Saturday, May 30, 2009

Will update on past days as soon as I'm home...just wanted everyone to know that I'm in London!!! :-)

Love and hugs!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Up very, very early for mass at the Cathedral. It is such a beautiful place, and I love that we're able to walk there. The mass was beautiful and I loved being able to follow along even though I didn't understand a word they said! After mass we packed up and headed to Murambi. Once again, I felt like it was even more moving the second time. The reality of the events that occurred sink in more and more every day. How they can get past it is a miracle. I was honestly okay until Guillaume patted my back while we were walking. It's so sad that he has to comfort this little American who doesn't really know true pain, when he (and all of them) experienced it first hand.

After Murambi we headed straight to Kigali. We had about 45 minutes at the hotel before we went to Elizabeth's (the headmaster at FAWE) house for dinner. It actually ended up being at one of the teacher's houses, I think because it was bigger. When we got there my friend Anita was there – I was so happy to see her! We also got to meet the Peace Corps and World Teach volunteers that are working at FAWE. Before dinner one of the FAWE girls said grace and then after a while all the lights went off and they came in with a cake and candles and sang Happy Birthday to Josh! It was SO neat! They sang in both Kinyarwanda and English. They kept singing after he blew out the candles and he finally realized he was supposed to cut the cake. Then they still kept singing and finally one of the girls came over and FED him his piece! It was SO funny! Apparently you're supposed to eat your piece while they sing – learn more about the culture every day! Then we ate our cake and then had dinner. It was amazing! They had to have been cooking all day! After dinner Elizabeth said that we were going to have some entertainment. Anita and the two other FAWE girls stood and she said that they were going to sing a song for us. She talked about how much they enjoyed and appreciated our work at Gisimba and they sang the song 'When You Believe'. It was amazing. They were all wonderful singers – and it was all a Capella! I couldn't believe it – everyone was so impressed. After that everyone introduced themselves and gave a little of their favorite things about Rwanda. Almost all of them were original, and I of course agreed with all of them! It was wonderful. Then we came back to Chez Lando and got ready for the club for Josh's birthday! Everyone had a wonderful time, and even some of my friends from last year came!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Up relatively early to head to Butare. The drive is long, but once again SO beautiful. Long drives also make for great conversations for Guillaume and I. I've learned SO much from him, lots of things I'd never thought of before. On the way there I got to see the school where he went to Secondary, which is also where he met his wife. Anyway, when we got to Butare we had lunch and went to the National Museum. Then we went to the National University of Rwanda (NUR). As we were driving through the campus we saw a whole bunch of monkeys! It was so neat! We also got a short walking tour of part of the campus too, which was nice. We caught the tail end of a soccer game and saw a whole lot of students on campus, especially for a Saturday. Then we went back to our hotel for a relaxing evening. Well, it was relaxing for everyone but me, because I played more games of igisoro than I think I have in my life! Guillaume and I ended up 3-4, which I think is pretty good, since he has about 27 years of practice on me! I keep using that as an excuse, and when I win it makes it all the more exciting! :-) Oh, and by the way, there are a few rules that I'm quite certain Aloys never told us, so my skill level is changing with those too! After our games we were off to bed for a VERY early morning.

Friday, May 22, 2009

This morning we met with John at the U.N. We took a tour there and then went shopping AGAIN. Then we met with the Minister of Education. Before our meeting we met the Minister of State as well, WOW! The meeting went very well. She was very happy to hear about our work and about the program. She was also very happy that I kept my word and came back to Rwanda! Then we went back to the orphanage to clean up. We got everything sorted through and put away and had time to play with kids as well. John took us to supper at his Africana restaurant and then came with us to the club! It was a blast – I actually forgot how much fun it was! It was so great to experience it with some people from the new group! Oh, and by the way '08 girls – Cadillac was definitely all it's cracked up to be!!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Today was at our full day at the orphanage. In the morning some people went to the nursery school and the rest of us sorted through all of our donations. It was intense to say the least. However, it was a great feeling, since we knew it was well worth the headache! We got everything sorted, bags packed, and supplies distributed to the nursery school before noon. Then when we were leaving for lunch Guillaume told me he had my 'stuff' in the car – he had finally been able to locate me a PRIMUS shirt!! I was one happy camper, and he worked awful hard for it! Have I mentioned he's awesome??
After lunch we went back to Gisimba. We planned out the most effective way to distribute bags. It of course did not work that way at all, but about four hours after beginning we were finally done. We would NOT have been successful without the help of my friend from last year, Moses. He did a great job and we will never be able to thank him enough. Guillaume waited for Nakeesha, Lori, and I to hand out all the bags and then we finally made our way back to Chez Lando for a well deserved rest.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

We left Paradise around 8:30 and headed to Mwiko. The drive was just as beautiful as I remembered, and the people just as friendly and happy! We observed in a P2 class. The whole school has just switched to English, so everyone at least knew some. It's hard that they are forced to do that, especially when there is no time or funding for training. At lunch time they did a dance which was amazing of course and then we gave them all the supplies we had collected for them. We also gave the teachers hats and Iowa State shirts. They LOVED it! Even Guillaume commented on how happy they all are. The car rides are always so tiring but SO beautiful. When we arrived 'home' to Kigali we checked into our rooms and headed across the street to the market. People are always entertained by the muzungus trying to cross the street! Pretty uneventful day...just patiently waiting for tomorrow at the orphanage!!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Day of rest today! Up kind of early relaxed, had breakfast, and lay on the beach! We went to the hot springs which are very near our hotel. They were so cool! People were using the water to bathe in, to make tea with, and to use for cooking. They said that the government is continually testing the water for safety. It was very neat to see the water bubbling up from the earth – there's so much about our planet that I will never understand! Then we relaxed by the lake some more and headed in to Rubavu for the market. Also, a couple of the girls go their hair braided...it looks awesome! I was jealous there was only time for 3 right now! Then we went and saw the DRC border again. We wanted to jump across so bad! It was crazy that we could actually see Goma! We had stopped at one of the more touristy markets on Sunday and they had igisoro (the game) but it didn't have a design on the outside so I was going to wait and buy it later. When we stopped there again they had it for cheaper and with GORILLAS!! I was SO excited! And then when Guillaume set it up and found out I really did know how to play he was SO impressed! It was funny, he was very proud! We had supper in town again, and I even beat him one game! We had fun. Then when we got back to the hotel Josh and Nakeesha wanted to play since they had learned from watching us. We had a blast!