On our way from Rwanda to Uganda, we stopped at a town in Southern Uganda called Mbarara to meet up with the other group for a couple of days. While we were there, we visited Nakivale Refugee Settlement. Nakivale is a refugee camp that was created in the 1950s and that houses thousands and thousands of refugees from about seven different countries. I wasn’t really sure what a refugee camp would look like, especially given the fact that it has been in existence for over 50 years. I was a little surprised to find that it pretty much looked like a town/village in the parts we were in. However, when I thought about it more, of course there is some infrastructure (people have been living there for so long) and I’m sure that there is MUCH MORE needed and lacking.
It was interesting to hear about how all of the different groups (from different countries) and how they live together in the camp. I wonder how the people regard the camp, and if the people who have lived there for their whole lives, or nearly their whole lives, identify more with Uganda and the camp, or with their home country. It is really strange to imagine not having a real place to call yours, because the country your family comes from in not home, but neither is the camp (or at least I imgaine.)
Our group broke into two, and half of us talked to Rwandan refugees while the other half spoke with Congolese refugees. I was in the group that spoke with the Rwandan refugees. I expected them to provide a different perspective than we had heard in Rwanda, but I did not expect it to be nearly as extreme as it was. The refugees we spoke to were nearly all (if not all) Hutu, and a couple of them told us that they had run away from the community service work camps or life imprisonment sentences. They began by saying that they should not have been given such long sentence and that the gacaca is biased and extended their sentences so that the Tutsi can take their land. While I really value hearing this perspective, they went on to suggest that they shouldn’t really have to serve time for their crimes, that far more Hutu than Tutsi were killed, and that the Tutsi are trying to make it sound much worse than it was. They were being completely disrespectful in the way that they spoke about the deaths of the Tutsi people and were spewing really extreme comments that went against everything we had learned in Rwanda. While it may be unfair to assume that everything they were telling us was outrageous and incorrect, they seemed to be using this information to justify their actions and legitimize their crimes. I think this experience was especially frustrating because of the strong connections I have made with genocide survivors. The words of these Hutu refugees seemed to still contain hate towards the Tutsi and did not seem to express any guilt or remorse for their crimes. It hit much closer to home, however, because it felt like the people they were talking about really are my friends and family. My host family fled Rwanda in 1959 because of violence against the Tutsis, and I became friends with several people whose entire families were killed in the genocide. Because of the connection I feel with people who have had to endure awful things in the genocide, it was especially painful to hear them denying and delegitimizing the pain and death. I had not realized that I felt so connected to the people I had met in Rwanda, but my gut reaction was to feel defensive of them when I heard this. It was interesting to see and acknowledge my own bias, to see how I have developed opinions and views about Rwanda, and to see myself have strong reactions in relation to them after just living there for one month. They also did tell us a lot about the problems they are facing as Hutu refugees and the problems that Hutus in Rwanda currently face, which made miss wish that I had heard this perspective while I was in Rwanda and could look into it further.
Another thing I couldn’t stop thinking about while I was at Nakivale was how this situation has the potential to lead to further conflict. These Rwandan refugees are overwhelmingly Hutu, which means that they are probably working each other up and possibly breeding more anger and hatred. While Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda are reconciling and learning to live together again, these Hutu refugees are isolated, are being treated poorly in the camp because it is very difficult for them to get refugee status, and are likely getting more and more angry. I really hope that this won’t lead to more conflict in the future, but the current situation makes it seem like this could be a possibility. This was not something that I had really thought of, but our translator suggested that this was what he had predicted would happen. Rwanda has been peaceful for about 15 years now, but it is scary to think that the upcoming elections have the potential to cause major problems for the country.
I left that discussion even more unsure of what to believe because we have heard such opposing viewpoints on the same topics, but overall I think it was really valuable to hear the perspective of the Hutu refugees, and I think it was really important in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the situation in Rwanda.
