Hey all, this is taken from my friend Jen's Blog. She's been living in Rwanda now for, ummm... 5 years?? And has ranted just as well, if not better, than I was just about to do about the elections yesterday, so read her entry and know that it's pretty much what I was going to write down... enjoy.
"Makes me MAD!!
Today is Tuesday, August 10 - day after the elections here in Rwanda.
My house is quiet this morning as I'm sitting here at my computer supposed to be doing financial reports but... I need to see what the world has said about yesterdays elections here in Rwanda.
What I know is that Paul Kagame has won with 92% with the other three parties dividing the rest of the votes. At least that is what Prince told me was announced on the TV this morning.
I know that I went to bed just after midnight and the city was alive with parties everywhere... I heard the vuvuzela's (and the World Cup thought they have them all!) and I was woken up by the fireworks at 4:30am this morning! Today was declared a holiday (I love Rwanda!)
I also know that many polling stations closed by mid morning because all the registered voters for that district had already cast their ballot. (Canada or the US only dreams of this!!) Serge left the house just before 6am and was 12th in line to vote at our polling station.. then he came home and crawled back into bed! :-)
I haven't heard of any violence or any unrest in the country at all.
I also know that at about midnight the President and his entire family went to Amahoro Stadium where it was PACKED!!! to celebrate. Serge said that he turned the TV off about 1am and left the First Lady and kids on that football field celebrating by leading everyone in the Electric Slide dance... it's her favourite!
So what you ask, makes me mad??!!!
WELL... let me tell you. Warning.. a 'Jen' Rant comin' on!
So... I check CBC, just to see what my own country is saying about the election here. After some digging I find a 7 sentence story which predicted Kagame's win but also stated, and I quote,
'Analysts said Kagame faced no real competition. Some opposition parties were barred from participating, and the pre-election period was marred by crackdowns on opposition figures and media'.
I then go to BBC. And after some digging I find a little story and a media clip. It's the media clip that makes me MAD! The journalist stated that some parties were not allowed to run due to differing views of Kagame's party and were arrested upon arrival and others were blocked from registering. And that is ALL he says... AH!!!
WHY were they arrested?
Blows my mind how some journalists and others in the west, looking in on Rwanda and Africa can be so arrogant and misleading some times!
So, Kagame is just to allow people who landed in Kigali and in their first news conference at the airport announced that their party had come back to 'finish the job'... implying the genocide????
Seriously people!!!! You would think that this `tidbit`of information would be important somehow. Or does one really not know what genocide is or the causes of it?
So Human Rights and whoever else who most likely knows nothing of what it is to be a genocide survivor or oppressed in whatever way can just say that there was no real opposition and that Rwandan people are oppressed??
Did I say this makes me mad???
The genocide ended 16 years ago because the RPF, lead by Paul Kagame and others came and fought in a land which their parents had fled, felt oppressed in or had never even entered before. The genocide did not end because the west put a stop to it. The west was still tying the hands of the UN mission here and still arguing over what name to call the mission of the soldiers they were releasing to come and help fight against the killers.
What has happened in this country since the end of the genocide in July 1994 is incredibly remarkable. I don`t think there is another country in the world that has recovered from anything like this in such a short period of time - socially, economically, development in all areas really.
So.. how dare the west, point fingers and tell an African leader or country how they should run it... especially when the cause of the genocide was colonization from the west!
AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!
Okay.. I`m done."
www.rwandamomma.blogspot.com
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Da Thrilla in Manila!!
Well, I’ve been in the Philippines now for just under a week... and what a busy week it’s been! I’ve had the chance to check out a lot of what my friend John has been up to during his year here, and it’s been amazing to see and experience it with him!
One of the things that we have done has been feeding programs in an area of Metro Manila called Sucat. The people that John works with in this area are from a squatting community who live in a shanty town. We’ve been out there twice now to provide meals for the kids and youth in this area as well as to visit with the families and just hang out and play with the kids. One thing about here in the Philippines is that the people here are not very tall... I am. Within about two minutes of being with the kids I had a nickname and became very popular. I have a feeling I will forever be known in that area as “Big Show.” Yeah. The second day that we went to this community the kids were yelling “Big Show! Big Show!” before we even made it to the community. It was a lot of fun to hang out with these kids and to see the joy that can be in their lives when people take the time to show them that someone cares about them.
The other main thing that we have been doing this last week has been the Day Care program that John works with at the church just around the corner from his apartment. (It’s actually a church started by International Teams and actually was his apartment for the first couple of months he lived here...) This program was started to serve the children and families of a very low income squatting/shanty community in this area of Metro Manila known as Makati. There are about 15 kids who come out to the day care program every morning of the week but Sunday and Monday. This program is free to the people in this community and also acts as a school for the children. Every morning there are games, songs, lessons and a snack. These kids are SOOO much fun!! Within minutes of the first time I came they were again, climbing all over me, amazed at my height. On Saturday I got to experience something truly amazing with a group of these kids. A field trip. We got to take 10 of the young kids (probably around age 3-6) to a children’s museum and to Manila Ocean City Aquarium. Chaos!! One of the kids, Lawrence, screamed and cried the whole way to the museum, yelling over and over again, non-stop in Tagalog, “I don’t want to be here! I don’t want to be here!” and as soon as we got there it looked like he had the best time in his life! He was all over the place in the museum and so wide-eyed and excited at the aquarium!
The kids (and adults) had an amazing time at the museum, but there is no other word to describe it than Chaos! The kids were running all over the place, getting in to trouble everywhere, making as much noise as possible... so much fun!! At one point in time they found a giant piano that you walk on to make it play and the kids just went crazy!! The one girl, Alli, just laid on her back and started rolling around on it with the BIGGEST grin on her face! Jet Jet (yes, his name is Jet Jet) just started stomping, Princess was just ridiculous... they all had so much fun, it was amazing to see!!
Also in a rain forest exhibit some of the kids must have thought that they were in a real forest seeing as how the one walked to the edge of the path and started peeing on the fake rocks... haha.
After the museum we took them to Manila Ocean City... it was packed, so we made sure that each adult had two kids each and they were not to let go of their hands AT ALL. However, myself and a new friend of mine, Tin Tin only got one kid each... not so much of a good thing though. We got the trouble makers! Tin Tin got the short stick and had to watch Bernadetd who is the most ADHD inside child EVER but SOOO cute and fun! And I got Princess. Lets just say that when all the other kids were exhausted and too tired to walk by the end of the day, Princess was still ready to go cause I had no other choice but to carry her through the whole aquarium. The one time that I did try to put her down, she was gone and trying to “pet” the sharks... yup, hand in the shark tank... And poor Tin Tin... she let go of Bernadetd once and she took off running... haha... good times. It was crazy, but it had to be one of the funnest days I’ve had with kids in a long time.
Other than the ministry stuff that I’ve been helping with we’ve gotten to see a bit of Manila as well. I went to Asia’s biggest mall the other day. Saw Inception at the Imax, found a watch I saw in Paris for over $600 and bought it here for $100. Every weekend at MOA (Mall of Asia) they have fireworks that put our Canada Day fireworks to shame. Today we went to the up scale, fancy pants mall where they have only Prada and those types of stores and went to a restaurant called “Bubba Gumps” ...Forest Gump themed. And later tonight for supper we’ll probably go somewhere I’ve been looking forward to going to for over a year now... The Hobbit Hole. It’s a restaurant where... wait for it... it’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Themed, and everyone that works there is apparently a Pilipino midget, dressed as a Hobbit! SOOO would not fly in our culture!!!
After today I only have two more days here in the Philippines and then I head back to Paris for a day on Wednesday night and then finally back home. I can not believe that I’ve been traveling now for this long. I left Canada one month ago today, although it does not feel at all like it’s been a month! ...if I could start again at the first day we landed in Paris, I would for sure do the whole thing over again right now... would probably leave Sarajevo right away and go to Croatia or something for that week, but I wouldn’t turn down another month of traveling for anything.
Well... only a few more days left to go... Thanks for reading, and I’ve sure I’ll have a few more things to write about in the next 5 days before I land in Toronto.
One of the things that we have done has been feeding programs in an area of Metro Manila called Sucat. The people that John works with in this area are from a squatting community who live in a shanty town. We’ve been out there twice now to provide meals for the kids and youth in this area as well as to visit with the families and just hang out and play with the kids. One thing about here in the Philippines is that the people here are not very tall... I am. Within about two minutes of being with the kids I had a nickname and became very popular. I have a feeling I will forever be known in that area as “Big Show.” Yeah. The second day that we went to this community the kids were yelling “Big Show! Big Show!” before we even made it to the community. It was a lot of fun to hang out with these kids and to see the joy that can be in their lives when people take the time to show them that someone cares about them.
