Birthday party and new clothes

Randolph and Josh both had birthdays this weekend...so Randolph hosted a great party.

With good food...

and good friends.interesting decorations (tiki torches and tissue paper!)

Josh grilled lots of meat and veggies,

and everyone danced.
My friend Leatitia introduced me to her tailor recently and I'm having clothes made from some of the brightly colored African fabric I have bought. This is the first outfit, and I pick up a second one next week. Fun!

Friendly faces in Rwanda

I share an office with Stefano (from Italy). He is a top expert on Avian Flu for pretty much all of sub-Saharan Africa. He just finished a week training Rwandese medical practitioners, lab technicians, and veterinarians on how to conduct Avian Flu testing. Getting to know him has made me feel much more hopeful (not to mention more informed) about locating and treating this disease.

I also share an office with Eddie (from Uganda). He is the CDC Rwanda expert on health information systems and is working to support (among other things) field practitioners in Rwanda reporting patient and treatment data on a monthly basis to a national database via their cell phones. This model is being used in other parts of Africa in public-private partnerships with phone and technology companies. Eddie is the go-to person for all inside information about where to buy things; where to travel; what to do on the weekends, etc. He is the person to know...how do you think I've been able to arrange weekend travel to so many places already!

We celebrated August and September birthdays in our office today. Here are some photos.

Me, Donald, Eddie, Aliou (TB/HIV medical expert with the cheeriest smile in the office!)

Daniel (a great baker who brought the homemade white/raspberry iced cake!)

Elyse (possibly the only female in Rwanda who rides her own motor bike to work) and Aliou

Me and Marie Claire

Jamir and Helen (visiting team members from Atlanta helping with end of year reporting and planning)

Isabelle and Bosco (procurement and finance team members)

I was invited to Donald's house last night for a Rosh Hashanah dinner (a celebration of the Jewish New Year).

I brought noodle kugel (thanks to my friend Amy's grandmother's recipe!). This is a traditional Jewish dish but I had to leave out some key ingredients not available in Rwanda (cottage cheese, etc.) I was able to add raisins; the dish was a big hit.

Movies, tennis, and more

I enjoyed a nice and relaxing weekend in Kigali with friends. On Friday night I went to the American Club which is a restaurant and club run by volunteers in the U.S. Embassy; and the venue for many social gatherings. On Fridays the Marines play movies on a big screen, and a dinner buffet is catered by La Lalibela (the only Ethiopian restaurant in town). Even though it is called the "American" Club, membership and individual events are open to Rwandans and others as well. There is generally a nice mix of people who come to movie night; and the food is delicious. This week we watched 1408; a psychological thriller/horror ghost story with Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack. I generally don't like scary movies; but this one wasn't so bad (not very scary actually). Most of all I enjoyed the company! I met some new friends through old friends and found myself with a whole group of ex-pat people who love it here and have planned to extend their time in Rwanda. Generally, I think most people find Kigali a pleasant place to live but I have come across some people who have been here a year or so and often complain that there is not enough to do and mention a number of challenges to living here (not very many imports, not a lot of variety in food and restaurants, not a lot of cultural events, etc.) I think this issue plagues my office here as turnover on the team is high and sometimes morale is low. I've been wondering whether it is an over-time issue (that people get bored over time). I've come to understand that it is personality driven; similar to whether people prefer living in a big city like New York or a smaller Midwestern city like Indianapolis. To be happy in Kigali I think you have to be interested in the activities that are available here; like entertaining in your home, learning new hobbies like gardening and cooking; trying new things like banana wine or the different types of coffee here; and taking day and weekend trips to explore the beautiful and peaceful countryside. I think the key (not unique here) is to surround yourself with positive people who are upbeat and happy here also.

