun intended – I make a lot of those in this post, Dad and Maia, keep an eye out). The views are incredible, but, while Rwanda is small, three hours in one of these buses starts to wear on you, especially when you are only making day or overnight trips. As I’ve said before, they really pack these things to the max. Even the larger ones used for cross country voyages don’t leave you much personal space with a bag in your lap. I’m just very grateful to be small. What’s more, the Muzungu attention becomes particularly annoying when you are making your fourth three hour ride in four days and just want to be left the f%*& alone. Anyway, here is a map of Rwanda for some reference as I tell you a bit about my journeys of late.

Weekend in Gisenyi

Last weekend I went to Rehengeri (aka Musanze) and Gisenyi, in the north east of Rwanda, with my housemates. I’ve done that drive once before to go to Goma (directly across the border from Gisenyi) for the volcano hike in Congo. It is breathtaking. The thousand hills in this part of the country are more like mountains. They jut up hundreds of feet and as your bus hugs the side of them the view is incredible. Rivers wind through the valleys below and everything is green green green. The hillsides surrounding you are all terraced and gridded, each rectangle a different shade of green where the crops change. Then, as you get into Gisenyi, you get a view of the volcanoes that straddle the Rwanda-Congo border, with mist all around the top of them. It is phenomenal.

In Gisenyi, we stayed with Laura’s friend Radu, this awesome Romanian guy who works for a wildlife conservation group in Virunga National Park across the border in the Congo. It rained the whole weekend, which put a damper on our plans for tanning and swimming in Lake Kivu, but we had a lovely time nonetheless and took a dip anyway on Sunday morning. The water is very warm, and Radu’s house sits right on the lake with the most gorgeous view and its own little beach. We are talking about taking another trip out there in early April during Remembrance Week, the week set aside to commemorate the genocide, which most people have off.

 

The view from Radu’s house and this awesome Dr. Suessy tree

Radu’s little beach where we went swimming

GAKO Organic Training Center

I have also been doing a lot of traveling for work, starting to visit various agricultural education institutions around the country. The first trip was a visit to GAKO organic farming training center in Kabunga, a 20 minute bus-ride from Kigali. This place was awesome! They mostly train small-hold farmers, NGOs, and leaders from farming cooperatives, in which many farmers in Rwanda participate. GAKO is fairly small-scale, but some of their ideas and techniques are fascinating.

The have this garden design that they call “kitchen gardens” where your vegetables are planted on a mound and in the middle is a hole where you put compostables. The compost just does its thing and fertilizes all the vegetables from the middle of the mound. It’s fantastic, and now that I know what they are, I’ve been noticing them all over Rwanda.

A mound kitchen garden

A terraced kitchen garden

In addition to serving as a hassle-free way of composting, the kitchen gardens are also a great space-saver. This is especially important in a country like Rwanda with very limited land and a growing population. Another land efficient technique that GAKO teaches involves planting vertically in sacs so that you have produce growing out of the top of the sacs and out of all sides.

Onions and some other vegetable growing in sack gardens

Some of the most fascinating work that GAKO does involves animal waste. The cow dung, for example, is used first for powering gas stoves.  It is so simple too! They just put the dung in a sealed chamber and the gas it gives off rises up through the piping they have installed and into a kitchen where it is used like any other gas in a stove. What’s more, the dung is used again in manuer!

 

Input and Output

In addition to cows, GAKO also keeps rabbits, goats and pigs and uses all of their waste to create organic fertilizers. You know me, I couldn’t resist taking pictures of more pigs.

Big Pregnant Pig

Adorable little piglets!

All throughout the training center there are also different useful plants. Some have medicinal purposes for humans and animals while others serve as pesticides.

Albert, my guide, showing me one such medicinal plant

I had a wonderful time chatting with Albert as he showed me around the farm. He has been working for GAKO as a trainer for over three years and has some profound insights. We were talking about the difficulty of promoting organic agriculture in central Africa because of government quotas as the counry trys to develop the economy and a desire to produce as much as you can quickly, which is obviously easier with chemical pesticides and fertilizers. He was telling me about a trip they took to train some farmers in Burundi where they encountered a whole nother obstacle to promoting sustainable and organic techniques. Burundi is not as stable as Rwanda and still experiences extreme violence and displacement relatively frequently. The farmers there explained that they see the benefits of such techniques, but until the fighting stops, it just doesn’t make sense for them to make the kind of time investment it takes to grow organically. They need to produce as much as they can while they can. They need stability before they can focus on anything more.

This anecdote touches on one of the primary issues I am wrestling with here. The more I work in the fields of agriculture and education, the more I think I could find life as a teacher or an organic farmer fulfilling and happy. I would be able to really see the fruits of my labor and the tangible differences I am making. However, I studied central African history and politics and my interest up until now has always been in resolving the crises here. I know that the more I work in this region, the more this problem will come up. Everything else you do here can only matter so much until the fighting stops. Of course, stable access to food and quality education are crucial components of establishing a lasting peace in any country, but I can’t help but be impatient. I want to do something that directly works toward ending the violence now. What I’ve realized though, is that, short of joining the UN as a peacekeeper, in order to get to a position where I am actually working to stop the fighting, I will need first of all a masters degree and second like a decade more experience on the ground. I just don’t think I want to pursue either of those steps at this stage in my life. Anyway, I’m starting to divulge more than is necessary about the existential crisis I am going through, so I will stop there. Suffice it to say that I am working on going with the flow and  being opened to whatever comes next – not the easiest lesson for me, but an important one.

