Family Farewell & Our Swearing-In

In America, at times of increased anxiety, I have a reoccurring stress dream that I own a dog who I then forget to feed. I go about my business completing various dream tasks and then suddenly remember about the poor starving dog that I was entrusted with, at which point I immediately wake up in a panic. Last week I had this same dream, but the dog was replaced with a goat. Not even kidding you. Makes sense, as I am currently in a weird transitional stage where training ends and my service at site begins. Last week we said goodbye to our host families. There was a going away lunch where some volunteers did speeches in Kinyarwanda. Then we "wowed” them with our ridiculous impression of a traditional Rwandan dance followed by celebratory potatoes and Fanta. Good times.

Bre and I at the host family farewell. Twinsies!

It was exciting to finish with the language training and pass the required final test/interview, but separating from our host fams was definitely a bummer. I played one last game of cards with a bunch of  kids crammed into the living room the night before I left, and my host mom made a dish called isombe that I like (it’s like a mash of greens that’s slow-cooked for hours). They gave me a cool piece of igitenge (fabric you can buy at the markets here to have clothes made by a seamstress). And I gave them some photos of the family that I took and then had printed out in town. 

My host familia (Papa Emmanuel, Mama Bernadette, Daniel, Simon Pierre, and Grace)

After leaving the training site we headed off to Kigali where we officially swore in as Peace Corps volunteers in a ceremony at the American ambassador’s residence.That evening a volunteer living in Kigali threw a shindig of sorts, followed by a trip to a local bar which featured a pretty killer mix of American/Rwandan dance music. Otherwise the last 3 days have mostly consisted of purchasing things for my empty house—plastic chairs, food, cooking supplies, etc. And I’ve gotten a chance to try out some coffee shops and restaurants in the area including a killer burger joint, a burrito place where you can order margaritas, and a fancy Japanese spot (which I quickly learned I will never be able to afford again). Tomorrow I’ll be driven from Kigali to my site in a Peace Corps car and then I’ll watch in dismay as they drive away and leave me to fend for myself. Wish me luck, ya’ll. It’s about to get real up in here.

Murabeho (Goodbye for a long time), Mr. Chicken

Some events that merit a mention this week:

The embassy was temporarily closed, along with select others around the world due to recent international events and the interception of terrorist chatter which implied these locations might be the target of attacks. Apparently the U.S. embassy here has a fence instead of a brick wall surrounding it, making it appear to be more vulnerable than others. That being said, I hear it’s a lot more formidable than the previous embassy building which was so small that when the Americans moved out, it was converted into a pharmacy! In response to the embassy closure, Peace Corps shut down their Rwanda office for the week, but this did not affect me since our training site is located outside of Kigali.

On the touristy front, we took a field trip to the National Ethnographic Museum in Butare and saw this old-school Rwandan house:

There were a lot of interesting exhibits about Rwandan geology, agriculture, goods, traditions, and history. One section I found interesting involved divining, or the act of telling a person’s future through various means, such as throwing some small pieces of wood down and interpreting based on how they fall, or gazing into a pile of animal fat/intestines. 

Butare is a larger city, so after our tour of the museum we ate lunch in town and I enjoyed pizza, fries, AND a burrito. Extravagant, I know, but to be fair I went halfsies with a friend. On the return trip we had a random monkey sighting—like a dozen little guys just hanging out near the side of the road. One of our language instructors said that when she attended college at the National University in Butare, the monkeys would come to soccer games to sit on the sidelines and watch. How great would it be to have a cheerleading squad composed of primates?

In other news, on Saturday I watched a chicken get murdered. True story. P.C. set aside an afternoon for us to cook a meal for 30 people using only charcoal stoves. We decided to whip up some American dishes including garlic mashed potatoes and fried chicken. The team cooking chicken went all out and purchased 2 live cluckers. Then our Rwandan teachers gave us a crash course on how you procure meat when you don’t live down the street from a Stop&Shop. I decided this was probably something I should witness since I eat chicken frequently, but have never watched one meet its demise. It was pretty weird—way less noise than I expected, a lot of blood splatter, and some creepy squirming on the part of our main course. Needless to say, I don’t feel the need to see that again or to kill my own chicken in the near future. Some people took photos but I felt like you folks don’t need to see that. The phrase “Ignorance is bliss” never seemed more applicable.

