Cold War Part Deux

I just wanted to relate what happened last weekend, as it was one of the most bizarre moments of my life.

Lake Kivu separates most of Rwanda from DR Congo. There are a couple main “resort” towns along the lake, one of them being Gisenyi which we have been to several times, and one is called Kibuye. Marta, my roommate, and I had never been to Kibuye so we decided it was time to go as we are both leaving soon. So Marta organized a weekend adventure for us. And since if one person goes on vacation, we all go, there ended up being 14 of us. One of the guys that went, James, organized a boat ride for us on the lake to visit various islands. The boat was essentially a large covered rowboat, although it did have an outboard motor. It also leaked heavily and had an official bailer. For someone vaguely afraid of drowning, it was not the most comforting site to sit next to the bailer, ankle deep in water. Anyway, we were touring around the lake when we came to a small island and there standing on the beach, was a man with flowing locks wearing nothing but a speedo and waving us down. Turns out the island is populated by a group of ten to twelve Russian men, all middle age, most a little overweight, and most wearing bathing suits that left very little to the imagination. There was also a monkey wearing a diaper. Upon our arrival, there was much merriment among the Russian men and invitations to drink Russian vodka with them. Being the well-mannered people we are, we of course took them up on the invitation, and let me tell you, real Russian vodka is delicious. NOTHING like what you get in the US, although I assume the effect is much the same since after we had all shared the vodka, we took part in “Cold War Part II” which was an extended dive competition between America and Russia. I’m not sure that anyone won. Except maybe the monkey because he kept stealing people’s beers when they weren’t looking. It is amazing how much alcohol a monkey can drink.

Pictures from Nyungwe

As promised, here are some pictures from Nyungwe National Forest, the largest remaining tract of protected rainforest in Eastern and Northern Africa, which is sad because it is really pretty small, about 1000km2. Regardless of the biting ants, poisonous snakes, and excruciatingly steep hikes, its an amazing place and worth the pain (although in the middle of our 10k hike I did wonder what would happen if one of us just collapsed in exhaustion...)





Unfortunately I tried to post more pictures but it just isnt happening. So here is the good old facebook link and I hope that at least some of you will be able to see it...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026550&id=48101028&l=96d4e32172

Apologies for being terrible

Hello all... after recently reading my friends blog I realized that I am a terrible blogger and decided in the last ten minutes of the day to give a quick update. It just seems that after ten months, nothing exciting really happens anymore. But of course thats not true and I will briefly update on the goings on in my life.

First, as some of you know, I will be attending Johns Hopkins in the fall to get my Phd in Population Family and Reproductive Health. So that means that I will be definitively leaving Rwanda on July 31, spending two weeks at home, and then moving to Baltimore. For all of you who worried that Rwanda might be dangerous, I think it has nothing on Baltimore. :) I guess Im just drawn to a place with t little thrill.

Second, the main update is the load of people who have been coming through in recent weeks. After my visit to Uganda, my friend Philip came down to visit. The weekend after that, my friend Angela who works at our sister site in Lusaka came up for a weekend just to see how the different projects work. While she was here we went camping in Nyungwe national forest. I really should (and will) provide pictures of that because it was stunning. After Angela, Cait, a friend from Emory came through for two weeks, and now my friend Thomas, who worked at CARE with me is here for a couple weeks. So although no one is specifically here to see me, its still pretty great to see all of these familiar faces.

Third, umm third... My lovely mother and aunt are coming to visit in the end of July and I am so excited for them to see Africa in all its varied wonderfulness (is that a word?). They are going to Kenya for a week, then coming here for a week, and then we will have four days in Ethiopia for a quick and dirty tour. I wont lie, I spend a lot of my time day dreaming about the food. So I am very much looking forward to that.

In the mean-time, life continues on as normal. Which I guess is an important lesson... no matter where you go, people are pretty much the same.

Uganda revistited

This is now the third time I have tried to write this entry. So we will see if I ever actually get around to finishing it...

Last week was the Genocide Memorial week. On the advice of many of my colleagues, I decided to take leave that week and go up to Uganda, not because it is dangerous or anything, just that it is a very sad, very intense time for a lot of people and a lot of people would themselves like to leave. So my friend Leigh and I went up to Lake Bunyoni in southern Uganda for a couple days. We stayed on an island in the middle of the lake in a place without electricity, running water, internet, and cell phone reception and I LOVED IT. It is so easy to get caught up in the sense of immediacy and importance that we have developed as a result of telecommunications. But when you can get away from it, really get away from it, you realize that actually you dont matter all that much and it is ok to take a break. Life will go on without being able to get in immediate and contact. So it was so relaxing to just break off contact with everyone and go hiking around the island, go canoeing (although we kept going in circles which started make me a little sick after a while) and eat a lot of delicious food.

We were there from Saturday until Tuesday morning. On Tuesday I hopped a bus to Kampala, which was one of the more frustrating bus trips of my time here. The driver told us we were leaving "now, now" when we bought our tickets (stupid stupid stupid. I should know better by now) and we ended up sitting in the bus for two hours waiting for it to fill up. Of course the driver left it running the whole time even though there was no heater or air conditioner, flooding the bus with exhaust and inducing an awesome asthmatic cough that I have yet to get rid of, a week later. The driver then proceeded to treat the bus trip as his own personal shopping expedition, stopping at various fruit vendors along the way, judging produce and haggling prices for up to half an hour each time. My favorite may have been when he sent a boy scurrying back and forth between the bus and his fruit stand four or five times to bring different assortments of oranges to him. Ugh...