We then parted ways with the other group, and took a five hour bus ride to Gulu in Northern Uganda. We arrived in Gulu in the evening, settled into our hostel, ate dinner, and went to sleep, so we didn’t see any of Gulu beyond our hotel. This made me really excited to wake up the next morning for our first real day of exploring and getting to know Gulu. We had our first Acholi class in the morning and it was nice to jump straight into the language so that we’d have some Acholi words to use on our first day. We then had a drop-off, where we split into groups and explored different aspects of Gulu like health, NGOs, media, entertainment, etc. Sophie, Rachel and I were assigned to scope out restaurants and the market, so we decided to get some food before we headed to the market. We tried to get lunch at a couple of places that serve Acholi food, but none of them were serving lunch yet, so we ended up at a place that serves both Acholi and more western food. We sat down and opened the menu, and I was excited to see that the money goes to an organization that helps returnees which is run by a woman that also works for Invisible Children and that I have met through IC events in the US! I was comforted by the familiarity and Gulu already began to feel smaller. We got our food and began to eat and it was SO GOOD! Then, five people with IC shirts walked in. I asked one of them if they work for IC, and he sat down next to me. He told me that he is an engineer for the Schools for Schools program. I told them that my partner school for S4S is Anaka Secondary, and he told me that he is one of the lead engineers for Anaka Secondary! I couldn’t believe it, my first day in Gulu and I had already met someone who was working on the school I raised money for! The other four people sat down and it was so exciting to talk about IC’s programs here, what they do, etc. It turns out we know a lot of the same people and it was so fun to have such an engaged conversation and really be able to relate when talking about projects that we have worked on. It was like two pieces of a puzzle (as cheesy as that sounds)- I had worked on these projects from the US, and they are implementing them here on the ground, and through talking about it, we could really put the pieces together to understand how they work as a whole. It was one of those exhilarating conversations where we were able to feed off of each other and connect over our shared interest and commitment to something. Sophie and Rachel commented afterward on how happy I seemed and it was true- I really was just so happy to be there lost in conversation with these IC employees!
Later that afternoon we moved in with our host families. My papa came to pick me up and brought me to our home in Pece (which is about a 40 minute walk from town.) My mama, grandmother, and sisters were all sitting in front of the house on grass mats, and they each shook hands with me and welcomed me. After I settled into my room, my 19-year-old sister Durcas took me on a brief tour of the area. We walked through a maze of grass huts, goats, chickens, ducks, dogs and children playing around in the afternoon sunshine. Women were sitting on grass mats outside of their houses cutting vegetables and socializing with the other women, while the occasional man whirred past on a bicycle. My sister brought me to the village market, which was filled with women selling fruits, vegetables, fish, and grains either from the ground or from or from wooden stands. We bought cabbage, tomatoes, ocra and fish to use as ingredients in the dinner we were soon to prepare.
We walked back to the house and sat down with the other women in the family. They showed me how to chop cabbage and alternated between laughing at my attempted and gasping when I nearly cut myself in the process. I eventually mastered the art of cabbage chopping, and began to chop them at almost the same pace as the other women. At the beginning my mama would give me a small piece to cut while she worked on a much larger piece. By the end, (it was a long process because we had several cabbages to cut into small pieces) she proudly handed me a large chunk of cabbage. You gotta enjoy the small accomplishments in life, right? :)
I helped my sister to cook the rest of the meal in the kitchen hut. Cooking a meal is such a different process here than in the US- instead of utilizing the convenience of a microwave or an electric stove in a kitchen with cabinets, counter space, and a fridge, we were cooking all of our food in one pot over a small charcoal stove in a grass hut. Dinner was also a very different process than it is in the US. My sister and I divided the food onto three large trays. We brought one tray to the group of women and children sitting on grass mats in the front yard, one tray to the men and boys sitting on plastic chairs a couple of feet away, and put one aside for my father for when he got home. My sister and I sat down with the other women, which consisted of my two mothers (yes, my father has two wives! More about that next time…), my grandmother, and a couple of children. My sister served the food for me onto a plate and then told me that I would learn how to eat with my hands. She laughed as I took my first few bites with my hands (it took a couple of days to get my hand-eating skills to meet her approval), and then the rest of the women began to eat out of the serving dishes. Several of the women only speak Acholi, so as they conversed in Acholi, I took the opportunity to soak up this place and situation-my new home- and fall into my own world of thought. Besides our house, I was pretty much surrounded by grass huts, each home to an Acholi family. The stars were like nothing I had seen before- the sky was literally COVERERED with little specs of light. Chickens and ducks waddled around, and the family cat wandered on and off our makeshift grass mat dinner table. I could hear a baby crying in the distance, and the sound of music coming out of a radio nearby. The balmy African air had cooled off since the afternoon, and the breeze was refreshing after a hot sweaty day. This world was very different from my world at home, and from the one I had become accustomed to in Rwanda, but I felt surprisingly at ease. The food was fresh, the sense of community was deeply present, and we were eating under a beautiful starry sky- at that moment I knew that even though there would be many challenges in adjusting to this new place and coping with the difficult subject matter (the war), I was ready for them, and ready to soak in this culture and lifestyle.
