Win Some, Lose Some

Last week was a whirlwind. I traveled with the other volunteers to the capital, Kigali, where we stayed at a hotel and met our respective site supervisors. After a couple of days of volunteer/supervisor training, we separated and left to tour our individual sites. First, the pros.

Kigali seems like a cool place. We stayed at a nice hotel with a delicious buffet and copious amounts of coffee—I had like 3 cups a day and it was amazing. The hotel was located right across from the national soccer stadium where a big concert was taking place, so we had a chance to go over and hear some Rwandan jams. There were a lot of foreign folks there, and because we were in the big city no kids were pointing and yelling at us. The stores in Kigali also offer a lot of different items that are harder to get out in the villages. I purchased some peanut butter and Pringles for myself, and some chocolate for my host family. Then one evening we went out to dinner for a fellow volunteer’s birthday and had some legit Italian pizza that was a real treat. And the actual Peace Corps training content was great too.

The drive out to my site was long (about 8 hours), but it was a very interesting trip. We drove through cities, small villages, and a refugee camp of about 20,000 people from the Democratic Republic of Congo. We passed hills with lush farms, bright green tea plantations, rice paddies, and a local juice company. There was even a sort of rest stop where you can buy popcorn, sodas, candy, and all sorts of other goodies. Closer to my site, we spent an hour driving through the windy road of Nyungwe National Park where we saw some small monkeys hanging out near the edge of the forest. Much of the road between the park and my home is newly paved, only about 9 months old, so that that was a cool and welcome discovery. My site, in the district of Nyamasheke and village of Gikuyu, is right next to Lake Kivu on the far Eastern border of the country; so I have a beautiful view.

Me pointing to the general area of where my site is located.

Lake Kivu

My supervisor, Emmanuel, attended the training with me and accompanied me back to Nyamasheke. Emmanuel is a nurse at the health center and was super welcoming and excited to work with me. At the health center, people were enthusiastic about having a Peace Corps volunteer, which was a relief, and a number of them spoke English. People seemed pleased at the little amount of Kinyarwanda I’ve learned, and were happy to hear a foreigner speak their language. I learned that the health center has some specific expectations for the areas they want me to work in, which are community education in nutrition and hygiene, and assisting their staff to learn English. Good to have some understanding in advance of the types of projects I might be able to initiate.

Now for the cons. Upon completing our long journey from Kigali to Nyamasheke, my supervisor took me to a local restaurant. The waitress brought out a pitcher of hot water with some soap for hand washing, which lulled me into a false sense of hygiene security. So when they presented a platter of lettuce and tomatoes cut into the shape of roses, I stupidly ignored the Peace Corps’ advice not to eat uncooked veggies (because they may be improperly washed and harboring bacteria). I paid the price, and spent about 30 hours in the bathroom with fluids coming out of one end or the other. Luckily I was staying in a temporary guest room that had a flushing toilet. Plus the Peace Corps doctor was great about checking in and making sure I took the proper meds from my first aid kit. That being said, it was a rough day and I felt pretty depressed that I missed out on time I could have spent exploring my site. The next day, I was brought back to the same restaurant twice for additional meals, and discovered that the latrines there were pretty disgusting. To make matters worse I saw a dead mouse lying near the dish washing area. So yeahhhhh….not surprised about the food poisoning in retrospect. Lesson learned, kids.

Another moment of questionable sanitation standards occurred when I purchased a water bottle from a local market, drank from it, and then realized the bottle had a large crack that had be sealed with a piece of scotch tape. Not cool. Basically that means I drank water that could have been contaminated, all because some store owner wanted to save a few cents rather than throw out a damaged water bottle. My supervisor was super pissed by this and actually spent over an hour trying to shame the shopkeeper, calling the health center to report the issue, and determining how to alert the local authorities. It was intense, but I appreciated his follow-up.

Unrelated con—there were a few awkward moments of people asking me about my marital status and religion. This was uncomfortable, but apparently a very normal Rwandan conversation topic with strangers. Once a woman turns 21 here she’s expected to start looking for a husband; and if she doesn’t have one by 30 it’s bad news. I think maybe this is different in parts of the country where you find lots of young, progressive, university-educated people. Some of the locals who inquired as to why I do not have a husband were satisfied at my response that I just want to travel, work, and learn at the moment. When that didn’t work, I tried the excuse that an American husband would not be keen on my leaving the country for over 2 years. And when that excuse did not work, I just accepted their puzzled or judgmental looks and changed the subject.

My final pro/con falls in both categories. I took a tour of my future house and had some super mixed feelings. Pros: it has electricity, is close to a water spigot, and has neighbors living close by in the same compound, which is great for security. Cons: it’s hella small with only 1 door and 2 windows. More like a shed than a house. My latrine and shower room are both wicked dark. And the neighbors seemed upset that the last volunteer wanted so much personal space. They were actually trying to get assurances from me that I would bond with them and invite them into my shed for visits. It was a lot to take in to say the least. And the trip back to my training site was also plagued by extreme motion sickness, so that put a bit of a damper on the visit as well.

In conclusion the last week had its ups and downs. It was interesting to hear about their site visits. Some people described their joy at being out in the middle of nowhere on high mountains or in deep valleys without running water or electricity. Others were excited to be close to the city with hot showers and power. On the opposite end of the spectrum, two people felt quite unwelcome in their health centers, and one actually ended up getting an immediate site change because it was determined that the community didn’t want a volunteer after all. So I feel like, for the moment, I’m just relieved to be assigned to an enthusiastic health center, and I guess I’ll form some more solid opinions when I move back permanently in September. For the moment, I’m just happy to be back at the training site with some time to reflect on my experience and make a game plan.