On Saturday I went shopping in the afternoon with my friend Laurie. We started in the center of town and circled our way around most parts of town. It was fun to explore what kinds of household goods are available and how much they cost. We went in hardware stores, electronics, stores, clothing shops, and perused the many things for sale on the street. Here are some of my observations:

Clothing
There are only a handful of stores selling clothes; mostly locally made clothes, but I saw hundreds of people carrying handfuls of ties, jeans, jackets, shoes, purses, and selling them on the street. I've learned there is an extensive "used clothing" economy in Rwanda. Someone buys large quantities of used clothing from the U.S. or Europe by the pound to be shipped over here (graded and priced according to how "like-new"it is) and then individuals buy portions of it (ties, shirts, etc) and carry it around selling a tie for about a $1. This seems to be how the majority of people get their clothing here since newly made clothing ends up a lot more expensive! I have heard it is hard to formalize a business here because taxes are high.

Fruits and Vegetables
We found a street where there was big commotion surrounding fruit and vegetable sellers (avocados, mangoes, bananas, pineapples, bags of peas, etc). People were shouting in Kinyarwandan. After about 5 or 10 minutes there was loud cheering and it appeared the vendors were happy. My colleague suggested this may have been the authorities giving the vendors a hard time for selling on the street and after negotiating they were allowed to stay.

Electronics
We visited about ten electronics stores on the main streets of town. I was looking for writable DVD's which I ended up buying for $1 each. I was fascinated by the number of these stores all selling the same things (TV's, DVD players, computers, cameras). I realized that these small stores had small numbers of inventory; so if you added up the number of TV's there are probably only 200 or so for sale in all of Kigali. It's so interesting that the market for electronics is fragmented into these small vendors. Also, there are mainly worse-than-generic brands for sale. I guess maybe Toshiba makes their normal electronics as well as some off-label which they export cheaply to distributors in Africa? This was the case with some clothing as well but it is more obvious. Like a nice pair of Puma athletic shoes...but when you look closely it actually says Puna.

Other interesting commodities included mobile manicurists; people sitting on the corner doing someones nails. And being able to wrap a present seems to be a good skill here. On virtually every corner downtown, people sit with shoe boxes wrapped displaying their skill and for a small fee you can have them wrap something.

One of the amazing things about spending four hours downtown in Kigali is that we were never really bothered by anyone. Only one or two people followed us and repeatedly asked for us to look at their Congolese masks for sale or their maps of Africa. As always, we got a lot of stares, but it is not uncomfortable in my opinion. Also, we never crossed paths with any other foreigners until we went into the larger grocery store (where you can buy pricey imports). It was a very pleasant afternoon.

On Saturday night I went to eat with friends to Cactus Restaurant (an Italian restaurant) in Kigali. It was yummy. I ordered my typical choice of fish kabob which consists of tilapia and other vegetables grilled on a stick. Others ordered pizzas which they said were really good (with goat cheese, tomatoes, salami). In the middle of dinner the power went out for about an hour and seemed to be out over at least half of the city. We lucked out since we were at a restaurant using a wood burning stove and oven. So no delay with the food and they were well prepared with candles for power outages!

On Sunday I went to a tennis tournament sponsored by the U.S. Embassy; it was set up so that each American playing was paired with a Rwandan for doubles tennis playing. It was fun to watch. I did not play because I have only taken a couple lessons here and did not feel I would be very competitive on the team! Here are some photos.

I walked home from the tennis match with my colleague Donald. It was about 4 miles or so and was such a nice walk. Being here with so many Rwandans walking all the time, it is compelling to join them as much as possible and hit the hills on foot!