The other main thing that we have been doing this last week has been the Day Care program that John works with at the church just around the corner from his apartment. (It’s actually a church started by International Teams and actually was his apartment for the first couple of months he lived here...) This program was started to serve the children and families of a very low income squatting/shanty community in this area of Metro Manila known as Makati. There are about 15 kids who come out to the day care program every morning of the week but Sunday and Monday. This program is free to the people in this community and also acts as a school for the children. Every morning there are games, songs, lessons and a snack. These kids are SOOO much fun!! Within minutes of the first time I came they were again, climbing all over me, amazed at my height. On Saturday I got to experience something truly amazing with a group of these kids. A field trip. We got to take 10 of the young kids (probably around age 3-6) to a children’s museum and to Manila Ocean City Aquarium. Chaos!! One of the kids, Lawrence, screamed and cried the whole way to the museum, yelling over and over again, non-stop in Tagalog, “I don’t want to be here! I don’t want to be here!” and as soon as we got there it looked like he had the best time in his life! He was all over the place in the museum and so wide-eyed and excited at the aquarium!
The kids (and adults) had an amazing time at the museum, but there is no other word to describe it than Chaos! The kids were running all over the place, getting in to trouble everywhere, making as much noise as possible... so much fun!! At one point in time they found a giant piano that you walk on to make it play and the kids just went crazy!! The one girl, Alli, just laid on her back and started rolling around on it with the BIGGEST grin on her face! Jet Jet (yes, his name is Jet Jet) just started stomping, Princess was just ridiculous... they all had so much fun, it was amazing to see!!
Also in a rain forest exhibit some of the kids must have thought that they were in a real forest seeing as how the one walked to the edge of the path and started peeing on the fake rocks... haha.
After the museum we took them to Manila Ocean City... it was packed, so we made sure that each adult had two kids each and they were not to let go of their hands AT ALL. However, myself and a new friend of mine, Tin Tin only got one kid each... not so much of a good thing though. We got the trouble makers! Tin Tin got the short stick and had to watch Bernadetd who is the most ADHD inside child EVER but SOOO cute and fun! And I got Princess. Lets just say that when all the other kids were exhausted and too tired to walk by the end of the day, Princess was still ready to go cause I had no other choice but to carry her through the whole aquarium. The one time that I did try to put her down, she was gone and trying to “pet” the sharks... yup, hand in the shark tank... And poor Tin Tin... she let go of Bernadetd once and she took off running... haha... good times. It was crazy, but it had to be one of the funnest days I’ve had with kids in a long time.
Other than the ministry stuff that I’ve been helping with we’ve gotten to see a bit of Manila as well. I went to Asia’s biggest mall the other day. Saw Inception at the Imax, found a watch I saw in Paris for over $600 and bought it here for $100. Every weekend at MOA (Mall of Asia) they have fireworks that put our Canada Day fireworks to shame. Today we went to the up scale, fancy pants mall where they have only Prada and those types of stores and went to a restaurant called “Bubba Gumps” ...Forest Gump themed. And later tonight for supper we’ll probably go somewhere I’ve been looking forward to going to for over a year now... The Hobbit Hole. It’s a restaurant where... wait for it... it’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Themed, and everyone that works there is apparently a Pilipino midget, dressed as a Hobbit! SOOO would not fly in our culture!!!
After today I only have two more days here in the Philippines and then I head back to Paris for a day on Wednesday night and then finally back home. I can not believe that I’ve been traveling now for this long. I left Canada one month ago today, although it does not feel at all like it’s been a month! ...if I could start again at the first day we landed in Paris, I would for sure do the whole thing over again right now... would probably leave Sarajevo right away and go to Croatia or something for that week, but I wouldn’t turn down another month of traveling for anything.
Well... only a few more days left to go... Thanks for reading, and I’ve sure I’ll have a few more things to write about in the next 5 days before I land in Toronto.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Bullet holes and Graves... A week in Sarajevo.
Alrighty... so I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything, and for that I’m sorry.
Anywho, so I’m in Manila, Philippines now, but there’s some stuff before that that I should talk about. I just spent 6 days in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina which was really cool to be there, but to long to be alone without knowing the country at all. My first couple of days there I just wandered around the city, took in the sites and lounged in cafes and pubs.
On my third day there I walked out of the old city down what has been called “Sniper Ally.” This is the main road that runs all the way through Sarajevo. It’s very wide, clear and open, so during the siege anyone who had to cross the road or use it to get from one part of the city to another was an easy target for all of the snipers hiding in the hills surrounding the city. Just outside of the Old City is the Bosnian History Museum and the Sarajevo War Museum. The History Museum had some pretty cool things inside of it. Lots of old Roman and Ottoman artefacts. The coolest thing that was there is the Sarajevo Haggadah. It’s basically the Jewish or Old Testament creation story written out in a picture book used during one of the Jewish holidays. The thing that makes this one so special is that during World War 2 this book was one of the main things that the Nazis were trying to find to destroy and then again during the Bosnian war it was one of the first cultural things that the Serb army was looking for to destroy. What’s the price tag on a ancient book that has survived centuries of war where it was one of the main targets? $700,000,000! The Sarajevo War Museum was really well done too. The museum is very much meant for people from Sarajevo, and very rightly so, so because of this if you are looking for a way to learn a lot about what has happened, you won’t find a lot of history there. Having a decent idea of what happened there in 1993-95 really helped in appreciating the museum. The only thing that I can compare it to, which won’t be much help to most people reading this, would be the Nyamata and Ntrama church memorial sites in Rwanda... or maybe the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC but on a MUCH smaller scale.
The rest of my time in Sarajevo was spent pretty much doing almost nothing... A lot of time sitting in cafes by the river reading or walking around the city. I’m really happy that I was there, but maybe not for that long... and next time I’ll take someone with me. It gets kinda boring when there’s no one in the same city that you can have more than a 1 minute conversation with... and if there was anyone else there fluent in English, I didn’t find them no matter how hard I tried. Apparently everyone staying at hostels in Sarajevo are just from other parts of Bosnia... not many travelers. Lets just say that I ran out of things to do pretty quick. And the public transit system isn’t in any shape or form foreigner friendly. But again, I am still happy that I got to be there... it’s been on my “list” for a long time.
One thing that sticks out the most to me is the impact that the war has had on the city and the amount of that that you can still see everywhere you look. Every other building that you walk past is still covered in bullet and mortar holes, buildings are still in the process of being fixed up or demolished all over Sarajevo, and so many people were killed during the siege of Sarajevo that almost every park/green space/back yard is filled with graves. The War Museum is great example of this because the building that it’s in has been kept exactly the same way as it was at the end of the war all the way up to the crumbling steps you walk up in to the building, to the burnt out tank behind the building where a cafe dedicated to the former Yugoslavia’s original Communist dictator, Tito, has been set up.
Another really cool thing about the city is the way that so many different cultures live together in peace. You can walk down a street almost anywhere in Sarajevo and walk past a Jewish Synagogue, a Serbian Orthodox Church and a Muslim Mosque within 5 minutes. A Muslim call to prayer will ring through the valley and you’ll see groups of friends split up, some going to pray, others going off to do other things and then see them meet back up and go on their way together again after prayers are done. All of this in a city where 14-17 years ago there was one of modern times longest and worse city sieges and genocides.
Three mornings ago I woke up, packed up and headed back to the airport for flights 8, 9 and 10 of my summer from Sarajevo to Istanbul Turkey, Dubai UAE and finally to my last major stop this trip in Manila Philippines. The first two flights were pretty short, and so was the amount of leg room in each plane... Turkish Air is NOT meant for tall people to fly with!! By far the most cramped I’ve ever been in an airplane!! From Dubai I flew Air Emirates which I at least had some leg room in... not as good of a flight that I’ve heard Air Emirates should be, but not bad...
Yesterday late afternoon I arrived here in Manila to a bright yellow sign, John Coffey and Tin Tin, who works with ITeams here, waiting for me at the airport. We took a bus and taxi through the streets of Metro Manila to the apartment where I was welcomed in the best way possible... a game of Settlers!!
Last night I crashed pretty hard and slept probably the best I have this whole trip (Sooo happy that John’s room has its own air conditioning!!). Could have slept a lot longer, but this morning we got up and went to the daycare that John helps teach at. It was really cool to start to see some of the other International Teams projects happening here. All of the kids that come to this daycare live on the streets in the community around the church and International Teams office (which are in the same building). Tonight we will be going to Alabang, which is in Metro Manila, to help out with a street kid feeding that ITeams partners with in that community. And I’m sure that Brett Ostrander will bend my arm in to another game or two of Settlers when we get back to the apartment.
Well, I should be a lot busier here than I was in Sarajevo, which means I’ll have more to blog about again, so hopefully I’ll be blogging more again this week than I did last week. I’m really excited for what I’ll be seeing and doing here with the International Teams Philippines folks so it should be an awesome week!!
