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.
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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.
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