Anyway after about ten hours (it should only take six) we got into Kampala and I made it to a hostel. Stayed in Kampala for a day and a half but its pretty mundane for most people. I watched two movies back to back and ate thai food. Standard I think for most people but VERY exciting for me. And I had a series of late night conversations with random other expats coming through the hostel about the various state of affairs in the world, economy, gay marriage, stem cell research, the nature of good and evil, legalization of drugs, climate change... I mean you know, those standard light-hearted conversations you normally have with strangers.

On Wednesday night I met up with my friend Lacey, who I lived with in Gulu almost two years ago, and this was really when the trip got going. First, because it was really nice to see an old friend and share our experiences about living and working abroad and second, because Gulu was in a time of rapid change when we were there two years ago and we were both very curious to see what has happened. So bright and early Thursday morning we got a bus to Gulu.

The most amazing part of the trip to Uganda was revisiting Gulu. After two years away, I really had no idea what to expect. Although the peace talks have continued, and there has not been much, if any, reported rebel action in the area, the increasing activity in DR Congo was reason to worry. I thought that perhaps the resettlement process, wherein people were returning home, had been disrupted and that people would still be living in the camps. But as we grew closer to Gulu, there were definite indications otherwise. Many of the camps that had crowded the road the previous year have been abandoned and the store fronts that were previously dirty and crumbling were newly painted. Bars had pool tables and semi-permanent attachments built on to allow for people to linger and enjoy themselves. Sure maybe in a society with rampant alcoholism, encouraging more drinking isn’t the best idea. But, in a place where people have not had any real form of recreation or entertainment in twenty years, the pool tables are a great sign.

Even Gulu itself has changed, although not with signs as significant as abandoned camps. Rather, there are more banks, three or four stories high, and the boundaries of the town have expanded. Rapidly. Perhaps most encouraging, and certainly for Lacey and I, most comforting (quite literally), is the improvements in the roads. Two years ago, the roads were practically impassable. Even in a 4x4 LandCruiser, we would be tossed around in the car like dolls. Some smaller cars would not even take us to For God (where the center is) because they would bottom out their cars too often. This time however, the roads were much improved. Almost completely level with very few potholes or divots. Although that might seem like a relatively insignificant improvement, it actually means quite a bit. The road from Gulu continues to southern Sudan, to Juba. It is the main means of keeping communication and trade open between two very poor regions of the world. Goods can be more easily transported to an area in need of food and basic commodities and people can travel more safely between regions. The poor condition of the roads two years ago was viewed by many people as a physical manifestation of the poor regard that the Ugandan government had of both northern Uganda and southern Sudan. The improvement in the roads can then be regarded as an indication that the government is increasingly interested in improving the lives of northern Ugandans and improving relations with southern Sudan (it also probably has something to do with presidential elections next year. In the traditional anti-Musevini north, it would do him well to woo voters). Whatever the reasons for improvement, there is no doubt that things are getting better and to be able to witness it was extremely uplifting.

Uganda revistited

Football

Yesterday I went to the World Cup Qualifying game, Rwanda versus Algeria. Most people didnt think that Rwanda didnt have a chance of winning, and even though they didnt win, they also didnt lose. The game ended up 0-0. But Rwanda was definitely dominating the game, with most of the time spent near the Algeria goal. It was too bad they didnt win, but they definitely made a strong showing.

At first we thought we were going to get rained out. About an hour before, the sky opened up, as it tends to do and poured down a shower. But within a half an hour, the rain was over and the sun was back out so off to the game we went. Where it was packed out with fans ready to watch their favorite team play their favorite sport.



And it was a great game to watch, as much for the game as for the crowd. Aryn and I were sitting right underneath the giant screen, surrounded by Rwandan men, who were alternatively very excited about the game, jumping around, sharing opinions, and waving down people walking in front of us, or very intent, focused completely on the game. At one point, when Rwanda scored (turned out to be offsides), the whole stadium jumped up, screaming and cheering. No one sits by idly at a football game. We were also near the cheering section, which is full of men dressed in yellow, green, and blue outfits with faces painted, flags waving, horns tooting. I dont think there was a minute during the game that they sat or were quiet.

When it was over, we were exiting the stadium, not really by our own free will but by being swept along by the crowd (all men, most in need of a shower) when all of a sudden everyone came to a halt. Aryn and I were smashed together, surrounded by a crowd of men, trying to figure out what was happening. Turns out no one could leave before Paul Kagame did. So until the President left, we were pushed up and down, back and forth, stuck between the contractions of the crowd. Once PK left, the crowd swept out, exploding onto the streets and walking back through town, everyone dressed in blue, green, and yellow and generally proud of their country and their team.

To my mother...

I have emailed you! I dont know you havent been getting them. Please do call. I have been wondering why you havent.

To other people... please feel free to inform my mother of this post.