Under African Skies

One woman down...

2011-06-10T04:05:00.000-07:00

We are the first ones to admit that we've had pretty bad luck while over here in Africa. Among wallets, laptops, cameras being stolen, being mugged at knife-point, having a flu, stomach bug, third degree burn, malaria, typhoid fever, amoeba, and bacterial infections, we have still managed to survive and don't regret coming here for one minute. Unfortunately my latest sickness has come too late in the trip for me to catch up with the tour group and still make it home in time for work...which means I must come home early. Although I feel horrible leaving Africa, Amy and our adventure together, I know that our time volunteering has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever been a part of. The people and communities we've worked with have truly changed my outlook on life and made me ever grateful for everything that I've been given in life. I promise to update the Uganda blog entries and photos when I arrive home and am fully recovered. Thanks again to everyone for your support and encouragement of our work here in Africa, it is an experience that we will never forget!

xo Cait

Bye Uganda!

2011-05-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry Amy and I have been very slack with our blog entries the past few weeks, but we promise we will update them once we arrive in Kenya! We are all safe and sound, minus a few bumps in the road :)

xo Cait

Busana Village

2011-04-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

Last week we traveled to Busana Village, about 1.5 hours from our home in Mukono. Per usual in Africa, the 1.5 hour trip actual took about 3.5 hours. Driving down the main road on our way there in a crowded bus, clay charcoal ovens covered the entire bus floor (a woman selling them had to transport them home), and 21 people were packed into the bus meant for 14. All of a sudden we screeched to a halt and pulled a quick 3 point turn before heading back in the direction we came from. Had we forgotten a passenger? Had we missed a turn? Was the driver drunk? Actually, he was speeding away from the police who had previously tried to ticket him for speeding, and who were right on our tail. After going uncomfortably fast down the main road, we veered onto a dirt, country road out into the middle of a tea plantation. The police were no longer following us, but saying the ride was bumpy and uncomfortable would have been an understatement. Another occasion where we found ourselves smiling at each other saying TIA (This Is Africa).

Busana Village is a small, very rural village north of Mukono with a population of around 500 people. Most villagers are poor, even by Ugandan standards, and barely surviving by western standards. Mud huts with grass-thatched roofs are the primary dwelling for most villagers; some sleeping eight people in a room meant for two. Farming is the main source of income here and also acts as sustenance to feed families. Although a few small shops dot the main street, fresh food markets and street-side vendors are the main businesses around. Chickens, ducks, goats and cows roam freely around the dirt streets and frequently in and out of the small dwellings. Children with runny noses, distended bellies, and torn clothing run down the roads, chase animals and play in the dirt. We are greeted by the village leader and welcomed into his home, where we meet his wife, children and neighbors. Because we are the first mzungu’s (white people) to ever stay here, a crowd of children and teenagers grows larger by the doorway, peering in and smiling at us by candlelight. We are served a late supper around 11pm of rice, eggplant, and gnut (peanut) sauce. After dinner, we are brought to our accommodation; a mud hut (approx. 3 by 3 meters) with a grass-thatched roof and two small mattresses on the floor. This is exactly the Africa we imagined, and we smiled at each other with a combination of excitement and nerves. We unrolled our sleeping bags, hung out mosquito nets on the bamboo rods running along the ceiling, and prepared for our first night of sleep in the village. As our eyelids got heavy, we heard small scratching noises followed by some squeaking. We quickly learned that we shared our small hut with a family of mice; awesome. Amy and I developed a policy towards critters in Africa earlier in our trip; she deals with the bugs and I deal with the rodents/small animals- it was finally my turn. Unfortunately our furry friends were hiding in the grass thatch, so it was impossible to find them never mind catch them. So we attempted a night’s sleep while worrying that our roommates would try to share our sleeping bags, or worse our pillows.

After a night of restless sleep, we had a meeting with the village leaders to discuss the issues their village faces. They described problems of sanitation, health, hygiene, domestic violence, poverty, and income generation. After identifying their top two concerns, sanitation and income generation, Amy used her Public Health knowledge to help them create a Village Action Team. The VAT would be responsible for modeling the lessons about sanitation and economic empowerment, doing assessments of nearby households, and disseminating the messages and information crucial to improving the living conditions. We were to meet the 15 chosen VAT members the next day, who would be responsible for 25 households each. Our afternoon was spent playing with the neighborhood children with the jump rope and ball we brought along. Amazing what basic things entertain children over here, it made us wonder about all the extravagant toys and gifts we play with back home and appreciate the basics.

We presented sanitation topics to two different primary schools in the area where we focused on face, hand, and clothing washing and germ transmission. We tried to make the presentations interactive by playing a few games, dancing, and getting the kids pretending to wash their hands. Following one of the presentations, two local boys decided to perform for us and their entire school. ‘Black’ and ‘Expert’ (the boys stage names) performed some local favorites “Angela” and then some Shaggy. We took a trip to the market to buy food for the rest of the week, fresh fruit and vegetables, rice, potatoes, and even some meat! Because of the lack of refrigeration and electricity, the meat at the markets tends to be very fresh. When picking out a cut of meat, I couldn’t help but snap a picture of the goats head, eyes still open sitting on the chopping block. The meat we bought was actually still twitching while the butcher went to work.

The next day we met with the VAT, explained their roles and responsibilities, and how FREDA could support them in development. After a question from the audience about the political power of the leaders and the top-down style of choosing the VAT members, we decided to hold a democratic election that could more fairly nominate community members. Another issue we noticed was the gender inequality. The feminist in me hated how the women were all seated on the dirt floor and all the men took the bench seats, how the women rarely spoke unless singled out, and how they knelt when approaching you like servants. Although this topic was mentioned, we had to focus on the issues at hand while making sure that women were equally represented in the VAT members.

I could write about so much more; the village experience is absolutely unforgettable, and the people are incredibly warm, friendly and generous. On our way home, about 30 members of the village (men, women, and children who stayed near us) walked us all the way to the main town to catch our bus; a personal parade! The chaos, dirt, and overall disorganization were tough to get used to, but more and more we realize how full of life Uganda is.

Xo Cait

A week in a rural village

2011-03-25T01:50:00.000-07:00

There are 21 of us crammed into a 12 seater van. Our bags are on our laps and at our feet are sacks of rice and fresh produce from the markets. Arms and legs are entangled and bodies fit into the curves of the people sitting beside you. The plan was to be on the road by 10am, but this is ‘Africa time’ and we get on the bus at 5pm. The journey takes about an hour and by the time we get off the bus it is dark. The village we are traveling to is not accessible by road so bodas (motorbike taxis) take us the remainder of our journey. Balancing on the back of the boda, I am wearing my backpack and on each knee I have a bag of supplies. The road is dusty and potholed and I watch a lightening storm light up the night sky in the distance. We are deep in rural Uganda. The village has no electricity or running water, many families have no access to latrines or health care. Sanitation and hygiene is poor and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and other diseases is high. The life expectancy in these villages is around 42 years for men and 45 years for women. Over the next 2 years FREDA will work closely with village leaders to help the community identify their needs and be supported in making changes. During this visit will be meeting with different groups in the village and facilitating discussions and education sessions about health, hygiene, sanitation, nutrition and domestic violence. Our messages are basic – the importance of washing hands with soap and water, keeping latrines covered to reduce germ transmission by flies, boiling drinking water, HIV/AIDS and eating fruits and vegetables. Arriving in the village in at night means we attract little attention. We have been given the newest house in the village to stay at. It has two small rooms, concrete floor and corrugated iron roof. There is one window which has piece of cardboard where the glass should be and apart from the woven sleeping mats on the floor the house is empty. Later, two foam mattresses are brought to the house – they look well used and have a slightly urinary smell to them. I am grateful at the gesture but feel uncomfortable knowing that a family in the village has given up their beds for us. We take a walk out the back to find the latrine drop toilet which is shared by nearby houses. To get to it we need to go over a pile of dirt, past a pile of wood, past the burning rubbish pit and around the goats and chickens. It seems that the latrine is home to about 50 huge cockroaches which are running up and down the walls. I really hope that I don’t need to use it during the night. Dinner is served late in the village, often not until 10pm, so we decide to take a walk around the village. We are invited in for a drink at the local pub. We sit on low wooden benches beneath the thatched roof. The floor is mud. We are offered some of the local spirit, made from fermented matoke (green bananas). The white liquor is poured from an old coke bottle into a glass. Even in the dull light from the kerosene lamp I can see how dirty the communal glass is. The drink is strong and burns my throat. It tastes like a mixture of cheap tequila and rubbing alcohol. I figure that the alcohol should at least kill any germs on the glass. For dinner we are served a huge bowl of cooked green bananas before bunking down for an unsettled night on the floor. We wake to a beautiful summer’s day and it is already hot. Word has spread quickly around the village that we are here and we have many visitors who come past to see us. It is the first time that muzungu (white people) have come to the village and people seem excited that we are here. We walk to a nearby school to talk with the children about sanitation and hygiene as well as HIV/AIDS. On the way we pass children who have skipped school and are sitting on the roadside digging for ants to eat. These ants are huge and look more like flying grasshoppers. For lunch we are served half a fish each (head, eyes, tail, fins and skin attached) which we eat with our hands. In the afternoon we walk about 4km to a nearby village to meet with a group of women. They are gathered on mats in the shade under a tree. Later on we take a walk to Lake Victoria. At the lake fishermen are coming back in, children stand on the waters edge filling jerry cans and women wash clothes laying them on the grass to dry. We walk home watching the sun set. Many of the houses we pass are made from mud with grass roofs. Children run around naked and goats, chickens and pigs roam freely. As we walk by heads peak around doorways and trees. Children are either intrigued by our light skin or cry in fear and run away. Most have never seen a white person before. A family offers us a bowl of fried bugs which they are eating for dinner. I know how rude it is to decline food that is offered. I am also touched by the fact that this family has nothing and most likely don’t know what they will eat tomorrow but still invite us to eat with them. The bugs have little taste apart from the oil they have been fried in but it is the texture as I crunch on them that I struggle with the most. We are offered another local drink. It is in a plastic container on the floor with 6 long wooden straws coming out of it. The drink looks like a thick muddy paste it had a strong yeast taste and is gritty in texture. One sip is enough for me. We head home, tired and exhausted. I am looking forward to being able to wash as we have walked close to 10km today and I am covered in red dust and sweat. We are given a plastic basin and about a litre of water which I take out the back. As we get ready to go to bed the giant moth we had seen last night reappears and starts swooping around the room, it turns out to be a bat. Travis comes to the rescue and is able to catch it. While this is going on I am ducking every time it comes near me and Cait is curled up in a ball in the corner with her scarf over her head. A group of children are waiting outside our door in the morning and we play ball with them before we set off for the day. Most of the children in the village are suffering from malnutrition, they have skinny arms and legs and their stomachs are distended due to a diet low in calories and protein and high in carbohydrates. It is heart breaking to see. We speak at school in the morning and walk to another village in the afternoon. On the way we come across a group of girls aged about 3 to 6 years. They walk with us the rest of the way, holding our hands and singing. An old and possibly senile lady runs out to greet us when we arrive, she dances around, sings and hugs us, before making a yodel like noise. I think she is excited we are here. The whole village has come to listen to us and the session goes really well. Back at the village we are staying at we meet with the youth in the evening. We head home on Thursday after planting a community vegetable garden and running a session on nutrition. I am sad to leave this village which has welcomed us with open arms, I have loved my time here and being a part of village life and look forward to the ongoing work we will do with this village over the next few months.