Current Events and My Kigali Discoveries

This past week had some intense moments and I want to touch on them, but not make them the only focus of this post. Though I appreciate the seriousness of these occurrences, I’m basically just taking it one day at a time here and making the most of the positives. First off, I am sorry to report that there was a grenade explosion in a Kigali bus station called Nyabugogo on July 26th. From what I know, 3 people were killed and approximately 30 injured. To be honest, I am so out of the information loop here that I probably would not even have known about it if I had not received texts and emails from the Peace Corps detailing the incident and ways to stay safe when visiting the capital. Upon hearing this, I also took the initiative to sign up for travel alerts from the US Embassy in Rwanda, so although I was sad to hear this news for the victims and their families, I do not currently feel unsafe. 

Second thing to note is that there have been some incidences of violence on the Rwanda/Democratic Republic of Congo border recently. I’m not even going to get into the history of this, as it’s a complicated situation that I only loosely understand, and may try to address later in a more extensive blog post. For the moment though, you can find info about the current situation by clicking here for a CNN article I came across. Right now, I’m training in the central part of the country, and my future site, although located on the Western border, is separated from DRC by a very large lake called Kivu. These border incidents are occurring in the North Western part of the country, and not in the area where I am living or will be living later.

Lastly on the sobering news front, Peace Corps gave us the opportunity to visit the Kigali Memorial Center last weekend. In addition to a series of mass graves encased in concrete, the museum site consists of an exhibition chronicling the events surrounding the 1994 genocide. It was an intense experience to visit this memorial and to learn that there are over 250,000 people buried at this site alone. 

There was also an exhibit that discussed other genocides that have occurred throughout world history. The memorial spoke volumes about how far this country has come that they have taken such steps to educate the public and prevent this type of atrocity from happening again. That being said, I have to say that prior to coming here, it was hard for me to imagine how a country that has seen so much turmoil could get back on its feet again. I imagined Rwanda being a very serious place where lightheartedness might be hard to come by. However, I've realized that it's quite the opposite. So far, I have seen in Rwanda a sense of progress and hope that is really fantastic. Although I know there will come a time when some Rwandans close to me may begin to open up about their experiences in a way that may be difficult for me to hear, on the surface it seems that people do not let their past hold them back from promising futures. People go to work, they attend school and church, they invite friends over for dinner, and just live regular lives. And there is such a great sense of community here that people are always generous with their greetings, smiles, and in the case of children, fist pounds. So to close off this post on a lighter note, I’ll talk about the experience I had in Kigali after our visit to the memorial and the pleasant surprises I found there.

Treat #1: A trip to the annual Rwanda International Trade Fair, which showcased some of handmade crafts/goods produced across Africa, booths for local banks and phone companies, Slap Chop-esq gadget demonstrations, and more. I was especially amused to come across this Barack Obama wall tapestry. Score.

Treat #2: A double-decker cheeseburger. ‘Nuff said.

Treat #3: Discovering that there are stores in Kigali that look like the photo below. Check out the variety! I bought myself a notebook with lined paper, which is a rarity here (most notebooks in Rwanda have graph paper) and I gifted myself a pretty sweet travel mug as well. This last one is important because it seems that the concept of getting coffee or tea "to go" in this country does not exist. You have to drink your beverage where you buy it, or B.Y.O.Thermos. lol This store even sold electric tea kettles and fluffy pillows. You better believe I’m getting one of each.

And on that note, that's all for this post. Have a great weekend, folks.

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.

Some Scenes Around Town

This week I thought I’d post some photos to give you an idea of what it looks like in these here parts. On Sunday I’m headed to Kigali for a few days to meet the person who will be my on-site Rwandan counterpart in my permanent village. Then on Wednesday, I’ll travel with him or her out to my future site, where I’ll stay for the rest of the week to get the lay of the land, check out my living accommodations, visit the health center where I'll work, and figure out what types of items I will need to bring with me to site (pots and pans etc.) Also, in case you’re wondering, it took an absurdly long time to upload these photos (like 3 hours maybe), so in the future I’ll probably only be doing a few photos per post at most. Nice to be able to share the view once in a while though!

The front view of my host family's house. I think all of the homes in this area of made of mud brick and maybe concrete. Ours looks a bit fancier than some others I've seen that have plainer looking exteriors.

Went adventuring through some farmland across from my house and stumbled across this scenic vista.

Four days a week Bre (in the blue shirt) and I have our own private language classes with Liliose (in red). We also happen to own matching sandals. lol You can see the door to our classroom in the background.

A peek inside the classroom where the two of us learn Kinyarwanda.

This goat lives outside our classroom. He's pretty chill. He hangs out in the shade of some clothes drying on a tree; and he eats trash with his goat buddy (not pictured).Keep up the good work, guy.