Umutara Polytechnic University

My next trip was to Umutara Polytechnic University in Nyagatare, in the far north-east of the country. This was my furthest trip, so I got a hotel there for the night. The landscape in this region is much flatter and drier than the rest of the country, but still green and hilly by its own right. You pass rivers and lakes, massive fields of maize and endless forests of banana trees. Every so often you see herds of cattle, black and brown and white and speckled grey, some with magnificent horns three feet long, and their herders trotting along behind whacking them with a stick.

I met with Dr. Mashingaidze, the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, who was extremely helpful in answering my questions and gave me a tour of the campus. The university was established only a few years ago in what used to be a vocational training center, similar to our land in Bugesera. As a public university, they face many challenges that I hope Akilah will be able to avoid. It has been a struggle for them to get the resources they need to adequately serve the number of students that the government expects them to admit each year. At the moment they have no land for students to practice in, resulting in many graduates with extensive theoretical knowledge of agronomy, but little technical know-how – a problem I am discovering is fairly wide-spread in the country. Their classroom and lab space is also insufficient, forcing them to rent out buildings in many different areas of Nyagatare. Even their limited livestock don’t have enough space, which I saw first-hand, a bit more graphically than I would have liked, when we visited the piggery and two tiny piglets lay dead on the wall because they had been suffocated under one of the larger pigs the night before.

Dr. Mashingaidze and I also discussed a problem that all universities must be facing right now, which is the transition to English. The whole country is having to deal with the shifting of the national language from French to English, which only happened two years ago. However, university students, who have conducted their entire education in French and are well-beyond the age at which it is easiest to learn new languages, are uniquely negatively affected. Dr. Mashingaidze refers to this batch of students as “the lost generation” and the phenomenon really calls into question the merits of conducting education entirely in English this soon. I have been having many discussions with my housemates on this subject, two of whom have been teaching English to second-language learners for a number of years now. It is so sad and unfair to me that we, as Americans, can go anywhere in the world just about and expect people to speak English, while people here are implicitly told every day that their culture and their native language are not good enough. That to be able to express themselves eloquently in Kinyarwanda is not a valuable skill. Those moral implications aside, students suffer in all other subjects when they struggle with English and indivudals who may actually be very strong in math, science or history will continue to perform poorly on national exams as a result. In addition, the implications of learning a second language when you do not have a strong basis in your first language are disturbing to say the least. Teaching languages improperly in this way can cripple a person’s writing an communication skills to a degree that is difficult to remedy once you reach adulthood. This problem is not unique to the developing world, as any ESL student in the states will tell you.

This is The Colonel, a really old donkey  at Umutara. I guess he was in the 1990 Rwandan war for liberation and therefore is allowed to go wherever he wants on campus. When I arrived his ass was sticking out of the doorway of the classroom in the background.

INATEK

My most recent visit was to INATEK, the Institute for Agriculture, Technology and Education in Kibungo, to the far south west. I told you I was all over the country! The landscape here is something in between the lush jutting peaks of Gisenyi and the dry subtle hills of Nyagatare. The valleys are deep and wide and, as always, very green. I met with Dr. Kamatari who has been on the faculty of INATEK from its beginnings. We discussed many of the same issues that Umutara is facing, namely limited land, resources and equipment. The campus was lovely however, and it turned out to be such a beautiful day that I have developed a fondness for the region and would like to be able to spend more time there before I leave.

The view on the way to INATEK

Back in Buges

Meanwhile, back at Akilah’s farm in Bugesera, things are moving along. We have been doing some transplanting lately, moving the seedlings from the seedbed out into various plots on the land. I got to spend a day helping to clear some of the overgrown fields and do some hoeing, preparing holes for the sweet pepper, watermelon, and pumpkin seedlings.

Our seedbeds overflowing!!

Avocado Seedlings

Transplanting

The casual laborers who work on our farm tend to change every few weeks, especially the women. I don’t really know why this is, but I imagine that it has to do with family obligations seeing as how most of them, even those who seem very young, often have multiple children already. I enjoy working with them though, and it seems that they appreciate my effort at helping and trying to speak Kinyarwanda. They certainly find it amusing at the very least. Last week I hung around after work was finished, while Jon distributed the week’s payment (which is a little more than a dollar a day), and made some friends. One of the women has been bringing her little daughter to the field lately, and we all had a good time playing with her.

  

My new friends – don’t worry, this very young girl is not the mother of this adorable baby, though that would not be entirely surprising

I am still enjoying my house at Maranyundo and am ever grateful for my housemates here. However, I am quickly realizing that fitting in around Nyamata is going to be pretty much impossible. I have found a couple social situations that don’t make me feel like such an outsider. One Sunday, a couple weeks ago, I was walking into town to catch the bus and there was a football match (soccer) going on at the field in the center of town. Everyone was so interested in the game that I was able to sit and watch for a little while without being stared at or commented on, a rare and valuable occurrence. It is so much easier to observe and appreciate people when you aren’t the center of attention. Two nights ago, my housemates and I went to one of the local bars here because we heard that there is a band every Sunday. I’ve been told that Rwandans are big country music fans, believe it or not. The band did play one country song, which was a trip, but for the most part they stuck to African jams, which I think was for the best. This was a good reminder of how live music totally transcends cultural boundaries. I couldn’t understand a word the lead singer was saying, but man could he play that guitar. As the night went on more and more people got up and started dancing, ourselves included. Even when it started to rain everyone was reluctant to go inside. It was a good night.

In other news, weekends in Kigali with the wonderful groups of friends I’ve found here are a fantastic and much needed outlet. Last Saturday I played Settlers of Catan (an amazing board game) for like eights straight hours. Then, I went bowling and drank Pina Coladas out of a pineapple! Yes. Also tonight I am cooking dinner with Denise and Kim (two of the Akilah teachers) and watching Madagascar, which Kim has never seen.