Anywho, so I’m in Manila, Philippines now, but there’s some stuff before that that I should talk about. I just spent 6 days in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina which was really cool to be there, but to long to be alone without knowing the country at all. My first couple of days there I just wandered around the city, took in the sites and lounged in cafes and pubs.
On my third day there I walked out of the old city down what has been called “Sniper Ally.” This is the main road that runs all the way through Sarajevo. It’s very wide, clear and open, so during the siege anyone who had to cross the road or use it to get from one part of the city to another was an easy target for all of the snipers hiding in the hills surrounding the city. Just outside of the Old City is the Bosnian History Museum and the Sarajevo War Museum. The History Museum had some pretty cool things inside of it. Lots of old Roman and Ottoman artefacts. The coolest thing that was there is the Sarajevo Haggadah. It’s basically the Jewish or Old Testament creation story written out in a picture book used during one of the Jewish holidays. The thing that makes this one so special is that during World War 2 this book was one of the main things that the Nazis were trying to find to destroy and then again during the Bosnian war it was one of the first cultural things that the Serb army was looking for to destroy. What’s the price tag on a ancient book that has survived centuries of war where it was one of the main targets? $700,000,000! The Sarajevo War Museum was really well done too. The museum is very much meant for people from Sarajevo, and very rightly so, so because of this if you are looking for a way to learn a lot about what has happened, you won’t find a lot of history there. Having a decent idea of what happened there in 1993-95 really helped in appreciating the museum. The only thing that I can compare it to, which won’t be much help to most people reading this, would be the Nyamata and Ntrama church memorial sites in Rwanda... or maybe the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC but on a MUCH smaller scale.
The rest of my time in Sarajevo was spent pretty much doing almost nothing... A lot of time sitting in cafes by the river reading or walking around the city. I’m really happy that I was there, but maybe not for that long... and next time I’ll take someone with me. It gets kinda boring when there’s no one in the same city that you can have more than a 1 minute conversation with... and if there was anyone else there fluent in English, I didn’t find them no matter how hard I tried. Apparently everyone staying at hostels in Sarajevo are just from other parts of Bosnia... not many travelers. Lets just say that I ran out of things to do pretty quick. And the public transit system isn’t in any shape or form foreigner friendly. But again, I am still happy that I got to be there... it’s been on my “list” for a long time.
One thing that sticks out the most to me is the impact that the war has had on the city and the amount of that that you can still see everywhere you look. Every other building that you walk past is still covered in bullet and mortar holes, buildings are still in the process of being fixed up or demolished all over Sarajevo, and so many people were killed during the siege of Sarajevo that almost every park/green space/back yard is filled with graves. The War Museum is great example of this because the building that it’s in has been kept exactly the same way as it was at the end of the war all the way up to the crumbling steps you walk up in to the building, to the burnt out tank behind the building where a cafe dedicated to the former Yugoslavia’s original Communist dictator, Tito, has been set up.
Another really cool thing about the city is the way that so many different cultures live together in peace. You can walk down a street almost anywhere in Sarajevo and walk past a Jewish Synagogue, a Serbian Orthodox Church and a Muslim Mosque within 5 minutes. A Muslim call to prayer will ring through the valley and you’ll see groups of friends split up, some going to pray, others going off to do other things and then see them meet back up and go on their way together again after prayers are done. All of this in a city where 14-17 years ago there was one of modern times longest and worse city sieges and genocides.
Three mornings ago I woke up, packed up and headed back to the airport for flights 8, 9 and 10 of my summer from Sarajevo to Istanbul Turkey, Dubai UAE and finally to my last major stop this trip in Manila Philippines. The first two flights were pretty short, and so was the amount of leg room in each plane... Turkish Air is NOT meant for tall people to fly with!! By far the most cramped I’ve ever been in an airplane!! From Dubai I flew Air Emirates which I at least had some leg room in... not as good of a flight that I’ve heard Air Emirates should be, but not bad...
Yesterday late afternoon I arrived here in Manila to a bright yellow sign, John Coffey and Tin Tin, who works with ITeams here, waiting for me at the airport. We took a bus and taxi through the streets of Metro Manila to the apartment where I was welcomed in the best way possible... a game of Settlers!!
Last night I crashed pretty hard and slept probably the best I have this whole trip (Sooo happy that John’s room has its own air conditioning!!). Could have slept a lot longer, but this morning we got up and went to the daycare that John helps teach at. It was really cool to start to see some of the other International Teams projects happening here. All of the kids that come to this daycare live on the streets in the community around the church and International Teams office (which are in the same building). Tonight we will be going to Alabang, which is in Metro Manila, to help out with a street kid feeding that ITeams partners with in that community. And I’m sure that Brett Ostrander will bend my arm in to another game or two of Settlers when we get back to the apartment.
Well, I should be a lot busier here than I was in Sarajevo, which means I’ll have more to blog about again, so hopefully I’ll be blogging more again this week than I did last week. I’m really excited for what I’ll be seeing and doing here with the International Teams Philippines folks so it should be an awesome week!!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sarajevo!!
Well, I just arrived in Sarajevo about an hour ago. First impression so far is really good!
I have to admit that over the last day of traveling here I was a little worried about what I’d be showing up to, but I don’t there are any problems now at all!
My hotel is about a block up the road from the Old Town Squire in what seems like a really cool part of town. I’ve already wandered around a bit and the city looks pretty awesome. And the Sarajevo Film Festivalis on right now and it’s literally just down the road from me, so from where I am the whole city looks like it’s alive and out... and it’s 11:30 at night!
I’ve found a nice little street side pub and I’m sampling the local bee, which is really good! ...impressed!!
In the taxi on the way over from the airport the driver was really nice and tried practicing his English with me the whole way over. He’s already pointed out a few of the things I want to see, which are all within walking distance of the hotel. According to him I won’t have any problems with the language if I’m talking with younger people, so that’s a big stress relief!
Well, I’m going to finish my drink, wander back to the hotel and wait to see what the city is like in the daytime. I don’t have internet in my room tonight, but I’ll be changing rooms in the morning apparently to a room with a connection. Like the last few posts, this one will be posted tomorrow, so this was actually written yesterday.
I’ll keep y’all posted on my travels as frequently as I can!!
(and just a ps that I’m writing now the next morning... I changed rooms and have internet, but the connection is in the bathroom. Weird. I may have to go out and buy a longer cord so I can actually use my computer in my bedroom, instead of on the toilet :p
I have to admit that over the last day of traveling here I was a little worried about what I’d be showing up to, but I don’t there are any problems now at all!
My hotel is about a block up the road from the Old Town Squire in what seems like a really cool part of town. I’ve already wandered around a bit and the city looks pretty awesome. And the Sarajevo Film Festivalis on right now and it’s literally just down the road from me, so from where I am the whole city looks like it’s alive and out... and it’s 11:30 at night!
I’ve found a nice little street side pub and I’m sampling the local bee, which is really good! ...impressed!!
In the taxi on the way over from the airport the driver was really nice and tried practicing his English with me the whole way over. He’s already pointed out a few of the things I want to see, which are all within walking distance of the hotel. According to him I won’t have any problems with the language if I’m talking with younger people, so that’s a big stress relief!
Well, I’m going to finish my drink, wander back to the hotel and wait to see what the city is like in the daytime. I don’t have internet in my room tonight, but I’ll be changing rooms in the morning apparently to a room with a connection. Like the last few posts, this one will be posted tomorrow, so this was actually written yesterday.
I’ll keep y’all posted on my travels as frequently as I can!!
(and just a ps that I’m writing now the next morning... I changed rooms and have internet, but the connection is in the bathroom. Weird. I may have to go out and buy a longer cord so I can actually use my computer in my bedroom, instead of on the toilet :p
My last days in Rwanda and Paris, Round 2!
Well, here I am... at another airport. A lot has happened since the last time I’ve posted, so hopefully this won’t be too long! And again... no internet right now, so this will be posted when I finally do have it...
My last couple days in Rwanda were amazing! We got to go out to Kayonza one more time to see the finished house that we built... well, almost finished. They were still working on the floor, doors and windows and the front porch, but overall it looked really good!
The highlight of the last days though was that I finally got to go visit Manude and his family! Serge and I went to go find him just before heading to the airport. He was actually really easy to find too. He lives with his mom, 4 year old sister and his grandparents just behind the house that my cousin and friend lived in while she was working in Kigali with World Vision. (Literally right behind your house, Laura!) Serge and I talked with them for a little while and we got to hear Manude’s story, a bit about his mom’s life and got to meet his little sister who has pretty much the exact same personality that Manude did when I first met him at 4 years old! I told his mom about how Manude has been a large part of my thoughts over the last few years and told them that I want him to go to school and would be paying for him. I think also that next year I’ll make sure his sister goes too... she already reminds me too much of him when he was younger and I don’t think I would be able to not get her in to school also! So, we visited for a little while, I told Manude that he needs to study hard and make sure that he practices his English (All schools in Rwanda now teach in English) so that next time I come we can talk without an interpretor... he seemed to really like that idea!
