Last Hoorah in Bujumbura!

I was able to squeeze one last weekend international trip in before heading home to the States. Daniel, Kathie, Laura and I drove to Bujumbura, Burundi (6 hours from Kigali) Sat.-Mon. Bujumbura has some safety concerns so the American Embassy in Kigali only allows permission to travel there if driving in a two+ car convoy with a sattelite phone, first aid kit, and GPS system. We found that three other groups from our Embassy were driving, so we had a four car convoy and left very early Saturday morning.

The road was very curvy. We had multiple passengers suffering from car sickness, but thankfully I did well. This is common site of bicycles hanging on to the back of large trucks to get up the steep hills. This is so dangerous for them!

This was a welcome sign just over the border into Burundi. The border crossing was surprisingly easy and very well organized. We paid $20 for a 3 day Visa at the border. The hardest part was changing money with a chatoic group of Burundians swarming our car trying to offer us exchange rates. Burundi is primarily french speaking, although the local language is very similar to Kinyarwanda. I enjoyed working on my french more over the weekend. It is also known to have a higher rate of pick-pocketing, or people who reach in your car and try to take things. We did not have any trouble like that over the weekend though. As soon as we crossed the border some things seemed very different to us. The roads are not as nice as Rwanda; the weather was almost immmediately hotter; and the trees are different including tall palm trees and coconut trees.

We stayed at the Club du Lac- the nicest hotel in Bujumbura on Lake Tanganika.

We had a large group checking-in. I was especially impressed with one Embassy family who travelled with us and their 22-month old twins and older 4 year old son. Some of them got motion sickness and cried a lot of the way there, but the parents were upbeat and handled it with smiles!.

A breakfast buffet was included with our rooms which we enjoyed every morning.

Although the rooms were a little less than hoped for (mosquitos and bugs; no fans or A/C), the pool and beach felt worth the price. We immediately headed to the pool upon arrival.

The lake had a nice big beach, gusty wind, and waves.

We walked down the beach to the neighboring Bora Bora Club which is a lounge restaurant on a nice deck with a pretty pool.

We met up with other Kigali colleagues for a drink.

Kathie and I enjoyed trying their mojitos.

Daniel and Kathie lounging. After the Bora Bora club we all went to Botannica for dinner.

We explored the downtown area one day, and visited a craft market to check out the local crafts.

We had fun dancing at this bar- Havana on Saturday night.

Everyone enjoyed trying an Amstel Bock beer which is a local favorite and not available in Rwanda.

Two boys selling eggs and peanuts on the street.

I was told by a friend that we could not come to Buj without visiting the Musee Vivant (a small, low budget zoo) where we got to hold a snake.
There were chimpanzees in one cage.

There is an unusual and somewhat shocking option of having the guide feed a guinea pig to a leopard and a crocodile. I was not too keen on the idea, but we did see this happen while we were there.

I was a little concerned that the crocodiles were looking at us and seemed only to be kept away from us by a short cement wall!

The grounds also include a series of traditional Burundian huts so we of course posed for a photo.

On our last night there we strolled a little further down the beach to the Saga Beach where we heard live music. We stopped and ate some delicious fried fish with yummy sides.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Burundi Info and Recommendations:

$1 = roughly 1200 Burundian francs

Hotel Club Du Lac- +257 22 250 221

Other hotels: Botannica in town +257 22 228 873 or +257 22226792; Saga Beach next to Bora Bora)

Restaurants- Botannica, Tanganika, La Fantasia, Khana Kazana, Belvedere, Bora Bora, Resha Beach

Clubs- Havana, Toxic, Raggae Place

Activities- Buja Day Spa massage- +257 22 22 7000

Musee Vivant- crocodiles/leopard

Another visit to the villages

Francis invited me to join him on another Saturday drive, this time to visit villages near Butare in Southern Rwanda. We went to the Gisagara District and made various stops around Kigoma Sector and Kikongo and Kagusa villages.
I invited my colleague Kathie (left), who recently arrived in Rwanda but will be staying for at least two years. I wanted her to meet Francis in the hopes that I can continue to help him and stay in touch especially through her. We also brought Tom (right) with us, who randomly met Francis after finding his office when looking for help this week. Tom works for GE with an organization called ASSIST that provides medical equipment to Rwanda. He traveled here for two weeks arriving with defibrillators in his suitcases! He was thrilled to have this chance to go outside of Kigali and meet people. We also traveled with Damasen (middle), Francis' employee/supervisor for this Sector. He was very professional and obviously very involved in the work Francis has tasked him.

On our drive, we passed village after village holding their elections for local representatives. Francis and Damasen described the representatives as "wise men" of the village, while the newspaper described them as Cell Executive Committees. I learned that each village must elect at least one woman on this 5-person committee, which then accounts for 30 % representation of women in Rwanda as required by law. Damansen described one village in his sector having ten people campaigning for the five committee spots. Each candidate gives a 10-minute speech to the village, and then villagers stand behind the person they want to pick. We joked about how this system eliminates any problems with hanging Chads. Their term is five years, and only one term is allowed per person. Francis said often professors, teachers, and pastors are chosen because of their experience with organizing the community. They are referred to as wise people because they must be clever to be chosen for the position.