Axx

Welcome to Uganda!

2011-03-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Upon reaching the Ugandan border, we left the bus to walk across the border and apply for our visa in the immigration office. We were surprisingly greeted in English (one of the first times since being in Africa), paid our $50 US, and were granted entry into Uganda for 3 months. The landscape and people in Uganda were noticeably different; trash littered the dirt roads, people weren’t smiling much, and we began driving on the left-hand side of the road. After stopping to get gas about 2 hours into the trip, we headed back out on the road and saw plastic bags and bottles whizzing past our window; all the bus passengers began throwing their out their trash. We were both a bit horrified but tried to hide our shock as everyone else assumed littering was completely acceptable. 8 hours on the bus, and we arrived in Kampala; the capital and main city in Uganda. We took a taxi to a local backpackers called Red Chili and tried to regroup and relax. After meeting another friendly backpacker, an American guy working in Sudan (but in Uganda for a couple weeks), we went out for a yummy Indian meal at the local mall. The next day, our coordinator, Leslie picked us up, along with a couple fellow volunteers who had just flown into the country. Leslie was bubbly, positive, and honest about our time in Uganda. She brought us to the new volunteer house; quite a bit different to where we stayed in Rwanda. To start, about 10 minutes after we arrived we heard a crashing noise and ran outside to find that a moto driver had skidded off the road and hit a man and a woman holding her baby (the first of 3 crashes we would see within 4 days). Thankfully all involved were okay, but a shocking sight to see the first few minutes at our new home. The moto drivers in Uganda are all unlicensed, without helmets, and decidedly a bit scarier than what we had experienced in

Rwanda

. The shower at our new home consists of a square concrete room with a hole in the corner and a few buckets along the edges. To bathe, we must (in a variety of positions) scoop the water from the bucket over our body. When “nature calls”, we have to climb down four flights of stairs armed with our flip flops, headlamp, toilet paper, and scarf wrapped tightly around our faces (imagine a burglar). The latrine is a small cement box with a hole in the middle that is rarely cleaned, covered in cockroaches, and the worst smelling toilet I have ever encountered. We have come up with a strategy to spray one of my scarves with perfume, and then wrap it tightly around our faces, with the headlamp securely on our foreheads. Because we are uncertain as to what the walls, door, and surroundings may be covered in, it is necessary to balance carefully over the hole while squatting to avoid touching anything. Clearly it is not the most pleasant experience, but one that is part of many local Ugandans’ lives. Another common occurrence in

Uganda

is power outages; we’ve had dinner by flashlight 3 of the 4 nights here already.

We met our manager, Travis, a local Ugandan man who runs the NGO called FREDA (Foundation for the Relief and Development of Africa) here in Mukono, Uganda. It’s a grassroots organization that works deep in villages to educate locals about topics like sanitation, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence prevention, nutrition, and sex education. Travis is open-minded, funny, and passionate about equal rights and development in Uganda. Growing up poor, and now with a family of his own; he really believes in a positive future for the country.

Travis took us out to “shake bones” as he calls dancing at a local bar. While we made up some dance moves (the chicken, nature calls, and making chapatti), we sampled the local beer and tunes. The next night, our house mum/cook Jackie taught us how to cook over charcoal. After lighting the coals with plastic (probably not the healthiest fumes to be inhaling), we waited for the coals to heat up, chopped veggies, and chatted about recipes. We had to fight her a bit when cooking the vegetables for our Africa “stir-fry”, when we wanted to take them off the heat but she insisted they were only half cooked. Our first week in Uganda has been very overwhelming and exciting, and we’re looking forward to our first week of work in a rural village on Monday J

xo Cait

Last week in Rwanda

2011-03-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

For our last week in Rwanda, Amy spent her time up at the rural health clinic in Gisenyi helping test people for HIV, deliver babies and help with emergency care. I decided to stay in Kigali and work with the women’s cooperative.

For International Women’s Day, I brought in cookies and nail polish to give the women a pamper day while they worked on their crafts. They devoured the cookies while I painted their nails either pink or red (some of them had never painted their toe nails before!); a much needed break from their usual days of survival and stress. That afternoon, I took one of the girls that FVA looks after (pays her school fees, helps with rent, etc.) to the local market to buy some new clothes. Janine lives alone with her father, who is an alcoholic and abusive, where they share a bed (we are hoping the abuse isn’t sexual). FVA worked with the local community to move her into a new home with a family friend. Whenever she came by the office, she always seemed to be in her school uniform. My boss told me she only has a few other clothes, so usually wears her uniform most days. After trying on a few tops and pants, we tried to bargain with the market vendor to get a good deal on the second hand clothes. When he tried to charge me twice what a local would pay, I decided to give Janine the money and hide behind the corner of the next stall. Our strategy worked! We got some new tops, a pair of pants, and a new pair of shoes, and topped it all of with a cold mango juice on the walk home. It made me really appreciate all the times my parents took me back-to-school shopping; that so many kids over here never get that experience. Janine was beaming all the way home. Although I was sad to say goodbye, it was reassuring that Janine was in a new, safe home and had a smile on her face. The rest of the week was spent paying for school fees for 9 of the womens' children; thanks again donors :) One of the women was so grateful she had FVA's driver deliver a hand-beaded pen, set of handmade coasters, and a beautifully written thank you card (in English and Kinyarwanda of course) to our guesthouse.

After finishing our evaluation report to our managers, we set about saying goodbye to all the wonderful friends we had made while in Rwanda. We had a farewell dinner at our favorite pizza place Sole Luna, and had our last night out at our favorite night spot Papyrus where we danced the night away. The day before leaving we lied by the Embassy pool, bbq’d and talked about how much we’d miss Rwanda. We procrastinated so badly that by midnight, we still hadn’t packed (the worst part being that our bus was at 5am the next morning). To top it all off, our driver to the bus arrived 15 minutes late by foot, and our car wouldn’t start. Thankfully we arrived at the bus while everyone was boarding, and started our journey to Uganda. We will never forget the experiences and friends we’ve made in Rwanda. To put it into words, it was challenging, fun, frustrating, exciting, confusing, and wonderful all at the same time.

Xo Cait

Uganda Update

2011-03-21T01:17:00.000-07:00

So Amy and I have to apologize for being so delayed with our next posts. Unfortunately we had three new entries on the way that were saved on my computer, which has since been stolen. Although my bedroom was locked whenever we left the house, it must have been stolen while we were in the house. Luckily my insurance will cover this loss, as long as I get a police report, but we are now without a computer for the next four months. We will of course attempt to re-write some of the lost posts and put up some new pictures, but until we have access to another computer it may take us a while with work, etc. Other than the laptop being gone (one of our only sources of entertainment!) Uganda has been great. Mukono is definitely closer to the Africa we had imagined; streets are chaotic and a bit scary, the toilets are latrines that are 4 flights of stairs down from the house, there is no television, and electricity comes and goes throughout the day. We are very excited to start work tomorrow, where we will head to a rural village about an hours drive and educate villagers about sanitation, nutrition, HIV, safe sex, and other health issues. Wish us luck, and we will be in touch as soon as we can!