Another fun thing was that Friday night before we left was Serge’s birthday. We all went out together to a new restaurant that no one there had ever been to and it was a lot of fun and great food! It was good to be able to celebrate both Serge and Beni’s birthdays and go to a wedding while we were there! ...so many congratulations and celebrations!
After visiting with Manude and his family it was time to leave Rwanda We all had one last meal at Bourbon at the Kigali airport and loaded on to the plane. We had a 5ish long hour layover in Nairobi which was pretty uneventful and then after another long flight we made it to Paris in the wee hours of the morning. The first day in Paris was really cool, but very tiring! Most of us didn’t really sleep overnight on the plane, but we weren’t going to waste a full day there by sleeping. We found our hotel, dropped off our stuff and went out on the town! We spent the morning together, wandering the streets and taking care of a few things we needed to do together and then split up for the day. 5 of us took the train out to Versailles and spent the afternoon being amazed by the palace. It was INSANE! So much gold, so many paintings... it was huge! Lots and lots of French history and art. We didn’t have a huge amount of time, so we went through pretty quickly before walking out to the garden, which is massive and really nice. By the time that we got back in to Paris to meet everyone else for supper most of us were more than ready for bed. But we all went out for a really good supper just up the road from our hotel, across from Gard L’est Metro station. After supper, pretty much everyone just went straight to bed... it was the best night’s sleep I had had since leaving Canada!
Our second day was really good too. We went out for breakfast at a little cafe on St. Michel and then split up again. Some went on a walking tour of Paris, and some of us walked around St. Michel and did some shopping/browsing. After that we took the Metro to the Latin Quarters and walked around there for a bit. For some reason almost everything was closed, so we jumped back on the Metro and went back to St. Michel for a bit before heading over to the Chaps Ellyese, where we met up with everyone again under the Arc du Triumph. We walked down the Boulevard together for a bit, checking out the stores, doing the tourist thing. I had my fill of shopping, so I went off on my own to go see the Grand Palace, Small Palace, and a bunch of really cool things around there and then I just walked. For a long time. Got very lost. Eventually found a Metro station and headed back to the hotel to meet up with everyone again. By this time it was around 9pm and we had reservations to go up the Eiffel Tower. The view was really cool up there and I’m happy that we did it, but I don’t think I’d do it again... it’s just one of those things you have to do at least once if you’re in Paris. The coolest part about it was that 3 of us went up to the very top and up there they had signs pointing in the direction of different cities around the world and how far away they are. Toronto was 6,014km away and Sarajevo, where I’m heading to right now, was 1,355km... Kigali, where we just came from was 6,234km and Manila where I’m heading to in a week...10,761! Makes me wonder just how many kilometres I’m actually traveling this summer!
I have to admit... Paris is actually a lot better than I thought it would be!! But too much walking! I’m so sore and tired. I walked so much that a wore a hole through my socks, which could have passed as brand new at the beginning of the day! My first day or two in Sarajevo will be spent lounging around at local cafes with not much walking, me thinks.
But anyways, it’s about time to board my flight from Paris to Belgrade, Serbia where I have a 5 hour layover before flying to Sarajevo this evening, so hopefully there’s something to do and/or internet in the airport!!
I’ll let y’all know how things are going once I’m in Bosnia! So far, so good... and safe! See y’all in a few weeks!
My last couple days in Rwanda were amazing! We got to go out to Kayonza one more time to see the finished house that we built... well, almost finished. They were still working on the floor, doors and windows and the front porch, but overall it looked really good!
The highlight of the last days though was that I finally got to go visit Manude and his family! Serge and I went to go find him just before heading to the airport. He was actually really easy to find too. He lives with his mom, 4 year old sister and his grandparents just behind the house that my cousin and friend lived in while she was working in Kigali with World Vision. (Literally right behind your house, Laura!) Serge and I talked with them for a little while and we got to hear Manude’s story, a bit about his mom’s life and got to meet his little sister who has pretty much the exact same personality that Manude did when I first met him at 4 years old! I told his mom about how Manude has been a large part of my thoughts over the last few years and told them that I want him to go to school and would be paying for him. I think also that next year I’ll make sure his sister goes too... she already reminds me too much of him when he was younger and I don’t think I would be able to not get her in to school also! So, we visited for a little while, I told Manude that he needs to study hard and make sure that he practices his English (All schools in Rwanda now teach in English) so that next time I come we can talk without an interpretor... he seemed to really like that idea!
Another fun thing was that Friday night before we left was Serge’s birthday. We all went out together to a new restaurant that no one there had ever been to and it was a lot of fun and great food! It was good to be able to celebrate both Serge and Beni’s birthdays and go to a wedding while we were there! ...so many congratulations and celebrations!
After visiting with Manude and his family it was time to leave Rwanda We all had one last meal at Bourbon at the Kigali airport and loaded on to the plane. We had a 5ish long hour layover in Nairobi which was pretty uneventful and then after another long flight we made it to Paris in the wee hours of the morning. The first day in Paris was really cool, but very tiring! Most of us didn’t really sleep overnight on the plane, but we weren’t going to waste a full day there by sleeping. We found our hotel, dropped off our stuff and went out on the town! We spent the morning together, wandering the streets and taking care of a few things we needed to do together and then split up for the day. 5 of us took the train out to Versailles and spent the afternoon being amazed by the palace. It was INSANE! So much gold, so many paintings... it was huge! Lots and lots of French history and art. We didn’t have a huge amount of time, so we went through pretty quickly before walking out to the garden, which is massive and really nice. By the time that we got back in to Paris to meet everyone else for supper most of us were more than ready for bed. But we all went out for a really good supper just up the road from our hotel, across from Gard L’est Metro station. After supper, pretty much everyone just went straight to bed... it was the best night’s sleep I had had since leaving Canada!
Our second day was really good too. We went out for breakfast at a little cafe on St. Michel and then split up again. Some went on a walking tour of Paris, and some of us walked around St. Michel and did some shopping/browsing. After that we took the Metro to the Latin Quarters and walked around there for a bit. For some reason almost everything was closed, so we jumped back on the Metro and went back to St. Michel for a bit before heading over to the Chaps Ellyese, where we met up with everyone again under the Arc du Triumph. We walked down the Boulevard together for a bit, checking out the stores, doing the tourist thing. I had my fill of shopping, so I went off on my own to go see the Grand Palace, Small Palace, and a bunch of really cool things around there and then I just walked. For a long time. Got very lost. Eventually found a Metro station and headed back to the hotel to meet up with everyone again. By this time it was around 9pm and we had reservations to go up the Eiffel Tower. The view was really cool up there and I’m happy that we did it, but I don’t think I’d do it again... it’s just one of those things you have to do at least once if you’re in Paris. The coolest part about it was that 3 of us went up to the very top and up there they had signs pointing in the direction of different cities around the world and how far away they are. Toronto was 6,014km away and Sarajevo, where I’m heading to right now, was 1,355km... Kigali, where we just came from was 6,234km and Manila where I’m heading to in a week...10,761! Makes me wonder just how many kilometres I’m actually traveling this summer!
I have to admit... Paris is actually a lot better than I thought it would be!! But too much walking! I’m so sore and tired. I walked so much that a wore a hole through my socks, which could have passed as brand new at the beginning of the day! My first day or two in Sarajevo will be spent lounging around at local cafes with not much walking, me thinks.
But anyways, it’s about time to board my flight from Paris to Belgrade, Serbia where I have a 5 hour layover before flying to Sarajevo this evening, so hopefully there’s something to do and/or internet in the airport!!
I’ll let y’all know how things are going once I’m in Bosnia! So far, so good... and safe! See y’all in a few weeks!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Kayonza, Kigali, Kibuye and Kiziba
Sorry, this was written two days ago, but I just got internet now!!
Hey all, so first I have to apologise to anyone who actually checks this blog out regularly... it’s been a few days since I’ve had time to write anything... sorry! Also, this post is very very long, so if you finish it all, you win a prize!*
We’ve had a really busy, but awesome last few days. Last time I updated we had just come back from our week in Kayonza building the mud house. We came back to Kigali for the weekend and had a pretty awesome time. On Saturday we had the morning to ourselves to hang out downtown Kigali, check out some shops, a lot of the girls bought gitange (African print material) and then we all hung out at Bourbon Coffee Shop for lunch. That afternoon we were invited to join our hosts for a wedding reception. Weddings in Rwanda are ridiculous! There are 5 different ceremonies that go with a wedding and they happen within about 3 weeks of each other. The reception that we went to was pretty fancy to say the least. I won’t to in to too much detail about it except that it went on for ever and there was AMAZING traditional Rwandan dance and drumming. We were told that the dance troupe that was there was Rwanda’s best traditional dance troupe, and it showed!