Also, Elizabeth and Dave have gotten a new puppy!!!! that I get to stay with when I come into town. He is a Rhodesian Ridgeback and, while he doesn’t officially have a name yet, Ian (one of the newest members of the Akilah team and a resident at Dave and Elizabeth’s) has taken to calling him Buxby. Ian is English.

 

Needless to say, I am in heaven.

Somebody Call the Wambulance

Well friends and family, it’s not all sunshine and butterflies. The inevitable “oh my god, I’m going to be here for a long time” slump has hit. My bouts of homesickness are undoubtedly intensified by the Chi Theta Chi issues that I mentioned in last week’s post, but they seem to be triggered by anything from a Rwandese stranger saying something about me that I can’t understand to the mention of ice cream or donuts or any number of delicious treats that I can’t have. I have decided that my moods here are a lot like the weather. When I woke up this morning, it was clear blue skies, hotter than hell, and literally sunshine and butterflies everywhere. Right now the thunderstorm outside sounds like a civil war battle and a monsoon are tearing the world apart. The cracking and snapping and deep rolling rumbling that you can feel in your bones is beautiful in an epic tragedy kind of way.

My friends, housemates and co-workers who understand exactly what I’m going through are the one thing that really helps. I can’t imagine doing Peace Corps here and being placed in the boonies completely alone. Navigating a foreign country with a massive language and cultural barrier is already enough to stress anyone out, but what I am really having trouble with, and can’t imagine facing without others to talk to about, is how much my perceptions of right and wrong, how the world works, what I want to do with my life and what I am capable of accomplishing in the world are in constant turmoil. Most of these questions I am nowhere near ready to answer and certainly not on a public blog, but I’m sure that I will start to make sense of them in time and will do my best to share those revelations. Through it all I am still aware that this is so good for me and probably exactly what I was looking for in coming here, but my brain is feeling a little overwhelmed.

In the meantime, I have made a small(ish), tangible list of some of the things that I am slowly getting used to. Good and bad. This is the blog where I start to bitch, it had to start somewhere, so here we go…

Things you probably don’t know about Rwanda:

• Rwanda is Expensive – While a lot of the fresh produce I am in love with is much cheaper than at home (3 unbelievable avocadoes for 25 cents) the majority of what we would consider everyday necessities are outrageously priced. Running water, especially hot water, is a luxury, and you pay for it when looking for accommodation here. Same thing with kitchen appliances. Refrigerators, stoves and ovens are not in the majority of Rwandan households, and to buy furniture, get ready to hire a carpenter. Plus, if you want things like olive oil, cheese, or candy, prepare to pay more than double what you would at home. While transportation via bus isn’t bad, paying for motos adds up fast, especially because the hills and lack of street signs make walking much less viable. Fortunately, my friend Alex gave me another moto lesson yesterday and hopefully I will be ready to get my own soon.

Me on Alex’s moto (Roxanne) – yesterday’s lesson was dirt roads, next is hills

• People don’t try to rip you off – On a more positive note, people don’t try to overcharge you here! Most of the time at least, and certainly not to the degree I experienced in Cape Town, where the difference in price was an insult to your intelligence. As I think I have already mentioned, it is also so much safer here. Of course thefts happen, but I can walk around at night here and through crowded areas without worrying that everyone I see will try to rob me.
• Everything here is an ordeal – Getting something done in anything close to what I would consider a normal timeframe is just straight-up impossible. I try to look at this as good for me. We are so wedded to our watches in the States that it holds us back from being in the present. That said, this gets a little ridiculous. Africa time is the main culprit. Many people, are simply an hour or two, or more, late for the meetings you have scheduled with them. Of course, you never know when this is going to happen, so it is impossible to plan around it. Not that their own negligence is always to blame, of course sometimes it is, but the sporadic power-outages and flash-floods don’t make it any easier. Then there is the language gap and the gap in skills. Rwanda is working so hard to be modern and the infrastructure and technological skills of the majority of people are understandably struggling to keep up. There are so many basics regarding computers and credit cards for example that are practically written into my genetics that it takes some serious patience and perspective to remind me that it is unfair to be frustrated with this bank-teller or that public official.
• Nothing here is comfortable – I can sleep anywhere. I am young and reasonably fit. If this shouldn’t be a problem for anyone it is me, but good lord what I would give for a mattress or a sofa cushion that doesn’t leave me in serious physical pain after an hour of sitting in it. I won’t even start on the limits to your personal space found in the always over-full buses.
• People hate dogs – This is one of so many examples of how the genocide is still a very real presence here. This is about to get graphic and I apologize, but this is a small example of the scars left of this society that I have thus far avoided including. You cannot get a real impression of this place unless you are willing to face what happened. When the killing finally stopped in 1994, there were bodies everywhere. The beautiful river that I cross to get to Bugesera from town is difficult to look at for Modeste and many many other Rwandans because it was once overflowing with the bodies of their family and friends. The dogs started to eat the bodies and had to be shot. As a result, people here really don’t like dogs. It is engrained in the culture now and those who are too young to have direct memories to negatively associate dogs with have been taught to fear them by everyone else.
•  The coldness – You can feel the lasting effects of the genocide in other ways here too. For a while it was difficult to put my finger on, because on the surface people are very friendly and curious, but there is an underlying coldness and suspicion here that is more felt than seen and it is unsettling. The entire foundation of trust in this society was obliterated 18 years ago and that takes a hell of a long time to rebuild. I see some of it in the stares. With children it is mostly cute and innocent, and many adults will return a smile if you acknowledge their gaze that way, but not always. There is an intensity to the way people look at you here that I can only imagine comes from some combination of bitterness and past pain. Remember that these are only my perceptions, I haven’t been here very long, and I can’t help but be biased by my own background. As an American there are also a lot of assumptions made about you, the way you live and think, and why you are here. These add to the already massive cultural barrier that I can comfortably say I vastly underestimated.
• You aren’t allowed to eat in public – Ok, this is my last complaint and then I will tell you some funny things. This is by far the most frustrating cultural taboo for me, mostly because I just don’t get it. If it were about others not having food and it being rude to eat in front of them, yeah I could totally get behind that. However, this rule is rooted in cultural norms of Rwanda’s regal past. Apparently, the royal family would never eat in front of people because it was considered uncivilized. From what I gather it is a status thing, but what I don’t get is why, if it is only about your own social status, they have to impose it on me. When I’m hungry and far from home and don’t want to pay to eat at a restaurant, I don’t care if people think I’m uncivilized, I just want to eat my freaking banana. Nevertheless, I am trying to conform because I am tired of people giving me dirty looks, wagging their fingers at me and scolding me in Kinyarwanda.