At one point, we were slowly following a cow repeatedly crossing in front of us. Cows are considered very important here, it would be really bad to hit one!

We first stopped to see rice fields near the Kikongo village. In 2008 the Mosaic Foundation provided funding for villagers to form cooperatives and buy 14 fields to be shared and cultivated for food and income. Each field costs about $300 and the cost of maintaining it for one year is another $300-400. There was a small stream running through the fields. I learned later that many people from the village come here for their main source of water, which is not good because it is pretty dirty!

We walked around the fields and talked about how many people it takes to cultivate a field with few tools, how they carry the rice plants on their heads when it is ready (without bikes or wheelbarrels), and how they water the fields with buckets (no irrigation system or pumps).

The field had healthy rice plants growing, but also many weeds (since there is no fertilizer or process to rid these besides people pulling them). The ground was extremely dry. I thought many rice fields are submerged in water, but I guess it is not required with all varieties.

We drove on dusty roads through villages, and Francis often described the road as their "highway".

Francis pointed out that he has targeted these villages primarily because people are very spread out on rough and dry terrain. He feels this is a particularly remote area where not many development groups come to visit.

We stopped in the Kigoma village at a building created by Mosaic Foundation for their literacy and other community programs. People were gathered and singing for our arrival. They were extremely joyful in their singing.

We talked with them for about two hours. We each gave a short speech about why we were there, and shared some positive messages. They told us about their hardships with lack of clean water; difficulty getting to the health clinic; lack of money to buy health insurance; the need for more land for planting soy beans; and more safe, clean houses for the poorest in their village. Much of what they said was similar to my other visits on previous weekends, however a few new things included a number of returned prisoners (who committed genocide crimes 14 years ago, and have now re-joined this area) complaining of stigma and lack of opportunities; a few school children had finished secondary school but do not have the money to take their exams and there is no hope for opportunities after the exam; a surprisingly large group of children indicated they are stigmatized because they have "mental illness" because they fall on the ground alot and can't remember what happened (I think there is a greater prevalance of epilepsy in Africa than Western parts); and a number of children brave enough to say that life is hard because they don't know their fathers and their mothers have more than 5 children (showing a lack of family planning education happening; as well as possible prostitution for income).

One of the most touching moments for me was when Francis told the group I was getting married and they each went around and said a variety of enthusiastic blessings for my wedding including: good health, a home full of peace, and life with much wealth. I was astounded at how willing they were to wish my life well, while clearly their lives are so hard.

The group was happy to take pictures with us. And we took time to show them the digital images after each photo.

Many people followed us to our car and wished us safe journeys and said "Komera!" which means courage.

Francis wanted a photo with this family because he pays for these children's school fees out of his own pocket, after seeing them in very bad living conditions not long ago.

We also stopped by a beehive project that Francis has been involved in creating.

Lastly, we traveled to the Kagusa village and stopped to visit this group. They were singing and drumming when we arrived.

Unfortunately we only were able to give short speeches and greet the group because the sun was setting and we needed to be on our way back to Kigali.

They were all so happy to see Francis, it was clear they feel he has really helped them.

I plan to to ask my colleagues and our grantees some questions related to my journey from the weekend, including: what are we doing about basic life and health needs such as housing and clean water; how are we trying to impact the local government about the prohibitive cost of health insurance and providing opportunities for villagers after secondary school; who is working with villages on the re-entry of prisoners to remote places; and what kind of health messages are we conveying at the village-level about family planning and addressing stigma surrounding health conditions such as epilepsy. I believe the US programs are trying to impact many of these issues but I learned first-hand that often the challenge is getting the resources and policy changes to reach the village level. I really appreciate that people like Francis are trying to provide a safety net for those families that don't have or can't access the national programs, and to help identify their unique needs that have not yet been addressed at the national level.

-------------------------------------------------------------

I also wanted to post this smiling picture of my favorite 6 and a half year old in Kigali, Malcomb. I went to lunch on Sunday with he and his dad, who I have not seen in a while. Malcomb is one of the most energetic and happy kids I've ever met (and he is an incredibly talented dancer already!) His mom is in the States having a little brother or sister for Malcomb soon. I hope I get to meet their new family member too.

Bags, Bagels, and More

On Fridays our offices officially close at 1pm because all other weekdays we work 9.5 hour days. Sadly it is not often possble to take the afternoon off for many of us, since there is plenty of work to continue the full day on Fridays. However, as my time nears to a close in Rwanda and the office is staffed with my replacement, things have slowed enough for me to take my Friday afternoon off.

