Murakaza Neza!

Rwandan Word of the Day:

Murakaza Neza: Welcome!!!

I had night terrors again. I woke up wrapped around my mosquito net and out of breath. Odd. I have a mosquito bite on my foot. It’s unfortunate…

I couldn’t sleep last night so I stayed up and organized some of my stuff. It was much needed. Now I actually know where all my supplies actually are. WIN! I finally went to sleep around 12:30ish I think. I’m not really sure. I never check the time over here so I’m constantly in what feels like the twilight zone where there isn’t a sense of time. It’s kind of nice. It’s also nice to not feel the need to check my phone for a text or call. My daily email and blog session is plenty of technological communication for me while I’m here for sure.

I woke up at about 7 am and decided to take a shower…

Just so you know, what followed was the most traumatic experience anyone has probably ever had in his or her life. Prepare yourself.

I picked the shower that seemed the least cringe worthy and set up my clean area. The hot water was of course non-existent and the bottom faucet was the only one that really worked. It seems that the actual showerhead just didn’t feel like working that well this morning. Awesome. So I’m stuck with showering with a bathtub like faucet instead of a real shower. I shave my legs. Kinda. Which means there is a lot of soap on the ground. My flip flops apparently do not have much traction on flat concrete surface covered in bubbly foam. Do you see where this is going yet?

So one of my feet begins to slip. I brace my body with the other foot, which too begins to slip. My first instinct is to protect my head, because Lord knows I wouldn’t want someone to find me passed out naked on the disgusting shower floor, so I keep my upper body as straight as possible while I attempt to grab anything to stop my fall. Well, there aren’t any handlebars or any other object to grasp in those nasty showers… which means… I slowly slip into the middle splits across the shower floor. NAKED ASS AND ALL!

I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!

Through all this I had remained in silent terror. Be impressed. I have never gotten up so quickly in my life, and I scrubbed all parts of my body until there were RAW. I still get goose bumps just thinking about it. Those showers have to be the foulest things on the planet and my naked body was all up on it. OH MY GOD SO SICK.

Please all pause for the laughing fit I’m sure you’re having now…

Ok, have you gathered yourself enough to continue on reading? Good.

The visual I’m sure is beyond entertaining, but I would not wish that on my worst enemy. No lie. Because of this immense trauma, I was unaware of the fact that I had genuinely injured myself in the process. I have pulled the inside muscle of my knee badly. I don’t think it’s torn, because it isn’t THAT swollen. But it’s extremely painful, and makes it very difficult to walk. I am not very pleased. Funny story though. I’ve gimped around all day today. Luckily, I have a wrap and icy hot along with Aleve so it’s all good. Hopefully it heals quickly…

The rest of the day was great. I love the Rwandan people in my delegation SO much. I had the pleasure of visiting the human rights organization I’ll be working with here in Rwanda. It’s called Rwandans Allied for Peace and Progress or RAPP. It’s amazing. It works with; WOMEN to create knitting co-ops to teach them sewing and management skills, THEATRE groups to promote education of HIV, sexual health, and family matters, along with many other groups to spread information about health care and services. It’s an amazing project and I’m so happy to be a part of it.

The staff was also great. They were my favorite part. I’m working there with another girl in my program named Frances. She is from China, and goes to college in the US. She’s really fun, so I’m excited to work with her. Two Rwandan delegates from my program are also working there with me. Devota, who is a girl my age that just graduated from college, is going to work there but I haven’t gotten to talk to her much. She seems really nice though so I’m looking forward to spending more time with her. The other one is Sammy, and he happens to be a project manager from RAPP. I adore him. He is extremely smart and very open. We already have an amazing report, so we’ve gotten to talk about very indepth subjects.

We talked about:

Women in Rwanda and the US. He told me that women have gotten more rights in Rwanda recently, so they are moving up in the job world and getting higher paid jobs than many men their age. This makes young Rwandan men intimidated, because they have never had to interact with confident successful women, and especially not ones more confident and successful than them. He told me that many Rwandan men find it hard to approach them, because they are scared. It’s a real problem apparently. Haha! So I told him a lot of men have that problem in the US, too. Men aren’t the only “bread winners” in America anymore, and I’m sure that can be rather intimidating. He told me I would intimidate him, but he thinks it’s a good thing. He appreciates how far women have come and their drive. He wants me to become the Ambassador for Rwanda and teach Americans what Rwanda is really like. I WOULD LOVE THAT. It was a real ego boost, but also a very humbling experience.