xo Cait

Gorilla Encounter

2011-03-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

The alarm pierced the silence of the night and the three of us sat up sleepily under our mosquito nets rubbing our eyes as they adjusted to the light. Was it already 5.15am? The excitement of the day ahead dawned on us quickly and we were soon out of bed showering and packing the essentials for the day. Dressed in layers of clothes we climbed into the land rover which would take us the headquarters of Parc National des Volcans. At 7.00am gorilla groups are assigned and a briefing is held over a cup of hot coffee. We were hoping to request to the Susa group and had arrived early knowing that nearly everyone who shows up to the park headquarters each morning is gunning to track this group. The Susa group, the largest gorilla group with 29
members, is also the hardest group to reach and we were prepared for a potentially long, wet and cold trek through the steep slopes of the rain forest. We were in luck, we had arrived early enough and looked
fit enough to be assigned to Susa group. Sitting next to our guide, with the rest of the group in vehicle
ahead of us, we drove for around an hour through villages and over solidified lava flows along the base of the Karisimbi volcano to reach the point were we would start the trek. With wooden trekking poles we
set off walking through the alpine meadows. Fields of potatoes and waist high daisys boarded the grass track. The towering mist covered volcanoes made a breath taking backdrop. Women with babies strapped to
their backs worked in the fields and groups of children ran to greet us. We commented that perhaps the trek wasn't going to be as hard as we had initially thought. The guide overheard this comment and informed
us that we hadn't started the trek yet - the first 40 minutes was just the walk to the edge of Parc National des Volcans. Climbing over a knee high stone wall, we were know in the Parc which is home to the remaining 810 mountain gorillas left in the world. Initially on a track, the ascent started off gently with a gradual climb through the dense bamboo. Later we moved off the track and scrambled for hours through dense vegetation and up steep muddy hillsides, pulling ourselves up on branches and vines. The climb was strenuous and the
thin air at the higher altitude made it hard to breath. With tentative steps we cautiously climbed across a canopy of vines. Leading the group our guide sliced through hanging vines and the thick overgrowth
of stinging nettles using a machete. We had been advised to wear long sleeved clothing as we may encounter stinging nettles. What they hadn't mentioned was that we would be crawling through stinging nettles for
close to an hour and that light weight clothing would do little to protect against the nettles which easily penetrated through our layers of clothes. Our hands, arms and legs stung with the fiery skin rash. It was at
least a good distraction from our burning lungs and headache from the altitude. A group of trackers had set off an hour earlier than us to locate the group, however 3 hours into our trek the trackers radioed through advising they had not yet found them. An hour later, at an altitude of 3200 meters, our guide found discards of bamboo shoots and announced that the gorillas had passed through where we were within the last hour. Minutes later the radio crackled. The trackers had found them and we were really close! We left our bags in a clearing, taking only our cameras with us. Walking single file, the excitement and anticipation of the group could be felt in the air. The guide made our presence known through a series of calls and grunts before coming to a sudden halt. In unison the group gasped. Less than 3 meters away sat a giant silverback crunching nosily on wild celery. It was incredible to be face to face with a 400kg gorilla. No bars, no windows. A humble guest in his domain. We stood in silence watching on in amazement. We moved on after a while to
find the rest of the Susa family knowing they would be close to the silverback, the head of their family. I don't think anything can quite prepare you for the moment when you come upon a gorilla group in the wild; the first glimpse of a black juvenile climbing up a tree, it's mother watching protectively on from nearby; the rustling of foliage and crunching of bamboo as a gorilla reaches for a second bamboo shoot and when a giant silver back rises to size you up. The group was moving and foraging as they feed so we spend much of the next hour on
the move with them. While watching a fully grown female groom herself, one of the guides noticed more of the Susa group ahead and motioned for us to move forwards. The female we had been observing seemed
unfazed by the first half of our group passing by her. As I moved forward I was aware that she was starting to move. There were two paths that she could take and I was right in the middle. Not wanting to block her path, I stood still feeling fairly calm and expecting her meander past me on one of the two tracks. My heart began to beat a little faster, and was soon pounding as I realized that this 200kg gorilla is now coming directly towards me. What do I do? Do I move slowly forwards? Tip toe backwards? Crouch down? Run? My mind is racing and I think back to the briefing earlier in the day and realize with a sickening feeling that they didn't cover this. We learnt about what gorillas eat, how they breed and about the Susa group but nothing about what to do should a gorilla have you in its sights and moving at pace towards you. I am not aware of anything else around me at this stage and time is moving in slow motion. The gorilla is close enough that I can hear her breathing. Next I realize is that her giant hand is reaching towards me and that she has a firm grip on the calf of my leg. She releases her grip and I feel Cait's hand grab on to my arm pulling me backwards and she is telling me to move. As we step back I exhale not realizing that I had been holding my breath. The gorilla has now turned away and is moving in the opposite direction and Cait and I are taking steady steps backwards. The female glances back over her shoulder at us and then turns. Cait and I freeze. We stand there clinging to each as the gorilla once again is coming towards us. At this point Cait is convinced that we are going to be killed or the very least end up missing limbs or parts of our faces. Our friend Adrian, who is watching on helplessly, told us later that they look on our faces was priceless. Cait and I start backing away, and from somewhere behind the guide assures us it is ok but that we need to get
out of here. He turns and runs, leaving Cait and I no longer in danger but alone in the jungle with 29 gorillas in close vicinity. Meanwhile, Adrian, who was with the second guide and the other half of our group, is also having an up close encounter with 4 gorillas. Having found themselves surrounded by a circle of 4 gorillas, including 2 silverback, they looked to their guide for directions on what they were going to do. The guide
simply replied, "we are trapped". Nothing like stating the obvious. After a few moments one of the silverbacks moved forwards to walk off, gently backhanding the guide as he walked by sending the guide to the ground. Cait and I soon found the rest of the group and were later reunited with Adrian's half of the group. Our hour with the gorillas was now up. The walk back down was slippery in the rain and we came across another 5 gorillas on the way. It was late afternoon by the time we got back to the car, exhausted and covered in mud and with amazing memories and tales of coming face to face with gorillas in the wild. An experience we will never forget.
Axx

Gisenyi and Health Clinic

2011-02-25T02:22:00.000-08:00

Sitting here cross-legged on the corrugated iron roof of the guesthouse, I am wrapped in a blanket looking out across Lake Kivu to the to the shores of the Congo. Barefoot children laugh happily and play in the field out front with a homemade football. The dusk sky, being sung in by a chorus of cicadas, is a mix of pinks, blues and greys. Above me black fruit bats dot the evening sky as they make their nightly migration back across the lake from the Congo. Singing coming from nearby is interrupted by the occasional cry of a goat and I can taste a smokiness in my mouth as the smoke from wood cooking fires drifts past. Night has fallen quickly and the soft orange glow from the volcano across the lake is now visible and I notice for the first time how bright the stars are out here away from the city. It seems like a good spot to sit and reflect. Today I witnessed both birth and death. The call from the clinic came not too long after we had arrived at the orphanage. A woman had walked herself to the clinic and was ready to birth. We waved down a bus and scrambled on board, climbing over passengers and the back of the drivers seat so we could squeeze into the only spare seat in the front. A short way down the road we got off the bus and jumped on the back of pushbikes. The rural road was muddy and potholed. We had to get off the bikes at one stage and run up the hill before climbing back on the bikes. Upon arriving at the clinic we found the woman lying on her back in the birthing room, feet in stirrups, a bucket on the floor below. There was little more in the room apart from the bed which was covered in plastic sheet and a mop propped up against the wall. Paint was chipping off the concrete walls and two aprons hung from a hook. I put on gloves and grabbed one of the disposable aprons - noting that it looked well used, torn in places and stained. The lady was fully dilated and the baby crowning. The sole nurse of the clinic and another volunteer - whose 'medical' background was 2 years in veterinary college - were also in the room with Cait and I. The nurse was concerned that the labour was not progressing so made the decision to insert a catheter to empty the woman's bladder. This speed things up. After a few pushes and a bit of assistance pulling the head out the baby was born and placed on a stainless steel bench. While the nurse and Patrick delivered the placenta, Cait and I checked over and wiped the baby. Under Patrick's guidance I tied the cord with two pieces of wool and cut it before weighing and measuring the baby - 3kg exactly and 45cm long. After swaddling the baby I took him over to meet his Mum. She glanced at him briefly but appeared almost uninterested - we later found out that contact between mother and baby after birth is not a common occurrence over here. So for the first 15 minutes of this baby's life I held him, watching him open his eyes for the first time and welcoming him to the world. After being checked for hemorrhaging the new mother matter-of-factly put her skirt back on - she didn't own any underwear - and walked herself into the connecting room, the 'maternity ward', where she lay down on one of the six beds - none of which had sheets, blankets or pillows.

We left the Mother to rest and went to see our next patient, a 52 year old man in the final stages of AIDS. Emaciated, with sunken eyes and temples it was evident there was little medically that could be done to help this man but make him comfortable and sit with him in his final hours. All to often patients come to the clinic and end up dying alone in one of the concrete rooms without even a blanket. We sat beside this man, whose name no one seemed to know, holding his hand and fanning him. I hoped that our love and care was being conveyed through these gestures and the look in our eyes - as this was the only common language we shared. Helping him to sit up to take a sip of Fanta I could feel each one of his ribs down his back. His whole body rattled violently with pneumonia each breath he took. As his heart rate decreased and his breathing became increasingly shallow and rapid I prayed that death would come quickly and without pain. For me the reality of this devastating disease hit home today and I struggle knowing the death I witnessed today was preventable. The clinic nurse called an 'ambulance' to take this man to the hospital to die as it would mean less paperwork for this already under resourced and under staffed clinic. The ambulance arrived 3 hours later. After the ambulance driver finished his cell phone call for 10 minutes, he made the poor man walk to the stretcher (which had wheels) himself. Although there were no medical miracles today; the kindness and compassion that we were able to share with the patients made up for our lack of experience and resources.

Axx

Ibi Wacu Cultural Village

2011-02-22T01:19:00.000-08:00

This weekend we finally ventured out of Kigali to visit a cultural village, go gorilla trekking, and stay in a town called Gisenyi by Lake Kivu. The whole experience was made a bit more comfortable with the help of our friends at the embassy, whose driver took us up north in the luxurious Chevy suburban. The poverty and desperation becomes much more clear when leaving the city, and the standard of living is extremely different. It is amazing to see kids of five or six carrying huge canisters of water, a large bag of potatoes or corn on their head, or a machete used to cut grass in their hands. Some are even working in the fields plowing, digging, and working on the crops. The countryside is absolutely beautiful, and we understand now why they call Rwanda "The Land of a Thousand Hills". The vegetation is lush and green, and the hills and mountains roll off into the distance until they fade away into the clouds. When we arrived in Musanze, we checked in to the Kinigi Guesthouse, which had beautiful gardens, stone sidewalks, and (most importantly) a restaurant with hot food and cold beer. Luckily the receptionist at the guesthouse knew someone who worked in the cultural village, who was able to set up a visit the afternoon we arrived. Our guide was super friendly and even told us that we were Rwandan once we stepped into the village. Ibi Wacu is comprised of around 2,000 people, of whom most are ex gorilla poachers. Because of this cultural village project and other efforts, 95% of poaching has been reduced because the men are able to make money from tourism as opposed to poaching.

Before entering the king's house, our guide told us that we must appoint a king, since the current king is living in Texas (not allowed back in Rwanda unless he's willing to denounce his king status). We had to appoint the only male, our friend Adrian, who was then allowed to enter the palace and put on his royal attire. He then welcomed us both into his house, and our guide made us aware of the privileges of kingdom. The most interesting to us was that the king technically owned all Rwandan women. If he saw a beautiful woman walking on the road, he could take her with him for a few days (spent on his 'king size bed'), then would send her home with a few cows and some land. Because of this, women's husbands would willingly allow them to leave with the king (and of course the threat of death if they protested usually kept them from trying to stop the king as well).

