Postponement

Well.. the last few days have involved a failed safari, too much schlepping, two new places to stay, and a lack of internet service.
Our current place of our residence - an orphanage, no less - is devoid of internet.
So, I am postponing any more posts until I return to Santa Barbara and have a chance to sit down at my computer with its trusty Ethernet connection, take a deep sigh, and process the information, photos, and experiences that I've had.

Until then - remember Rwanda!

The Rwandan Dream?

(sorry for the bad photo quality... pollution + dust + dirty car window = foggy picture)

Day 10, Part 3: Projects in Ruhengeri

When we reached the jeeps at the bottom of the hike after seeing the gorillas, we were met with a village destitute and dirty. The children peeked. The men and women stared. The guards stood stoically around us.
We said goodbye to the two British women who were going all the way back to Kigali in order to catch a plane, and then we loaded up and drove away from that tired town.


Our first stop was a boarding school for deaf children. A study had shown a high rate of deafness in the area, often as a result of meningitis, and deaf children were considered worthless and mistreated. The new school included a classroom, a building with beds, and a dirt-floored latrine. We were able to donate school supplies and sports balls to the teachers.


The neighborhood children watched with solemn curiosity.

Then we drove to the compound of the Fair Children Youth Organization. We met five beautiful young women who are orphans of genocide and who are between 15 and 22 years in age. They have formed informal orphan-headed households, and do the best they can to make ends meet. At the compound, which is stretched for funding, they are beginning to learn English.

We drove back to Kigali enthralled by our encounter with the mountain gorillas but also sobered by our experiences in the mist-covered hills of the north.

Day 10, Part 1: In the Northern Heights

We were up at the crack of dawn (actually, before dawn... no birds were singing yet), dressed in our warm Patagonia gear, ready to eat a quick breakfast and experience the gorillas.

First we drove, in the cold grey morning, to the meeting place of gorilla tourists.
Then we were divvied up into gorilla groups - 8 people per group, 7 groups total, with 1 guide, 2 porters, and 2 soldiers per group. We ended up in the "shorter trek" group (not by choice, just by chance). After waiting for our guide to verify the position of our gorilla family with the trackers who spent the night in the mountains, we hopped into cars again and rode for 30 minutes into a remote village area.
We got out of the cars and began the upward trek. The pictures that follow are the people and places we met and saw on our way up to the forest.



These people were destitute subsistence farmers. The fertile land was terraced all the way up to the stone wall separating the forest from the farmland. The air was cold, the huts were mud, and the children were bright and friendly. But they were very poor.

Finally, pausing for breath in the high altitude, we reached the outer part of the forest. The stone wall sliced the wild from the cultivated. We left the people - and the many, many children - behind.

Day 9: Visits and Drive-bys

After teaching in the morning, we all ate a big lunch, grabbed our bags, and loaded into a bus for the drive to Ruhengeri to see the gorillas.
But first, we visited two organizations in Kigali.
Our first stop was the WE-ACTX / Manos de Madres co-op. It is comprised of women who have learned to sew beautiful, brightly-patterned bags of all shapes and sizes. Our group snapped up many of their items...

Check out their website: www.manosdemadres.org

Next, we stopped by Cards from Africa. The organization employs mainly genocide orphans to make hand-made greeting, holiday, and other cards. They use recycled paper and natural dyes to make their own papers.
They have really beautiful papers in their store room of all different colors.
And they have a large selection of beautiful cards.

Their website is: www.cardsfromafrica.com

We hopped back into the bus and were off to Ruhengeri, a 2-hour drive through the most stunningly lush and mountainous region of Rwanda. It was intensely frustrating to be driving past thrilling vistas too fast to take proper pictures. All the ones I have came out blurred, and all the people were just flashes of color... I think you just have to come here to appreciate the landscape and the people.

For instance, in this one the house is in focus... but everything else is blurred (and it's through a window so it has a sort of fog in it). My apologies...

Gorilla trekking...

We leave for Ruhengeri this afternoon, spending the night at a little hotel before getting up early to hike up in the mountains to see the gorillas.

Blogging will resume Wednesday! Stay tuned for LOTS of pictures.

Day 8, Part 2: Gifts of Renewal

They are beautiful children.
They live in a village of orphan-headed households in the hills outside Kigali. The houses, built by SURF, have turquoise-colored walls inside and rust-red stucco outside. The view is serene and the gardens are pleasant.
Our group met the head of the village, an orphan himself, in his house as all the children crowded up to the windows and at the door.

They are all orphans, many from AIDS. They are lucky, though; they have a home, a cow, and each other. Two girls in particular had attached babies to their hips.

We came to them to hear their stories, and also to give them gifts, which they wholly deserved. The Canadians brought frisbees; we brought soccer balls and volleyballs (thanks D!) and beanie babies (thanks M.M.!) The gift distribution was hectic, as everyone crowded around.
Then, we all got to playing.

Three heads-of-house joined us, as did an old friend; the girl on the far right, an orphan, survived with the others but has not received a house. Instead, she moves from relative to relative, taking housekeeping jobs that pay about $1/day. She has completed only 2nd grade. For most of these men and women, this is the standard situation - getting tossed around house to house, taking menial labor jobs, and never having a chance for education. They want to start a cassava flour business, but they don't have the capital to begin. They want to attend school, but they don't have the fees and they must put food on the table. Meanwhile, the land of their mothers and fathers is too dangerous for them to return to and lies fallow.

It was wonderful to see these young adults - who have given up their childhood to care for others, and who work hard each day to ensure the continuing security of their adopted siblings - having a chance to laugh and play. For a few hours, they didn't have to be parents.
As we walked back to the vans, the female head of house slipped her arm around my waist. The children ran along down the rutted road beside us. "Murabeyho!" (Goodbye) I kept repeating; they said "Bye bye!"
I do not know Kinyarwanda, but I know what they meant in their smiles, and that is why I smiled along with them.