Sooooo umm that was two weeks ago! Haha, I thought I should talk about my first day in detail since it was really great, but now I’m behind on the last two weeks! Basically we have class Monday-Friday from about 9-3:30 or 4. After that we generally go into town to go to the market, grab a snack, use the internet or go to visit offices of NGOs. We left Gulu for three days and stayed about two and a half hours north in a town called Kitgum. One of the days we drove to Lukung, which is on the border of Uganda and Sudan, and conducted a conflict assessment in a former Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. This basically consisted of breaking up into groups and speaking with different groups of people in the surrounding area about the conflicts that currently exist in the region, the problems they are facing, and what their lives are like. It was pretty intense, so I think I’ll talk about that more later. Other than that, we have visited another IDP camp, had all kinds of different lectures, gone swimming on the weekends, spoken with a lot of interesting people, and gotten to know Gulu a lot better. We live with our host families for another week and a couple of days, then we go to Kampala (the capital) for 4 days, and then we begin our Independent Study Projects!! SO CRAZYYY!! I miss you all so much and hope everyone is doing well!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Saying goodbye to Rwanda
This week I said my good-byes to my Rwandan family and friends, my neighborhood and the places I have come to love in Kigali, and travelled back to Uganda. We drove to Mbarara in Southern Uganda and met the other group for a couple of days. The main thing we did there was visit Nakivale Refugee Settlement, where thousands of refugees from DRC, Rwanda, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan are living. It was a very interesting experience, but more about that later.
In leaving Rwanda, I realize that so much has happened in the past 6 weeks that it would be impossible to capture it all. I cannot believe my time in Rwanda has come to an end. It came and went so quickly, with such a wide range of emotions- so many struggles, achievements, friendships made and an incredible amount of learning along the way. I initially chose this program for the Uganda portion, but Rwanda itself has already had such an affect on me. I could never have imagined that my stay in Rwanda would help me to better understand things like justice, forgiveness, the complexity of truth, the importance and power of a caring community, the ways two people can communicate when they speak different languages, the immense tragedy of death caused by hatred, the strength that humans have within themselves that helps them to survive and begin to heal from something as awful as genocide, the importance of hope for the future, the necessity of having faith in other people, how wonderful it is to laugh with and enjoy the company of new friends from another culture, and that bucket showers save A LOT of water. In many ways I feel like my time here has made me more confused about certain things my experiences so far have left me with more questions than answers, and I am excited to continue to search for answers to these questions during the rest of my time in Uganda, acknowledging and being ok with the fact that I won’t figure out the answers to all of them. Some questions I am currently thinking about are: What is and what should be the role of the international community in conflicts worldwide? What role does international aid play in developing communities- is it really helping or does it ultimately continue the cycle of poverty? If so, is there a way to change the structure so that this does not happen? What role do US interests play our involvement and policies towards African nations? How can we make our policies be less about our interests and more about the needs of the African people? What role can I and do I want to play in all of this? How can I make the largest, most sustainable and most responsible difference possible?
Though some may seem small, and some are larger, there are several moments that really stood out about my time in Rwanda for one reason or another. I’ll write about some of them here so that you can see some of the things I’ve been up to and what I’ve been thinking about.