Twice a week, Bre and I walk 30 minutes to the Peace Corps training "hub" where we meet with the larger group of 18 other trainees to learn about the Rwandan Health Care system, various health issues we may work on at site, personal safety, cultural expectations etc.

The view on our walk home from class at the hub. Not bad! That's all for now folks. Will let you know how this trip to Kigali/site visit turns out. 

The Foods of My Umudugudu (Village)

There is not a day that passes when I do not miss McDonald's and Taco Bell, but I have to say that the food in Rwanda is pretty damn good. Typically a meal might include tea, bread, rice, beans, potatoes, macaroni if your chef is feeling adventurous, plantains or bananas, and maybe eggs. There is usually a sauce made out of veggies (like mashed cassava leaves), meat (which has a broth-like consistency), or peanuts. As far as fruits are concerned I’ve had pineapples that taste way fresher than anything in the states. You don’t have to even take the core out! In the capital you can get passion fruit, mangoes, and something called tree tomatoes, which are all quite tasty. And for veggies I’ve had cabbage, corn, avocados that are 3 times the size of the U.S. kind, and onions.

As part of our Peace Corps training they gave us some info on what to expect for foods available in the local markets depending on what region of the country we’re placed in. Although I wouldn’t want to be limited in my food choices forever, I have to say that it’s pretty baller to think that we’re mostly just eating whatever grows around us and is in season. My host family farms corn, sorghum, beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, sugar cane, peanuts, and soy.

The cooking process is hardcore. My host family has a wood-burning stove built into their enclosed/outdoor kitchen, and a small charcoal stove as well. Getting either one hot is no easy task. I’ve actually sat in awe watching while Mama hacks apart a big tree limb with an axe to throw in the wood stove, and then lights it with a bit of hay, 1 match, and some fanning motions. Pretty impressive stuff. It gets very smoky in the “kitchen” though, and there isn’t really any space to cut anything because they don’t have counters, let alone a cutting board. I think they mostly just chop ingredients right into the pot. And they still have all their fingers!

Inside my host family's kitchen

Wednesday my Peace Corps training assignment was to cook an American dish for the family. In the afternoon, I went with my language instructor, Liliose, to the weekly market and bought garlic, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste, corn, and spaghetti. After class I explained to Mama that I was going to cook them some “macaroni and isosi (sauce).” So they gave me a knife and a couple of bowls and 7 people watched intently as the weirdo American fumbled to cut some vegetables. I’m sure it was a good show. To keep expectations low, and since I have never previously made spaghetti sauce using only tomato paste, salt, and water, I repeatedly stated in Kinyarwanda that I was a bad cook and that no one in America likes to eat my food. Haha! Luckily no one died after consuming my ad-hoc American meal. They even seemed to like it, which was a relief.

Some other interesting factoids: Rwandans just don’t have snack attacks. If you go into a local shop the only options you’re really going to see in the light snack realm are a few different bread options, maybe one type of fruit, or some candies that look like Jolly Ranchers but taste like cough drops. You can also buy these packages of plain cookies called biscuits, but if I eat more than 3 at a time I tend to get sick. Oh and there’s also one shop that has a popcorn machine they fire up once in a while, but apparently this is a novelty. I’ve heard there are restaurants galore in Kigali and some other big cities, and that you can purchase all sorts of goodies like chocolate and peanut butter, but just not here on the village level. What I wouldn’t do for a bag of Cheetos right now!

Even stranger than not snacking (by American standards), is the fact that people rarely eat on the street. I’ve heard this is taboo because in Rwandan culture they share everything. So if you’re eating a banana, it would not be out of line for a stranger to come up to you and ask you for a piece of it. And you’d be like, “Oh sure, here you go dude, I wasn’t going to eat this WHOLE banana anyway.” And if a woman is carrying a jug of water on her head, any random person walking by can be like, “Hey there, I’m thirsty,” and she will have her child run home to fetch a cup that she can then fill with water and give to this no-name passerby. In America, if you walked up to someone on the street and asked them for some of their food or beverage you’d likely get a solid “eff off” in response. Just goes to show how generous Rwandans can be.

Ok, one last thought on food: in case you’re wondering, the major meats of choice I’ve seen thus far are goat and cow. On Thursday I ate what I believe to have been some BBQ skewered goat liver called “brochette”—a bit chewy but not terrible. For chicken, as far as I know you to need to buy that clucker and slaughter it yourself—which isn’t really on my bucket list. I think meat is fairly expensive, so I was confused when my family served it to me every night my first week. Then through some miming and extensive use of a translation dictionary, I was able to figure out that my Papa is actually an owner of the local butchery cooperative. Super cool! So I’ll enjoy the beef for now, as I probably will be too grossed out at my own village by the lack of meat refrigeration to buy some on my own. On that note I will leave you, my dear American friends, to your delicious fast food and “never ending salad and bread sticks.” Bon appetite!