Sunday morning we went to the English service at Vivante church and then went to visit two different memorial sites outside of Kigali. The first site that we went to was a church in the village of Ntarama where more than 5000 people were killed. The second one was at a church in the village of Nyamata. At Nyamata there were over 10,000 people who were killed in genocide. At both sites the people from the area fled to the churches for refuge as they had been doing ever since the first killings started in 1959. The militias and genocidal government caught on to this and used the churches to gather everyone together. At both sites as soon as the churches were full of people seeking refuge they were locked in and the militias were brought in to slaughter everyone trapped inside. The sites have been kept almost the same as the day that the killings happened, and at both sites there are remains of the victims out on display or in mass graves on site. Both sites are very graphic and are very heavy and emotionally difficult to see.
On Monday we headed back to Kayonza for the day to help finish up with some of the building. We spent the day throwing mud on the walls, preparing them to be covered with concrete. We didn’t really do too much that day... we ran out of water pretty early on in the afternoon, so for the last few hours that we were there we pretty much just sat around and played with the village kids, which was just fine for us too! Tomorrow we will be going back to check out the, hopefully, final product. Yesterday the floors and outside walls were being done and today the doors and windows should have been put in, so we’re all hoping that the house is done tomorrow when we get there!
Tuesday was a really good day too! We spent the morning at Kigali’s city market buying and bartering for food for 83 households. The market was crazy, bartering for prices that are fair and not doubled because we’re white, porters fighting over who got to carry our 65 Kg bags across the market to the van, everyone trying to sell us things and yelling to us as we walked by... good times!! All of this food was then divided up and we took it with us when we visited Ubuzima. Ubuzima is a support group run by Vivante for people with HIV/AIDS. We spent an afternoon with the group, getting to know them, helping with a craft project they’re working on to gain income and just being with them helping to break down the huge stigmas around HIV in this area. After spending time with the Ubuzima group we went and met the family of a friend who has been in Canada on and off for the last couple of years. Fabrice has an amazing story with a lot of amazing people in it, and it was awesome to be able to met his mom and brothers here in Kigali after getting to know him over the last few years in Canada.
Wednesday was actually really laid back and relaxed. We took the morning to go shopping at an artisan’s market. As I’m sure a lot of you know, I’ve been collecting masks for the last 8-ish years... I was in heaven! I did really good and got some really good deals, and one not so good deal, and left the market with 5 masks!! Two of them came together in a set, so it’s not really as crazy as it sounds... but still... 5! Awesome. In the afternoon we loaded up some Jeeps and headed to Kibuye. Kibuye is a town on the edge of Lake Kivu in Western Provence. Just over the lake from Kibuye is DR Congo. It was a 3 hour long drive to get out there, so the rest of the evening was just spent enjoying each other’s company around the dinner table while waiting a couple of hours for our food. A few of us hung out and talked for a while after we did finally get our food before heading to bed. OH! That’s something crazy that’s been happening this trip... I’ve actually been going to bed at a “normal” time!! There have been many nights that I can’t sleep well, but I think I’ve been in bed by midnight every night but one!
Today we got up to a VERY strange sight... RAIN! In the middle of the dry season! It poured almost the whole time we were eating breakfast and for about an hour after that. The staff at the guest house we were staying at, which was beautiful!! And not the hotel that we usually stay at in Kibuye... but they said that it’s the first rain they’ve had for a couple of months now, and no one was expecting any rain in any part of the country until the end of August. But yeah, the rain actually was really nice. The country usually stays really green the whole dry season anyways, but on top of all the green there is a layer of red dust. Because of the rain today, the dust was washed away and kept down. Instead of things being very dusty with wind blowing it everywhere, it was actually really nice.
So anyways, beside the rain it was a really cool day. We went up to Kiziba Refugee Camp just outside of Kibuye. This was my third time going up to Kiziba. As soon as our Jeeps stopped I was greeted by about 5 of the members of the youth team that we work with who recognized me as the Jeeps were pulling in. It was awesome to see all of them again and hear about all the projects and things that the group has been doing over the last 2 years. We met shortly with the leaders of the youth team and then split up and walked through the camp. We were fist shown the two new projects that the group has started. 2 years ago, with money from the Ride for Refugees, my team brought the youth team a generator. Since then they have set up a barber shop and a cell phone charging station. Before this the people from the camp had to walk for hours down the mountain in to Kibuye, pay to charge their phone, and then walk for hours back up to the camp. Now the youth team charge less than what people paid in town and charge phones right in the camp. With the money that they make with the barber shop and cell phone charging they have started a community garden where they grown food to share with people in the camp who don’t have money to eat the days that the UN food rations run out. They are also using the money to fund many different programs with the youth in the camp around sports, recreation and education. During our tour we saw the camp’s market, the home of our tour guide, the primary school where she works, the football (soccer) field and climbed to the highest peak in the camp for an overview of the camp where 20,000 Congolese refugees have been living for the last 13 years.
One thing that I have noticed in myself this trip is that things aren’t really hitting me like that have in the past. Being in a refugee camp my first year in Rwanda was a very significant thing. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing for not, but this time being in the camp was more familiar and routine. In a way I think that this is because I have a very good understand now of life in the camp, I’ve seen the positive things that have happened within the youth group, I know people there who have been becoming friends over the last years. On the other hand, I know that with all the reading and research I’ve been doing the last few years I’ve become very desensitized. There is not a lot that I’ve seen this trip that has hit me like it has in the past. I’ve seen almost all of it already, there’s not that shock factor that there has been in the past. I’m not sure yet if this is something that I should be worried about or not. It’s not like I’m becoming less sensitive or caring about things, actually I kind of feel like I’m able to get past the shock of things now and build a better understanding and better relationships. There are upsides and downsides to it I guess.
Anyways, my time in Rwanda this time around is very quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow is our last full day here and it feels like we just arrived a couple of days ago. Tomorrow will be a very full day. We will be helping out with a meal for the street kids in the morning and during that time I’ll be going off to find Manu’s parents to finally meet them and work out getting him in to school when the new school year starts in January. In the afternoon we are driving back out to Kayonza to see the finished house and then coming back to Kigali for our team debrief. Once we get all of that done (which I have the feeling we won’t get all of that done in one day) we will be celebrating our host Serge’s birthday! It should be an awesome evening, out for a good meal and hanging out with everyone before we pack up and leave for the airport on Saturday morning. BAH! I can’t believe we are leaving already!! But I am excited for what’s coming up too!! Paris should be a lot of fun with the team for two days after we leave Kigali. We already checked out some of the city on our layover two weeks ago, so I think we have a pretty good idea of what we want to do with our two days there. At the end of those two days I’ll be sending the team back home and then jumping on a different plane heading the opposite way to Sarajevo, Bosnia! I’ve got a week of puttering around Bosnia with nothing really planned yet but I have a few ideas of things I want to do... but that’ll be their own blog posts next week... who knows, maybe one of them will be from Kosovo? And then finally after Sarajevo I get to go visit one of my best friends in Manila, Philippines! I can’t wait to finally see John again, and this time in one of his favourite places where he has been working with ITeams since November. Can’t wait!!... So much awesome stuff coming up, but on the other hand it sucks hard core that I’m almost done here in Rwanda again. I love it here so much... two weeks just isn’t enough!
Well, that was a monster post, but I hope that it was interesting enough to keep you reading! We’ll see if I get another chance before we leave Rwanda to post again, but if not... I’ll catch up with you in Europe!!
~Mike
...favourite quotes from the kids at Kiziba:
-“Good morning, Teacher.” (at 3pm)
-“What is my name?” ...how should I know that?!?
-“Where do you from?”
-“Give me money!”
-“Give me pen!”
-“What year are you?”
-“Give me my water!”
-“What this?” ...while constantly pulling my shirt sleeves up to look at my tattoos and trying to rub them off...
*All prizes must be purchased with your own money, on your own time. Mike Goerz is not responsible for the lack of tangible prizes. No purchase necessary, prizes costing money may be swapped for a self given high five or pat on the back.
Hey all, so first I have to apologise to anyone who actually checks this blog out regularly... it’s been a few days since I’ve had time to write anything... sorry! Also, this post is very very long, so if you finish it all, you win a prize!*
We’ve had a really busy, but awesome last few days. Last time I updated we had just come back from our week in Kayonza building the mud house. We came back to Kigali for the weekend and had a pretty awesome time. On Saturday we had the morning to ourselves to hang out downtown Kigali, check out some shops, a lot of the girls bought gitange (African print material) and then we all hung out at Bourbon Coffee Shop for lunch. That afternoon we were invited to join our hosts for a wedding reception. Weddings in Rwanda are ridiculous! There are 5 different ceremonies that go with a wedding and they happen within about 3 weeks of each other. The reception that we went to was pretty fancy to say the least. I won’t to in to too much detail about it except that it went on for ever and there was AMAZING traditional Rwandan dance and drumming. We were told that the dance troupe that was there was Rwanda’s best traditional dance troupe, and it showed!