I had a number of great conversations with Rwandan friends and coworkers this weekend. I am continuing to learn a lot about people here, about their history; and developing friendships. On more than one occasion I've been asked about educational opportunities in the United States. Not surprisingly, many people here would love the opportunity to study in the United States. The only options for studying after high school here in Rwanda include a small University in Butare, and the Kigali Health Institute technical training for physician assistant type positions. Needless to say it is very competitive to secure a post-high school education and tough to find jobs here. I've been struggling with how to answer this question for my friends. I have asked many other Americans here how they respond as well; I even asked the Ambassador at the tennis match. In my response I mostly take some time to "de-mistify" life as a student in America because I sense there is some exaggeration about opportunities and wealth in America. I ask a lot of questions about what people like to study, how they studied in school, and what are their expectations for studying abroad. I encourage people to go online and look at schools or try to network with other Rwandans who are already in the states. These answers are not different than those you would give a young American student- work hard, do your research, cast a wide net, etc. The challenges come into play when you realize that not many Rwandans have Internet access at home; so searching for schools costs them by the minute. There is no public library in Rwanda. Also, many people do not have good grades from primary and secondary school because they lost their parents to the genocide, or left their homes for a refugee camp, or had to take care of younger siblings rather than attend class regularly. I have had moments where I consider whether I should help friends more directly; like pay for school application fees, or pay for a plane ticket, or something. I know that handing out money does not always help and can make for difficult situations between friends; and it's not that I have oodles of discretionary money! But I know that working and living in Africa has impacted my experience and understanding of wealth and good fortune, and makes me appreciate the benefits of being American. For me, there will always be a desire to help and give back.

Everyone is blogging

Did you know the Secretary of Health has a blog? He wrote about his visit to Rwanda...check it out.
http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/my_weblog/2007/09/malaria-clinic-.html

Videos!

Leopards passing our safari vehicle...

Elephants...

Here are some preschoolers I visited in South Africa. They are reciting the alphabet and other songs they have memorized in english. There is something so universal about little kids performing at top of their lungs! :)

This is a video of my drive to work. I was trying to capture how Kigali is situated on two hillsides.

Here is a video of the silverback gorilla munching away on bamboo shoots.

Here is a baby hanging on to his mother.

Here are two babies playing together. One of them beats his chest playfully and scares the other one. The silverback is laying next to them.

Cape Town

I managed a very quick visit to Cape Town, South Africa with a chance to briefly explore. Here are a few photos...

I toured the colorful streets. It was in the late 1400's/early 1500's when the Portuguese and Dutch arrived in Cape Town.

It rained while I was there, but this brought the good fortune of seeing many rainbows over Camp's Bay and Hout Bay.

Here I am with a stormy Camp's Bay in the background.

I traveled down to the peninsula and visited the Southern most tip of Africa.

There were wild ostriches by the sea.

It was sunny and clear on my second day and I was able to go up on Table Mountain (about 3,000 feet high). The cable cars are often closed when it is windy or weather is bad. It is called Table Mountain because the top is flat like a Table.

This is the cable car that took us to the top. You can see Cape Town below on the shore.

There was a nice walk all around the top of the mountain with many beautiful views.

Table Mountain is situated beside Devil's Peak on one side, and Lion's Head on the other. (Both named for their resemblances)

Me, at the top of the mountain.

There are many African penguins on the beach in Simon's Bay (just outside Cape Town). They are very cute!

Penguins mate for life, and are very affectionate towards one another

Calla Lillies grow wild around Cape Town.

The shoreline is beautiful with rough water, crashing waves, whales, and great white sharks. I saw two whales and a shark but was unable to capture them on film. Cape Town is very near where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean; the Indian Ocean brings a warm Agulhas Current and the Atlantic Ocean has a cold Benguela current so the water can be warm or cold depending on where you are.

Wild animals and more

I'm back from a safari in Kruger National Park and exploring Cape Town. It's like another world down there! Very developed...an interesting mix of European, Western, and Asian influence. It was nice to have all the comforts of home again for a while. Most of all it was wonderful to visit with my sister Ginger and brother-in-law Carl; we had a great time seeing South Africa together. Here are some of my favorite photos...

We stayed at Leopard Hills Lodge. It was beautiful...nestled in the hillside.

It was very luxurious. Each suite had it's own plunge pool and outdoor shower!Including a picturesque deck, with lazy hammock.