SPECIAL ALERT!: After writing this post I was informed that a local store carries chocolate bars called “Gotcha: Big Taste!” I immediately purchased 2 and was elated to find that they are basically Kit Kat bars covered in some other mysterious crunchy goodness. Imma need to buy about 50 more of these, stat.

Let There Be Light!

Imagine that your power went out right now. You'd be pretty irritated, right? Probably call your electric company to find out what’s going on. Break out the flashlight and try to think of something fun to do that doesn’t need to be “plugged in.” Basically to be without electricity in the U.S. is kind of an oddity because it means that there is either an outage or a person lives so far out in the middle of nowhere that power does not reach him/her. Or maybe that person is intentionally living without this convenient utility in order to “rough it.” Before coming to Rwanda I wasn’t sure what to expect on this front, and the info I read online was unclear. Some current volunteers said that they live in villages where power exists but is only about 50% reliable. I also read that Rwanda is trying to step up its electricity game over the next few years. My village is definitely in a transitional stage at the moment. Part of the area is wired and the remaining section (which includes my host home) is not. However, there’s a large spool of electric cable in the middle of the road and a bunch of empty poles stretching to the far side of town. I even saw some guys felling a tree last week in order to string the cable from one post to another. I was so mesmerized by what seemed to be such a momentous event, that I didn’t realize the workers were trying to warn me to move out of the way. Luckily my fellow Peace Corps pal alerted me that I should probably step aside or end up a pancake.

I’ve learned that the electricity situation here is on a pay-as-you-go basis. So you pay to have it set up at your house and then you sort of buy “minutes” to power it up. When you run out you have to buy more power. So this is the inverse of our American system of paying post-use every month. I’m curious to find out more about this and whether people “opt out” of getting wired for electricity due to the cost. I also only consulted one person for this info, so I’m sure there are a lot of details I’m leaving out.

As for water in Taba, many people go to the public spigot and pay per jerry can container that they fill. Some families send their kid or hire someone to go and get water a couple of times a day. I've been twice so far to help fetch water and let me tell you, it’s not easy! Can you imagine carrying (or pushing in a wheel barrow) 20 or more liters of water across town every day just to use for your normal bathing and cooking routine?!  Some people also pay to have the government install a private spigot at their home, but I’ve heard this is expensive. Once it’s set up they track your use with meter on the nozzle and bill you at the end of the month.

Locals lined up in front of the water spigot waiting to fill their buckets.

Around 6:30 it starts to get pretty dark here. Makes it easy to see the beautiful starry sky on a clear night, but it’s pretty inconvenient for anything else you might want to do like cooking, reading, or even just playing a game of cards. And you can’t really bathe after dark because you won’t be able to see where you’re scrubbing. Haha My family uses a battery-powered lamp or a flashlight around the house. And Peace Corps provided me with a kerosene lamp, but I haven’t used it much because I’m afraid to start a house fire—plus it’s not very pleasant smelling. I was proud of myself for learning how to properly light it though. Small victories! Luckily I purchased a solar-powered lamp before I left, and I freaking love this thing. The company D.Light makes them and offers a Peace Corps discount. They’re pretty neat because they can charge in the sun or via USB connection, and last for 4 hours on high or up to 8 on low. I’m hoping I might be able to find another in Rwanda to buy for my host family, since I know they are specifically marketed in developing countries for their practicality. A quick side note: In between starting and ending this post I spent about 45 minutes watching my 9 year old host sister hold the D.Light up while her dad ironed a suit by hand…in the dark…using an iron that is heated by filling a compartment with hot coals. He asked me in Kinyarwanda if we had irons in America. I said, “Yeah, but they run on electricity,” while demonstrating myself plugging an imaginary cord into a make believe wall outlet. He smiled and chuckled a little at that one.

Not having electricity or running water is definitely an adjustment. Luckily the training site where we meet twice a week for some Peace Corps classes has power, so I can charge my laptop and then use that at home to juice up my phone and camera. But a laptop battery only lasts for so long of course. Needless to say, the lack of electricity means there isn’t exactly an internet café or anything like that nearby. And the USB modem I have is not very reliable. I spent about 2+ hours last week trying to get connected long enough to upload my previous post and a couple of photos. So bear with me for now as I probably will not be able to reply to emails super quickly, and will definitely not be able to Skype for at least the next few months if not longer. Once in a while I am able to get on Gmail or Faceboook on my iPhone and it’s spectacular. As guilty as I feel having to ask you all this, my request is that if you want to talk on the phone you call me using Skype, Google Voice, or an international calling card for now—as it’s looking like I’m not going to be making a lot of calls with my limited amount of prepaid minutes/meager Peace Corps stipend. My phone number and snail mail address are on the contact page of this blog by the way.