Wow this is a whiney blog entry. Here is some lighter stuff…

• The 90s are alive and well in Rwanda – Between the music and the second-hand clothes, you would think that you stepped into a time machine. It is no surprise to hear the backstreet boys bumpin on the streets of Nyamata and the mixed CDs in most of the bars take me back to pre-middle school memories. The real treat is the clothes though. I don’t know where to begin. The sweaters and jackets all sport the neon colors and MC Hammer puffiness we all remember so fondly. Meanwhile, these T-shirts are hilarious. Mind you, most people can’t read what their shirts say, so when a very very dark man is wearing a “Kiss me I’m Irish” shirt, or large-chested woman has on a top that says “Size does matter,” the irony is lost to the majority of people they encounter. People are also very fond of lamé. Pink and red seem to be the preferred colors, but regardless these shirts will catch your eye from two blocks away, in the dark.
• Men holding hands – Another very common sight here that might make you double-take the first couple times you see it. I have mixed feelings about this. I do like that men are able to show each other affection here. It is refreshing and healthy and we would do well to take a lesson from it at home. However, what I quickly realized is that the only reason it is so prevalent is because homosexuality is so unacceptable that it is beyond the realm of possibility or consideration.
• Livestock are everywhere – I came very close to being run over by a cow last week. It was dark and I was walking into Nyamata when I saw what I assumed were a man and a child walking toward me. It was only when the cow was barreling down on me that I realized it was not a child and they were both running. Other common roadside animals are goats and chickens. Both are very cute and amusing when they are roaming free and grazing, but they can be seen with equal frequency on the way to market, strapped onto the back or draped over the handlebars of bicycles, bleating and squawking for their lives. Wow, that was dark too somehow, sorry.
• The Children – These little balls of joy are my favorite part of walking around in Bugesera. First of all, they are always enthusiastic to see you, and while every interaction usually starts with the word Muzungu, the other things they say make up for it. In Kigali most children of talking age have learned the phrase “giva me money” (there is no Kinyarwandan word for please so don’t try to explain that), but in Bugesera I’ve never been solicited. Most of the smallest kids only know the basic phrases they have been taught in school. The result? Hoards of school children yelling “Gooda morning!” at you at all times of day and following up with phrases like “What time is it?” and “I am fine, thank you!” often shouted at the top of their voice as you are getting further away by this point. It never fails to make me laugh.

Ok, I hope that was sufficiently entertaining and made up for the long list of complaints. On the whole, I am doing very well and it wouldn’t be a worthwhile experience if I spent the whole time happy and comfortable. Thanks for reading. : )

Help Me Save My Home

The beautiful building above is Chi Theta Chi, the place that I have called home for the past four years. This house and community are important beyond measurement to me.

I recieved word just over a week ago that Stanford University is revoking our lease. This Spring quarter they plan to integrate Chi Theta Chi into the university system, taking away our independence as one of the only two houses on campus not owned by the university and stripping us of many of the most important features of our home. Some of the University’s reasons for this are unfounded and some are more substantial. All are listed and responded to on our Tumblr page: SaveXOX. Regardless, they sprung this on us without warning and they are not giving us any opportunity to address the concerns that were raised.

Those of you who know me well will understand the significance of this event to me. For those who don’t, I can easily say that this decision and not being there to help mobilize against it has been by far the hardest part of being in Rwanda for me thus far.

Our Alumni Board and the current residents are working incredibly hard to respond to this situation. The outpouring of support from the Stanford student body, friends and family of residents, and XOX Alumni and community members from decades back has been inspirational and a source of supreme pride for me. I am writing this post to ask all of you who care about me and like the person I am to help me save the place that made me this way.

Below is my letter that I sent to the Stanford decision-makers on behalf of Chi Theta Chi. Please read this and consider doing as many of the following as possible:

– Sign our Petition in support of Theta Chi’s independence.

– Write your own letter to the Stanford Housing leadership by following these Instructions.

– Join our facebook group: Keep XOX Weird.

– Read other community letters, view photos, watch the video my amazing friends made, stay updated and learn more at SaveXOX.

– Help us raise money to pay for our lawyer by purchasing Chi Theta Merchandise, also created by current residents, or donating here.

One of the T-shirt/poster designs:

February 14, 2012

Dear_______________,

I lived in Chi Theta Chi from 2007 to 2010 and for me those years encompassed the most formative and beautiful experiences of my entire life. I am deeply saddened by the university’s attempt to revoke the house’s lease.