On the last Saturday of each month, there is no school (yes, there is usually school on Saturday!), all shops, businesses, and offices are closed so that everyone has the morning off, and the public transportation system is not in operation. During this period of time, every Rwandan is supposed to take part in a community service project in his or her neighborhood, and then attend a neighborhood meeting. This is called Umuganda. I attended Umuganda with my 20-year-old sister. She said that because of the rain it would not be as big as usual. We walked out of our house, turned our corner, and immediately saw about 50 people shoveling and hacking at the road with hoes. My first impression was that they were nearly all men, I saw about five women. Everyone seemed a bit surprised to see me, but I smiled and gave my greetings to the group. My sister handed me a hoe and I raised it over my head and pummeled it into the ground, attempting to copy the skill of those around me. The entire group burst out laughing at my attempt. One guy, who looked like he was in his early 20’s decided to make me his pet project, and spent a good 15 minutes trying to teach me how to do it properly (it is much more difficult than it looks!) I’m not sure that I ever got it perfectly to his satisfaction, but I eventually got the basic hang of it.
As soon as I heard about Umuganda, I though it was such a great idea. I am often frustrated and disappointed by the lack of dedication to service in the US. Don’t get me wrong, many people volunteer massive amounts of their time in the US, but there are also a large group of people who do not even consider doing so. To set aside one morning per month to spend time together bettering the community seems like such a nice concept. The only thing vaguely like this on a large level in the US is the National Day of Service on September 11th, which encourages the public to take part in some type of community service project on 9/11 of each year. Many people participate in this, but many people also do not. Because Umuganda is done by neighborhood, it serves to bring the community together in addition to its purpose to improve the physical conditions of the area. As I was participating in Umuganda, I saw the people around me talking as they worked. By bring people together in this way, the neighborhood is bound to get closer. I think that neighborhoods are already much closer here than they are in most parts of the US, but umuganda only serves to strengthen this sense of community. It is powerful to see neighbors coming together to better their community, when one of the most disturbing parts of the genocide was the way that neighbors turned on one another.
I was a little disappointed to see that many people do not attend Umuganda, and instead use the time to clean the house, catch up on rest, etc. My sister said that my papa usually comes but that he had not come today because he was exhausted from just coming back from Kampala. When I asked about mama, my sister said that most women do not come because they don’t like the physical labor. When she told me this as we were shoveling the road, I worried that this meant that the women also do not attend the community meeting after the project, and therefore do not participate in community discussions and decisions. This assumption turned out to be wrong, many women turned up for the meeting, and they participated heavily.
The community meeting struck me as incredible and like nothing I had seen before. My sister’s best friend, Ricky, sat next to me and translated what was going on for me. The meeting was run by the village chief. He made announcements about different things going on in the village (they call the various neighborhoods outside the main part of town “villages”), like various meetings and projects. He also thanked everyone who participated in Umuganda, stressing the importance of working together to improve the community, and asked everyone to encourage the people who were not present to come next time. He then asked if anyone had problems they wanted to discuss. One man brought up the fact that every time it rains heavily, his house gets flooded with water. Many people also shared that they were also having this problem, and that it was damaging for their house and personal items. Many people took turns talking, and they ultimately decided that they need to dig more ditches on the side of the road for the water to go into. Someone pointed out that it is very important that people take responsibility and actually dig the ditch in front of their house, because each person will has to pay the consequences if they do not. After this discussion, a woman stood up and told the community about the particularly difficult situation she is currently in. Her husband is in the hospital with a heart condition and she cannot pay the medical bills for his treatment. He is not doing well, and the doctor has pretty much given up on him. She does not own her house (she is renting it), but she doesn’t have the money to pay the rent. Also, her children have not been in school for four months because she cannot pay the fees. Everyone at this meeting then began discussing this woman’s situation and what they should do to help her. Someone suggested taking the community dues that they pay and giving some of it to her to help her pay the hospital bills, the rent or the school fees. Someone else said that this was not a sustainable solution; they could pay a few months of this lady’s rent, but then what? Someone else said that he thought she might be lying about the hospital bills and that she had actually already paid them. One man then said that he is the director of the local primary school, and that he could help her get her kids into school without paying the fees until she is in a better financial situation. The woman then mentioned that she is from Burundi. Someone asked her if she has land there, and she said that she does. They then discussed paying the transportation costs for her and her children to go back to Burundi, because then at least she would have a place to live and land to farm. After much discussion, I think they decided to help her with her rent for a couple of months and then go from there.