After donning traditional dresses, getting a tour of the king's bedroom, and learning the customs, we were greeted by the sound of drums and singing outside the king's house. The performers were dressed in warrior costumes and danced proudly to the beat of the drums. We then moved on to grind sorghum (a starch used to make porridge) with two large stones as women still do in smaller villages. A medicine man showed us a few different mixtures he used for ailments such as backaches, difficulty conceiving, and trouble 'getting it up'. We're pretty sure one of the remedies smelled like marijuana, but we didn't like to question traditional medicines. Drummers then performed for us, and invited us to join in on the action. The warriors each did their own unique dance, and by the end, had us all dancing along and teaching us some moves (not that we could actually follow, but we tried). Our experience ended with many thanks from the villagers and guide, and an escort from about 10 local kids who held our hands as we walked down the road to catch moto's. Another beautiful experience in Rwanda...

xo Cait

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

Last week we did the program evaluation for Gahanga Primary School, with one of our fellow volunteers Natalie. The cumulative walk to work and bus ride took about 30 minutes, and surprisingly within that time we were transported into rural Rwanda. It happened to be a Wednesday as well, which is market day, where all the locals head to the market to buy their food for the week, clothing, and any other odds and ends. It was wonderful to see the hustle and bustle of a rural town, and the school was even more lovely. The standards of Gahanga Primary were a pleasant surprise, with all of the kids sitting at desks, pen and paper in hand, smiling and ready to learn. Unfortunately many of the teachers were outside texting and socializing with each other, while our friend Natalie was facing the 53 children in the classroom with a smile and an amazing positive attitude. She definitely has a gift for teaching, that was magnified by her ability to teach the kids plural and singular English, amid the complete language barrier. Another side note- instead of raising their hands quietly, the kids snap their fingers and throw their arms around, eagerly yelling "teacha, teacha" when asked a question. By western standards, the school was basic at best, but we were impressed by the number of teachers, classroom standards, and excitement of the kids to learn and answer questions.

Admittedly, Amy and I had a very lazy weekend. Friday night we went to a club called Cadillac where there are floor to ceiling mirrors on part of the dance floor where the best (or people who think they're the best) dancers watch themselves get down. Other eventful happenings that night; we carried a fork out in our bag (to ward off unwanted male attention on the dance floor) and were caught by the security woman at the entrance, Amy got charged for toilet paper in the bathroom when no one else did, we danced to "Who Let the Dogs Out" techno version, and by the end of the night my feet were eggplant purple from dancing on the purple carpeting. Saturday was spent napping on and off all day (it was pouring rain and thunderstorms- perfect napping weather!), followed by a movie Saturday night. After watching the food channel one night (Bobby Flay's throwdown; french toast) we had a lingering craving for french toast. We found some sweet raisin bread at the shop, eggs, milk, and our friends at the U.S. Embassy had cinnamon. To make it extra gourmet, we bought creme fraiche and strawberry jam to do a layered effect with the french toast. Wow...it was more than satisfying, although we did feel a little sick after 4 slices each, but it was well worth it to splurge. The only debacle we got into was when Amy shook the creme fraiche to mix it, and it exploded 360 degrees all over our friend Adriane, the walls, and the floor. Sunday we tried to have a day by the pool, but were rained out in a downpour that lasted all afternoon, so we watched the movie Due Date which replaced the tan we would have been getting with lots of laughs. In the evening, we went to Flamingo, a Chinese restaurant, where our waiter told us he drank 12 beers or 3 liters of wine to get a buzz and I paid 400 Rwandan Francs for a takeaway container. Thankfully the food was delicious; beef and broccoli, veggie spring rolls, duck in pineapple, and vegetable noodles mmm.

On Valentine's Day we met (for a second time) with our friend Emma from an organization called Pro Femmes, an umbrella organization for all NGO's working with women's empowerment, and were able to get the contact details for a long list of women's organizations. We'd love to connect the women at FVA with some training/education services, counselling (if desired) to cope with the violence at home, and micro-finance organizations to get small loans for their crafts and co-operative. When we happened to get back to town to look for a moto home, we were bombarded by the rush hour traffic of pedestrians, buses, cars, and motos; all full and all wanting to leave town. After finding two moto's (we're 99% sure they were unregistered, random people), we were both weaving in an out of traffic, and driving down the center line with cars whizzing by on both sides. Amy's driver even took out a few car mirrors and knicked a man crossing the street. Even though our Valentine's Day lacked flowers, sappy romance cards, and poems (although we did get promised some roses earlier in the day), we shared some Mint Crisp Cadbury chocolate in the spirit of the occasion.

We have also met with the women from the GBV Program again regarding health insurance, to make sure that their whole family is insured for the next year. Of course, like everything over here, things are moving slowly because of the processes involved in paying for the insurance. First the money must be deposited into the bank account of the specific health clinic which the woman goes to. This can take a while on it's own, considering there is sometimes a line of over 50 people outside the bank. After this you must take the receipt from the bank to the health center, along with a passport photo (which costs about as much as the insurance itself to print), and the information about the family members. Finally it takes one month to process and verify all the information. It is a long process, but we are will to continue until all the women and their families are insured for the next year. Thanks again to all the donors for allowing me to do this!
xo Cait

Superbowl and Motivation...

2011-02-10T03:54:00.000-08:00

Tara's team won!

Sunrise after the Superbowl

Go Steelers! Unfortunately the Superbowl did not end up the way my dad would have liked it, but nonetheless we stayed up ALL night at the embassy watching the game as avid supporters. We even tried to find some superbowl snacks before heading there....unfortunately couldn't find any dip or sour cream, but did manage to find some potato chips and cheese puffs for our munchie needs. After biting into the first cheese puff, we realized how different the recipe must be from the one at home since they tasted like someone had already had them in their mouth and put them back into the bag; very stale. The chips turned out to be pretty tasty, and the embassy even had some salsa we could dip into! The snacks were no comparison to my dad's usual spread of chicken wings in a variety of homemade sauces, multiple dips, and sandwiches, but we enjoyed every minute of it anyway. Luckily the embassy had a fully stocked bar, so a little night cap (or two) kept us going through the night. The part we missed the most were the commercials, since the game was only airing on ESPN. As part of her first Superbowl experience, Amy missed out on all the over-the-top commercials, but we explained the rules of American football and some of the guys explained background about the two teams (I'm clearly not the biggest football buff).

So for a work update--we are feeling MUCH more positive about our volunteer work in Rwanda after the past few days of meetings and time spent with the women in the Gender Based Violence Program. We met with two American girls who are starting a business over here, working with different women's cooperatives across the country to develop products for the American market. They also helped set up a store in Rwanda where the crafts from the cooperatives are sold. They generously came to our organization to meet the women, discuss their skills, and learn more about what they make and how they sell it. The American women discussed things like how to determine the price of a good, profit, materials, and time taken to make the craft. The local women were very grateful and hopeful that they may have new markets to sell their goods, and improve their families' lives. After the business meeting, we also discussed with the women who did and didn't have health insurance. Over here it is 1000 Rwandan Francs to receive a public health insurance card, or under $2 US dollars per person per year. So we took count of who wasn't insured, and thanks to all the generous people on Nantucket, I will be using some of their money to make sure all the women in the cooperative and their families have health insurance. Some of the women are HIV positive and need medication and others have ongoing medical problems that have been put off for years because of the cost. We also recorded how many kids each of the women had, and how many attended school. We will also look further into sponsorship for the kids that aren't able to pay their school fees, and therefore not able to attend school; about $50 US dollars per year. In addition to learning more about these women, we have met with other inspirational organizations that are doing all different types of work with women nationwide. One of them, called Pro Femmes, acts as an umbrella organization to all NGO's that work in women's empowerment. We met with a woman working for them, Emma, who explained in detail the variety of projects they are involved in. From visiting rural communities and talking to women about money management and saving, to delivering family planning education to other rural communities, to providing assistance to HIV positive women and families who aren't able to afford medication, they are involved in influential work all over the country. They also liase with local and national government on projects and work with the Ministry of Gender and Family to identify different needs nation-wide. We also met with an organization called Women for Women International, who have a year-long program for the poorest women in specific regions (identified by local villages). The program teaches the women skills such as hairdressing, tailoring, and craft-making, along with allowing them to attend literacy and business classes. Each specific Rwandan woman is sponsored by an American woman for a certain amount each month, and the two exchange letters and photos through the mail. Women for Women also helps each local community of women in the program to form cooperatives, which they then assist to find markets (one of them being Kate Spade!).

After the frustration at the beginning of our project, and the difficulty in adjusting to the slower pace of life (and work!), we are feeling much more hopeful and motivated about our time here and the impact we can make before we leave!

xo Cait

P.S. Two weeks tomorrow with no water at the house (it came back on for one celebratory day last week, then slowly trickled away again)...back to sponge baths...

Let's get down to business

2011-02-04T05:57:00.000-08:00

So we came to Africa with a purpose, aside from the opportunity to live and travel in Africa, the primary reason we are here is to volunteer. Out of the six months we are away, four of them we will spend volunteering - two months in Rwanda and two months in Uganda. We have now officially been in our role at FVA for nearly three weeks. Like any new job there is always a settling in period and these first few weeks have bought many challenges. We came over here knowing and expecting things to be completely different from back home and they but nothing could have prepared us for the disorganization, lack of structure, planning and processes within the organization and its programmes. The programme we signed up to work on was the Gender Based Violence Programme (GBV). Our role would be to assist in the delivery of the programmes which included providing counseling to women and their children, facilitating group discussions around GBV, income generating activities, vocational skill training and literacy improvement. What looked and sounded good on paper turned out to be completely different from what is actually being delivered. At best you could say that some of these activities were being attempted to be provided. For the first week we went with the flow however the question we soon found ourselves asking was "what is going to be the most effective use of our time here". After speaking with some other organizations and meeting with FVA management we made the decision to refocus our time to programme planning, project logic models, project evaluation and capacity building within FVA and their current programmes. Our main focus initially is on planning and resource development for the GBV progamme. There are many health and social service NGOs around Kigali but there is very little networking or awareness among organizations and the community as to what services are available and how to access them, instead everyone works in silos with the limited resources they have. One of the tasks we have been working on is to identify and connect FVA with other organizations in the area that FVA can refer women too. We are in the process of meeting with organizations that provide counseling, micro-financing for small business ventures, literacy and vocational skills training and women’s cooperatives. This in itself has been a slow and frustrating process with meetings being cancelled or postponed at the last minute. We will also be visiting the other FVA programmes to document what is currently in place and assist with evaluation look at ways resources could be better used or improvements made. So although our time here will be spent very differently to what we had planned, we hope that leaving behind some plans for the organization, connecting the women to a variety of services, and setting some goals for the programmes will leave a more lasting impression after we have moved on.

