Kwita Izina and Lake Kivu

This weekend I went to a unique ceremony here in Rwanda called “Kwita Izina.”   Kwita Izina is the baby gorilla naming ceremony and the name literally means to name someone. One of Rwanda’s biggest tourist attractions is its population of mountain gorillas and the annual Kwita Izina has been very successful in promoting their conservation.

I went with my friends Laura and Devin. Laura and I arrived at the bus at 6am on Saturday morning for our departure and realized our other friends weren’t on board. So Laura jumped off the bus to go find them and the driver took off with all of her stuff and me on board. He eventually just dropped me off on the side of the road and I took a moto back to the bus stop where we caught a 6:15 bus. Turns out the others had caught an earlier bus and failed to mention it. But we made quite a scene in the process, and the story proceeded us to our friends waiting in Ruhengeri.

The event was wonderfully conducted. There were traditional Rwandan dances and dramatic performances. The prime minister spoke, as well as several other government officials. And finally, the 18 people chosen to name the baby gorillas came up. Apparently the park rangers had previously submitted a list of names for each gorilla based on the characteristics they had observed, and then the chosen namer picked one. Each of the people nominated were there for some contribution they had made to the cause, or the country, or even the continent. I can’t remember all of the names, but I know one meant “surprise” I think because the Momma gorilla hadn’t had a baby in a while. There were no actual baby gorillas in attendance, but they had people dressed up in gorilla suits rolling around and pretending to be primates.

   

  

The gorilla park is in a range of five volcanoes. It was a beautiful setting.

  

After the ceremony we had a delicious lunch with nice food and drinks. And I met Jack Hanna! I pretty much stalked him. But he was quite nice, and apparently some of his family is from Arkansas. He invited us to his veterinarian party, but we politely declined.

After the event, we decided to go to Gisenye and Lake Kivu with another group. We had a terrifying near-accident on the bus on the way there. This dump truck came flying down the mountain in the middle of the road and we had to pull completely off to miss hitting him head-on. Thankfully, we were driving on the mountainside, not the drop-off edge side. Anyway, we made it safely, had a few housing situations to deal with, finally got our room and discovered a TV! None of us had watched TV in so long that we were even able to deal with the miserable Disney teen movies on.

The next day we visited the public beach in Gisenye on the banks of Lake Kivu (a fresh water lake that borders both DRC and Rwanda). 

Laura and Devin capturing the moment

Then we went to the Serena Hotel down the street and sat on the side of the lake and had some lunch.  Later we made our way back to Kigali with much less excitement than the first trip. All in all it was an adventurous weekend.

 

Happy Belated Father's Day

I know I'm a day late on this, but I've been out and about around Rwanda and haven't had any internet access this weekend.

I just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to the best Dad in the world. My family has been very blessed to have such a great Dad. 

I love you Dad!

Some more pictures (graphic of burn at bottom!)

Consider yourself warned, at the bottom of this post I have uploaded a pic of my leg.. I've tried to choose the least disgusting. Good news though, I went to another clinic today to have it looked at and they dressed the wound in a way that can stay on for three whole days... Praise the Lord! It was so gross, my poor roommates could hardly look at me, and the doctors at the hospital told me to keep it open. I'm not sure who's right, but I'm going with the less disgusting option.

I realize this picture may seem random, but I fought for almost a full week to retrieve some cargo we had shipped from the airport. It has got to have been the most ridiculous system ever, and it was all in my very terrible francais. But this is when I finally succeed. This is my piece de resistance, if you will.
The futbol pitch at the Amahore Stadium in Kigali. They were having charity futbol matches between the Armed Forces of neighboring East African countries. I believe Rwanda beat Burundi in this game. BTW, is futbol "pitch" the right terminology?

Artistic.

So here it is. I know it doesn't look that bad, but this was seconds after it happened. There's literally just a hole of skin gone. It's way worse now. I guess it has to get worse before it gets better, or something like that. But for those of you who know me, you know I'm kind of a pro at burns. My housemates here in Kigali have decided not to let me light the gas stove... something about "clumsy" "spastic", etc... I have no idea what they're talking about.

One more, of my new dressing. So much better now.

I'm stoked... this will be my first real futbol match! (Besides watching my little bro play as a child, that is). Tswiz, do you know any of these people? I need to know who to cheer for.

It's very interesting because I also got to attend the press conference announcing this game last week. I get a huge kick out of seeing the differences, and some similarities, between the press/journalism occupation abroad and the U.S. Unfortunately, most of the presser was in KinyaRwanda so I had to rely on some of the English speaking sponsors from Primus Beer (parent company: Heineken) to translate for me. 