To be honest, I’m starting to realize that unless my permanent site is close to a large town or city this might be the way it’s going to be for me indefinitely. I’ve been having some major separation anxiety the last couple of weeks including irrational fears that upon my return to the U.S. I will have lost all connection with friends and family. This is probably ridiculous, but that’s kind of how it feels out here across the globe.

So as I sit at my computer in complete darkness wearing a head lamp to read the keys, I’m thinking to myself how great it would be eating a Big Mac and watching Saturday Night Live back home. But at the same time, I’m gaining such a deep respect for the Rwandan people and their totally badass way of life. It’s kind of funny to think that we love to watch TV shows and movies about how the world would crumble into chaos and anarchy without power, when there are people all over the world living without it every day. On that note, I’ll leave you with a thought I had earlier. One volunteer down the road whose host family is wired said that they sit huddled around a TV every night like we do in America. I had to consider for a minute whether I thought that was progress.

Rwandan Toilets and Other Adjustments!

I’m going to start today’s post with a few words about Rwandan toilets. So, I’m not sure about how things are in Kigali, but out here in the villages, you’re basically looking at a hole in the ground with a few walls around it and maybe a door. The hole is either cut into some rocky earth, or if you’re like my host family and have a small concrete room with a couple of short platforms for your feet that you use to stand on and crouch. Then you hold your nose and cross your fingers that you didn’t leave your phone or keys in a back pocket, because if you did, and they slip out, you’re never seeing them again! I actually have no idea how deep these toilet holes are—it’s like pooping into a dark abyss. But surprisingly, they’ve been pretty easy to get used to. You’re not going to take a Reader’s Digest in there and relax of course, but they do the job. Sometimes you'll even find a little gecko hanging out in there, which isn't the worst surprise!

Another fun fact: Rwandans are not big on toilet paper. Don’t ask me how that works when they do #2 because I have no idea. And many people don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom—probably because they don’t have sinks out here in the villages so it’s more of a process to get out the water jug and soap, pour the water into a bucket, wash, empty the bucket etc. Plus you’re likely using water that you had to walk allllll the way down the road to fetch from the town’s public water spigot, so I guess I can see how it would be a pain to use it all up on hand washing. More to come on the water procurement later, but basically it’s a whole process. Community health workers are trying to change the no-hand-washing habit by encouraging people to set up wash stations in their homes, but it seems this hasn’t really caught on yet. So I end up carrying toilet paper and hand sanitizer with me wherever I go. Better safe than sorry, yo.

Overall, the hygiene expectations are interesting. Rwandans like to look “smart” or tidy. For example, a friend’s host mom wouldn’t let her leave her house Friday wearing some jeans that had a bit of dirt on the knee. And for church on Sunday people get dressed up to the nines. However, some little kids in my neighborhood run around in pretty tattered and dirty clothing. And deodorant is not a popular concept—like at all—which is odd for me because I am always so hyper-conscious of not smelling bad.  On the other hand, it’s important to Rwandans that they shower at least once a day. And they will find it very odd if you don’t. I use the term “shower” loosely here, because I am really referring to the process of filling a bucket part way with hot water, cutting it with cold water, and then using a cup to cleanse yourself…one appendage at a time. Haha It was pretty funny to see my host parents explaining the process to me my first night, using only hand motions and facial expressions.

Feet washing is a big MUST. You’re expected to wash your feet and shoes with soap and water every night, which makes sense because you’re walking around in red dust all day. I’ve been told that this is a big deal. For example, if you are going to an event to speak and your shoes are dirty, people might not take you seriously if they judge you to be unclean based on the appearance of your shoes. My host mom and dad are so sweet—while I fumbled the first time trying to figure out how to correctly wash my feet in a bucket, they came over and started scrubbing them to show me how! I felt guilty—but grateful for the instruction.

Another adjustment is the lack of mirrors. Because the bathroom is really just a room with a hole in it, there really isn’t a place for a mirror, so the only time I see myself during the day is when I put on a little concealer in the morning using a small mirror I brought.