There were several things that struck me about what I had just seen. First, about 50 people were sitting around talking about this lady’s problems. This would NEVER happen in the US because most people are ashamed of their problems and try to hide them from the people around them, often especially their neighbors! I asked Ricky if he thought she minded that all of these people were talking about her problems, but he said that she did not mind and that it was in fact good for her, because she now had the support of the community. He also said something along the lines of, “Why would she want to keep it private? That would do her no good.” I then wondered if people ever take advantage of this opportunity for support when they don’t really need it. Ricky said that this doesn’t happen, because then people would not help them when a time came where they really needed it. The other main thing that struck me was the fact that all of these people took the time to sit around for probably around 45 minutes and try to come up with solutions for this woman on a Saturday afternoon. I feel like some people in the US complain about having to sit and listen to a good friend talk about their problems for this amount of time. I really appreciate the fact that people are really dedicated to the community and the people in it, and they take the time and energy to really try to help each other. From my experiences with Umuganda and the community meeting, I think we have a lot to learn from the Rwandese people.
Another thing that stands out from my time in Rwanda was hearing the personal stories of people who have survived the genocide. Towards the end of our time there, one of our program staff gave us his testimony. We had heard many other people’s stories, but none had hit me in the way that his did. We had spent the last month with him, sharing meals, funny stories, and getting to know each other as people. I had gotten to know him more as a really person than as a survivor first, and so hearing his story hit much closer to home. When he told us that the UN soldiers who were guarding the school that him and his family were in locked them in the school and basically left them to die, my stomach dropped. He then continued to say that many of his family members were killed at this school- just a half a mile from UN headquarters. WHAT?? What is the point of the UN if they are not going to come through for people in times of great need, when people’s lives are literally in immediate danger? This must feel like such a betrayal; you go to a place tat is supposed to be safe because the UN is protecting it, and then most of your family members are killed because your “protectors” leave?! I know it is much more complicated than this and it is possible that they had to leave because their lives would also be in danger, and that the UN has done good in Rwanda since then genocide, but it is just so hard to hear a story like this. It is so incredible to see how people like him have gone on to dedicate their lives to memorializing the genocide and preventing further genocides, and I respect him so much for being willing to share his story.
On a lighter note, another really memorable experience was taking a boat to Bat Island with my group while we were staying at Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu is on the border of Rwanda and DRC and it is BEAUTIFUL! All 13 of us piled onto a motorboat. It was about a half hour ride to the island and it was absolutely gorgeous. As cheesy as it sounds, the cool breeze was so refreshing, and I couldn’t stop starring at the seemingly unreal teal color of the water. We got to the little island and piled out of the boat. It seriously felt like we were on survivor- the island seemed solely inhabited with wildlife. We were told that the bats come out at dusk and dawn, but we were there in the middle of the day, so we didn’t really expect to see them. However, as we began to walk on the island, the bats began flying out of the trees by the hundred, and soon the sky was COVERED with bats. It was like Hitchcock’s The Bird’s: Part II. SO SCARY. After a few encounters with undesirable bat poop, we decided that a few too many bats had appeared out of nowhere, and we were ready to get out of there. We immediately dove into the teal water, right off the island. Swimming in that water surrounded only by the sky, a tree (and bat)-filled island, and more water was so relaxing, and it was so nice to share this moment with my group, who have really become great friends of mine.
This is super random, but this experience also stood out to me as a special moment. One night, after I had gone out to dinner with a group of friends, I took a private taxi back to my house. This was the first time I was taking one (I usually use the public transportation system but that does not run late at night), so I was surprised to find out that the taxi would not take me all the way to my house because the driver said his car could not handle the bad dirt road. I had no idea what to do- it was about 12:30 AM at that point and I did not feel comfortable making the walk on the long, dark road by myself. Suddenly, my friend who was in the taxi with me because she was going to continue taking it to her house yelled, “Look! Two girls, go with them!!” The two girls looked about my age, and I ran up to them. I introduced myself in Kinyerwanda and they introduced themselves to me. The three of us began to walk in the same direction and then one of the girls turned down another road to go home. The road was pretty muddy, so my new friend grabbed my hand to help me navigate the path. I quickly realized that she didn’t speak English, so I asked her in Kinyerwanda how old she is. We were both very excited to find that we are both 20. We couldn’t really communicate much more than that, so we just held hands and laughed all the way to my house. It was as if we were young schoolgirls coming home from class, except that it was dark instead of light, and our main source of communication was laughter. We said goodbye outside my house and then she continued down the path to her house. I never saw her again after that, but it struck me as such a special chance meeting of two 20-year-old girls of two cultures with two difference languages who had found comfort in each other on their walk home one night.