Another year older...

2011-02-04T02:04:00.000-08:00

I know that 26 isn't very old in the scheme of things, but for some reason to me it seems a whole lot older than 24 or 25. 24 is still considered early twenties, then 25 is mid twenties, so 26 seems like late twenties to me (and closer to 30!). Anyway, I don't seem too worried about growing up too soon since I still have no plans to settle down anytime soon. Unfortunately my birthday weekend was spent in bed, with a thermometer, juice, water, and my ipod as I was sick with the flu. After taking my temperature and realizing I definitely had a fever, I was a bit worried about malaria. It is supposed to bring on flu-like symptoms and last for a few weeks, so I immediately called my coordinator and someone came in a car to take Amy and I to the hospital. After explaining some of my symptoms to the doctor, in broken english, he told me I'd need to head to the lab to get some bloodwork done. Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm pretty terrified of needles, so I was definitely dreading getting blood drawn, especially over here since we weren't sure what the facilities would look like. Although the floor wasn't too clean, some of the cabinet doors were broken off, and no latex gloves were worn, the technician did open a sterile needle for me, so that was a little reassuring. I, of course, had to look away while he was drawing my blood, but in the middle of it, Amy came over and held my hand, and I thought, crap, things must be really bad! Appparently he had missed my vein a few times, then was digging around to find it...luckily I didn't see how enormous the needle was until he was all done, or I probably would have fainted. So after about 30 minutes of processing the blood, I found out I didn't have malaria! The doctor thought I had a chest infection, so prescribed me some cough syrup, antibiotics, and some ibprofen for the fever. Unfortunately after 7 days on the antibiotics I'm still coughing, but still hoping that it will clear up soon!

Back to the birthday festivities! The Rwandan diet tends to be quite starch heavy, lots of rice, potatoes, green bananas, bread, etc, so I have really been craving a big piece of meat. On my birthday I went out to a cafe with our friend Lucy and got myself a big burger--it was awesome. After some time on the internet reading birthday wishes, we headed to the U.S. Embassy to sit by their pool for a while. We conveniently brought along all our toiletry needs (shampoo, soap, facewash, etc.) to indulge in one of their hot showers---and boy was it amazing--especially after not having water at our house for a week! We also met a couple other Americans whose parents work at the Embassy who were here on holiday for a few weeks. For dinner, we had planned to go to a Thai restaurant that I had been reading about in one of the guidebooks. After circling around the area for a while trying to find the restaurant, we settled on an Ethiopian restaurant instead, a cuisine we had talked about trying while we were here. So after waiting about an hour for our meal, the waitress brought out a giant pancake-looking dish with all sorts of little piles all over it, sauces, vegetables, and something resembling meat. We dug into the pancake (which is supposed to be used like a fork to pick up the sauces, meat, and veggies), and took a few bites of this strange food. It was actually going down pretty well until one of our friends mentioned that the pancake tasted like a mixture between soggy bread and a kitchen sponge. After that comment, none of us really ate much more, which may have been a good thing beacause after inspection, we're pretty sure the meat on my plate was some type of animal vertebrae. The only thing that really saved our dinner was a predator-prey discovery channel viewing of a gecko on the ceiling going after a moth for it's dinner. Dessert was served back at the U.S. Embassy, and although the ice cream was no comparison to Ben and Jerry's, it was a great ending to a very eventful birthday! We plan on celebrating again this weekend with a few drinks and undoubtedly a tastier dinner.

We are beginning to feel a bit confined in Kigali, so are looking into booking some trips away on weekends. One thing we're dying to see is the gorilla's, which is pricey, but we've heard well worth it. Another trip that some friends are trying to plan is over into the DRC (Congo), to climb an active volcano and visit the border town of Goma. We had to visit the Congolese Embassy to apply for a tourist visa, and were told that we needed to have Rwandan residence visas (which neither of us have), an invitation letter from the Congolese government, and, most importantly photocopies of our credit card in order to get into the country. Luckily, the woman at reception kindly organized a meeting for us with the Congolese Ambassador, whom everyone in the waiting room had to stand and greet when he arrived in the building. After moving from 3 different waiting areas, the receptionist told us that she would be translating, and that we would be asked some questions and make sure that we answer them completely truthfully. Luckily the Ambassador, or "Your Excellence" as the receptionist called him, spoke french, so I was able to understand bits and pieces of what he was saying. Other than asking about our jobs back home, wishing me a happy birthday, and briefly asking why we wanted to visit the Congo, it was a pretty painless meeting. We were granted a one month visa for $140 US Dollars, for a trip that would actually only take a day or two. Unfortunately we later discovered that Amy's Rwandan visa is only single entry, so she may get stuck in the DRC if she leaves, or have to pay for another visa to re-enter Rwanda. Our weekend trip to the volcano is postponed for now, but hopefully we will book the gorilla trek soon--something we've both been looking forward to!
　
　

What a week...

2011-02-03T04:09:00.000-08:00

Rain showers :)

Walking to work today I found myself contemplating the events from the past week and realized how content and happy I feel in this foreign country amidst the chaos, the dirt and the unfamiliar. Its strange how quickly the armed soldiers on the back of trucks and standing in road side bushes, the barefoot children begging and the men wearing pink jumpsuits (indicating that they are prisoners and perpetrators of the genocide) have blended in to day to day life and become a normal sight. So much has happened over the past week and I don’t really know where to start. Sitting in the back of a taxi last Wednesday with a malnutritioned teenage girl propped up between us I could feel the lump in my throat and tears welling in my eyes as I listened to Angel’s story. We spotted Angel’s thin body laying motionless on the grass on the side of the road as we walked back to work following a meeting with an NGO. Hesitantly we pulled back the torn and dirty jumper which was covering her face and crowd of bystanders soon gathered around to watch. After what seemed like a lifetime an 18 year old named Brownie crouched down beside us and interpreted. Angel was a 15 year old refugee who had come to Rwanda a year ago with her parents and three sisters, her parents had since died and she now lived with her sisters in an extremely poor village in Kigali. Three days ago she had been hit by a car and it had taken her two days of begging to get enough money to cover the local hospital charges. Patients rely on family to bring in food to them as it is not provided by hospital. No one had been to visit Angel and on her four hour walk home her injured and weak body could walk no further so she rested on the roadside where we found her. We pulled out the food, water and panadol we had in our bag. As I helped her lift the bottle of water to her lips Cait went to a nearby shop to buy her some food she could take home with her before we found a taxi to drive her there. Holding her hand in the back of the taxi it dawned on me that this young girl was the same age as my youngest brother. I couldn’t help but think how different the circumstances and lives of these two teenagers growing up on opposite sides of the world are and how unfair and unjust poverty is. The following day we went to visit an orphanage that some of the other volunteers we live with work at. It was heartbreaking to see the conditions that these children were living in. This particular orphanage is the home to fifty one children aged between 3 months to 18 years. The children are housed in two dirty brick buildings which are separated by a small split level mud courtyard. Dark musty hallways, with small bedrooms on either side, run from the central room of each ‘house’. There are two bunks with a thin mattress and single blanket are in each bedroom and the children all share a bed. Like most houses in Rwanda the orphanage has no electricity. I can only imagine how cold it would get in winter. The cooking is done out the front over a coal fire and drop toilets in wooden shacks are out the back. Children with shaved heads and in soiled and wet clothing played with rocks and bits of wire that had become their most prized possessions. Ella explained to us that the few toys that are bought into the orphanage are quickly destroyed as the children have never had toys before so have no concept of sharing or even how to play. The only toys I saw were two balls. Within seconds of walking through the gates children surrounded us, eager and desperate for attention and human touch. I sat on the ground all morning holding, hugging, tickling and stroking the faces of these beautiful children with big dark eyes, my resolve to one day adopt a child strengthening. One of the reasons we decided to visit the orphanage on this day was to help the other volunteers carry back the 50 chickens (yes, live chickens) that they were going to buy for the orphanage for the newly built chicken coup which had been constructed by a recent volunteer. I was curious as to the logistics of how the five of us would each carry ten chickens. I had been watching the locals and the way to do it seemed to be to hold them upside down…would my hands be big enough? I could already picture myself accidently dropping one and then having to run down the dirt road holding my other nine while trying to catch the tenth. So we set off at lunch time, walking a short distance before catching a bus and then a moto. I was pretty sure that they wouldn’t be letting us back on the bus with fifty chickens so I guessed that our return journey would be on the back of a moto with our chickens. I had a slight panic as the moto ride in the morning was a rather bumpy one down the pot hold street and I had needed to hold on with both hands, so how was I going to balance on the motorbike with my daypack and ten chickens?? This was going to be a sight to see! While getting on my moto on the way to the chicken man there was a bit of hustling going on with some other moto drivers which resulted in my driver taking off when I was only half on and I ended up with a nasty and fairly large burn on the inside of my leg leaving a patch of skin raw and exposed and the rest blistered. Cait and I made the made the decision to head home as she wasn’t feeling too well and I needed to get water on my burn …of course there was no clean water where we were. While I knew it was a serious burn I wasn’t overly worried as the pain subsided completely within thirty minutes and I was happy that I had been able clean it and that it was well dressed. Two nights later, at a house party hosted by the American Marines and at the Embassy, I mentioned my burn to ex-firefighter and medic who was now working for the embassy. He immediately expressed his concern that the burn may be third degree after I described the wound and the fact that I had no pain. It needed to be checked out. I was wearing tight jeans and after trying to pull the leg of the jeans up for a good 5 minutes I realized that this was not going to work - the jeans either needed to be cut or taken off. Since they were the only jeans I bought with me I wasn’t keen to have them cut, so I found myself in the bathroom with a cardigan wrapped around my waste, jeans at my feet with a stranger looking at my burn. It turns out that I have three burns all in one, the raw part of the burn being third degree. After redressing the burn and with instructions on how to care for it, the medic cheekily asked “so was that the first time you had been in an American Embassy bathroom with a guy and your jeans off?”. A little while later, and after my first ever game of beer pong, the head of security at the embassy made an announcement that there had been a grenade attack five minutes down the road and that three people had been killed and twenty-six injured seriously. While the attack didn’t seem to be targeted at Westerners it was scary to be so close to such unprovoked violence. To add to the events of the past week is the fact that we have had no water at the house for now seven days. Exactly a week ago today our water supply mysteriously stopped. By day one I was already feeling incredibly dirty. Having spent the previous day at the orphanage and walked forty five minutes in the sun on dusty roads I was looking forward to the cold drizzle of water I have come to know as a shower but there was not even a drop. Wet wipes would have to do. Three days later I was getting desperate. That evening we had one of the heaviest rain showers I even seen – this water was not going to be wasted so I threw on my bikini, grabbed my toilet bag and headed outside. The rain was so heavy I was able to wash, shampoo AND condition my hair. I have never really appreciated being clean until that moment. When the water will come back on is completely unknown, we do have a chocolate sweep stake running at home with bets as to when we will have water again. So the week has been eventful to say the least but there is something about this place and the people which makes up for all of it. And for those of you who are wondering about the chickens, it turns out that they were baby chickens and could be transported in two boxes.