Lastly, I will touch on the extremely humbling experience of hand washing my clothes, which I did for the first time yesterday. Man oh man, you don’t realize how great a washing machine is until you have to do without it. I had about 2 weeks of dirty clothes to clean, and no idea what I was getting myself into. They do it old school here, for real. One bucket of soapy water and two for rinsing—then you hang dry inside out. Easier said than done, friends. My mama expected me to scrub these clothes like there was no tomorrow, and she very patiently re-washed each article of clothing as I apparently did it all wrong. Mind you, we were not using a brush—just a bar of soap and some hardcore elbow grease. I felt like we were washing for days as I continually checked with her to see if my clothes were nibyza (good) or nibibi (bad). In reality, it was probably only about an hour. lol Being the spoiled American that I am with more clothes than their entire family probably owns, I realized to my embarrassment that my things would not all fit on the one drying wire in their back yard; so mama had to take the rest of my clothing across the street to hang on a neighbor’s exterior wall and bushes. 

My host mama's wash station

One half of my laundry hanging on the neighbor's wall

To add to the ridiculousness of this situation, there were 12 pairs of my underpants hanging outside all day for my entire family and any neighbors dropping by to check out. I found this interesting, since some other volunteers said they were instructed to wash their undies in their own rooms for purposes of modesty. So I guess that’s a personal thing, not a cultural one.

The long and the short of it is that I’m realizing that you can get by without a lot of the fancy gadgets we have in the states—like porcelain toilets and electric washing machines. Rwandans seem to be doing just fine without them. The lack of electricity and challenges of internet and phone connectivity is proving a bit more difficult for me to swallow, but I'll get to that later. For now, I have some clean clothes to wear for the week, and I'm a happy lady.

Arriving in Taba

On Saturday, my group left Kigali and traveled about 45 minutes out of the city to a Peace Corps hub site in the Southern Province of Rwanda. It’s surrounded by different villages where small groups of 2 or 3 volunteers will do their language training together. Each lives with a different host family, and then throughout the week we meet a few times to train with the bigger Peace Corps group at the hub. So first thing’s first, we pulled up to the hub and met our host families in a ceremony that included hugging and lots of communication via charades moves. Then all of the volunteers and host parents drank sodas together to celebrate. Perfect—I love soda! My host parents are Uwimana Emmanuel and Mukagahutu Bernadette, and their kids are Danielle (16), Simopiyer (14), and Garase (9). I headed back with my host Papa to their home in the village Taba and they showed me all of the equipment Peace Corps had dropped off—trunk, kerosene lamp, bucket and cup for bathing, mosquito net etc. and how to use them (more info to come on this later). 

I also met their cows and chickens and amused them by knowing how to say “Muraho, inka” or “Hello cows!” lol While waiting for dinner to cook, I hung out with the kids for a bit looking up at the stars and trying to figure out what to say and how to say it, since my host family doesn’t know a lick of English. When we eventually sat down to dinner, I realized that I was being treated as an honored guest—served meat, which I think is more of a special occasion thing here, drinking Sprite, and sampling some Rwandan delites. My Papa even turned on the radio so that I could listen to Rwandan President Paul Kagame giving a speech in English. To top it off he called each of the 3 other volunteers they hosted in the past so that I could talk to them on the phone for advice and support. Super thoughtful!

Saturday night was rough internally, as I was feeling a lot of mixed emotions from happiness to fear, sadness, homesickness, and general confusion. A LOT of confusion. I’d equate it either to being born all over again, or traveling to the moon. Basically I don’t know how to talk, eat, dress, or bathe. I have no idea where anything is. And I can’t figure out who I have already met and/or their names. It’s intense.

Sunday was much easier. In the morning I headed over to the local Presbyterian church with another volunteer, Bre, and a local dude that my host mom sent with us. The service was held outside with what seemed like a couple hundred Rwandans, and they put us in the front row right next to the pastor and choir members. They had 4 choirs for this 1 church alone! Understandably there was a lot of singing and dancing. At one point, Bre and I were asked to introduce ourselves and say where we’re from. Then they welcomed us with dancing and even had us join in. It was pretty amazing. A community member who spoke English did some translating for us, which helped tremendously.

After the service we explored the community a bit, greeting everyone we saw as children pointed and happily yelled ABAZUNGU! (white person) haha Rwandans are super friendly and everyone greeted us with enthusiasm and curiosity, welcoming us to their country. The few who spoke English even engaged us in some conversation, including a guy who runs half marathons and 5Ks around the world. During lunch at Bre’s house, we tried a fruit I’ve never had called “tree tomatoes” which are pretty tasty, and her host dad served me a Coca Cola, which I had been jonesing for hard. He speaks some English, so we were also able to ask him some questions about translating various phrases.

