Saturday, June 23, 2007
At least it's never boring...
Saw hundreds of soldiers coming back from Congo drive by in trucks today. Much whistling. Then saw President Kagame's motorcade pass, complete with armed special police pointing big guns at everyone. Then went to the market and bought bananas and fabric. Where I saw half a cow hanging from the ceiling of the butcher shop and a man get beaten with a stick. And two men told me they loved me. All in all, not a bad Saturday.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Okay!
So life is looking UP. Last night Neema had her baby. They are both healthy and I am going to see them in a few hours. I keep trying to post photos but it's not working, so sorry if there's no baby pic right away. I'll try to get one of the IT guys to help me... Last night I went to dinner with the other interns at an American ex-pat's house. He works with Opportunity and the bank, and he and his wife had 15 American interns over last night. It was great to hear what everyone is doing. There was a girl from the Clinton Foundation and Partners in Health who actually works with Paul Farmer on a daily basis (genius, genius man) and a bunch of teachers who are here on two-year contracts to teach at the school for diplomat and aid workers' kids. A couple other people doing various health care things, and us. It was great, we had fried okra and iced tea (the family is from Arkansas) and it was just what I needed: Some Americans, some southern food, and girl time. And, tomorrow and Monday we are going on field visits to meet some loan groups and see what they are doing, which will be awesome. And, Saturday I'm going swimming at a hotel and to the market to get some passion fruit. In short, things are good and getting better. Must run, I have spreadsheets to translate!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
June 19, 2007
It’s Tuesday and already I am ready to be done with work this week. Yesterday was possibly the most tedious day of my life, and today I translated Excel banking documents into French. It will only last until Friday, but that kind of work is fairly unbearable. Especially since I am unfamiliar with banking terms in general, so forget knowing what they are in French. Also, there is one person at work who creeps me out, and I always end up working with him on stuff, so I never get a chance to evaluate if my creeped-out-ness is reasonable or not, because he’s always there being creepy… Next week, though, we won’t be working in the same office, and then after that if the weirdness continues I will say something. Okay, enough venting. But it does feel good…
Before delving into more serious topics, here is a list of lessons learned so far in Rwanda:
1. Do not take motorbike taxis in torrential rain.
2. Always decide on the fare prior to getting on.
3. Insecticide is awesome.
4. Bugs are smarter than mosquito nets.
5. Bananas are the most versatile staple food ever.
6. Patience is really, really, really important. And wears out fast.
7. Cars are like Mary Poppins’ bag: they hold 100x what you would expect.
8. Bucket showers are cool.
9. Refrigeration is highly overrated, and you can definitely eat meat that has been at room temperature for more than an hour.
10. Running water and electricity are not necessities, but cell phones are.
On to more serious things, on Saturday I went to see Pastor Francis and the kids he takes care of. He runs a child sponsorship program, mostly for orphans. The majority are orphans of genocide or AIDS, but some were kids whose families are simply too poor to feed them. He has 350 kids sponsored so far, and more all the time. I went to play with them, and it was really fun but heartbreaking at the same time. Some of the people who work with them told me stories that make you realize how sheltered we are. There was an 8 or 9 year old girl, but she didn’t seem older than 6, who basically is a mother to five younger siblings. Her father is dead and her mother is bedridden, so this girl begs for money, cooks, cleans, does laundry, bathes and clothes her brothers and sisters, and still finds time to make it to school on occasion. Another boy lost his whole family in the genocide, and now stays with distant relatives who are too poor to care for him, and who don’t really want him anyway. For years they didn’t treat his like a person, they called him ‘dog’ or ‘dead body’ and wouldn’t feed him anything. But now that he is sponsored, he brings home food and soap from the program, so they treat his like a human being because he contributes to the household. The woman who told me this said there are many stories like his, because so many kids were forced upon relatives after the genocide.
On the way home, I ran into some kids who were coming home from school (which the have on Saturday…) and they insisted on walking me all the way to my house. They didn’t believe that a white girl lived in their neighborhood. They were really darling, and taught me some songs. I took their picture, and if I can figure out how to post photos, they’re the kids in uniforms.
It’s Tuesday and already I am ready to be done with work this week. Yesterday was possibly the most tedious day of my life, and today I translated Excel banking documents into French. It will only last until Friday, but that kind of work is fairly unbearable. Especially since I am unfamiliar with banking terms in general, so forget knowing what they are in French. Also, there is one person at work who creeps me out, and I always end up working with him on stuff, so I never get a chance to evaluate if my creeped-out-ness is reasonable or not, because he’s always there being creepy… Next week, though, we won’t be working in the same office, and then after that if the weirdness continues I will say something. Okay, enough venting. But it does feel good…
Before delving into more serious topics, here is a list of lessons learned so far in Rwanda:
1. Do not take motorbike taxis in torrential rain.
2. Always decide on the fare prior to getting on.
3. Insecticide is awesome.
4. Bugs are smarter than mosquito nets.
5. Bananas are the most versatile staple food ever.
6. Patience is really, really, really important. And wears out fast.
7. Cars are like Mary Poppins’ bag: they hold 100x what you would expect.
8. Bucket showers are cool.
9. Refrigeration is highly overrated, and you can definitely eat meat that has been at room temperature for more than an hour.
