Rwanda trip…

Next, Jeff and I decided to take a trip to Rwanda. This was partly to renew our very outdated visas and partly so I could meet with a gorilla research group. We were actually in Kigali during the bombings that went off in late March, but were totally clueless to any of this. In fact, I think there was a grenade outside of the Kigali Memorial Center a few hours after we left. My Mom actually called to tell me about the bombings and I said “Oh Mom, those were weeks ago…” It wasn’t until later that I realized she wasn’t crazy and I was! Anyway, to get to Rwanda, we took a car to the border of Rwanda and got out. The border is interesting. For one, you cannot drive across. You have to get out and walk. We weren’t actually taking a car into Rwanda, so this was okay for us, but even on the return trip, we had to get out of the bus and walk across. We walked across and found one very nice passport inspector on the Rwanda side. He was the last nice person we saw for a while, so it is note worthy to comment on him. It started raining and we started walking to find public transport for the 2 hour trip to the capital. The very rude people we ran into who refused to let us share their cover at their little security posts, but insisted on making us fish out our passports (even though we had already finished the boarder crossing), told us the mini busses were about 10 mins up the road. We started walking and getting soak. We approached a group of school-aged girls all coming home from school and we smiled and said hi. It turns out they were not friendly, they were little bitches and they surrounded us and decided to taunt us as we walked. So I decided to be a bitch back. I kept stopping short, which made all of them pile into each other trying to avoid bumping into me. After a few times of this, they dispersed. We then got to the mutatus and no one spoke English (the current official language) or French (the previous official language), so we had a really hard time figuring out where to go. Finally, we ended up in a mutatu that headed for Kigali. Along the way, we met a few nice people who talked to us, but those were few and far between. When the trip started, there had been no English speakers in the car, so I thought I could talk to Jeff (who was sitting in front of me) openly without anyone knowing what I was saying. At one point, the guys next to me were pointing at my ring finger and discussing it in their local language. Already being annoyed by how rude everyone was to us, I held out my hand and said “Yes, I’m married, ok?” A few minutes later, we made a stop and everyone was yelling at us “Mzungu, Mzungu!” We are used to this in Uganda, but it is usually kids who yell this. Yet, these were adults who were being really aggressive towards us from outside the mutatu. This happened everytime we stopped. It was extremely uncomfortable. So at one point, I said, “Ooh, Mzungu, look at the Mzungu, I’m going to stare at the Mzungu.” And the man next to me and the girl next to Jeff laughed. So we realized we were sitting next to English speakers. I spoke to the guy next to me for a bit and Jeff chatted with the girl next to him and then we arrived in Kigali. Somehow, the girl next to Jeff ended up still being with us after we got out of the Mutatu. She said she was helping us find a taxi, then she got in the taxi. She said she was helping us find the hotel, then she was in the hotel. The final straw came when she asked Jeff if he wanted a separate room from me. Oh Jeff, he had no idea what was happening.

So we settled into our room and headed out for dinner. The town is nice, very European. We found a nearby mall that was obviously a mzungu hangout, which we didn’t realize. We found a great little café with free internet. It had tons of mzungus and all sorts of yummy food we hadn’t seen in forever, like goat cheese. We ordered lots of things and then ended up being pretty disappointed in it overall. But we still ended up coming back to the place multiple times because of the internet and the comforting foods.

While in Rwanda, we visited the Kigali Memorial Center. It is a museum that documents the 1994 Genocide and other genocides around the world. It was horrifyingly sad. Of course, we all know the sad things that happened and this museum just overwhelmed you with it. At one point, Jeff had to take a break from walking through it because he was so overwhelmed and feeling sick to his stomach. In the museum, the biggest print is the local language there, then French and English. This confused me because I thought they would have the country’s official language first. As we went through the museum, though, it became obvious why they didn’t. So much of what happens goes back to bad ideas from the colonist and this new divide that was created by the Belgians. And the West totally abandoned this little country when it needed them most, so why should they be using their languages? The saddest part of the museum was definitely the “Heroes” section. Jeff and I were both crying. These were people who risked their lives for other people, sometimes saving hundreds of people in the most creative ways. It was so touching. And then reading about the “aid” that came to the rescue, but was really all diverted to the refugees outside the country (aka the murderers who fled the country) was just appalling. Again, it isn’t that this is new news, but having it so in your face had a big impact. Comments about raped women who contracted HIV from being raped not getting any medicine for the past 15 years, but their rapists being given free meds by aid workers in the refugee camps just makes you want to puke. Really sad. This is where it is so important for people to actually think about where their aid money is going and what sort of “aid” they are giving. Just throwing money at a problem and feeling good about yourself does not work.