Her Papa directed us to the market where we engaged in a very confusing conversation with a lady about how to buy her pineapples. Luckily we were saved by an English-speaking guy nearby who heard us and ran over to our rescue. Then he probably walked away and had a good laugh. More info to come about toilets and electricity (or lack thereof) and all that jazz, but basically things are going well now that I have started to settle in a bit more!

Some neighborhood kids and my host sister Garace (she's the one holding the crying baby). Hilarious, because you basically see her joy at having me for a new "sister" juxtaposed with the terrified crying baby who freaks out every time he sees the crazy white lady. Then there is the random kid on my left giving me the most suspicious look I have ever seen. lol 

Jet Lagged to the Max

Well I made it to Rwanda, and it took but a mere 30 hours door to door. Haha On Wednesday we hopped on a bus to JFK, then flew to Belgium where we connected to our Kigali flight. I have to say, I was pretty impressed overall. There was some legit legroom up in this plane, and we even got complimentary ear buds to listen to whichever free movie or TV shows we choose on our individual screens. Baller. The food was not bad either. I especially liked the vanilla ice cream bar with crunchy chocolate shell. Hells yes. And I will not lie to you…I did in fact steal an airplane blanket and pillow. I’m sorry Air Brussels, but you just should not have made them so damn comfortable. That’s on you! Lol Fifteen hours in the air was definitely intense. At one point some very smelly beef stew was served that I thought for sure was going to bring on extreme vomiting. I played it cool though, and was able to hold off on any expulsions. Here's a photo after we got off the plane in Kigali, in a van headed to the Peace Corps compound—which consists of the main offices and a dorm space that we are staying in until Saturday afternoon.

Today was spent receiving some final immunizations like Typhoid and Flu, filling out paperwork, getting sized for a bicycle, and learning some beginners Kinyarwanda. We also set up our new pay-as-you-go mobile phones and wireless modems. Will have to see how those work out cost and service-availability wise, but I’m excited to be able to stay connected! 

Tomorrow will be more of the same orientation until later in the day when we’re separated and sent out to villages in small groups for immerse language, culture, and job training. So it’s off to bed for me now, as I’m 6 hours ahead of E.S.T. and totally pooped, but here are a couple of shots I took today during the one trip we made out of the guarded compound to set up our phones.

New Joisey

Right now I am sitting in my hotel room at the Wyndam Garden outside of Philly, taking advantage of their free wi-fi and savoring the last good old U.S.of A.-style chocolate milkshake I will probably see for quite some time. Today was our 1-day orientation where we covered some basics including Peace Corps history, expectations, safety, and some ice breakers. There are about 20 people in my Rwanda group, and we all head to JFK together in the morning for our flight out (with a layover in Brussels). So far so good, except for a minor snafu. Apparently, I misread the luggage guidelines and it turns out that while all this time I have been worried about over-packing, I ended up actually packing 50 pounds less than I was allotted. So yeaaahhh, that's a classic Darcy move. But whatayagonnado, right? (said with shrug and Italian accent) I guess at least I don't have to worry about overweight baggage fees. In other news, my two weeks in NJ with friends and family were great! Here's a photo recap of some highlights.

Made friends with this turtle at the Cape May Zoo, then checked out a wine tasting and ghost tour. The tour was led by a slightly senile elderly lady who knew nothing about ghosts. Fact: I have watched many hours of Celebrity Ghost Stories and could have schooled her. It was a hoot. haha

Visited the stables where my cousins Sara and Lori keep Sara's horses and take riding lessons.

My bro CDogg (a.k.a. Chris) turned 22!

Visited historic Lucy the Elephant in Atlantic City with my mom, my brother Chris, and his girlfriend Michelle.

Enjoyed all-you-can-eat buffet crab legs galore. And margaritas of course.

Chris tried his luck at the slots for the first time ever.

Spent time with old friends (Laina above and a whole posse from grade school below). I also got this short haircut to make the bucket baths in Rwanda a bit easier.

My dad (above) and step mom threw a sweet family BBQ and their awesome pitbull was in attendance.

Kayaked through the pine barrons with my mom and did not get attacked by Pineys or the Jersey Devil, even though we were legit out in the middle of nowhere. You should Google these 2 terms and you will understand my concerns. lol

Yeah, I know that's a lot of photos. Don't be a hater. haha

The "G" Word

As excited as I am to be headed off on an African adventure, there is no escaping the dreaded word goodbye. 