In leaving Rwanda, I realize that so much has happened in the past 6 weeks that it would be impossible to capture it all. I cannot believe my time in Rwanda has come to an end. It came and went so quickly, with such a wide range of emotions- so many struggles, achievements, friendships made and an incredible amount of learning along the way. I initially chose this program for the Uganda portion, but Rwanda itself has already had such an affect on me. I could never have imagined that my stay in Rwanda would help me to better understand things like justice, forgiveness, the complexity of truth, the importance and power of a caring community, the ways two people can communicate when they speak different languages, the immense tragedy of death caused by hatred, the strength that humans have within themselves that helps them to survive and begin to heal from something as awful as genocide, the importance of hope for the future, the necessity of having faith in other people, how wonderful it is to laugh with and enjoy the company of new friends from another culture, and that bucket showers save A LOT of water. In many ways I feel like my time here has made me more confused about certain things my experiences so far have left me with more questions than answers, and I am excited to continue to search for answers to these questions during the rest of my time in Uganda, acknowledging and being ok with the fact that I won’t figure out the answers to all of them. Some questions I am currently thinking about are: What is and what should be the role of the international community in conflicts worldwide? What role does international aid play in developing communities- is it really helping or does it ultimately continue the cycle of poverty? If so, is there a way to change the structure so that this does not happen? What role do US interests play our involvement and policies towards African nations? How can we make our policies be less about our interests and more about the needs of the African people? What role can I and do I want to play in all of this? How can I make the largest, most sustainable and most responsible difference possible?
Though some may seem small, and some are larger, there are several moments that really stood out about my time in Rwanda for one reason or another. I’ll write about some of them here so that you can see some of the things I’ve been up to and what I’ve been thinking about.
On the last Saturday of each month, there is no school (yes, there is usually school on Saturday!), all shops, businesses, and offices are closed so that everyone has the morning off, and the public transportation system is not in operation. During this period of time, every Rwandan is supposed to take part in a community service project in his or her neighborhood, and then attend a neighborhood meeting. This is called Umuganda. I attended Umuganda with my 20-year-old sister. She said that because of the rain it would not be as big as usual. We walked out of our house, turned our corner, and immediately saw about 50 people shoveling and hacking at the road with hoes. My first impression was that they were nearly all men, I saw about five women. Everyone seemed a bit surprised to see me, but I smiled and gave my greetings to the group. My sister handed me a hoe and I raised it over my head and pummeled it into the ground, attempting to copy the skill of those around me. The entire group burst out laughing at my attempt. One guy, who looked like he was in his early 20’s decided to make me his pet project, and spent a good 15 minutes trying to teach me how to do it properly (it is much more difficult than it looks!) I’m not sure that I ever got it perfectly to his satisfaction, but I eventually got the basic hang of it.
As soon as I heard about Umuganda, I though it was such a great idea. I am often frustrated and disappointed by the lack of dedication to service in the US. Don’t get me wrong, many people volunteer massive amounts of their time in the US, but there are also a large group of people who do not even consider doing so. To set aside one morning per month to spend time together bettering the community seems like such a nice concept. The only thing vaguely like this on a large level in the US is the National Day of Service on September 11th, which encourages the public to take part in some type of community service project on 9/11 of each year. Many people participate in this, but many people also do not. Because Umuganda is done by neighborhood, it serves to bring the community together in addition to its purpose to improve the physical conditions of the area. As I was participating in Umuganda, I saw the people around me talking as they worked. By bring people together in this way, the neighborhood is bound to get closer. I think that neighborhoods are already much closer here than they are in most parts of the US, but umuganda only serves to strengthen this sense of community. It is powerful to see neighbors coming together to better their community, when one of the most disturbing parts of the genocide was the way that neighbors turned on one another.