The other part of the museum had info about other genocides. I thought this part was really good because it highlighted how every continent has had its share of massacres. I feel like sometimes people just blow off the tragedies in Africa as century-long “ethnic” problems and so forth, but that part of the museum showed that all cultures have had their part in genocide. Very sad!

It was actually extremely weird to be in Rwanda. Everywhere you looked, the people were probably either victims of the genocide or perpetrators of the genocide. It was horrifying to think about. And it made me feel bad for being so frustrated at how rude people were acting towards me. I just don’t know how a country comes back from something like that, really. Jeff is commenting here that despite this, they are coming back. It seems like a crazy success story, it doesn’t even make sense. Also, he’s saying how they have a national understanding that they aren’t going to forget what happened, they are going to face it and they are going to face it together. Which is great!

After Kigali, we went to Ruhengari, which is the base town for the mountain gorilla researchers. It was BEAUTIFUL! Sitting at the base of the volcanos, the views were amazing. And the views on the drive to get there and back were also amazing. It was just mountain after mountain, valley after valley. On our ride back to Kigali, we were driving on top of the clouds and the mountains were bursting through at certain points. It was so breathtaking, I just wanted to make sure I got back there at some point. I am posting a few photos, I hope they show just a gimpse of what we saw on our 2 hour ride. Also, there are some photos of kids who we met on our walk around the town and were dying to have pictures taken. These are just a couple of the dozen or so photos they posed for.

After some delays, I had a great meeting with the gorilla research group and we are moving forward on discussions for me to get involved with their research… so good news there.

Baboon Hunters…

As you may well know from past emails and blog updates, there is a baboon problem at Kanyawara. The baboons are so aggressive and very dangerous. The Wildlife Authority found a solution to this… bring in hunters that eat baboons. So hunters from a different part of Uganda have been hanging around the outside of the park (the people in this area don’t eat monkeys). They use spears, machetes, and dogs to hunt the baboons. They are only allowed to hunt when the baboons leave the park, but we still see their dogs running around inside the park when they aren’t supposed to. Field assistants have expressed concerned about the baboons being butchered in the village and what effect the blood and germs could have on them. Good question. Nevertheless, the baboons have started respecting people again and have been on much better behavior. One day when leaving the field station, we came across the whole group of hunters and their dogs together and I got this amazing photo!

Cruder and Amanda Visit…

Towards the end of March, two of my friends from high school came to visit us, Amanda and Jeff Cruder (known as Cruder or Crudes). They planned an action filled trip without much time for hanging out at the field station, which is understandable if you want to get in all the good game viewing. So Jeff and I played tour guides for the week. We had been to most of the places we were going, so we opted out of many of the activities due to lack of money. But the group things that were priced on the group rate and not the individual rate were things we joined in on. And we went to a new place, Lake Mburo. We had never been there before, so it was cool to see a new park and a new place. It is a small National Park with a big lake. They take you out on a small boat and give you a tour, seeing mostly birds. It was really beautiful. We also did a game drive and saw some new things, especially ZEBRAS! This is the place in Uganda to see Zebras and we had not seen them yet. It was fun. They were beautiful and getting a good look at them really gave you the chance to appreciate the amazing designs on their body and how even their hair is striped! See some pictures of our trip below.

On our way to Ishasha, where the tree climbing lions are, we heard that the bridge was out. But people at the turn off insisted we could make it over, so we drove on to the bridge where we found two semi trucks on their sides on either side of the bridge. There was a huge line of trucks waiting for the bridge to be repaired so they could pass. We are talking days or weeks of work. And we saw tons of people working on the bridge. It was crazy. See the pictures below.

