June 1st

I am laying in my bunk at Hope Haven School just outside of Kigali, Rwanda. We've been in Rwanda for a couple days now, and the difference between Uganda and Rwanda is drastic. The border crossing took much longer than we were hoping, but Jamie says it is because Rwanda is trying to become more efficient in their border crossing and monitoring. When we finally got through we went to the Fatima Pastoral Center Hotel in Musanzi, Rwanda. Not much was going on in Musanzi. The day we were there happened to be a national holiday of community service- so everything was closed and everyone was cleaning the streets and picking up trash and doing yardwork- something they do on the last Saturday of every month. You are required to shut down your business and participate for at least half a day, and you can clearly see how the city benefits.  (I was wondering about doing something like that in the United States, but then I realized everyone would cry "SOCIALISM!" and that wouldn't work at all.) This is one of the stark differences between Uganda and Rwanda: Rwanda is so much cleaner- they even have trash cans in the street- something you would not see in Kampala. 

Following Musanzi we drove to the SORWATHE Tea Plantation where we stayed the night. It was absolutely beautiful. And I have never seen so much tea. Tea  plants for miles and miles. We stayed at the top of the hill, and the view was breathtaking. There were also lots of mosquitos. Which decided my face would be a delicious midnight snack so the left side of my face looked like I had some strange disease for a couple days. Jamie commented today that it finally looks like it's going down. I woke up at the Tea Plantation yesterday with a cold. Nothing too horrible, but enough to make me wish I was in bed. We drove from SOWARTHE to Kigali yesterday, and again, the differences are drastic. There are sidewalks and street names and even stoplights. It's difficult to explain but even the feeling is different from Kampala. We are staying at the Hope Haven School which is a community school and currently has about 310 students. It is a beautiful school- and was started and funded by a couple from Colorado. They fed us gluten free pancakes this morning which was an absolute rare treat for Tavia and I. Susan, the woman from Colorado, is leading a tour of the school right now, but I'm in bed resting up for the remainder of the day. We are going to the genocide museum today, and then we have some time to ourselves in Kigali and then we're having one last group dinner. Mostly everyone is leaving tomorrow. Tavia and I and a few others are headed back to Entusi at Lake Bunyonyi tomorrow. I am very much hoping the wifi situation is solved. I am feeling a little homesick today- I think a combination of being actually sick and hearing everyone's exctement about leaving tomorrow. 

I am anxious to go to the museum today. I think it's going to be a heavy experience, particularly given this is such recent history- the genocide only happened 21 years ago. For more about the genocide, there's a first person account called Left To Tell which is supposed to be very informative and well written. There is also:

•   Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda Author: Romeo Dallaire and Samantha Power. An in- depth overview of the Rwandan genocide from the perspective of a United Nations official.

• We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories From Rwanda Author: Philip Gourevitch. Perspectives on the Rwandan genocide 

I have a suggested reading list all about Africa and development and aid if anyone is interested. I can upload it. 

We've had a lot more people and children asking us for money lately. It seems that, especially in the villages, one of the only English sentences people know besides "I am fine" is "Give me money." That's what they say. When we went to Bright's Village above Lake Bunyonyi the other day many of the kids clearly did not speak English but still managed, "give me money," "give me bag," "give me bottle." It makes me wonder if their parents are teaching them these sentences, and to what end? Are white people coming here and just giving children money? Probably. And then leaving feeling like they did something. Because what else can you do? That's what we're trying to figure out I guess. 

I havve no idea what the next month and a half is going to look like. I think we are likely staying at Entusi for the whole time, which will be nice to be in one place. But I don't yet know what our research project looks like, how we're going to do it, or how we're going to write the academic paper. Jamie says he would like us to get published from this experience. Which would be great. I know after that project we will help out with the Women's Leadership Conference at Entusi. And we have opportunities to go shadow a doctor at the hospital, a midwife, and a witch doctor in the village. I think we're just sort of going to be making this up as we go along. And then on July 13/14 we will leave Uganda for Arusha, Tanzania where we will start our individual travel. 

Africa is and isn't what I thought it would be. I wish I could elaborate more about that point but I'm finding it difficult to articulate. I think once we get settled more back at Entusi I will be able to string together more coherent thoughts. Probably not being on a cold medicine cocktail will be helpful too.