I can proudly say without a doubt that Chi Theta Chi made me into the person that I am today. The lessons about adulthood, friendship, and life that I learned in that house are innumerable and invaluable. Yes, Chi Theta Chi teaches its residents the same life skills that you learn at other co-ops, how to cook and clean for yourself and the importance of teamwork and community. However, what is unique about Chi Theta Chi, and what you are threatening to take away by revoking our lease, are the lessons about ownership. We own that house and we were reminded of that every day when one of the toilets would break, or the courtyard would flood, or the roof would start to leak. We were the ones who had to figure out how to fix those things, or who we were going to call and how we would pay. That kind of ownership and responsibility creates a pride in where you live and a lasting bond between community members that you cannot replicate.

Furthermore, the community that exists at Chi Theta Chi is unique and valuable and it is directly supported by the responsibility and ownership mentioned above. The degree of diversity and openness in that house does not exist anywhere else on campus. I cannot count on my hands the number of people I encountered in my time there who were ready to leave Stanford before they found that place. Chi Theta Chi allows people to discover and be celebrated for who they are in a way that is rare and crucial to the period of growth we undergo in college.

I think of Chi Theta Chi every single day and knowing that I am still connected to that community through our alumni network is a source of comfort and pride. For me, the Stanford experience is that house and while I am not earning nearly enough yet to make donations, if that community is eliminated, I will not be sending my money to Stanford University in the future.

For all of the reasons above and so many more, I implore you to give the residents and the Alumni Association of Chi Theta Chi the opportunity to address the concerns you have raised. We are willing and capable of making the changes necessary to preserve the independence of this vibrant community and ensure a safe and happy living environment at Chi Theta Chi for generations to come. That place is still home to so many of us and we will all work tirelessly to see that your requirements are fulfilled. Please give us a chance.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Ariel Kapur

BAH International Relations, Class of 2010

Agricultural Assistant, Akilah Institute for Women, Kigali, Rwanda

Former Chi Theta Chi Resident and House Manager 2007-2010

Photos from 2009 and 2011 Spring Work Weekends (a quarterly event where we all work on the house from 9am to 5pm for a week in fall and a weekend the the rest of the year – this will be eliminated if the lease is revoked).

That part of the wall that every real home has where everyone measures their heights…

A Song of Ice and Fire

Ok so this post is actually about rain and lava, but I couldn’t resist the Game of Thrones reference (and for those of you that recognized it, mad props). Yes, that’s right, I said lava!

This weekend I went into the DRC with three of my friends to climb Nyiragango volcano. It was spectacular! I think the best way to tell you about it will be via photos, so here we go…

Here are my friends and hiking companions! From left to right: Jacob, Me, Christina, and Zach

 

The landscape throughout the hike was constantly changing. It started off very jungley and green, but as we continued the path eventually turned entirely into chunks of dried lava, left over from the last time the volcano erupted in 2002.

Periodically throughout the hike we would come across fissures in the earth where steam generated by the lava far below would rise up.

The volcano was hidden from view by the fog and clouds for the first part of the hike, but around midday our destination became visible. We were headed for the rim!

Just before the last stretch of the hike, we emerged from the jungle into a landscape that looked almost desert like and these plants that reminded me a lot of yucca covered the hillside.

The final leg was by far the hardest part. It was very steep and slippery because the ground was entirely loose dried lava gravel and the elevation was putting a lot of pressure on our lungs. However, this was the stretch where the nerd in me relived some epic Lord of the Rings fantasies!

Then we were there and the view was unbelievable! As usual, pictures can’t do it justice. A 2,000 foot drop over the edge into the heart of the volcano where lava was boiling away. It was breathtaking!

As you can see, the lava became more visible as darkness fell, and by night-time, it was glowing!

 

I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. It was like staring into a fire only a million times more awesome. The surface was in constant motion. It was alive. Bubbling and cooling into black floating icebergs of rock and then boiling over again in a new location and folding in on itself. You could hear the lava hissing and steaming as the heat hit the cold air. It was magical.

The trip was exactly what I needed. Not only was it visually stimulating and physically invigorating, but it reminded me of why I am here. It reminded me that I want to be here. I was in the Congo, the place that I have been reading and dreaming about for the last four years of my life. It brought me into the present, got me thinking about my future here and helped me let go of some of the things I miss most about home.

We also passed through the city of Goma on the way to Virunga National Park. Goma is the main city in Eastern DRC where those displaced by the conflict of the past two decades have fled. It is a desperate scene and more so because of something I didn’t realize until this weekend, almost half of the city was destroyed by the volcanic eruptions of 2002. I guess with all of the human inflicted suffering happening in the region, somehow I missed the fact that this place got covered in lava ten years ago, killing over 100 people. The city has been rebuilt on top of the dried lava. This, combined with the dire circumstances under which most people fled to Goma, the poverty in which they eek out an existence there, and the constant violence that continues to plague the city and the region, makes it feel distinctly, well, hell-like. That said, I think I’d like to work there someday, go figure, and finally seeing this place was a significant moment for me personally.

Quickly before I end, the “Ice” half of this post. The rains have come! The pineapples and I are very happy with the periodic storms, which  last for a couple of hours tops. Though, none have been quite as intense as the downpour that started it all off last week. Look at what our quiet lunch meeting turned into…

Finally Starting to Feel Settled

The last two of my four housemates arrived last night and I write this post from my kitchen where I am intermittently getting up to check on some green beans I am cooking. It feels good to have a full(ish) house of people to cook for again.