How Rwandans feel about Human Rights Organizations from Outside Rwanda and the UN. According to Sammy, Rwandans no longer truly trust the UN (for obvious reasons). They believe that the entity has a lot of great aspects and ideas, but it falls significantly short when it comes to acting out any plans. As for other human rights organizations from outside Rwanda, they are also extremely apprehensive about them. A lot of groups apparently hinder a lot of the people they are trying to help in the aid process by enforcing sanctions on the people who need help most. It was an extremely interesting and controversial conversation. I really enjoyed hearing his point of view. It kind of made me sad that that is how many efforts are taken that way, but he made very valid points that have been on my mind all day since. This conversation was especially wonderful, because many Rwandans would be very hesitant to speak their mind on such matters. I felt very blessed to have the opportunity to have such a candid and honest talk about it.

Genocide Trials and the Court Systems Used to Try Those Accused of Genocide. This was also a very special conversation due to it’s honesty and candidness. It has been 17 years since the Rwandan Genocide and the International Tribunal has only heard 8 cases of those being tried for genocide in regards to Rwanda. EIGHT. In SEVENTEEN years. It’s insane. He also commented on how expensive they were. He wishes the international community would allow Rwanda to try them instead and give the money they tribunal saves to the education programs in the country because that is where they need the most aid. He also believes that there are positives AND negatives to the way the trials that have taken place in Rwanda have gone. It is impossible to try everyone associated with crimes that took place during the genocide, but he believes there should still be an effort made. It was a very fair account, I think. I truly enjoyed this conversation.

Besides my conversations with Sammy, I had many other ones with many other people today. Going back to my visit to RAPP, I met a guy working there named Douglas. He was hilarious. He told me I had very white teeth, and asked me how I accomplished it. I told him I used 3D White toothpaste from Crest. He asked if it was available in Rwanda, which I said I doubted and that disappointed him. So, I asked him for his address and will be mailing him 3D Vivid White toothpaste when I get back to the US. Yay funny little connections! It was another pretty funny conversation.

I met another guy named Enoch who works for my program as well. He was interesting and funny, too. He wants me to send him toothpaste and to keep in touch. He will be really fun to work with while I’m here. He commented on my politics, and enjoyed my personality. WIN!

Other great conversations came from small group sessions today during our workshop. We discussed the Rwandan Constitution vs the US Constitution. It was very interesting to talk about that kind of stuff, because it went very indepth. It made us discuss what we think the government should protect and allow. We all have very different opinions. I have stayed calm and civil through it all. Be impressed. It’s a great learning experience. What’s great is that everyone is extremely intelligent and knowledgeable. It makes for great debate. My only real comment was that torture was not just a Bush thing and that Obama has continued it when you consider Bradley Manning and Guantanamo Bay still being in operation. Other than that, I sat back and observed/listened. It’s been relaxing. Haha!

After the workshop, I went to dinner at a Moroccan restaurant up the hill with my friends Stina and Jessica. It was SO good, but the climb was crazy painful with my knee injury. It made for very slow going. The restaurant was called Shokolah. I loved it. I had never had Moroccan food, but it was great. I ordered Chicken Hot Pot, which was rice, spicy sauce and grilled chicken. YUM. It was delish. We also ordered double apple flavored shisha. YUM again.

The atomosphere of the place was extremely fitting. It was outdoors, with tents supplied with lanterns, low tables, and low lounge chairs with beige and orange pillows. Superb. It was a really nice evening and they lit up the trees and started fires, so it was great. I LOVED it.

After we ate we walked around a sketch alley on the way back to stop at the Super Marche and get Rwandan beer. I bought Primus. It was ok. We also tried Mutzig, which I didn’t like at all. It was nice to just sit around and have a beer and talk though. Nice unwind time.

Then we had to watch a movie called The Lost Boys of Sudan. It was about Sudanese refugees living in the US. It was extremely depressing and showed a lot of stereotypes instead of the way I think situations really are. I wasn’t much of a fan. I recommend it though, because it gives a different point of view which is always good to see and experience.

Now, I’m sitting in the parking lot, with a stiff leg, and getting ready for bed. Today was great. Fall and all. Hope this entry finds everyone well!

Goodnight!