We went on a morning and evening game drive. The guides were competitive and intent on finding the best animals each drive. Each vehicle included a driver, and a "spotter" who sits on the end of the vehicle scanning the horizon for animals and radioing to other vehicles for location of animals.
Here are Ginger and I on the safari land cruiser during the evening game drive.
On the evening drive we stopped for cocktails and wine, and on the morning drive we stopped for tea. It was a little scary to leave the vehicle and walk around the bush, but we knew we were safe with the guides.
Carl, Ginger, and I, at sunset.

Carl and Ginger by the safari vehicle.
We enjoyed a deliciou dinners served outside by a bonfire. Here are Ginger and I at the table outside enjoying a traditional African dinner (including grilled Impala!)
After dinner there was a bubble bath waiting!

The Big Five Game in Africa are: elephant, lions, leopards, rhinos, and buffalo. We saw them all and more!

ELEPHANTS
We saw many herds of elephants, often eating grass and crossing the the road with their young. They occasionally flared their ears at us, or tooted their horns, but mostly ignored us.
LIONS
Here is a mother lion with her playful cubs. they looked cute enough to pet- but we knew better!
We did not see any animals kill anything (I am not sure I could have stomached it!) although we saw many animals chasing their prey. We often followed animal tracks in order to find them. Here are the tracks of a lion chasing a wildebeest.
(Warning to vegetarians for next photo!) Here is the lion licking his chops while enjoying his dinner.
Here is how close the vehicles were to the lions. (I was glad I wasn't in the spotters seat on the front!) We learned the lions are used to the sound and size of the vehicles and see them as one non-aggressive object all together. However if one of us were to stand up or leave the vehicle they would see us as human prey!
In the Sabi Sands game preserve (where we were) there has been this one pack of lions recently which includes a female lioness, and about five or six teenage lions (just starting to grow manes) as well as the two small baby lion cubs. The large males have not been seen on the preserve in a while (there are no fences with Kruger National park, so they must have left to another part of the park). This pack of teenage lions has been easy for the safari guides to spot because they have stayed in a part of the park where they often find their prey and are too young yet to venture into new territory.
LEOPARDS
The leopards were the most fun to chase. They are solitary animals and mostly travel alone unless a mother is with her young. On a few occasions they were spotted either by someone on the back deck at our lodge or from another safari vehicle and off we went in search of the tracks to follow. If we lost them in the bush, sometimes our guide or spotter would hop out of the vehicle and search for them on foot with their rifle. This was also scary! Here is a photo of Gary running back to the vehicle with rifle in hand after spotting the leopard nearby.

Here is a leopard strolling down the road in front of our vehicle. This is one of my favorite photos.

Here he is just sitting watching us while we watched him.

RHINO
We tracked this rhino's footprints for a while, constantly scanning the horizon, then found him casually laying in the middle of the road!


BUFFALO
We learned that buffalo are the animals to most fear in the wild. If you are out in the jungle alone; beware, a buffalo will charge at you and not stop charging! We found this herd of buffaloes twice. They didn't seem to notice us on our vehicle thankfully.


Me with a buffalo in the background.




OTHER ANIMALS
A cheetah! On Ginger and Carl's first safari drive they chased a cheetah by following tracks and hearing reports of it's location. But on the second day he was sitting lazily here under a tree for all to easily find him. Cheetahs are also solitary animals and generally travel alone.



The zebra traveled in large herds which reminded me of a pack of wild horses.
Here is a mother giraffe and her young baby. Giraffes also travel in herds. They were one of the most peaceful animals we saw. Always munching on trees, moving slowly, and never seemed to notice us.
We saw many hippos in the watering holes, but they rarely come out of the water so they were difficult to photograph.
Baboons were often in the yard at the lodge. These creatures are funny and actually not very cute. We often spotted them scurrying accross the landscape in large packs as we drove around.

We saw many beautiful birds as well.