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently moved into a spare room in the faculty residence of the Maranyundo Girls School. It is a lower secondary school (meaning middle school) and it is one of the best in the country. The faculty and staff have been so welcoming and I am very much enjoying my new housemantes. Pretty much all of them are my age and three of the four of them are also American. Laura is an English teacher here from Boston and, given that she worked here at Maranyundo for all of last year, clearly the veteran among us foreigners. Provy (Providence) is the secretary here at the school and she is Rwandese and has family living in Kigali where she visits on the weekends. Amy is from Ohio, but was living and teaching English in Boston before she came here. Finally, Rebecca is also from Boston (Maranyundo’s U.S. headquarters) and she just graduated from high school last June. This is part of her gap year before starting at Brown in the fall.

My New House – (my room is the open set of windows third from the left)

From Left: Provy, Me, Laura, Rebecca, and Amy 

Last Wednesday was a national holiday known as Heroes Day and a perfect event for my first full day here at the school. There was a big ceremony to celebrate the success of last year’s Senior Fours (ninth graders) in the national exams. One of the girls got the top score in the country! The Senior Fours came back for the celebration and the Mayor of Bugesera, the Executive Secretary of Nyamata (my friend Jacques), and some important guy in a military uniform were all in attendence. The girls sang and did some traditional dancing and put on these amazing skits that they make up in their very limited free time. One was about two sisters who were in love with the same boy at school and the other was about prostitution. They were both very funny even though they were in Kinyarwanda (one of the teachers translated for Laura and I) and one was about prostitution. My favorite line from the first skit was when the two girls are complaining to their mother about the boy and she says, “Well if he’s rich, why can’t he take both of you?!” The whole auditorium of students exploded with laughter and even the respected guests were buckling up.

I am also finally starting to develope a routine. Now that I am living in Bugesera, my commute to work is much shorter and far more pleasant. I still take a minibus (like the one below) crammed in there with as many as 20 people. But at least now it is a 10 minute ride instead of an hour and a half.

Nyabugogo Bus Station (a crowded and stressful place where I used to start my day)

Furthermore, after my busride, if I feel like it, I now have to extra time to walk the one to two miles from the main road to our farm. Why would you want to walk you say? Well because it looks like this…

The Road to Akilah’s Bugesera Camps

The water in the background is Lake Cyohoa, which our land borders

Plus, just about everyone in Bugesera walks, probably not by choice mind you, but I don’t like the feeling of zipping past them every day on a moto or in a car. It is nice to actually have conversations with my neighbors now. If you can call, “Good Morning. How are you? Sorry, I don’t speak Kinyarwanda,” a conversation. Nonetheless, I have had some wonderful interactions so far. Last week, I met an eight year old boy named Aphrodise and his cows. It is often the case that the younger kids can speak more English, so I meet a lot of children around here. He was so happy and energetic, exchanging words and phrases with me in broken English and Kinyarwanda and intermittently scampering off to hurry his lagging goats along with a stick.

Aphrodise, his Cows, and the other Herders

Cows are actually a very sacred animal in Rwanda, a tradition that somehow I can understand. I didn’t think they would be any different than American cows, but they must be, I find them so beautiful! I found out last week at the Heroes Day celebration that the traditional dancing the girls were performing was actually a tribute to cows. Their arms and elbows were held up and out like horns and the movements were very cow-like, in a good way. There is a picture of this dancing on the front page of the Maranyundo website, which I provided the link to above.

In other news, it is SO hot here! It was already hot when I arrived, but now it is getting pretty outrageous. Everyone says that this kind of heat is abnormal for this time of year because it is supposed to be the shorter and milder of the two dry seasons. Regardless, I can’t wait for it to be over. Me and the pineapples both. Rain will be a very welcome friend when it arrives. It is pretty cool though, to experience first hand the reason why everyones’ skin is so dark here. I’m definitely testing the limits of my own tanning abilities. I think I’m probably at my max, but sadly I don’t think people will stop calling me Muzungu anytime soon.

On a similar note, I am continually blown away by the stamina of the Rwandese people. As I said earlier, people here walk most everywhere in this unbelievable heat. But what is more amazing to me is that the workers on the farm do serious manual labor for like five plus hours in direct sunlight, and I’m talking digging a six cubic foot hole to plant a banana tree in, without any food or water. Yes, that’s what I said, NO WATER! I help Alphonsine put mulch around the pineapples for an hour and I chug a gallon of water and go home and take a 2 hour nap. It’s amazing!

Fortunately, we just got the fresh water point fixed at the farm last week. So our people now have something to drink and the seedlings in the nursery are getting fresh water instead of lake water, which apparently is important for them.

   

We have WATER!

In other farm news, I’ve decided to forgive the pigs. As many of you already know I have a bit of a soft spot for pigs. I visited them today and they were very talkative. Lots of snorting and grunting that always makes me smile.

 

Pile o’ Piglets!                                                         Hello sweet little pink noses!

Well, that’s all for this week. I will write again soon.

 

Things are growing!!!

Hello Everyone!

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to write another post. I would blame it on the internet access, but I am discoving that actually it is quite good in Rwanda. I have Wifi at the Akilah office in Kigali and now in my new house here in Bugesera! I have just arrived at my new residence, the Maranyundo Girl’s Secondary School in Bugesera. They have faculty housing here on campus and are letting me rent out one of the extra rooms. While I ultimately would like to find a place of my own somewhere in Nyamata (the main town in Bugesera District), I am a little nervous about living on my own here since I don’t know the area or the language well at all yet. Living here at the school seems like it will be good for me as I find my feet and I will be sure to write more about it very soon as I get to know the place better.