Africa’s Best To Star In Charity Match In Rwanda

An all-star XI will play the Amavubi Stars in support of the nation's genocide survivors.

18 Jun 2009 06:19:29

Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba and Alexandre Song are among the star-studded African side that will play against Rwanda in a charity game on June 22 aimed at supporting the 'One Dollar Campaign' for survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi people.

The Rwandese Minister of Sports and Culture, Joseph Habineza, confirmed the visit of the stars during a press conference at Amahoro stadium.

In a report posted in the New Times newspaper, the minister said that they are still contacting more players to participate in the charity match.

“On June 22, Rwanda will host a charity football game aimed at boosting the ‘One Dollar Campaign’,” Habineza said.

The president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, will foot all the travelling expenses of the players. Among their itinerary in the country, the stars will pay the president a courtesy call, visit the Kigali Genocide memorial site and interact and share with the survivors and orphans.

Other players who have confirmed their participation include: Yaya Toure (Barcelona), Rigobert Song (Galatasaray), Kolo Toure (Arsenal), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), Geremi Njitap (Newcastle United), Idriss Kameni (Espanyol), Boubacar Sanogo (Werder Bremen) and Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal).

Ghana and Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien has been consulted also but he is yet to confirm his availability.

The ‘One Dollar Campaign’ for genocide survivors is a project developed by the Rwandese Diaspora community and supported by DGD (Diaspora General Directorate) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Their mandate is to improve the condition and social welfare of the vulnerable genocide survivors and to give them a smile on their face and a hope for the future.

James Momanyi, Goal.com

Happy Birthday Aaron

Since I can't be there to help Aaron celebrate today, I thought I'd remind you all so you can wish him a Happy Birthday. A couple of pics to celebrate: 

Happy, Happy Birthday Aaron!!   

 

I knew that moto was bad news

Well, I did it. I proved my accident prone nature today. I had just a bad feeling today when I got on a moto this morning at around 8:30am. I had one take me to the Genocide Memorial Center across town where we had a 9 am meeting. He was driving super fast and weaving in and out and scaring the crap out of me the whole trip. So I was pretty amazed I got there alive anyway.

But of course, being me, I just had to go and hurt myself. I got off that moto and my leg brushed against the tailpipe, and burned the (bad word) out of my leg. It peeled off skin and it burned a space the size of my fist on my calf. So of course I was flipping out to my driver who couldn't speak a lick of English, and attracting quite the crowd. In the meantime, during my spaz attack, the helmet got knocked out of my hands and down the next hill. Ha... driver had it coming to him. Just kidding that's terrible. Anyway, then he tried to treat my wound with the gasoline from my tank. I eventually just threw my fare and ran away.

Finally, I went to the emergency room at the hospital and got it cleaned up. It's probably a first degree burn, according to my emergency room care doctor. So yeah, I'll survive, I suppose.

Though I knew it wasn't terribly bad, I still called my mom at 4am her time, when, of course, my phone ran out of time. So yeah, the parents were probably scared silly this morning.

Also, I called my insurance's international help desk and probably the best moment I had today was when I realized the girl who answered was an American and could understand me. Marla in Virginia - you were my saving grace today.

Ok, no more motos, ever.

An Exciting Weekend (with pictures!)

My weekend was full of unexpected adventures, and I am exhausted from all of the “fun.” I’ll try to make the update brief.

On Friday evening I went with my housemates to our next door neighbor’s house. It was a group of ex-pats having a house party. It was very interesting, because after talking to another girl named Liz from D.C. (small world), I learned that there are a couple very distincts groups of ex-pats in the country, but the main segregator being the length of stay.  As a matter of fact, I was introduced to someone as, “This is Liz She’s only going to be here a month, but we can still like her!” I was a bit offended, but I can understand not wanting to become invested with people who are just going to turn around and leave shortly. Anyway, it was interesting.

I slept in a bit Saturday and then decided to go with my housemate Laura (a Canadian here as a micro-finance fellow with Kiva) on an outing. We were so excited to have an adventure and get out of the city a little, so we went to the town centre, follow some guy up some side roads until we came to a “bus stop” that had a bus going to Nyamata in an hour. We paid our dues, climbed on, and sat with almost 20 other people on the tiny, rickety bus until we got to our destination about 45 minutes south of Kigali. Nyamata has a genocide memorial we wanted to visit. The landscape was beautiful on the way there. I think the best way to describe it is to combine the hills and exotic flora of Hawaii with the lollybottoms of Arkansas. We passed banana plantations, and a few villages, along with Rwandans walking along the side of the road carrying water from the river.