I was a little disappointed to see that many people do not attend Umuganda, and instead use the time to clean the house, catch up on rest, etc. My sister said that my papa usually comes but that he had not come today because he was exhausted from just coming back from Kampala. When I asked about mama, my sister said that most women do not come because they don’t like the physical labor. When she told me this as we were shoveling the road, I worried that this meant that the women also do not attend the community meeting after the project, and therefore do not participate in community discussions and decisions. This assumption turned out to be wrong, many women turned up for the meeting, and they participated heavily.
The community meeting struck me as incredible and like nothing I had seen before. My sister’s best friend, Ricky, sat next to me and translated what was going on for me. The meeting was run by the village chief. He made announcements about different things going on in the village (they call the various neighborhoods outside the main part of town “villages”), like various meetings and projects. He also thanked everyone who participated in Umuganda, stressing the importance of working together to improve the community, and asked everyone to encourage the people who were not present to come next time. He then asked if anyone had problems they wanted to discuss. One man brought up the fact that every time it rains heavily, his house gets flooded with water. Many people also shared that they were also having this problem, and that it was damaging for their house and personal items. Many people took turns talking, and they ultimately decided that they need to dig more ditches on the side of the road for the water to go into. Someone pointed out that it is very important that people take responsibility and actually dig the ditch in front of their house, because each person will has to pay the consequences if they do not. After this discussion, a woman stood up and told the community about the particularly difficult situation she is currently in. Her husband is in the hospital with a heart condition and she cannot pay the medical bills for his treatment. He is not doing well, and the doctor has pretty much given up on him. She does not own her house (she is renting it), but she doesn’t have the money to pay the rent. Also, her children have not been in school for four months because she cannot pay the fees. Everyone at this meeting then began discussing this woman’s situation and what they should do to help her. Someone suggested taking the community dues that they pay and giving some of it to her to help her pay the hospital bills, the rent or the school fees. Someone else said that this was not a sustainable solution; they could pay a few months of this lady’s rent, but then what? Someone else said that he thought she might be lying about the hospital bills and that she had actually already paid them. One man then said that he is the director of the local primary school, and that he could help her get her kids into school without paying the fees until she is in a better financial situation. The woman then mentioned that she is from Burundi. Someone asked her if she has land there, and she said that she does. They then discussed paying the transportation costs for her and her children to go back to Burundi, because then at least she would have a place to live and land to farm. After much discussion, I think they decided to help her with her rent for a couple of months and then go from there.
There were several things that struck me about what I had just seen. First, about 50 people were sitting around talking about this lady’s problems. This would NEVER happen in the US because most people are ashamed of their problems and try to hide them from the people around them, often especially their neighbors! I asked Ricky if he thought she minded that all of these people were talking about her problems, but he said that she did not mind and that it was in fact good for her, because she now had the support of the community. He also said something along the lines of, “Why would she want to keep it private? That would do her no good.” I then wondered if people ever take advantage of this opportunity for support when they don’t really need it. Ricky said that this doesn’t happen, because then people would not help them when a time came where they really needed it. The other main thing that struck me was the fact that all of these people took the time to sit around for probably around 45 minutes and try to come up with solutions for this woman on a Saturday afternoon. I feel like some people in the US complain about having to sit and listen to a good friend talk about their problems for this amount of time. I really appreciate the fact that people are really dedicated to the community and the people in it, and they take the time and energy to really try to help each other. From my experiences with Umuganda and the community meeting, I think we have a lot to learn from the Rwandese people.