Sunday morning we went to the English service at Vivante church and then went to visit two different memorial sites outside of Kigali. The first site that we went to was a church in the village of Ntarama where more than 5000 people were killed. The second one was at a church in the village of Nyamata. At Nyamata there were over 10,000 people who were killed in genocide. At both sites the people from the area fled to the churches for refuge as they had been doing ever since the first killings started in 1959. The militias and genocidal government caught on to this and used the churches to gather everyone together. At both sites as soon as the churches were full of people seeking refuge they were locked in and the militias were brought in to slaughter everyone trapped inside. The sites have been kept almost the same as the day that the killings happened, and at both sites there are remains of the victims out on display or in mass graves on site. Both sites are very graphic and are very heavy and emotionally difficult to see.
On Monday we headed back to Kayonza for the day to help finish up with some of the building. We spent the day throwing mud on the walls, preparing them to be covered with concrete. We didn’t really do too much that day... we ran out of water pretty early on in the afternoon, so for the last few hours that we were there we pretty much just sat around and played with the village kids, which was just fine for us too! Tomorrow we will be going back to check out the, hopefully, final product. Yesterday the floors and outside walls were being done and today the doors and windows should have been put in, so we’re all hoping that the house is done tomorrow when we get there!
Tuesday was a really good day too! We spent the morning at Kigali’s city market buying and bartering for food for 83 households. The market was crazy, bartering for prices that are fair and not doubled because we’re white, porters fighting over who got to carry our 65 Kg bags across the market to the van, everyone trying to sell us things and yelling to us as we walked by... good times!! All of this food was then divided up and we took it with us when we visited Ubuzima. Ubuzima is a support group run by Vivante for people with HIV/AIDS. We spent an afternoon with the group, getting to know them, helping with a craft project they’re working on to gain income and just being with them helping to break down the huge stigmas around HIV in this area. After spending time with the Ubuzima group we went and met the family of a friend who has been in Canada on and off for the last couple of years. Fabrice has an amazing story with a lot of amazing people in it, and it was awesome to be able to met his mom and brothers here in Kigali after getting to know him over the last few years in Canada.
Wednesday was actually really laid back and relaxed. We took the morning to go shopping at an artisan’s market. As I’m sure a lot of you know, I’ve been collecting masks for the last 8-ish years... I was in heaven! I did really good and got some really good deals, and one not so good deal, and left the market with 5 masks!! Two of them came together in a set, so it’s not really as crazy as it sounds... but still... 5! Awesome. In the afternoon we loaded up some Jeeps and headed to Kibuye. Kibuye is a town on the edge of Lake Kivu in Western Provence. Just over the lake from Kibuye is DR Congo. It was a 3 hour long drive to get out there, so the rest of the evening was just spent enjoying each other’s company around the dinner table while waiting a couple of hours for our food. A few of us hung out and talked for a while after we did finally get our food before heading to bed. OH! That’s something crazy that’s been happening this trip... I’ve actually been going to bed at a “normal” time!! There have been many nights that I can’t sleep well, but I think I’ve been in bed by midnight every night but one!
Today we got up to a VERY strange sight... RAIN! In the middle of the dry season! It poured almost the whole time we were eating breakfast and for about an hour after that. The staff at the guest house we were staying at, which was beautiful!! And not the hotel that we usually stay at in Kibuye... but they said that it’s the first rain they’ve had for a couple of months now, and no one was expecting any rain in any part of the country until the end of August. But yeah, the rain actually was really nice. The country usually stays really green the whole dry season anyways, but on top of all the green there is a layer of red dust. Because of the rain today, the dust was washed away and kept down. Instead of things being very dusty with wind blowing it everywhere, it was actually really nice.
So anyways, beside the rain it was a really cool day. We went up to Kiziba Refugee Camp just outside of Kibuye. This was my third time going up to Kiziba. As soon as our Jeeps stopped I was greeted by about 5 of the members of the youth team that we work with who recognized me as the Jeeps were pulling in. It was awesome to see all of them again and hear about all the projects and things that the group has been doing over the last 2 years. We met shortly with the leaders of the youth team and then split up and walked through the camp. We were fist shown the two new projects that the group has started. 2 years ago, with money from the Ride for Refugees, my team brought the youth team a generator. Since then they have set up a barber shop and a cell phone charging station. Before this the people from the camp had to walk for hours down the mountain in to Kibuye, pay to charge their phone, and then walk for hours back up to the camp. Now the youth team charge less than what people paid in town and charge phones right in the camp. With the money that they make with the barber shop and cell phone charging they have started a community garden where they grown food to share with people in the camp who don’t have money to eat the days that the UN food rations run out. They are also using the money to fund many different programs with the youth in the camp around sports, recreation and education. During our tour we saw the camp’s market, the home of our tour guide, the primary school where she works, the football (soccer) field and climbed to the highest peak in the camp for an overview of the camp where 20,000 Congolese refugees have been living for the last 13 years.
One thing that I have noticed in myself this trip is that things aren’t really hitting me like that have in the past. Being in a refugee camp my first year in Rwanda was a very significant thing. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing for not, but this time being in the camp was more familiar and routine. In a way I think that this is because I have a very good understand now of life in the camp, I’ve seen the positive things that have happened within the youth group, I know people there who have been becoming friends over the last years. On the other hand, I know that with all the reading and research I’ve been doing the last few years I’ve become very desensitized. There is not a lot that I’ve seen this trip that has hit me like it has in the past. I’ve seen almost all of it already, there’s not that shock factor that there has been in the past. I’m not sure yet if this is something that I should be worried about or not. It’s not like I’m becoming less sensitive or caring about things, actually I kind of feel like I’m able to get past the shock of things now and build a better understanding and better relationships. There are upsides and downsides to it I guess.
Anyways, my time in Rwanda this time around is very quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow is our last full day here and it feels like we just arrived a couple of days ago. Tomorrow will be a very full day. We will be helping out with a meal for the street kids in the morning and during that time I’ll be going off to find Manu’s parents to finally meet them and work out getting him in to school when the new school year starts in January. In the afternoon we are driving back out to Kayonza to see the finished house and then coming back to Kigali for our team debrief. Once we get all of that done (which I have the feeling we won’t get all of that done in one day) we will be celebrating our host Serge’s birthday! It should be an awesome evening, out for a good meal and hanging out with everyone before we pack up and leave for the airport on Saturday morning. BAH! I can’t believe we are leaving already!! But I am excited for what’s coming up too!! Paris should be a lot of fun with the team for two days after we leave Kigali. We already checked out some of the city on our layover two weeks ago, so I think we have a pretty good idea of what we want to do with our two days there. At the end of those two days I’ll be sending the team back home and then jumping on a different plane heading the opposite way to Sarajevo, Bosnia! I’ve got a week of puttering around Bosnia with nothing really planned yet but I have a few ideas of things I want to do... but that’ll be their own blog posts next week... who knows, maybe one of them will be from Kosovo? And then finally after Sarajevo I get to go visit one of my best friends in Manila, Philippines! I can’t wait to finally see John again, and this time in one of his favourite places where he has been working with ITeams since November. Can’t wait!!... So much awesome stuff coming up, but on the other hand it sucks hard core that I’m almost done here in Rwanda again. I love it here so much... two weeks just isn’t enough!
Well, that was a monster post, but I hope that it was interesting enough to keep you reading! We’ll see if I get another chance before we leave Rwanda to post again, but if not... I’ll catch up with you in Europe!!
~Mike
...favourite quotes from the kids at Kiziba:
-“Good morning, Teacher.” (at 3pm)
-“What is my name?” ...how should I know that?!?
-“Where do you from?”
-“Give me money!”
-“Give me pen!”
-“What year are you?”
-“Give me my water!”
-“What this?” ...while constantly pulling my shirt sleeves up to look at my tattoos and trying to rub them off...
*All prizes must be purchased with your own money, on your own time. Mike Goerz is not responsible for the lack of tangible prizes. No purchase necessary, prizes costing money may be swapped for a self given high five or pat on the back.
Kayonza, Kigali, Kibuye and Kiziba
Sorry, this was written two days ago, but I just got internet now!!