Some Pics of the Bus

The genocide memorial at Nyamata was horrible to see. It is a catholic church that held 6,800 tutsis inside and another 4,000 in the surrounding grounds. All in all, over 10,000 were killed there in some of the most graphic and despicable ways imaginable in one day. Only seven survived. Our guide, who was 9 at the time, was one of them. The memorial was extremely graphic, with all of the victims clothes, skulls and bones in different parts. I’ll spare you the rest of the details. So terrible, but so necessary to be there so people will see and it will never happen again.

We walked back through Nyamata and took in some of the sights: a football game, an adorable little girl carrying jugs of water, and some trees that I can only describe as “Dr. Suess Trees” (credit on the name to Laura). Check them out, they were everywhere. I still have no idea what they are.

After returning, though I was exhausted, I went with Andrea and one of our Rwandan friends, Lauren, and two of his friends to a dinner following a wedding reception. It was quite the cultural activity. Apparently earlier in the day, they held a church wedding, a reception of traditional Rwandan dance, and this event (which traditionally is held one week after the wedding) was where the bride’s family comes to check on her and make sure she is happy (in more ways than one, apparently.) Anyway, the groom’s family was all seated and then the bride’s family paraded in with gifts, and then the two dads talked to each other for an extremely long time across the room on microphones. Then both families get up to go get the bride and groom from their room and bring them out. Finally, we got served a traditional meal, which was in fact delicious. A few more speeches, toasts, and jokes later (3 hours later), and it was over.

Traditional Rwandan "dressy" outfits. The Groom's family is to the right.

Andrea and I at the wedding with Vincent

Finally, on Sunday we attended church (an English service that wasn’t too much different) and grabbed lunch and then went with our Rwandese-American friend Arthur to a restaurant/resort near the border of Burundi. We ate their specialty: a tomato-based stew with local chicken, spaghetti and cooked bananas. It was actually delicious. They use bananas and plantains here in some of the same ways we would potatoes (they also have potatoes, but definitely will mash and bake some bananas). The resort was pretty abandoned, as it’s about 10 miles through very rough dirt road with no infrastructure from the main road to get there. Kind of sad because they have some great food.

Anyway, that’s the short version of my weekend. Aren’t you glad you don’t have to read the long version? I hope all is well.

President Kagame in the Financial Times

An interesting opinion piece by the President of Rwanda in the Financial Times recently.

Africa has to find its own road to prosperity
By Paul Kagame
Published: May 7 2009 19:35 Last updated: May 7 2009 19:35
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0d1218c8-3b35-11de-ba91-00144feabdc0.html

At recent meetings of the Group of 20 and the International Monetary Fund, world leaders have gathered to discuss the global economic crisis. Unfortunately, it seems that many still believe they can solve the problems of the poor with sentimentality and promises of massive infusions of aid, which often do not materialise. We who live in, and lead, the world’s poorest nations are convinced that the leaders of the rich world and multilateral institutions have a heart for the poor. But they also need to have a mind for the poor.

Dambisa Moyo’s controversial book, Dead Aid, has given us an accurate evaluation of the aid culture today. The cycle of aid and poverty is durable: as long as poor nations are focused on receiving aid they will not work to improve their economies. Some of Ms Moyo’s prescriptions, such as ending all aid within five years, are aggressive. But I always thought this was the discussion we should be having: when to end aid and how best to end it.

Aid has not only often failed to meet its objectives; it has also rarely dealt with the underlying issues of poverty and weak societies. We see this with our neighbour, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There, 17,000 United Nations peacekeepers – the largest and most expensive presence of its kind in history – treat the symptoms rather than addressing the issues of capacity, self-determination and dignity.

Often, aid has left recipient populations unstable, distracted and more dependent; as Ashraf Ghani, the former finance minister of Afghanistan, has pointed out, it can even sever the relationship between democratically elected leadership and the populace.

Do not get me wrong. We appreciate support from the outside, but it should be support for what we intend to achieve ourselves. No one should pretend that they care about our nations more than we do; or assume that they know what is good for us better than we do ourselves. They should, in fact, respect us for wanting to decide our own fate.

At the same time, as I tell our people, nobody owes Rwandans anything. Why should anyone in Rwanda feel comfortable that taxpayers in other countries are contributing money for our well­being or development? Rwanda is a nation with high goals and a sense of purpose. We are attempting to increase our gross domestic product by seven times over a generation, which increases per capita incomes fourfold. This will create the basis for further innovation and foster trust, civic-mindedness and tolerance, strengthening our society.