Another thing that stands out from my time in Rwanda was hearing the personal stories of people who have survived the genocide. Towards the end of our time there, one of our program staff gave us his testimony. We had heard many other people’s stories, but none had hit me in the way that his did. We had spent the last month with him, sharing meals, funny stories, and getting to know each other as people. I had gotten to know him more as a really person than as a survivor first, and so hearing his story hit much closer to home. When he told us that the UN soldiers who were guarding the school that him and his family were in locked them in the school and basically left them to die, my stomach dropped. He then continued to say that many of his family members were killed at this school- just a half a mile from UN headquarters. WHAT?? What is the point of the UN if they are not going to come through for people in times of great need, when people’s lives are literally in immediate danger? This must feel like such a betrayal; you go to a place tat is supposed to be safe because the UN is protecting it, and then most of your family members are killed because your “protectors” leave?! I know it is much more complicated than this and it is possible that they had to leave because their lives would also be in danger, and that the UN has done good in Rwanda since then genocide, but it is just so hard to hear a story like this. It is so incredible to see how people like him have gone on to dedicate their lives to memorializing the genocide and preventing further genocides, and I respect him so much for being willing to share his story.
On a lighter note, another really memorable experience was taking a boat to Bat Island with my group while we were staying at Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu is on the border of Rwanda and DRC and it is BEAUTIFUL! All 13 of us piled onto a motorboat. It was about a half hour ride to the island and it was absolutely gorgeous. As cheesy as it sounds, the cool breeze was so refreshing, and I couldn’t stop starring at the seemingly unreal teal color of the water. We got to the little island and piled out of the boat. It seriously felt like we were on survivor- the island seemed solely inhabited with wildlife. We were told that the bats come out at dusk and dawn, but we were there in the middle of the day, so we didn’t really expect to see them. However, as we began to walk on the island, the bats began flying out of the trees by the hundred, and soon the sky was COVERED with bats. It was like Hitchcock’s The Bird’s: Part II. SO SCARY. After a few encounters with undesirable bat poop, we decided that a few too many bats had appeared out of nowhere, and we were ready to get out of there. We immediately dove into the teal water, right off the island. Swimming in that water surrounded only by the sky, a tree (and bat)-filled island, and more water was so relaxing, and it was so nice to share this moment with my group, who have really become great friends of mine.
This is super random, but this experience also stood out to me as a special moment. One night, after I had gone out to dinner with a group of friends, I took a private taxi back to my house. This was the first time I was taking one (I usually use the public transportation system but that does not run late at night), so I was surprised to find out that the taxi would not take me all the way to my house because the driver said his car could not handle the bad dirt road. I had no idea what to do- it was about 12:30 AM at that point and I did not feel comfortable making the walk on the long, dark road by myself. Suddenly, my friend who was in the taxi with me because she was going to continue taking it to her house yelled, “Look! Two girls, go with them!!” The two girls looked about my age, and I ran up to them. I introduced myself in Kinyerwanda and they introduced themselves to me. The three of us began to walk in the same direction and then one of the girls turned down another road to go home. The road was pretty muddy, so my new friend grabbed my hand to help me navigate the path. I quickly realized that she didn’t speak English, so I asked her in Kinyerwanda how old she is. We were both very excited to find that we are both 20. We couldn’t really communicate much more than that, so we just held hands and laughed all the way to my house. It was as if we were young schoolgirls coming home from class, except that it was dark instead of light, and our main source of communication was laughter. We said goodbye outside my house and then she continued down the path to her house. I never saw her again after that, but it struck me as such a special chance meeting of two 20-year-old girls of two cultures with two difference languages who had found comfort in each other on their walk home one night.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Pictures...
Our group on the equator!!
At the bottom of Mt. Bisoke
Soooo beautiful!
My host brother and grandmother
Some of my brothers and sisters
They loved the bubbles I brought!
Learning how to make a traditional Rwandan basket at a women's cooperative in the Millennium Village in Rwanda
This country is so unbelievably beautiful!
Sunset over Lake Kivu on the border of Rwanda and DRC
We took a boat to bat island, there are 5 million bats living there!!
On our boat ride
Paradise!
At the bottom of Mt. Bisoke
Soooo beautiful!
My host brother and grandmother
Some of my brothers and sisters
They loved the bubbles I brought!
Learning how to make a traditional Rwandan basket at a women's cooperative in the Millennium Village in Rwanda
This country is so unbelievably beautiful!
Sunset over Lake Kivu on the border of Rwanda and DRC
We took a boat to bat island, there are 5 million bats living there!!
On our boat ride
Paradise!
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