Sunday, December 13, 2009

Karongi

With less than a week left until swear in there are a lot of emotions amongst the volunteers, trainers and really everyone involved in PST. On Friday we finally were told our sites. Mup our director wanted to make it this big ceremony and had me and a few other volunteers draw a map with chalk on the basketball court next to our house labeling all of our districts. Once we had the map done, all the volunteers came to the court and we announced the sites one by one having each person stand on the map where their site was located. It was nice because we got to see which of the volunteers we would be living by for the next two years! I’m really pleased with the people in my district. I don’t think I stand-alone when I say that the personalities in our group go very well together. But most of all, my site, which is in the Karongi district is right by Lake Kivu, which is pretty much paradise. Below are some photos from my district to give you a taste of this blissful place…

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Friday, December 4, 2009

Kibuye

Two weeks left of training! Can’t believe its been two months already. Oh how time flies. So on Monday I left to visit one of the health PCV’s living around Lake Kibuye. I was excited to be going near the water, but I never expected to be in paradise. The photos you see attempt to capture the breathtaking scenery. It was truly blissful. Two of the PCV’s from our group have already been assigned a site right near the lake…lucky guys.

For the first time since we’ve been in Rwanda, we were sent off on our own. No PC staff there to tell us what to do, or how to get where we needed. It was kind of nice being able to figure things out for ourselves. We found the transportation system in Rwanda to be pretty easy and reliable after having successfully making it all the way to Kibuye and back. The road to Kibuye as we were warned is extremely curvy so car sickness is a big problem. Now I almost never feel carsick but will have to admit that after that bus ride I did feel a little nauseous and light headed. I managed to even read most of the way there trying not to pay attention to the strong smell of body odor and ignore the sounds of people throwing up out the window. All was well until of course I got hit. Yeap, I was lucky enough to be sitting right in front of the only child on the bus who decided it was okay to eat and drink right at the beginning of the trip. Of course due to the windy roads the poor girl threw everything she shoved down her face right back up…onto me. I tried to be calm about the situation; slowly put my book down on Ellies lap, looked down at my sweater and realized how much she got on me. I took of my sweater barely turning around to look at the girl, folded it, vomit side in and laid it on the floor of the filthy bus in front of me. I took a deep breath in, closed my eyes and had to have a “woosa” moment. I was easily calmed by staring out at the beautiful scenery. Fair warning to all those who travel by road in Rwanda; do not eat before traveling for long periods. I think the government should make it law to post advisory warnings on all the buses in Rwanda because projectile vomiting is really an issue.

Two days before I left for my site visit, we had a session on what its like to be a minority PCV in Rwanda where many of the current health pcv’s came and spoke about their experiences thus far. It was really interesting to hear what many of them had to say especially because I know that I will probably go through many of the same things when I am on my own. That session couldn’t have been more timely for me even though I had no idea what I was going to experience on my site visit.
Living here in Nyanza, I wouldn’t say I have experienced much different treatment but I realize now that its mostly because im almost never alone here. Most times I’m either with a fellow Rwandese or another PCV. Most people in the community know me, or of me and I can actually say I feel pretty comfortable walking around town alone in Nyanza.

I knew from the beginning that my experience here in Rwanda would be quite different from the average white American. Not only because I am considered a black person, but also because of my African heritage.

Its been a bit of a culture shock since this trip to Kibuye because I don’t think ive ever really gotten this kind of treatment at home in the US. I try to remember that there is no real sense of diversity or understanding of fair treatment in many rural Rwandese. The typical white American is such a novelty for people here that when they see someone of their skin color they can fathom the idea that they are not from Africa. It has taken me several attempts to explain to some people that I am American and that I was born and raised in the US. I’ve only managed to convince a few number of people I meet besides our trainers that I am not “umunyarwanda kazi”. But sometimes its just easier to accept their labels. I realize this will be one of my struggles here. I am really looking forward to moving to my site, having my own community and just get to know people and have them get to know me.