Entrepreneurship is the surest way for a nation to meet these goals. Michael Fairbanks’ book, In The River They Swim, which uses Rwanda as one of its examples, highlights the need to respect local wisdom, build a culture of innovation and create investment opportunities in product development, new distribution systems and innovative branding.

Government activities should focus on supporting entrepreneurship not just to meet these new goals, but because it unlocks people’s minds, fosters innovation and enables people to exercise their talents. If people are shielded from the forces of competition, it is like saying they are disabled.

Entrepreneurship gives people the feeling that they are valued and have meaning, that they are as capable, as competent and as gifted as anyone else. Asking our citizens to compete is the same as asking them to go out into the world on behalf of Rwanda and play their part.

We know this is a tremendous challenge given our status as a land-locked nation emerging from conflict, with few natural resources, little specialised infrastructure and low historical investment in education. But, in fact, we have reasons to be optimistic: we have a clear strategy to export based on sustainable competitive advantages. We sell coffee now for high prices to the world’s most demanding purchasers; our tourism experience attracts the best customers in the world and market research reveals that perceptions of Rwandan tea are improving.

This has resulted in wages in key sectors rising at more than 20 per cent on an annual basis. We have cut our aid as a percentage of total GDP by half over the past decade, and last year we grew at more than 11 per cent even as the world entered a recession.

While this is encouraging, we know the road to prosperity is a long one. We will travel it with the help of a new school of development thinkers and entrepreneurs, with those who demonstrate they have not just a heart, but also a mind for the poor.

The writer is president of Rwanda

Salsa

You may be as surprised as I was, but there is a serious salsa culture here in Kigali. I went with a group of my housemates to a salsa "club" last night (where we were the only non-Rwandans for quite a while) and danced the night away.  

It ended up being a huge crowd, with quite a few muzungus ("foreigners" to Rwandans... actually I'm told it's in the Swahili language) as well.  I was a little hesitant to get out there, but was dragged out there by someone who turned out to be an amazing salsa dancer. All in all, it was a blast. 

I had some pictures, but somehow lost them. But that's ok, because I looked pretty miserable trying to dance in Rwanda... ha! We apparently go every Thursday, it's the thing to do here, so I'll get some in the future.

All is well. I'm a little worn out, but it's been a good time and things are coming along well on our initiative. Blessings to all!

Liz + Moto = Hilarious Pictures

Because you asked for it, and because I like to make you all laugh, here are the promised pictures of me riding the moto. 

The tortoise.

Slow. It’s hard to get used to. From a lifetime lived in the United States, I’ve become accustomed to fast, immediate, now.  It is, therefore, excruciating to live somewhere that time has much less meaning. Don’t misunderstand me, this country sticks to a schedule. The people go to work at 7am and stay until around 5pm. But everything is much more fluid in-between. We have a meeting at 10am? Maybe it’ll start around 10:30. We ordered our food 40 minutes ago? Ehh, it’ll come. TIA.

Most painful for me is the speed of connectivity. I hate being like this, truly I do, but it’s going to drive me mad. I waited (to no avail) for this blog to load for nearly 20 minutes earlier. I’ve been trying to create a yahoo.fr account for the initiative and it’s not only running slowly, but it’s all in francais. An error page in francais is not always the easiest thing to decipher, especially when it takes 5 minutes to load.

I have finally completed blackberry detox, but internet detox is a whole other story. Will I survive? Probably so, but only because this internet café has delicious coffee to distract me.

Some pictures of my time here to distract you (they're small because, well, there's absolutely no way this would upload a big picture ever):

View of my house and surrounding areas:

Another view from above house (to the left):

A man carrying live chickens (just because it made me smile):

It's 3am somwhere

It's 3am and I am wide awake. I knew I should not have slept as much as I did last night (13 hours... impressive, I know). What does one do when they can't sleep in Rwanda. I haven't figured it out yet. Thankfully, my roommate has a modem here so we can access the internet (albeit very, very slowly) from home. I really should go back in there and force myself to sleep. The mosquito net is a bit disconcerting when you wake up in the middle of the night. I keep getting tangled, as I'm sure most can imagine.

We had a very interesting day today, filled with lots of long meetings and progress. I'll update you about the As We Forgive initiative as soon as we nail down some of the main details.

In response to my moto post, which my mother in fact read, I have been peer pressured into wearing a scarf under my helmet the next time around. I'm going to get lauged at, I can already feel it.

Check back, I hope to post a few pictures tomorrow!

Moto

So in Rwanda (as in many parts of the world), you have two cab options. One is a regular taxi. The other is a moto bike.

Clearly, a regular taxi is going to be your safest bet. But seriously, they cost like $10 American dollars to go anywhere! And, honestly, I can't even figure out which cars are cabs.

