As we sit at the airport, waiting to carry our numerous bags through security . . . we thought we would give you a list of things we learned in Rwanda!
* It is possible to live on beans and rice and rice and beans . . . for more than two months.
* No matter how much (or hard) you scrub, the red dirt never comes off.
* Don't eat the cake!!
* Nearly two and one half dozen people can fit in a VW mini van (bench seats and a myriad of bags, boxes and sometimes live stock are included) and it can still drive 60 mph.
* It is legal to paste political posters on every inch of your vehicle, including the front, back and side windows.
* Just because the road is made for two lanes of traffic, does not mean that four lanes will not fit! with two additional lanes of motos.
* It rains avocados everyday.
* There is no set thing as a "set price", especially for white people.
* Moto-driver cannot only drive. They can drive, talk on the phone AND then TEXT on their second phone!!!!
* No matter how big the dare, don't touch the pele-pele sauce.
* It is possible to stack ten flats of boiled eggs (10 eggs by 10 eggs in size) on the back of a bike and make it up and down the Rwandan hills, in traffic.
* Anything can be carried on top of ones head; a mattress, a suitcase, a bed, multiple jerry cans, hundreds of bananas, four cases of beer, a bike
* Anything can be carried on a bike; twenty to thirty chickens (upside down), a goat in a basket, eggs, water , milk cans (up to 5 big ones), numbers of people, mattresses, a bike,
* The American Embassy is only open to Americans on Tuesday!
* We can't wait to return!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
A Very, Merry Un-birthday
It came to our attention that Dinah and Agnes, the young women who help around the compound, had never had a birthday celebration, much less cake or a gift. Dinah’s birthday is June 6, and she was 26 and Agnes’s birthday is December 26 and she was 21. So we planned an “un-birthday” party for them….. cake, noisemakers and presents.
It was wonderful to watch the surprise as they walked in the door, wondering what we were celebrating now, never expecting it to be them! With “Happy Un-birthday” sung, it was time to blow out the candles, with the reminder to make a wish. The cake was cut and passed out, with excitement from the girls and semi groans from the rest of us. Rwandan cakes are beautiful, elegantly frosted with cherries or candies placed on top but the cake itself leaves much to be desired. The best description one could give would be akin to sawdust, held together by paste, but it is the best cake in Kagli!
For gifts, everyone staying in the guesthouse pitched in and got the girls a piece of traditional fabric and paid for the local seamstress to make them a new dress. They were so overwhelmed by the entire ordeal that they could not imagine getting a new dress (not something received as a hand-me-down from people leaving the guest house).
A great time was had by all and we all vowed to remember this un-birthday date for a party next year! This is not a difference in culture it is a difference in status! Many Rwandans I know celebrate birthdays and even have big parties. Yet due to their position in society as servants, even something lower than a servant for which I do not know the name, many of life’s basic joys are personally foreign to them. They see the celebrations, create the meals, serve and clean up after all the people who attend, yet it is never for them. Will our small effort make a difference in their lives? I do not know, I hope it did, I do know it was a very, merry un-birthday!
It was wonderful to watch the surprise as they walked in the door, wondering what we were celebrating now, never expecting it to be them! With “Happy Un-birthday” sung, it was time to blow out the candles, with the reminder to make a wish. The cake was cut and passed out, with excitement from the girls and semi groans from the rest of us. Rwandan cakes are beautiful, elegantly frosted with cherries or candies placed on top but the cake itself leaves much to be desired. The best description one could give would be akin to sawdust, held together by paste, but it is the best cake in Kagli!
For gifts, everyone staying in the guesthouse pitched in and got the girls a piece of traditional fabric and paid for the local seamstress to make them a new dress. They were so overwhelmed by the entire ordeal that they could not imagine getting a new dress (not something received as a hand-me-down from people leaving the guest house).
A great time was had by all and we all vowed to remember this un-birthday date for a party next year! This is not a difference in culture it is a difference in status! Many Rwandans I know celebrate birthdays and even have big parties. Yet due to their position in society as servants, even something lower than a servant for which I do not know the name, many of life’s basic joys are personally foreign to them. They see the celebrations, create the meals, serve and clean up after all the people who attend, yet it is never for them. Will our small effort make a difference in their lives? I do not know, I hope it did, I do know it was a very, merry un-birthday!
The Cement Floor is Coming!!!
We are happy to report that at one of our last visits to the Community Vocational Training Institute of Kigali (the former Meg School), we found the women and their machines sitting outside. At first we thought the reason was the beautiful sunny day, but upon entering the building, we soon found out why. The cement floor, that the WCSS purchase of bags for the 2011 conference helped in large part to pay for, was in the beginning stages. You cannot possibly imagine the difference this will make in that building. Although other improvements need to be done, it is a huge step and something that WCSS should be proud of being a part of.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tora Kagame
Tora Kagame
It is election season in Rwanda and the Kagame fever is wild. The posters and t-shirts are everywhere. The posters are plastered on the sides and windows of buses and cars (on the front and back windows!) Bumper stickers are everywhere, including on the visors of the moto drivers. Everyone is wearing a “Tora Kagame” (Vote Kagame) T-shirt or something that states people are for the “RPF party.” (Rwandan Patriotic Front)
Kagame’s slogan is “Imvugo Niyo Ngiro” meaning his “ Words are his Actions.” There are many wonderful things Kagame has done for Rwanda during his term beginning in 1994, effectively ending the Genocide of 1994. Since that time, Rwanda has become one of the greatest success stories of Africa; in economic, education, and technological developments. Thus creating the hub of the new East African Union.
With his re-election is assured by a wide margin, one might ask where is the opposition?
It is election season in Rwanda and the Kagame fever is wild. The posters and t-shirts are everywhere. The posters are plastered on the sides and windows of buses and cars (on the front and back windows!) Bumper stickers are everywhere, including on the visors of the moto drivers. Everyone is wearing a “Tora Kagame” (Vote Kagame) T-shirt or something that states people are for the “RPF party.” (Rwandan Patriotic Front)
Kagame’s slogan is “Imvugo Niyo Ngiro” meaning his “ Words are his Actions.” There are many wonderful things Kagame has done for Rwanda during his term beginning in 1994, effectively ending the Genocide of 1994. Since that time, Rwanda has become one of the greatest success stories of Africa; in economic, education, and technological developments. Thus creating the hub of the new East African Union.
With his re-election is assured by a wide margin, one might ask where is the opposition?
Monday, July 26, 2010
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