Other fun events from the trip were a night out dancing with my field assistants. Amanda wasn’t feeling well enough to go, so Cruder, Jeff, and I went. We took them out to Club Ecstasy in Fort Portal and danced the night away. It was very fun. We had some nice forest walks and good trips! And it was funny to have another Jeff (Jeff Cruder) in Uganda. Some of you may remember how difficult it was for people to say Jeff’s name at first. So when they learned Cruder’s name, they were sooo excited. They would point back and forth between Cruder and Jeff and say Jeff a bunch and then shake their hands and tell Jeff “oh, now you have a friend!” I don’t think that was meant to sound the way it did, but it was being said a lot.

We also went to Kasiisi Primary School and the choir performed for us. It was really nice, but somewhat interrupted by the rain. Also, we went to the super fancy Ndali Lodge for my birthday. Emily and Jeff had been working hard to plan a super secret celebration for me and it turned out to be great! We spent the whole day at the Lodge. First, we had a very yummy lunch, including a huge fresh salad (see picture). Then we went on a walk to tour the vanilla, coffee, and cocoa plantations and to see the vanilla factory. It was a fun walk and we even got to taste raw cocoa, which is really fruity (see picture). After the walk, we soaked in the pool for a bit. Ndali lodge looks out over multiple crater lakes, so it is completely beautiful and the pool also looks out over the scene. It was awesome. We then did cake and presents. The cake was almost like a big brownie. It was so good. We ended with dinner and some nice red wine. It was a wonderful day! I think everyone had a good time.

Other nice pictures from the trip. The first one is a tribute to Jeff's new favorite thing-- birding.

Update on Jeff’s work…

Recently, The Kasiisi Project has had a few more volunteers come to help out. We realized that there are tons of “pay to volunteer” organizations all over the world so we thought this would be a good way to provide extra support for the project. So my job has expanded into being an organizer and leader for young volunteers. Mostly this has made feel like a “dad” because of the age difference and different issues that have come up like receiving a text from some teenage volunteer girls asking me where they can purchase tampons in town. Luckily, I was will Krista and Emily so I could tell them where to go.

I have continued supervising the One Laptop Per Child deployment at Kasiisi Primary School. Teaching the students and teachers about the laptops and different ways to use them is a continuous process. I was asked to document how the laptops are used and what we need as an organization to support their use, so I created a short movie. The movie is now on the OLPC YouTube channel—check it out and feel free to donate! After the movie was uploaded, OLPC asked me to guest write on their OLPC News website – it is not yet published though. Shortly after making the movie, we acquired an additional 78 laptops from a failed OLPC deployment in a different part of Uganda. There were two other OLPC corps deployment in Uganda. Each group of college students deployed 100 laptops at a primary school which was partnered up with an NGO. The college students came for a short time (10 weeks) and then the responsibility of training, encouragement, and support of the project rested on the NGO. Our NGO, The Kasiisi Project, has been a vital reason why the laptop program at Kasiisi has been a resounding success.

One of the aspects of the Kasiisi Project is their secondary school student support program. Secondary school in Uganda is not free and the cost is far beyond what most people can afford. Currently we support 90 secondary, university, and vocational students. Funding for the scholarships come from individuals in the US and UK. Sometimes it is one person, sometimes a family, a church, a class, a school, a rotary club….

We also partner up with other organizations that sponsor students. One of those organizations only sponsors smart double orphan girls to attend a boarding primary school. We tested and interviewed 10 girls from our 5 primary schools. The interviews were the hardest part. We had to verify that the girls went to the schools they claimed to be from and that both their parents were actually deceased. It isn’t as if there is some central student database that stores all this information, so we had to ask some hard questions. Discussing in depth the deaths and burials of the parents of these 14 year old girls is difficult and overwhelming. In the end, we could only choose one girl. The life and future of this one girl will vastly improve because of the opportunity to attend a top boarding primary school. It felt great to tell the top girl that she earned the scholarship. However, it was really hard when the other girls would seek me out when I was at their schools to ask if they were getting the scholarship and I had to tell them that they did not get it.

On my last weekend at Kasiisi primary school, a German Television film crew came to shoot a documentary about ICT use in East Africa. Our OLPC program and my work at the school is being featured in the documentary.