Fact: goodbyes are the worst. For the last few months I have been happily stressing out about every other aspect of the Peace Corps preparation stage—from paperwork, immunizations, physicals, and dental x-rays to new purchases (like a nifty head lamp), and the selling or storing of everything I already own. I have had a suitcase partially packed for 3 months. Who does that? A neurotic person, that’s who. Add to that the time I’ve spent researching Peace Corps/Rwanda and attempting to teach myself some vocab in the local language, and I have basically been making myself a nervous wreck. But I have not forgotten some important advice I got from a former Peace Corps volunteer to spend as much time with friends and family as possible before leaving. So I’ve done just that with my Boston crew—bonding with Lara and David’s beautiful new baby and living it up at the fabulous going away party they threw me. Sharing laughs over a beer with Lisa as she re-counted some recent Match.com dates gone awry. Visiting the lemurs at Franklin Park Zoo with Dave. Hiking with Tyler after a 6-egg omelet…not a great life choice to eat a 6-egg omelet before a hike by the way. lol Sharing in my friend Kate and (her hubby Nick’s) current pregnancy updates over burgers and fries at Shake Shack.

Dalia, Lara (Mommy), and me

Good food and friends at my going-away (Thanks, DiCrescenzos!)

In the Noanet Woodlands

All the while, I’ve been postponing that awful word goodbye. Until Wednesday when my office threw me a send-off complete with taco dip, cake, a PowerPoint presentation set to James Taylor’s “You Got a Friend,” and a riveting game of Rwanda-themed Jeopardy. You’d be hard pressed to find a more epic office going-away party.

Good luck cake from my cohorts at EDC

Time to face the fact that goodbyes are in order. Today is my last day of work and then Saturday I am headed to NJ to spend 2 weeks with the fam. But I've decided to wrap my goodbyes in the promise of postcards and Skype dates. Because it's not like I'm going to Mars. It's Africa, and I will be back. And I will most certainly harass all of you in the U.S. to write me letters and send along things I might not be able to get in Rwanda like stick deodorant and Big Macs. Ok, so maybe that second one can't go air mail, but at least eat a Big Mac in my honor. 

2 Months Notice

After about a month of submitting paperwork, nailing down a packing list, and sifting through medical screening requirements, I now feel as though this is actually happening. So much so that yesterday I gave my official notice at work. I was concerned that letting my office know 2 months in advance of my last day might be jumping the gun, but everyone was very supportive and excited for me, and there didn't seem to be any negative response since I'm giving them time to find a replacement. Hooray! I've also discovered that my company actually does a good deal of work in Africa, and that some of my colleagues are currently collaborating with the Rwandan government to help improve the country's education system. My co-workers have already started to offer up advice and photos of their experiences:

Thank you to my co-worker Nancy for these great shots! And if you want to read more about the work Education Development Center is doing in Rwanda, click here.

Holy hell...I'm going to Rwanda

Last Thursday I received an email from the Peace Corps inviting me to serve 27 months in Rwanda as a Community Health Agent volunteer, beginning June 11th. Wow...I mean...wow. I was pretty blown away. I immediately ran the gamut of reactions:

• I am so excited, this is what I have been hoping for since I applied last August!
• Africa is pretty far...that means it will be expensive to fly out there from America. Translation = I might not have any visitors for 27 months. (sad face)
• How are my parents going to react to this?
• What a great experience! Between learning a new language, immersing myself in a completely different culture, and gaining health sector job training, this will be a life changing gig.
• So the local language is kinyarwanda, you say? Oh snap, this is gonna be hard.
• Working as a health volunteer in an area suffering from AIDS, malnutrition and malaria will be pretty intense.
• Wait...Rwanda has Peace Corps volunteers? Is it safe? Turns out that it is—the violence that we associate with Rwanda occurred 20 years ago and the country is now in a period of growth and reconciliation (refer to About Rwanda portion of this blog for more info about the country). And the Peace Corps suspends programs in unsafe countries—a recent example of this is Mali.
• OMG I will get to visit the endangered mountain gorillas in their natural habitat! (OK I only thought of that one after some research about the country, but it's pretty exciting, right?!) I just did a quick Google search and have every intention of meeting this guy in the near future:

So I immediately called my mom and she was excited for me, which was a relief. In fact, apparently she had a dream the night before that I was in Africa and she and my brother, Chris, were planning a trip to visit me. Whew, that took a bit of the edge off. The few friends I told also had a positive response, including Buck, a fellow team leader who will be working with the Peace Corps in nearby Zambia at the same time. So now I am basically in the stage of filling out mounds of paperwork and wrapping my head around everything from vaccinations to dental x-rays, updated resume, special Peace Corps passport application, student loan deferment, Verizon cancellation, packing list...ahhhhhh! My head is spinning. But the point is, I AM GOING TO RWANDA! Wow. More info to come, friends.