I called my trusted cab driver and friend Banner, and explained my errands for the afternoon. I had him take me home to drop off my usual US Embassy Friday commissary goodies (Diet Dr. Pepper, pickles, applesauce, etc) and pick up my gorilla hiking sticks. He laughed when I brought them back to the car, wondering if I was going hiking somewhere. I explained that I wanted to have a carrying bag made for them so that I can bring them home on the airplane. He thought this was pretty funny. I asked him to take me to Ineza, which is a Cooperative of women living with HIV/AIDS who sew and sell bags and other fabric goods. I've been there many times and have become friends with the supervisor, Maria. I always stumble through my choppy french when needing to explain complicated things like ordering a hiking stick bag. There were about 30 women working hard this afternoon. There was also a young American woman walking around looking frantic. Maria began to measure my hiking sticks and brought three others over to chatter in Kinyarwanda considering and discussing how a bag would be made for these sticks. The frantic American woman came over to explain that she was trying to get the women to complete a bag order for a large conference in California. She said the bags have to be shipped by Monday to get there in time, since there was a major delay in the project when the fabric company initially sold the women fabric with a drug company logo on it; which would not go over well at the conference. She seemed very stressed about this situation. I've always thought it would be really neat to order these colorful fabric bags for a conference, but I am not surprised there would be unique challenges to get the order completed. Maria happily arranged for my bag to be made and I agreed to come back in a week. I couldn't help but buy three other cool fabric items before leaving. I wished the conference planner luck and was off to my next errand.

I had heard a while back that a "bagel guy" exists in Kigali who will make custom-ordered bagels every Friday. This week I figured I would place an order. My colleague drew a complicated map to get to the "bagel house" and explained that I needed to send the order by text on Thursday and then pick them up between 2 and 4pm. When we left the bag place, I pulled out the map and rather than try to interpret another hand-drawn, no-street-name Kigali map...I turned to Banner and asked him if he knew the Bagel Guy. Not surprisingly- he did! He promptly drove me down a cobblestone road to the bagel house. The sign on the gate said "Speak- I Listen". I opened the gate and the house was pretty empty with sparse furniture. I walked to the back yard and saw a small separate building, which I figured was the kitchen with ovens. When I came to the building there was a guy with mounds of flour on tables. He smiled when I greeted him. I pointed to the mounds of flour and said- let me guess, those are my bagels? He laughed and said that everyone picks up their orders between 4 and 5pm, so my bagels were not made yet. Oops! I agreed to come back at 4pm and left again with Banner.

We then drove to Kablaki, a Cooperative of local craft sellers together in an alley with about 30 kiosks. It's always a busy place with at least 5 shopping tourists, and all the sellers vying for you to visit their kiosk and buy something. I had been there recently and found the perfect wedding favors...I had been negotiating buying them in bulk with one of the sellers named Claudine. I found her again and continued negotiations, trying to get the size and color for the price I wanted. She finally agreed! I noticed a man was standing near the kiosk watching us, and when I asked about him she said he waits to take 10% from each sale for the Cooperative. She asked if I would meet her at the gas station down the road to pay the deposit and avoid the 10% overhead for this bulk order that she would make directly from the distributer. I nodded and quickly purchased a small key chain so I could turn and smile at Mr. 10%. Banner then drove me to the gas station as I explained that I needed to pay a deposit off-site. He was skeptical that I should pay so much money without any product yet (an unusual thing to do here, although an order of this size is also unusual.) He pulled out a notepad and a pen and suggested I write a receipt for my plan. Good thinking Banner! So, I wrote out two notes explaining our agreement and specified the due date while we waited for Claudine to arrive. I then paid the deposit and she signed the agreements, while laughing at my jokes about us being secret gas station business women.

Unfortunately when we returned to the bagel place at 4pm the bagels were not ready. I sat down and introduced myself to a woman in the main room of the house named Beatrice. She looked tired and I asked if she had a long day. She said she had counseled over 100 women today! I learned that the bagel house is actually a local non-profit organization which counsels women and families grieving over the genocide or other losses in their families (and sells bagels on the side). I began chattering with her about social work and counseling. She is a wonderfully knowledgeable nurse who counsels hundreds of people in Kigali and in other provinces. We compared notes from our experiences conducting grief and PTSD therapy groups. When I described some of the tools and activities I've learned and used in the past, she mentioned how few books she can get her hands on for these techniques. I learned my bagels were ready, so we exchanged numbers and I told her I would introduce her to my colleague Kathie who I could try to send some books once I got home. It was so nice to meet and spend time talking with Beatrice.

When I got back to the outside kitchen, the bagel maker pulled the large wooden spatula out of the wood burning stove with just my six steamy bagels (3 cinnamon raisin, 3 everything) on it (why did I forget my camera today!?) He then asked where I would like to put them. I hadn't thought about bringing an appropriate bag! I quickly emptied everything from my handbag into my pockets and had him place the hot, fresh bagels in my purse.

As we drove back to my apartment Banner mentioned that he has driven a number of people to the bagel place before but had never seen a bagel. I told him he was in-luck today and quickly opened my steamy purse. I plucked out an everything bagel and handed it to him. He said- oh, it's round bread! He asked me what bagel means, and I told him I wasn't sure of the origin but to me it means round shaped bread with a hole in it. I told him it was an everything bagel and he asked "everything of what?" That's a tough one to answer, so I said everything they put in all the other bagels. He took a few bites and said it was surprisingly soft bread. He asked me how long the bagels would last and how would I prepare them after a few days; would I put them back in the oven? I told him I would toast them, and then had to describe a toaster. He laughed at my silly American ways!