Hey all, so first I have to apologise to anyone who actually checks this blog out regularly... it’s been a few days since I’ve had time to write anything... sorry! Also, this post is very very long, so if you finish it all, you win a prize!*
We’ve had a really busy, but awesome last few days. Last time I updated we had just come back from our week in Kayonza building the mud house. We came back to Kigali for the weekend and had a pretty awesome time. On Saturday we had the morning to ourselves to hang out downtown Kigali, check out some shops, a lot of the girls bought gitange (African print material) and then we all hung out at Bourbon Coffee Shop for lunch. That afternoon we were invited to join our hosts for a wedding reception. Weddings in Rwanda are ridiculous! There are 5 different ceremonies that go with a wedding and they happen within about 3 weeks of each other. The reception that we went to was pretty fancy to say the least. I won’t to in to too much detail about it except that it went on for ever and there was AMAZING traditional Rwandan dance and drumming. We were told that the dance troupe that was there was Rwanda’s best traditional dance troupe, and it showed!
Sunday morning we went to the English service at Vivante church and then went to visit two different memorial sites outside of Kigali. The first site that we went to was a church in the village of Ntarama where more than 5000 people were killed. The second one was at a church in the village of Nyamata. At Nyamata there were over 10,000 people who were killed in genocide. At both sites the people from the area fled to the churches for refuge as they had been doing ever since the first killings started in 1959. The militias and genocidal government caught on to this and used the churches to gather everyone together. At both sites as soon as the churches were full of people seeking refuge they were locked in and the militias were brought in to slaughter everyone trapped inside. The sites have been kept almost the same as the day that the killings happened, and at both sites there are remains of the victims out on display or in mass graves on site. Both sites are very graphic and are very heavy and emotionally difficult to see.
On Monday we headed back to Kayonza for the day to help finish up with some of the building. We spent the day throwing mud on the walls, preparing them to be covered with concrete. We didn’t really do too much that day... we ran out of water pretty early on in the afternoon, so for the last few hours that we were there we pretty much just sat around and played with the village kids, which was just fine for us too! Tomorrow we will be going back to check out the, hopefully, final product. Yesterday the floors and outside walls were being done and today the doors and windows should have been put in, so we’re all hoping that the house is done tomorrow when we get there!
Tuesday was a really good day too! We spent the morning at Kigali’s city market buying and bartering for food for 83 households. The market was crazy, bartering for prices that are fair and not doubled because we’re white, porters fighting over who got to carry our 65 Kg bags across the market to the van, everyone trying to sell us things and yelling to us as we walked by... good times!! All of this food was then divided up and we took it with us when we visited Ubuzima. Ubuzima is a support group run by Vivante for people with HIV/AIDS. We spent an afternoon with the group, getting to know them, helping with a craft project they’re working on to gain income and just being with them helping to break down the huge stigmas around HIV in this area. After spending time with the Ubuzima group we went and met the family of a friend who has been in Canada on and off for the last couple of years. Fabrice has an amazing story with a lot of amazing people in it, and it was awesome to be able to met his mom and brothers here in Kigali after getting to know him over the last few years in Canada.
Wednesday was actually really laid back and relaxed. We took the morning to go shopping at an artisan’s market. As I’m sure a lot of you know, I’ve been collecting masks for the last 8-ish years... I was in heaven! I did really good and got some really good deals, and one not so good deal, and left the market with 5 masks!! Two of them came together in a set, so it’s not really as crazy as it sounds... but still... 5! Awesome. In the afternoon we loaded up some Jeeps and headed to Kibuye. Kibuye is a town on the edge of Lake Kivu in Western Provence. Just over the lake from Kibuye is DR Congo. It was a 3 hour long drive to get out there, so the rest of the evening was just spent enjoying each other’s company around the dinner table while waiting a couple of hours for our food. A few of us hung out and talked for a while after we did finally get our food before heading to bed. OH! That’s something crazy that’s been happening this trip... I’ve actually been going to bed at a “normal” time!! There have been many nights that I can’t sleep well, but I think I’ve been in bed by midnight every night but one!
Today we got up to a VERY strange sight... RAIN! In the middle of the dry season! It poured almost the whole time we were eating breakfast and for about an hour after that. The staff at the guest house we were staying at, which was beautiful!! And not the hotel that we usually stay at in Kibuye... but they said that it’s the first rain they’ve had for a couple of months now, and no one was expecting any rain in any part of the country until the end of August. But yeah, the rain actually was really nice. The country usually stays really green the whole dry season anyways, but on top of all the green there is a layer of red dust. Because of the rain today, the dust was washed away and kept down. Instead of things being very dusty with wind blowing it everywhere, it was actually really nice.
So anyways, beside the rain it was a really cool day. We went up to Kiziba Refugee Camp just outside of Kibuye. This was my third time going up to Kiziba. As soon as our Jeeps stopped I was greeted by about 5 of the members of the youth team that we work with who recognized me as the Jeeps were pulling in. It was awesome to see all of them again and hear about all the projects and things that the group has been doing over the last 2 years. We met shortly with the leaders of the youth team and then split up and walked through the camp. We were fist shown the two new projects that the group has started. 2 years ago, with money from the Ride for Refugees, my team brought the youth team a generator. Since then they have set up a barber shop and a cell phone charging station. Before this the people from the camp had to walk for hours down the mountain in to Kibuye, pay to charge their phone, and then walk for hours back up to the camp. Now the youth team charge less than what people paid in town and charge phones right in the camp. With the money that they make with the barber shop and cell phone charging they have started a community garden where they grown food to share with people in the camp who don’t have money to eat the days that the UN food rations run out. They are also using the money to fund many different programs with the youth in the camp around sports, recreation and education. During our tour we saw the camp’s market, the home of our tour guide, the primary school where she works, the football (soccer) field and climbed to the highest peak in the camp for an overview of the camp where 20,000 Congolese refugees have been living for the last 13 years.
One thing that I have noticed in myself this trip is that things aren’t really hitting me like that have in the past. Being in a refugee camp my first year in Rwanda was a very significant thing. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing for not, but this time being in the camp was more familiar and routine. In a way I think that this is because I have a very good understand now of life in the camp, I’ve seen the positive things that have happened within the youth group, I know people there who have been becoming friends over the last years. On the other hand, I know that with all the reading and research I’ve been doing the last few years I’ve become very desensitized. There is not a lot that I’ve seen this trip that has hit me like it has in the past. I’ve seen almost all of it already, there’s not that shock factor that there has been in the past. I’m not sure yet if this is something that I should be worried about or not. It’s not like I’m becoming less sensitive or caring about things, actually I kind of feel like I’m able to get past the shock of things now and build a better understanding and better relationships. There are upsides and downsides to it I guess.
Anyways, my time in Rwanda this time around is very quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow is our last full day here and it feels like we just arrived a couple of days ago. Tomorrow will be a very full day. We will be helping out with a meal for the street kids in the morning and during that time I’ll be going off to find Manu’s parents to finally meet them and work out getting him in to school when the new school year starts in January. In the afternoon we are driving back out to Kayonza to see the finished house and then coming back to Kigali for our team debrief. Once we get all of that done (which I have the feeling we won’t get all of that done in one day) we will be celebrating our host Serge’s birthday! It should be an awesome evening, out for a good meal and hanging out with everyone before we pack up and leave for the airport on Saturday morning. BAH! I can’t believe we are leaving already!! But I am excited for what’s coming up too!! Paris should be a lot of fun with the team for two days after we leave Kigali. We already checked out some of the city on our layover two weeks ago, so I think we have a pretty good idea of what we want to do with our two days there. At the end of those two days I’ll be sending the team back home and then jumping on a different plane heading the opposite way to Sarajevo, Bosnia! I’ve got a week of puttering around Bosnia with nothing really planned yet but I have a few ideas of things I want to do... but that’ll be their own blog posts next week... who knows, maybe one of them will be from Kosovo? And then finally after Sarajevo I get to go visit one of my best friends in Manila, Philippines! I can’t wait to finally see John again, and this time in one of his favourite places where he has been working with ITeams since November. Can’t wait!!... So much awesome stuff coming up, but on the other hand it sucks hard core that I’m almost done here in Rwanda again. I love it here so much... two weeks just isn’t enough!
Well, that was a monster post, but I hope that it was interesting enough to keep you reading! We’ll see if I get another chance before we leave Rwanda to post again, but if not... I’ll catch up with you in Europe!!
~Mike
...favourite quotes from the kids at Kiziba:
-“Good morning, Teacher.” (at 3pm)
-“What is my name?” ...how should I know that?!?
-“Where do you from?”
-“Give me money!”
-“Give me pen!”
-“What year are you?”
-“Give me my water!”
-“What this?” ...while constantly pulling my shirt sleeves up to look at my tattoos and trying to rub them off...
*All prizes must be purchased with your own money, on your own time. Mike Goerz is not responsible for the lack of tangible prizes. No purchase necessary, prizes costing money may be swapped for a self given high five or pat on the back.