10. Running water and electricity are not necessities, but cell phones are.
On to more serious things, on Saturday I went to see Pastor Francis and the kids he takes care of. He runs a child sponsorship program, mostly for orphans. The majority are orphans of genocide or AIDS, but some were kids whose families are simply too poor to feed them. He has 350 kids sponsored so far, and more all the time. I went to play with them, and it was really fun but heartbreaking at the same time. Some of the people who work with them told me stories that make you realize how sheltered we are. There was an 8 or 9 year old girl, but she didn’t seem older than 6, who basically is a mother to five younger siblings. Her father is dead and her mother is bedridden, so this girl begs for money, cooks, cleans, does laundry, bathes and clothes her brothers and sisters, and still finds time to make it to school on occasion. Another boy lost his whole family in the genocide, and now stays with distant relatives who are too poor to care for him, and who don’t really want him anyway. For years they didn’t treat his like a person, they called him ‘dog’ or ‘dead body’ and wouldn’t feed him anything. But now that he is sponsored, he brings home food and soap from the program, so they treat his like a human being because he contributes to the household. The woman who told me this said there are many stories like his, because so many kids were forced upon relatives after the genocide.
On the way home, I ran into some kids who were coming home from school (which the have on Saturday…) and they insisted on walking me all the way to my house. They didn’t believe that a white girl lived in their neighborhood. They were really darling, and taught me some songs. I took their picture, and if I can figure out how to post photos, they’re the kids in uniforms.
June 14
So I have officially been here one week. We still have no idea what we’re going to do at work, but yesterday we worked on a brochure and some excel spreadsheets. I am a master at merging cells. We also got to see the new bank hall today, and it’s really nice. I don’t care that much about the banking stuff, but it’s exciting to be here while they will open it. But, I really hope that when we figure out more specifically what we’re doing, that I am with the microfinance people. I mean, the bank is microfinance also, but since it’s in Kigali, it necessarily caters to the working poor, rather than people who do not even have “real” jobs. But at the same time, I want to be useful, so if they really need more people at the bank, I will do that.
I had an intense conversation with Daniel last night about Rwanda’s colonial history and the genocide. It’s the kind of topic that I want to hear about from people here, but you can’t just ask because you never know how affected people were. But earlier he said he moved to Rwanda in 1995 (he grew up in Uganda but is Rwandese) so I knew that at least he was not in the country during genocide. So, we talked about the things that set it in motion, and how the seeds were planted in the 1960s. I thought that it was the Belgians who sent the arms to the Interahamwe, but actually the French were the most involved. They even set up the “turquoise zone” and allowed Interahamwe to flee to Congo. I will go tomorrow to get a book about this, there’s one that came out recently, because I can’t believe that all the things he said are true. I mean, I believe him, but it’s so shocking and really awful that it’s hard to believe it could happen, much less that the French gov’t hasn’t apologized or at least acknowledged their role. We will go to the memorial here, which is supposed to be really good. There are other places you can go, like the church where Tutsis were massacred after they had sought refuge there, and you can still see the bloodstains on the floor and on the wall where they smashed babies’ heads. I don’t know that I want to go see that, or that could ask anyone here to take me, because I’m sure none of them really want to see that.
I feel unprepared to discuss the subject, although it was okay with Daniel, but it’s so hard because in the U.S. (and my life especially) was so shielded from large-scale horror and has been for generations. The Vietnam War was the last huge thing to affect us as a population, and even that was halfway around the world. One ninth of the Rwandese people were killed in three months, and some people that I have met here saw it happen. What am I supposed to say? So far I haven’t talked to anyone who saw things during genocide, but you can kind of tell. Like, if people say they grew up here, you know they were here when it was going on, and many times you can tell who is Tutsi just by looking at them. Also, sometimes if you are talking about peoples’ families, they will say “My mother has died” in this way that is so final, you just know.
So I have officially been here one week. We still have no idea what we’re going to do at work, but yesterday we worked on a brochure and some excel spreadsheets. I am a master at merging cells. We also got to see the new bank hall today, and it’s really nice. I don’t care that much about the banking stuff, but it’s exciting to be here while they will open it. But, I really hope that when we figure out more specifically what we’re doing, that I am with the microfinance people. I mean, the bank is microfinance also, but since it’s in Kigali, it necessarily caters to the working poor, rather than people who do not even have “real” jobs. But at the same time, I want to be useful, so if they really need more people at the bank, I will do that.
I had an intense conversation with Daniel last night about Rwanda’s colonial history and the genocide. It’s the kind of topic that I want to hear about from people here, but you can’t just ask because you never know how affected people were. But earlier he said he moved to Rwanda in 1995 (he grew up in Uganda but is Rwandese) so I knew that at least he was not in the country during genocide. So, we talked about the things that set it in motion, and how the seeds were planted in the 1960s. I thought that it was the Belgians who sent the arms to the Interahamwe, but actually the French were the most involved. They even set up the “turquoise zone” and allowed Interahamwe to flee to Congo. I will go tomorrow to get a book about this, there’s one that came out recently, because I can’t believe that all the things he said are true. I mean, I believe him, but it’s so shocking and really awful that it’s hard to believe it could happen, much less that the French gov’t hasn’t apologized or at least acknowledged their role. We will go to the memorial here, which is supposed to be really good. There are other places you can go, like the church where Tutsis were massacred after they had sought refuge there, and you can still see the bloodstains on the floor and on the wall where they smashed babies’ heads. I don’t know that I want to go see that, or that could ask anyone here to take me, because I’m sure none of them really want to see that.
I feel unprepared to discuss the subject, although it was okay with Daniel, but it’s so hard because in the U.S. (and my life especially) was so shielded from large-scale horror and has been for generations. The Vietnam War was the last huge thing to affect us as a population, and even that was halfway around the world. One ninth of the Rwandese people were killed in three months, and some people that I have met here saw it happen. What am I supposed to say? So far I haven’t talked to anyone who saw things during genocide, but you can kind of tell. Like, if people say they grew up here, you know they were here when it was going on, and many times you can tell who is Tutsi just by looking at them. Also, sometimes if you are talking about peoples’ families, they will say “My mother has died” in this way that is so final, you just know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)