The other option is the moto bike where you essentially get onto the back of somebody's little dirt bike, and hang on tight. Now I've been warned against this style of transportation by Americans, for safety and lice concerns (you wear a used helmet), but it's really the most accesible transportation around here. The same distance only costs around $1.50.

So I just got out of bed this morning (after I slept 13 straight hours... I'm kind of mortified), had to hike up this huge hill from my house to where taxis are supposed to be, and then I coul

dn't figure out where one was. So, because I needed to get to the airport for a meeting and to use the internet, I swallowed my fear and jumped on to the nearest moto, praying the whole time.

It was kind of exhilarating, living on the edge and all.

I made it safely to the airport, and now only fear the wrath of my mom when she finds out.

Blessings to all. I'm having a great time so far in my first 24 hours.

**UPDATE - Pictures**

Me on the Moto (complete with scarf)

Land of a Thousand Hills

 I finally arrived in Rwanda after a fairly uneventful (Praise the Lord) flight on Ethiopian airlines, that felt like it lasted forever.

Rwanda is beautiful! They call it the Land of a Thousand Hills, and I immediately understood why even as we were landing.  The whole city is nestled throughout wave upon wave of these collines (hills en francais).  

I'm sitting in the airport now waiting to meet with an airport manager about something we've had shipped here.  I've got so much to tell already, but the internet is spotty and my meeting is approaching, so I'll be sure to fill you in another time.

Church of the Rez

I have loved my church community here in D.C., and will miss it so much once I head to Oklahoma.  I was able to go for the last time in a while tonight. It was so good to see everyone and have our trip prayed over.

Anyway, in case you're looking for a church in D.C., you should check out the Church of the Resurrection: http://rezchurch.org/

I'll miss you all!

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

I'm all packed up and ready to go (knock on wood, because you know I'm going to forget something important). I thought I'd post some links to information on Rwanda.

CIA Factbook - Rwanda

And of course, that all encompassing resource, Wikipedia.

Just a small town girl.

Conway, Arkansas: home of the Wampus Cats, site of the famous “Toad Suck Daze” festival, and hometown of THE American Idol, Kris Allen.  But, even with these huge attractions, Conway still has the feel of “small town” America.

After a few years in Washington, I’d almost forgotten what small town life is like (and I use “small town” liberally… Conway’s population is around 55,000). The people are friendly and accommodating (people were arguing to go second in the redbox line). Every storefront has a sign praising our hometown hero (we truly are proud)!  And, in a true sign of small town life, my best friend’s mom brought over her famous butterfinger cake last night while we weren’t home, and found her way in and put it on the counter.  I love it.

Conway is making amazing strides. There are great new restaurants and shops popping up everywhere, the high school has gotten a makeover, and well, again, we have Kris Allen.  We also apparently have a new marketing department. In the last two months, Conway, Arkansas has acquired an official logo. I suppose it’s a part of the beautification of downtown to go with those “We heart Kris Allen” signs on every lamppost. Unfortunately it’s not advanced enough to be online so that I can post it, but it’s a green sign with a lighter green “C.” I just don’t know what I think about it. 

It’s been a relaxing day and good for my soul.  What more could a small town girl ask for?

The Second Day of the Rest of My Life

I have always wanted to blog, to have a release for some of my thoughts.  Unfortunately, my career recently has prevented online candor (or I at least prevented it myself, being in the world of press and slightly more paranoid as a result).  As I believe the phrase "The First Day of the Rest of My Life" is thrown about a little too freely, I decided to wait a day and go with "The Second Day..."  To mark this momentous occasion, I thought I would finally start my blog.

I have spent the last three years in a job that has stretched me in every way imaginable.  I do not want to dwell too much on the past in these writings, so I will just say that it was a life experience that will shape me forever, I’m sure.  But, life feels a little different today, I have a slightly altered view of the world.

Today is the first (second) day in three years that I have not been able to reach for my blackberry to shoot a quick email, to find a quick reference for the date and time, and to convince myself that I am so important that everyone needs to be able to reach me at any time, immediately. I have been having serious withdrawals. Today the addiction ends. But the phantom blackberry vibrations have not. 

Today, I have no schedule, no calender to follow. What on earth will I do? Up to bat, go to the neighbor's pool. On deck, take a nap.

Today is also the first day in a while that I can start speaking (or at least writing) 100% for myself. What I will write, I'm not quite sure yet. But I do know about my life, and if my past is any indication, it will be exciting, unexpected, dramatic, and every so often, excruciatingly dull. 

So stay tuned, prepare yourself for the unexpected, and check back often. This is "a french vue."