Dawn til Dusk...a typical day

2011-01-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

Our mornings usually begin around 6am with the noise of a shower through the thin walls or the loud voices of the staff outside our house preparing breakfast. We attempt to sleep until about 7am, where the talking, cooking, showering, and toilet flushing inevitably forces us out of bed. We crawl out of our mosquito nets, and I (Cait) into the cold shower (if that's really what you can call it). I wear flip flops into the shower (to protect against any unknown foot fungi while here, eww), and turn on the water. Amy and I have discussed that even though the showers are consistently cold, we continue to turn the hot nozzle on, just in case any trickle of warmish water decides to come our way. The shower has two water spouts, one that drips from the top and a hose that pours out the bottom. After bringing the hose up to a level where you can wet your hair/rinse, the pressure completely leaves the hose, so you must use the spout that drips from the top, which is now pouring out more steadily--it's quite the balancing act. After the shower, I usually attempt to dry off with my hand towel size camping towel, which is definitely not as absorbant as it claims to be. I did decide to splurge on a normal towel at the a mall, so that's made a real difference. After getting dressed, I head to breakfast, which usually consists of white bread or rolls, jam and peanut butter, some type of fruit, and tea and coffee. The toaster at the house is a little tricky, it toasts very well done, and only on one side. If you leave your toast in there for longer than 30 seconds its char-grilled. We have found that the most effective technique is to toast each side side for approximately 15 seconds, flipping in between. The coffee is on-and-off, some days quite watery, but others really nice and strong. The powdered milk for coffee and tea is actually alright, but after looking at the container's label, I think it could be baby formula. After breakfast, and some conversations with the other volunteers about their days, we usually head back to the room to pack all the necessities for the day. This includes, but is not limited to, bug spray, sunscreen, chapstick, pen and notepad, hand sanitizer, tissues, flashlight, hair brush, english-kinyarwanda dictionary, umbrella, swiss army knife, journal, book, camera, cell phone, computer and/or zip drive, lunch/snacks for the day, and utensils for said lunch/snacks. We learned the last part the hard way when we bought yogurt, but didn't pack spoons and had to try to drink the yogurt from the containers. Passion fruit was even trickier--trying to suck or use our fingers to get it out proved very embarrassing because of all the people walking by our little picnic. So after showering, eating breakfast, and packing our necessities, we head off on our 45 minute walk to work. As we walk down our road, Niboye (pronounced Nee-boy-ee), we come across women sweeping the street (what the point of sweeping dust away that will be there again in a few hours, we don't know), men landscaping for their Umudugudu (village community), and children walking to school. The men and women sometimes greet us with a Murakoze (Good morning), or just stare and stop their work for a moment. The children will regularly shake our hands and say 'morning' or 'how are you?', and sometimes (as happened the other day when we got lost, and were losing hope) random children ran toward us with open arms for a big hug. Needless to say, a great way to start the morning. When we get onto the main road there are people walking to work, walking to market, and walking to many other places (we're not sure where, but they always seem to have somewhere to go), there are moto's and cars whizzing by, and the sun is usually just starting to feel hot on our skin. As a side note, being Westerners, who always seem to try to cram as many 'productive' things into the day as possible, we usually walk as fast as we can to get from place to place. Well after trying this strategy on our first day at work, we arrived to work puffed and hot, and no one even cared that we were early. So, we've been trying to remind ourselves to take an African pace to life, slow down a little and not rush the moment. After all, being 30 minutes late here is just as good as on time. 1 hour late, and your a little late. And when things get put off until the next day, no worries, why hurry? Ok, so back to our walk to work...as we approach the second rotary and section of shops close to work, we see our first set of armed guards in front of some of the shops and around the construction on the rotary. Not only are these security/government/police officials armed with rifles, but their fingers are actually on the trigger the entire time they are standing guard. This was only slightly scary the first time we saw it, but our volunteer coordinator assured us that she's never seen them actually use the guns, unless they needed to. After passing through the last section of shops and construction, we are almost at work. I will leave the actual work discussion for Amy's blog, as our daily activities are clearly way more than just work.
After work, we may stop by the internet cafe, a 5 minute walk from work. Regularly the connection is bad, or the power may go out, which can be a bit frustrating when our only means of communication is by email, but nevertheless, we try to roll with the punches. We may also stop by a small convenience store to pick up some cookies, snacks, or other treats to break up the rice and beans diet, or may buy some mango's from a woman carrying them on her head. There's definitely a rush hour when we head home as well, people all heading home after work, or heading home after searching for work all day. After our walk home (sometimes we opt for a moto if we're tired), we usually unwind with the other volunteers and tell each other about our days at work. For dinner we usually have rice or spaghetti, potatoes, some sort of vegetable with sauce on it, and small pieces of meat...sometimes fish which is great, other times beef that tastes like it's been cooked for 3 hours too long...but I usually try to force it down, at least for the protein. All 9 of us eat together at a big table each week night, which has a really nice, family meal feeling about it. After dinner we may read for a while, shower to get the layers of dust and sweat off, tell stories, or give each other backrubs (very happy about this recent trend!). Anywhere between 10-11pm we usually head to bed, I put my earplugs in, and Amy and I both climb back under our mosquito nets, and sometimes fall asleep on top of our blankets for another balmy African sleep.

Kigali after dark....

2011-01-24T01:26:00.000-08:00

Little did we know, Kigali is a party town! The last thing we expected when we arrived in Rwanda was to have an active social life outside volunteering and networking with other organizations. While enjoying a smoothie at a cafe our first week here, we met another American guy who works for Red Cross studying rainfall and predicting floods in Africa. After talking for a while, he mentioned he would be in the city on the weekend and would we like to go out for some drinks. Of course Amy and I agreed (I mean, it's pretty hot here, and one can get very thirsty). We met him and a few other Americans who work with him in a small village outside Kigali at a bar called Papyrus. After requesting three different bottles of white wine off the menu, none of which were in stock, we ordered a Rose. The waiter brought it out, and it was warm. Not room temperature, or slightly chilled, but warm. Luckily, the owner happened to walk by, and spoke excellent English, and grabbed the bottle and said, "Come on, this needs to be chilled!" So after getting a wine cooler, ice, and some nice conversation, our first night out in Rwanda was becoming pretty eventful. After a couple glasses of wine, we hit the dance floor where we boogied to mainly American pop, rap, and r & b music, and occasionally something local or latin. We struck up multiple conversations with some local guys, and by the end of the night had arranged to have every meal for the next day paid for! Sweet! We met a guy named Titi (the now infamous "Mr. Wrigley") who works for Wrigley chewing gum, who (while trying to explain his job) listed every flavor of Wrigley chewing gum to Amy. After a second wind, we decided to head to another bar for a night cap before heading home in the wee hours. The moto drivers took us to this bar that was in a residential part of town, and seemed to be in the middle of no where. Although we were the only muzungu's (foreigners or white people) there, they played great dance music and the beer was ice cold. Going out in Kigali, we got to see the more affluent young people in Rwanda, living a seemingly successful, western lifestyle. We have also been "networking" with other volunteers in the area after trading stories about our experiences so far.
So in the spirit of going out...lets discuss spirits. Our 'on a budget' choice for drinks has been a number of the local beers, the cheapest of which is Primus at about $1 US dollar each. It tasted pretty close to a Budweiser, so we've been pretty satisfied with that. There are a number of others such as Mutzig, Skol, and of course Turbo King. There is also of course normal spirits such as vodka, whiskey, rum, and a home-brewed gin from Uganda called Uganda Waragi. We also saw wine being poured out of a bag at the bar, so definitely opted for beer instead.
This weekend we met up with some guys who work at the U.S. Embassy and were treated to some first-class transport when they picked us up in a white suburban (probably the nicest car I've seen in Rwanda, thanks U.S.A.). We went out to the usual hangout, Papyrus, where we met more volunteers. Amy and I found it really nice to talk with like-minded people who are passionate about helping out over here. Of course the dancing, drinks, and crazy moto rides make for a memorable night too :)
xo Cait

Rwanda vs. Ivory Coast Football Champs!

