First Day of Work

I am almost finished with my first day in the office. I have met about 25 people here- physicians, epidemiologists, analysts, public health officers, administrative assistants, etc. I've been in two meetings today- budget planning and personnel strategic planning. I get the sense there are two overarching teams: management and field technical experts. Those in the field go out each week to visit partnering health clinics around Rwanda and provide treatment as well as provide counseling and education. Those on the management team spend most of the time here in the office working on collaborations between the US government agencies here, the Rwandan government, and the US Ambassador. Including divvying up the budget, deciding new priority areas for funding, determining how to identify and secure new partners, etc. I think I will be spending 2/3 of my time on management issues, and 1/3 on field issues. Many of the topics and systems here are very similar to what I am familiar with at NIH- budget, contracts, grants, etc. However, my head is spinning with a whole new list of acronyms I must learn, and a new disease area! Even before I met my supervisor Daniel I heard from everyone how lucky I am to work with him, that I would really like him, and I can see why. He is originally from Wisconsin and has lived in Africa for the last 11 years. He started in the peace corps and has been in Rwanda for the past 3.5 years. He loves it here and says all of his good friends are Rwandan and he is very involved in the community. What I hear most about him is that he is kind and big-hearted.

Everyone here works from 8am-5:30pm everyday except Friday when they leave at 1pm- which means I will be getting up a little earlier than I usually do. Everything is so new and there is so much work to be done- I know it will be exciting to get going everyday. And as I've mentioned before, the sunny weather here is truly amazing (sun sets at 6pm) so there is a lot of incentive to get up early! We are in a building right next door to the US Embassy. I went there to get my ID and a briefing from the regional security officer. He was very nice. He compared Rwanda to Kansas- said there is very little crime here- at worst the cleaning staff will skim sugar from my sugar bowl. He encourages everyone to travel all over Rwanda and said it is very safe. I have to notify him if I leave Kigali, and fill out a form of where I am going and where I am staying. He made me feel very secure; it's good to be with the US Government here. He is originally from Ohio. We are not allowed to ride on motor taxis or travel to other cities after dark- not so much because of crime, more because of traffic accidents/bad lighting. We have a nice office with air conditioning, filtered water, close to restaurants, nice computers, fast Internet, and big windows. I can tell the team is made up of interesting, friendly, smart people. I went to lunch with a group from the office- we walked through the very busy downtown in Kigali (so many people!) to aDaniel's favorite restaurant which has a lunch buffet. Daniel goes here everyday, so he knows everyone there. The cost was about $3, and it was delicious. I avoided the salads for now- but ate some of the eggplant dish, bananas, avocados, tilapia in a tomato sauce, and some goat.

A driver and the office assistant helped me move from the hotel into my apartment this morning. It is really nice and very secure (guard 24/7) with a big porch, bedroom, lockable closets, full bath, kitchen, TV, phone, and fully furnished. Many of the people here for 2-year appointments have large, new, and sometimes lavish houses and 3-4 bedroom apartments. They seemed apologetic that my apartment has older kitchen appliances, one bedroom, etc. However, I am really happy with it and it has everything I need. My boxes arrived and were already dropped off in my apartment. I'll upload some pictures of the apartment tomorrow. After work Daniel is driving me to the supermarket and I've seen where I can walk to buy water, bread, vegetables, and even Chinese food. I'll have to see what I can cook and what is available at the market.