I suppose that the real reason I have taken so long to write is because it is difficult to decide where to begin, and most of what I am experiencing and feeling I don’t fully understand yet. This country and the two regions of it that I have been exposed to thus far (Kigali and Bugesera) are so busy and complicated, and when you add to that the intense history of this place and the fact that I can’t understand a word most people are saying, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, not to mention isolated. There is so much here that is modern, but then at the same time there are massive gaps in what I would consider ordinary necessity, like the street signs for example. I think what I am having trouble with is that it isn’t as black and white here as it was in South Africa, literally and figuratively. In Cape Town there were the haves and the have-nots, and while they lived in sight of each other, they were very clearly seperated, and I knew very clearly where I fit. In Kigali, when I was living in Elizabeth’s house, I had everything I was used to from home, and on the dirt road I walked to get to the main street you saw other big Western-style houses, but interspersed between them were also small one or two room places where families sat outside cooking using coal or wood and their children would run to greet me on my way home.

This paradox became further emphasized when I started to look for my own place in Bugesera (before I decided to live at Maranyundo). I have all of the ex-pats I know, friends and people from work, telling me to get a nice place with hot water and a stove and indoor plumbing. While the living stipend I am getting from Akilah clearly affords me these luxuries, Modeste (Akilah’s Agricultural Director) showed me the house he is moving into here in Bugesera and it has a seperate outdoor kitchen and bathroom and no running water. Furthermore, a wonderful man named Jacques, who is the Executive Secretary of Nyamata and therefore knows everyone, has been helping me to try to find a place here. He showed me mostly places like Modeste’s, which I think I can get behind because I would like to feel like a part of the community and try to get to know these people by living like them since I can’t really talk to them yet. But Jacques also insisted that I need a wall around my house and a guard since I am Muzungu and therefore more likely to be burgurlarized, which seems to defeat the purpose of living “in” the community. I would very much like to practice living within my means while I am here, but I guess I am having trouble determining what those are. While in Kigali it is easy to gravitate to other ex-pats, to do as they do and maintain the comforts of home, but here in Bugesera there are so few other Westerners that I am having troubling finding where I can fit, if anywhere. It seems like it is up to me if I really want to take the plunge and learn to cook and clean and potty outside, but I also want to do so safely. Like I said, everything is a little confusing right now, but I think that living here at Marunyundo will help me to feel the place out before determining my next step.

“I like to watch things grow.” – Maude

Ok now on to the one part of life here that is not confusing: The Farm!!! It is so quiet and simple out there and I feel so fortunate that I have these beautiful wonderful little plants to retreat to. When I am mulching around the pineapple seedlings with Alphonsine (the woman planting Pineapples in my last post) it doesn’t really matter that we can’t say more than a few words to each other. We are working together to make something real and sweet and important and that feels great.

Perfect Little Pink Pineapples

The Watermelon Seedlings are Sprouting

Jon Tending to the Eggplant Sprouts

I am slowly gaining more responsibilities on the farm. Now that I am better at Kinyarwandan names, I have taken over keeping track of casual labor and payment. Furthermore, after a meeting with Elizabeth last Friday, I have been given a research assignment! As I mentioned previously, one of the main objectives in starting to farm is to eventually allow Akilah to offer an agricultural degree. However, before that is possible there is a lot to be done and a lot more funding to be found. In order to demonstrate our need for this funding, we must first determine if there is a need for another university offering an agricultural program here in Rwanda. So far, there are four other universities around the country who offer agricultural degrees. I will be investigating and visiting them to get an idea of their applicant pool and job opportunities for their graduates, the start-up costs of such a program, and their curriculum, among other things. It feels good to have a deliverable to really sink my teeth into.

In other farm news, we are lending one of our livestock facilities to some pig farmers and earlier this week they escaped and got into our eggplant seedbeds!!! Some of the cute little sprouts have survived, but it made me sad to see the neat little rows I had been weeding and tending to all mucked up. Modeste talked to the owner of the pigs though and they are going to pay to replace the lost seeds. So all is well.

On another unfortunate note, one of the guards who was working at the Bugesera site was caught steeling some doors and Mango seedlings. While this was clearly a bad thing for Akilah and the culprit, one positive result was that I got to witness a little local justice in action. Some of you may have heard of gacaca, the highest level of traditional justice that has been used to deal with the aftermath of the genocide. Well, the lowest level of this four-tier system of traditional justice is known as Madugadu, and that is what Dave (Akilah’s co-founder) turned to to deal with our thieving guard. Dave brought his good friend Philip (a respected community member) to translate, and the two of them, the defendent, the witnesses (the two other guards), and the judge (the local chief) sat in a circle and discussed how to resolve the problem. Talk about modern meets really old school. They eventually decided that he has some number of months to find the doors or pay a fine or he goes to jail. The chief wrote it all out and everyone signed. It was so efficient and intimate and while there are clearly pros and cons to this kind of justice system, I was quite pleased to have been able to witness it first-hand.

As you can see, my life here is moving quickly and while I have yet to come to a conclusion about many many of the new experiences I am undergoing, I am being thoroughly stimulated and therefore I am happy.

Stay tuned for my next post about my new residence, my new friends and my love-hate relationship with motos…

Settling In

Hello Everyone!

My first 4 days in Rwanda have been eventful and on the whole extremely enjoyable. There have of course been some difficulties so far, but I am enjoying the challenges and learning the importance of laughing at myself.