2011-01-21T01:47:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday we went to the semifinal of the African Under 17 Football Championship, Rwanda vs Côte d'Ivoire. Nations from around the world have been competing over the past few weeks to qualify for FIFA U-17 World Cup which is being held in Mexico later this year. My youngest brother Nathan is in the New Zealand U-17 Team which qualified last week at the Oceania Football Championships to play at the World Cup so I more than excited to be on the other side of the world watching teams that the New Zealand team will play against in a few months time. The tickets were cheap so we decided to take the children from the FVA school with us to the game. We walked the short distance from the school to the stadium with 9 excited children, none of whom had been to the stadium before let alone an international match. We did a head count at the gate and found that we now had 10 children, an extra child had attached himself to our group somewhere along the way. What was one more?.. sure he could come too. When we arrived there was a group of a few hundred men gathered and waiting to go through security. Police armed with batons held this scary looking group back and security personal ushered Cait, Lucy and I, each with 3 children hanging off our arms, towards the front of the crowd where we waited to go through the slow security pat down and bag check. Security didn’t seem to be in any rush to get the crowd through this check despite the minutes counting down to kickoff. Cait and Lucy were on the other side of the fence and I was nearly at the front of the security queue when there was a rumbling noise from the crowd behind me as it started to surge forward. At this moment my heart was thumping and I feared that the children and I were about to be trampled in a stampede that seemed to be close to breaking out. It went through my mind at this point that perhaps the decision to come to the football ourselves, let alone with a group of children, was perhaps one of the stupidest decisions I had ever made. The police stood their ground and after hitting wildly with their batons for a minute or so the crowd settled down and returned to waiting patiently. I was more than relieved to get to the other side of the fence and into the stadium. To say that us 3 muzungo (white people) stood out would be an understatement. Despite the stadium being nearly full I am confident that we could have been spotted in less than 30 seconds by anyone who was looking to find us. The game and the atmosphere was incredible – it was like nothing I had ever seen or experienced before. The crowd chanted and cheered and vuvuzela horns pierced the air all around. The crowd, which by now where all on their feet, went wild when Rwanda scored the winning goal. Presidant Kagame, who was at the game, would flash up onto the big screen periodically throughout the match and the stadium would cheer madly and announce proudly that there on the screen was the President and how much of a good man he was. The game ended in much elation and the Rwandan team hoisted their coach on their shoulders as the supporters excitedly sung, danced and celebrated. The celebrations continued on the street and in cars as we headed to catch a moto home. The final is being played this Saturday and I can only imagine what that will be like.

FVA Orphanage

2011-01-21T01:37:00.000-08:00

On our second day of orientation we were picked up early and headed a short way out of the city into rural Kigali to visit an orphange being built by FVA. Part of the programme fee that we paid goes directly to the construction of this orphange. There was a marked change to the landscape and the surroundings the further away from the city we got. Fields of produce, basic farms and small shacks lined the dusty red dirt roads. The poverty was more apparent and children wandered barefoot and in dirty clothes. As we pulled up to the site children wide eyed and smiling appeared from houses and looked on curiously at us, the muzungo. The orphanage is in the early stage of construction and is being built on a large piece of land. A few local families are using part of the land to grow vegetables and beans. Some of this produce feeds their familes and the rest goes to the other FVA programmes, partner orphanages and the volunteer house. We watched on fascinated as women sifted husks and dirt from beans which were laying on tarpulins drying in the sun. The sons of one of the ladies were adorable, the youngest in particular. He looked about 3 years old, barefoot with big brown eyes and eating raw corn on the cob. The children loved the attention, happily taking our hands and showing us around "their" dirt patch. They happily posed for photos and excitedly insisted we show them the image on the camera screen after each photo. It made me smile when I asked the ladies sifting beans if they were happy for me to take a photo of them and they too excitedly posed for the camera and giggled seeing the photos of themselves. We later found out that one of these ladies and her two sons, the ones we had been playing with, have nowhere to live so sleep in the field, taking shelter in the tin tool shed on rainy nights. The youngest child was was actually 5 years old and malnutrition had serverly stunted his growth.
We spent the afternoon at the FVA offices where we met Peace who will be our interpreter and some of the ladies we will be counselling and working with. As it was Tuesday the ladies were busy weaving baskets, this activity the income generating component of the Gender Based Violence Programme. The ladies were lovely and welcomed us with warm Kinyarwanda greetings.
Axx

Bring out the tissues...

2011-01-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

On a more somber note, we had our orientation yesterday and visited the Genocide Memorial Museum in the city. We had a lovely morning tea with the coordinator Claire, where she explained some of the program details, rules, customs, and program fee breakdown. She assured us about the dress code; that as long as we don't wear mini-skirts or anything too provocative, people would be fine with our clothing and we shouldn't feel disrespectful. It was great to hear her point of view about volunteering and how far the programs have come since they started receiving volunteers in 2009. She also talked about her openess towards volunteers beginning new initiatives and suggesting improvements for their specific programs. Amy and I were definitely excited about this, since we had heard from past volunteers about the challenges of the program we are participating in (Gender Based Violence). She also described some of the challenges that we may face such as poor motivation, lack of communication, poverty, violence, abandoned children, HIV/AIDS, and many other issues. We had to hold back tears as she described why some of the kids are orphaned...some because their parents died of AIDS, some are genocide survivors, and others were simply abandoned; one boy in particular was found as a baby by authorities in a dog's mouth. She explained their struggle not having any family, not seeing any future for themselves, and the lack of preparational training for them when they leave the orphanage.
After learning more about Faith Victory Association, Rwanda, and the programs we'll be working in, we visited the Genocide Memorial Museum. At first it was like any other museum, describing the different turn of events leading up to the genocide, the political climate, pictures, and video interviews with survivors. As we continued through the exibitions, there was a chilling section containing thousands of individual pictures of people killed during the genocide, truly putting faces to the numbers. They also had skulls, bones, and clothing from people who were killed, some of them crushed and stained. It was interesting to see that without the tribal affiliations, which were imposed by the Belgium settlers, the people of Rwanda would have lived in perfect harmony. Instead, a system of hatred and hierarchy was imposed that eventually led to the genocide where colleagues, neighbors and family members murdered each other. The most emotional part for me was pictures of children that had been murdered and small descriptions of their favorite foods, personality, and how they were killed. These beautiful, innocent children who were leading happy, healthy lives, shot in the head, beat with a club, or slashed with a machete. It is truly unimaginable. Outside they have planted beautiful gardens to surround the mass graves, where about 300,000 of the over 1 million bodies are buried. Although we've had such an amazing time in this Kigali so far, today served as a reminder of why we are really here, what Rwandans went through during the genocide, and the issues they still struggle with.
xo Cait

More About Kigali..

2011-01-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

For the next two months while we are working here in Rwanda we will be based in the capital Kigali. In many ways it is a surprisingly sophisticated and advanced city by African standards but one of many contrasts. Motorbikes, old pushbikes, local buses crammed full, latest model range rovers, the occasional rickshaw and many motos (motorbike taxis) all share the mainly red dirt roads. Horns toot regularly as traffic winds in and out, avoiding pot holes and often other roads users which may or may not be going down the wrong side of the road. The streets are incredibly clean and litter free. Road works and constructions are underway throughout the city as it continues its regeneration projects to transform the city back to its former glory and attempt to keep up with modern times. It’s hard to tell at times if buildings are in the process of being pulled down or in fact being constructed. Shanty slums with corrugated iron roofs dot the hills and a handful of modern skyscraper buildings can be seen in city skyline. Using brooms made of sticks and with babies strapped to their backs women can be seen dusting the sidewalks and gutters, children in school uniform walk hand in hand down the road, and men and women alike balance anything and everything on their heads as they go about their daily lives. It’s hard to comprehend that 15 years ago piles of bodies lined these same streets.

We moved into the volunteer guesthouse yesterday which is about a 15 minute moto ride away from the city. By western standards the house is basic but well above what we were expecting and had prepared ourselves for. There are 7 bedrooms in the house each housing 2 volunteers, 3 very basic bathrooms with cold showers and toilets (minus toilet seats), a lounge with a few couches, a dinning room and kitchen (although all the cooking is done over coals in a cooking hut out the back). The house is inside a fenced compound and has a courtyard and vege garden out the back. There are 2 house staff which do the cooking, cleaning, maintenance and security. Cait and I are sharing a bedroom which has 2 beds, mosquito nets, bedside tables and a standing wardrobe. We unpacked last night and are both feeling settled in our new home. It was great to meet the other volunteers who come from all around the world - France, USA, Australia, Norway, New Zealand, UK and Cambodia. We have our orientation and training on Monday and start work on Tuesday. Today we have splashed out and are sunbathing poolside at Hotel Des Mille Collines ("Hotel Rwanda"). Again it’s hard to believe the atrocities that took place right by this pool not so long ago.

Axx

Primus and toilets

2011-01-15T06:52:00.000-08:00

After day two in Rwanda, I honestly feel like we've been here for weeks. I feel much more comfortable here than I imagined, although of course we get plenty of people staring and saying hello, but slowly getting used to that. Yesterday we met a few more vvolunteers and went around town with them. One of the guys whose been here for a while took us on a really long walk around the city, through shops and across to the other side of the city to get a better idea of where everything was. I bought a purse (my ugly day pack I brought along from home just wasn't cutting it anymore), and had to shop around before I found someone that would go down in price. First they started at 25,000 RWF, which is about $40 (and it was a made in china bag), so had to pass by that one. Ended up getting a nice, cheap black one that even fits my laptop for 10,000 RWF or about $16...and it even had the word 'delight' imprinted in the side...pretty fancy. Anyway, we ended up at this awesome cafe thats literally in the middle of the woods/rainforest/jungle, has private bungalows, couches in the grass, and seems to be built into the land. They had the most delicious smoothies (mango, pineapple, coconut, and passion fruit) that were so huge they ended up being our lunch. It was a very relaxing afternoon, and luckily they had wireless internet (although very slow) but enought to get our first blog entries posted. We met another American guy there who works for the Red Cross as a geographer, studying rainfall and predicting floods all over East Africa...pretty cool, and he had been here for about a year with no plans to leave. Last night, we found this little bar across the road from our hotel where we had our first Primus (Rwandan made beer) that is semi-comparable to Budweiser, and they came in these magnum bottles, so we just chilled out there and enjoyed for a while. Our waiter, Moses, spoke pretty good english and taught us how to say Cheers in Kinyarwanda (local language) and a few other useful phrases that we've already forgotten. Unfortunately we had to 'break the seal' after the Primus, and went to use the worst smelling toilet in the world, one where a bucket of water is used to flush. Words cannot describe this smell, but Amy and I shared my scarf to breathe through while we tried as quickly as possible to get out of there. As we were about to leave after the traumatizing bathroom incident, a nice older man sat down next to use and encouraged us to stay with another beer. We were going to head home but decided, why not. He also spoke english pretty well, but french even better, so luckily a fair amount of my french from high school (Thanks Ms. Jones) came back to me. Ended up that he is a major in the Rwandan military, and introduced himself as "Major Innocent", and was at the bar because another member of the miltary is the owner. He told us some crazy stories about his travels while working with the President Paul Kagame, how he went to Australia (closest he got to NZ, sorry kiwi's), how he's been to America and met Hillary Clinton when she visited here. After telling us about some current military activies in neighboring countries, he assured us that Rwanda is the safest place to be. We're not positive that he was legitimate, but made for a really interesting evening! After peanut butter sandwiches for dinner, we were asleep by 9pm, and cozy as can be under our mosquito nets.
xo Cait

Muraho Kigali!