Hey all, so first I have to apologise to anyone who actually checks this blog out regularly... it’s been a few days since I’ve had time to write anything... sorry! Also, this post is very very long, so if you finish it all, you win a prize!*
We’ve had a really busy, but awesome last few days. Last time I updated we had just come back from our week in Kayonza building the mud house. We came back to Kigali for the weekend and had a pretty awesome time. On Saturday we had the morning to ourselves to hang out downtown Kigali, check out some shops, a lot of the girls bought gitange (African print material) and then we all hung out at Bourbon Coffee Shop for lunch. That afternoon we were invited to join our hosts for a wedding reception. Weddings in Rwanda are ridiculous! There are 5 different ceremonies that go with a wedding and they happen within about 3 weeks of each other. The reception that we went to was pretty fancy to say the least. I won’t to in to too much detail about it except that it went on for ever and there was AMAZING traditional Rwandan dance and drumming. We were told that the dance troupe that was there was Rwanda’s best traditional dance troupe, and it showed!
Sunday morning we went to the English service at Vivante church and then went to visit two different memorial sites outside of Kigali. The first site that we went to was a church in the village of Ntarama where more than 5000 people were killed. The second one was at a church in the village of Nyamata. At Nyamata there were over 10,000 people who were killed in genocide. At both sites the people from the area fled to the churches for refuge as they had been doing ever since the first killings started in 1959. The militias and genocidal government caught on to this and used the churches to gather everyone together. At both sites as soon as the churches were full of people seeking refuge they were locked in and the militias were brought in to slaughter everyone trapped inside. The sites have been kept almost the same as the day that the killings happened, and at both sites there are remains of the victims out on display or in mass graves on site. Both sites are very graphic and are very heavy and emotionally difficult to see.
On Monday we headed back to Kayonza for the day to help finish up with some of the building. We spent the day throwing mud on the walls, preparing them to be covered with concrete. We didn’t really do too much that day... we ran out of water pretty early on in the afternoon, so for the last few hours that we were there we pretty much just sat around and played with the village kids, which was just fine for us too! Tomorrow we will be going back to check out the, hopefully, final product. Yesterday the floors and outside walls were being done and today the doors and windows should have been put in, so we’re all hoping that the house is done tomorrow when we get there!
Tuesday was a really good day too! We spent the morning at Kigali’s city market buying and bartering for food for 83 households. The market was crazy, bartering for prices that are fair and not doubled because we’re white, porters fighting over who got to carry our 65 Kg bags across the market to the van, everyone trying to sell us things and yelling to us as we walked by... good times!! All of this food was then divided up and we took it with us when we visited Ubuzima. Ubuzima is a support group run by Vivante for people with HIV/AIDS. We spent an afternoon with the group, getting to know them, helping with a craft project they’re working on to gain income and just being with them helping to break down the huge stigmas around HIV in this area. After spending time with the Ubuzima group we went and met the family of a friend who has been in Canada on and off for the last couple of years. Fabrice has an amazing story with a lot of amazing people in it, and it was awesome to be able to met his mom and brothers here in Kigali after getting to know him over the last few years in Canada.
Wednesday was actually really laid back and relaxed. We took the morning to go shopping at an artisan’s market. As I’m sure a lot of you know, I’ve been collecting masks for the last 8-ish years... I was in heaven! I did really good and got some really good deals, and one not so good deal, and left the market with 5 masks!! Two of them came together in a set, so it’s not really as crazy as it sounds... but still... 5! Awesome. In the afternoon we loaded up some Jeeps and headed to Kibuye. Kibuye is a town on the edge of Lake Kivu in Western Provence. Just over the lake from Kibuye is DR Congo. It was a 3 hour long drive to get out there, so the rest of the evening was just spent enjoying each other’s company around the dinner table while waiting a couple of hours for our food. A few of us hung out and talked for a while after we did finally get our food before heading to bed. OH! That’s something crazy that’s been happening this trip... I’ve actually been going to bed at a “normal” time!! There have been many nights that I can’t sleep well, but I think I’ve been in bed by midnight every night but one!
Today we got up to a VERY strange sight... RAIN! In the middle of the dry season! It poured almost the whole time we were eating breakfast and for about an hour after that. The staff at the guest house we were staying at, which was beautiful!! And not the hotel that we usually stay at in Kibuye... but they said that it’s the first rain they’ve had for a couple of months now, and no one was expecting any rain in any part of the country until the end of August. But yeah, the rain actually was really nice. The country usually stays really green the whole dry season anyways, but on top of all the green there is a layer of red dust. Because of the rain today, the dust was washed away and kept down. Instead of things being very dusty with wind blowing it everywhere, it was actually really nice.
So anyways, beside the rain it was a really cool day. We went up to Kiziba Refugee Camp just outside of Kibuye. This was my third time going up to Kiziba. As soon as our Jeeps stopped I was greeted by about 5 of the members of the youth team that we work with who recognized me as the Jeeps were pulling in. It was awesome to see all of them again and hear about all the projects and things that the group has been doing over the last 2 years. We met shortly with the leaders of the youth team and then split up and walked through the camp. We were fist shown the two new projects that the group has started. 2 years ago, with money from the Ride for Refugees, my team brought the youth team a generator. Since then they have set up a barber shop and a cell phone charging station. Before this the people from the camp had to walk for hours down the mountain in to Kibuye, pay to charge their phone, and then walk for hours back up to the camp. Now the youth team charge less than what people paid in town and charge phones right in the camp. With the money that they make with the barber shop and cell phone charging they have started a community garden where they grown food to share with people in the camp who don’t have money to eat the days that the UN food rations run out. They are also using the money to fund many different programs with the youth in the camp around sports, recreation and education. During our tour we saw the camp’s market, the home of our tour guide, the primary school where she works, the football (soccer) field and climbed to the highest peak in the camp for an overview of the camp where 20,000 Congolese refugees have been living for the last 13 years.
One thing that I have noticed in myself this trip is that things aren’t really hitting me like that have in the past. Being in a refugee camp my first year in Rwanda was a very significant thing. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing for not, but this time being in the camp was more familiar and routine. In a way I think that this is because I have a very good understand now of life in the camp, I’ve seen the positive things that have happened within the youth group, I know people there who have been becoming friends over the last years. On the other hand, I know that with all the reading and research I’ve been doing the last few years I’ve become very desensitized. There is not a lot that I’ve seen this trip that has hit me like it has in the past. I’ve seen almost all of it already, there’s not that shock factor that there has been in the past. I’m not sure yet if this is something that I should be worried about or not. It’s not like I’m becoming less sensitive or caring about things, actually I kind of feel like I’m able to get past the shock of things now and build a better understanding and better relationships. There are upsides and downsides to it I guess.
Anyways, my time in Rwanda this time around is very quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow is our last full day here and it feels like we just arrived a couple of days ago. Tomorrow will be a very full day. We will be helping out with a meal for the street kids in the morning and during that time I’ll be going off to find Manu’s parents to finally meet them and work out getting him in to school when the new school year starts in January. In the afternoon we are driving back out to Kayonza to see the finished house and then coming back to Kigali for our team debrief. Once we get all of that done (which I have the feeling we won’t get all of that done in one day) we will be celebrating our host Serge’s birthday! It should be an awesome evening, out for a good meal and hanging out with everyone before we pack up and leave for the airport on Saturday morning. BAH! I can’t believe we are leaving already!! But I am excited for what’s coming up too!! Paris should be a lot of fun with the team for two days after we leave Kigali. We already checked out some of the city on our layover two weeks ago, so I think we have a pretty good idea of what we want to do with our two days there. At the end of those two days I’ll be sending the team back home and then jumping on a different plane heading the opposite way to Sarajevo, Bosnia! I’ve got a week of puttering around Bosnia with nothing really planned yet but I have a few ideas of things I want to do... but that’ll be their own blog posts next week... who knows, maybe one of them will be from Kosovo? And then finally after Sarajevo I get to go visit one of my best friends in Manila, Philippines! I can’t wait to finally see John again, and this time in one of his favourite places where he has been working with ITeams since November. Can’t wait!!... So much awesome stuff coming up, but on the other hand it sucks hard core that I’m almost done here in Rwanda again. I love it here so much... two weeks just isn’t enough!
Well, that was a monster post, but I hope that it was interesting enough to keep you reading! We’ll see if I get another chance before we leave Rwanda to post again, but if not... I’ll catch up with you in Europe!!
~Mike
...favourite quotes from the kids at Kiziba:
-“Good morning, Teacher.” (at 3pm)
-“What is my name?” ...how should I know that?!?
-“Where do you from?”
-“Give me money!”
-“Give me pen!”
-“What year are you?”
-“Give me my water!”
-“What this?” ...while constantly pulling my shirt sleeves up to look at my tattoos and trying to rub them off...
*All prizes must be purchased with your own money, on your own time. Mike Goerz is not responsible for the lack of tangible prizes. No purchase necessary, prizes costing money may be swapped for a self given high five or pat on the back.
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