Let’s start with the good. Rwanda is SO beautiful. The people and the land itself. Green green green as far as the eye can see. It certainly lives up to its nickname, “Land of A Thousand Hills.” The people are quick to flash a smile and overall very friendly and welcoming. I went to a big opened market on Sunday and the variety and colors of the produce was amazing. The vendors were very kind, didn’t try to rip my off nearly as much as I expected based on my experiences in South Africa, and they loved it when I used my very basic Kinyarwanda (the local language).

Beautiful Beans at the Kimironko Market 

Some of the harder things. 1. I keep getting lost. Lord how I miss streets with names let alone signs. 2. The “moto”s (motorcycle taxis) are a little scary, but I brought my own helmet, and if you say “Buhoro Buhoro” (Slow Slow) they usually listen. 3. My new name is officially “Muzungu” (white person). Mostly the yelling of this word and the pointing is funny and friendly, but it definitely gets old and can feel a little derogatory/mean at times. But hey, after 24 years of passing for white in the United States, I guess its about time I get a small taste of what discrimination feels like. I just never thought I would have to come all the way to Rwanda to experience it.

 

The School

Akilah’s Kigali Campus

Student Government election speeches were today! 

Akilah is wonderful! The staff and the students have been so welcoming and helpful. I work with four of my housemates. – Elizabeth and Dave (the recently engaged co-founders of Akilah and the owners of the house I am currently staying in), Mary-Patton (Elizabeth’s sister who is my age, also just arrived in Rwanda and will be here working as the IT specialist for Akilah for the next year), and Denise (the Hospitality teacher at Akilah who is from the Bahamas). My last housemate is named Oli. He is English and recently completed a trip from London to Australia… on his bicycle! Being in Elizabeth’s house with so many people to relate to and go out with is perfect for this initial transition and is easing the culture shock immensely. Elizabeth’s house is gorgeous! It has a breath-taking view of Kigali’s rolling hills, electricity, hot-water, and a massive flat-screen, but I will not be staying there much longer because I am moving to Bugesera!

Dallas on the Deck Outside My Bedroom Window (oh yeah… they have a dog!!!!!)

 

The Farm

Composting! 

The majority of my work is not at Akilah’s Kigali campus, but on the farm, which is located about 45 minutes south of Kigali in Bugesera district. The Bugesera campus is on 90 acres of land bordering Lake Cyohoa, which was donated to Akilah by the Rwandan government and will eventually include classrooms and dormitories to house 1,000 students, administrative offices, a dining hall, and staff housing. Construction on these facilities is currently paused while we wait for more funds to come in, but work on the farm is in full swing!

So far we have planted hundreds of avocado, orange, and banana trees in three seperate orchards. We are just now planting seeds and seedlings for watermelon, sweet pepper, hot pepper, African eggplant, and 1,000 pineapple plants. Yum! Someday the farm will serve as an educational tool for Akilah’s agriculture degree program, a source of sustainable income for Akilah so they no longer have to rely solely on outside funding, and a nutritional foodsource for Akilah’s student body, faculty, and staff.

Our Brand New Banana Orchard

So far my responsibilities on the farm are limited due to my inexperience in the agricultural sphere and my virtually non-existent command of Kinyarwanda. All of the workers at the farm only speak Kinyarwanda, with the excpetion of Modeste (Akilah’s agricultural director) and Jon (a local who ran this farm when it was a vocational school before the genocide and speaks some French). However, Modeste is teaching me all about agriculture and I think it is helpful for him to have an assistant even though I am in training. Plus, I learn a few more words in Kinyarwanda every day, something I wouldn’t be able to do at the Kigali campus because they are supposed to speak only in English.

Planting Watermelon 

Modeste observing a Worker Planting Pineapple (haven’t learned her name yet)

Today I helped to plant watermelon seeds and pineapple seedlings, took an inventory of our tools, and helped to record the workers’ names and their pay. This is also a big challenge because Kinyarwandan names are NOT easy. For example, yesterday I carried water with Tuyizere Zeburiya and Nyiramajyambere Donatire.

Tuyizere and Nyiramajyambere

Clearly the language barrier will be one of the biggest challenges when I move to Bugesera because less people speak French outside of Kigali, and English even more so. There are also very few other expats (foreign nationals) in Bugesera, while there are a lot of them in Kigali and they tend to stick together. I am fully looking forward to this move though. It is indescribably beautiful and peaceful in the countryside (no the pictures don’t do it justice either – come visit!), and I would like to experience what it is like to live among the local community. Furthermore, while I will still have electricity and running water, the other amenities present in a house like Elizabeth’s feel exorbitant here and I was actually really looking forward to their absence from my life for a while. Finally, I will be coming into the Kigali campus on Fridays with Modeste and can stay with friends and other Akilah staff over the weekends.

I will leave it at that for now. Hope you are all well. I’ll post again soon. Love, Ariel

National Geographic Article – Africa’s Albertine Rift

National Geographic Article – Africa’s Albertine Rift

This is an awesome article about the region I am moving to. The section on Rwanda is not until the end, but I would recommend reading the whole article, and checking out the pictures, if you have the time. My motivation to move to Rwanda originates from an interest in the region as a whole and the choice of Kigali was primarily because it is the safest place there. This article addresses many of the challenges facing the Great Lakes region and does so from a unique perspective. It highlights both the human tragedy occuring and the dire repercussions that the violence and destitution are having on the land, which includes some of the most unique and diverse ecosystems on the planet. Don’t freak out as you start to read either. As I said, I chose Kigali because it is the most removed from the violence and chaos the article starts off describing.

If you want to know why I’m doing this, here it is.

P.S. There is an incredible picture of rural Rwanda in the Photo Gallery that will give you an idea of what it will look like where I’m working.

Akilah Institute Website

Akilah Institute Website

Learn more about the organization I will be working for!