2011-01-13T04:36:00.000-08:00

So after 42 hours travel time (Amy), and 24 (Cait), we were (no surprise) exhausted by the time we arrived in Kigali. When I arrived at the border patrol, the man asked me if I was volunteering, and of course I answered yes. He told me that I needed a visa (which I didn't apply for as advised by the embassy and the organization). Oh crap, now I'll be deported or detained. Luckily he let me in anyway, but told me I should get the organization to get a work visa for me. After asking the coordinator here, she said, oh no, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I guess someone in uniform doesn't necessarily mean qualified. I did have a warm welcome from the driver though, who held up a sign with my name on it. After speaking french to him for about 5 minutes, he told me he only spoke a little English and Kinyarwanda (the local language). Oops. Anyways, managed to get to the hotel, after passing some armed guards at the airport, and the room was definitely better than expected. Amy and I each had a twin bed, mosquito net, and even a connected bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower (by shower I mean a small square plastic platform to stand on and tiny shower head that drips cold water)-at least it's better than a bucket of water. After venturing into town today, the poverty, development, and way of life is becoming a little clearer. Our program coordinator took us on a public bus, which did not have the most pleasant smells or comfortable seats, but is definitely the affordable choice (other than walking) at about 20 cents per ride. The city was busy, bustling, dirty, confusing, and thrilling. It was jam-packed with all types of stores, vendors, and people selling everything you could imagine. We went into the 'mall' where we met up with another volunteer at a coffee shop to hear his take on this new place. After describing his difficulties and successes with volunteering here, he took us to this incredibly western looking grocery where we bought a Kinyarwanda/English dictionary, some peanut butter and crackers, and cheap cell phones ($17 for the phone, charger, and start-up minutes). After our adventure in town (mom and dad, don't worry), we took moto's home. They are like motorcycle/taxis where the guy carries an extra helmut, you just hop on the back and hold on while they weave in an out of the foot and car traffic. A very exciting end to our day. When we got back, the cook here at the hotel made a delicious dinner of rice, fries, green beans and carrots, lentils, and beef in some sort of stew. Amy and I probably only ate half the plates, and mentioned it feels strange to be throwing away food in a place where there are so many people going hungry. At any rate, we had a pretty awesome first day out in Kigali, and are both thoroughly excited about making this place our home for the next 2 months.

More pics coming soon :)

First days in Rwanda..

2011-01-13T04:10:00.000-08:00

It is so good to finally be in Africa..after so much planning and then travelling for nearly 42 hours on 5 diffrent flights. The landscape flying over Africa on route from Dubai was unlike anything I had seen before, nothing but flat golden sand for thousands of miles that had rake like patterns spaced evenly apart, the sand later changed to a dusky pink, followed by a dark terracotta color and then a marble like pattern of many sand colours. It was almost incomprehendable to see so much land with absoulutly nothing else but sand.
Standing at the luggage carrousel in Nairobi I started to feel slightly worried when my bag hadnt come through and even more so when the only bag that was left was identical to mine but not mine. I resigned to the fact the my bag wouldnt be accompanying me to Rwanda but hopeful that I would see my bag again. I headed over to terminal 2 to catch my next flight only to find that the check in had closed and there was no way they would make an exception. It all worked out ok and I was able to get a ticket for a flight to Kigali at midnight which was flying via Burandi. The passenger who had taken my bag back to his hotel later returned to the airport to swap it for his one and I was reunitied with my bag while waiting for my next flight. At last I was in Rwanda, incredably tired but so happy to finally be here and to see Cait again. We stayed up talking until 3am.
Our first day yesterday was great. We met Claire, the volunteer coordinator from Faith Victory Association (FVA), this morning and visited the FVA offices, a short walk from where we are staying. Claire is lovely and so friendly. While we were at the offices there was a young local teenage girl trying to enrol in the school run by FVA. Claire explained that this girl had lost both of her parents and had no where to live and while FVA were doing everything they could to help make attending school possible that there simply isnt enough money for FVA to fund all children who come to them asking to be able to attend school. Cait and I both looked at each other, knowing that we were both thinking the same thing...what would cost us so relatively little could make such a significant differance in this one girls' life and future. It is so much more confronting and real seeing these people and stories in real life, it is not possible to change the tv channel or to continue on with the day quickly forgetting the story you have just heard. This would be the first story in my time in Africa that my heart would break over.
This afternoon we headed into Kigali city, about a 10 minute journey from the guest house on a local van sized bus, with Claire and around 12 other locals. I sat next to a little girl called Arfia, who sat looking at me with these big beautiful eyes and huge smile. She sat staring at me facintaed for the entire journey. She whispered to her Mum who then let me know that Arfia was so happy to see me. While we were in greeted by many people as we walked around town with Claire, with many of them thanking us for coming to their country. Claire left us in town to buy some supplies and gave us instructions on how to get home and assured us that the many "motos", which could be identified by the green vests worn by the drivers, were not only the best way to get back home but also safe. I was hoping she was right as I climbed on the back of a bike and we weaved in and out of traffic, half petrified and half exhilrated. I was relieved to see Cait waiting at the agreed destination as we had lost sight of each other while on the bikes. Day 1 in Africa has now come to a close and I am looking foward to the adventures and experiences that the 178 days ahead of us will bring.

Axx

5 days to go...

2011-01-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

So I wanted to write a little reflection, before Amy and I left for Africa. How did we get ourselves into such an adventure? Why Africa? And why volunteering?

Ever since my college days of Sociology classes like Social Movements, Sociology of Gender, and Women's Studies, I've been interested in the developing world. After learning about the genocide in Rwanda, genital mutilation in some Muslim cultures in Eastern Africa, and countless villages and families that have little or no access to health care or education...I had made my mind up to volunteer. Unfortunately my college budget was exhausted, so I was unable to finance the volunteer work when I finished school.

Fast forward 3 years, and my friend Amy and I are sitting in New Zealand on a Wednesday night watching Grey's Anatomy at her house. After a couple glasses of wine, and a commercial about Africa; the discussion began. We realized that it had been a dream of both of ours to travel to Africa to volunteer, even more specifically to work in the fields of women's rights, health, and education.

After Amy discovered Global Volunteer Network online, we set about deciding on a specific country to travel, and which projects appealed to us. We even printed out "Are You Cut Out For Volunteering" worksheets and asked ourselves all the tough questions. This even involved looking ourselves in the face (using a hand-held mirror) while asking questions like "what are the worst possible conditions you could live in?" So after discussing all the questions, some embarrassing, some soul-searching we decided to commit. So here we are (a year and a half later)...5 days to fly out, and I couldn't be more happy about the semi-impulsive decision that we made that night.

Raffle Drawing

2010-12-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

Congrats to all the winners of the raffle on Saturday!! If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me on caitlinfparsons@gmail.com

Through the raffle I was able to raise just over $2,000 towards volunteering!! Thanks to everyone for your support--it's now under a month until the adventure begins!

Raffle success!

2010-11-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to everyone who donated this weekend at Stop & Shop! At the end of the first 7 hour day, my lips were nearly blue from the veggie coolers and I hadn't eaten since breakfast. BUT, it was all worth it when I counted up the $1700 raised over the past two days!! Way to go Nantucket--what an amazing community!

If you weren't able to make it and would still like to buy raffle tickets or make a donation, please email me at caitlinfparsons@gmail.com

To make a donation or buy raffle tickets with a credit card, visit http://underafricanskies.chipin.com/help-caitlin-give-back

Thanks again Nantucket, I truly appreciate your support!

Help Caitlin give bACK

2010-10-16T14:10:00.001-07:00

Please help support my volunteer work to Africa this January!! I will be traveling to Rwanda for 2 months, followed by Uganda for another two months.

In Rwanda, I will work both with survivors of domestic violence and their children, through counseling, visitation, and education, and in local high schools to fight Gender Based Violence (GBV) and promote education to the younger generations. We will also support the women in small business ventures, so that they can make a better life for themselves and their children.

While in Uganda, we will travel deep into villages where little or no aid is offered and speak with the people (with the help of a translator!) about public health, HIV/AIDS, business/career development, domestic violence and other life style development activities. We will also be assisting a new program in some local schools that provides discussion around decision making, HIV prevention, cross-generational sex, and many other issues facing teenage Ugandans.

Please support me in this very worthy cause. If you'd like to check out either organizations' websites:
www.therealuganda.com
www.faithvictory.org

We all give what we can; mine is by actually physically traveling to the area and providing the aid, and yours is through helping send me there!

Go to: http://underafricanskies.chipin.com/help-caitlin-give-back
Or check out the post below!

Thanks for your support!

Donation page!

2010-10-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

2010-10-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking out our blog! We are busy preparing and planning for our pending trip to Africa to volunteer in Rwanda and Uganda, beginning January 15, 2011. Please look for updates closer to our departure date!

We look forward to sharing our journey and experiences with you!