10/9/2020 0 Comments Fun and stressThis week was stressful as they just explained the process of how our ISP period will work in November and December and to just start looking for places to stay on airbnb. At first we thought this would be fun looking for places, but it quickly became very complicated as the prices have gone up due to COVID-19 that are beyond our given budget and locations between my roommates internships. However, Wednesday (October 7th) provided a fun day of relief.
We drove out to Nyamata to visit a local farmer and learn about how they've been rebuilding their community and his training of dozens of other farmers. The farm was huge and beautiful with avocado, banana, and mango trees. There were cassavas, maize, pineapples and goats!!! The goats were so cute, but as we were fawning over them our tour guide came over and said "mmm hello my little brochettes" which is objectively hilarious but we all were stunned (alright it was pretty funny). After lunch we visited a weaving Co-op. It was run by all women and provided necessary jobs for them and more sources of income for their family. Their weaving was beautiful and looked fun as they all sat around and got to weave and bond. They all seemed to really enjoy getting to be together, as well as getting to earn a wage. When we got back to Kigali, we met with our directors tailor who brought some materials for us to choose from and designs. There was a beautiful gold and blue fabric that I ordered to use for a skirt. The designs we wanted we found on Pinterest and then sent to her. I also wanted a romper, and the other fabrics weren't our favorites. So she too Anna, Asia, Caroline and I downtown in a cab and visited a bunch of fabric places. She took us to what looked like an alley down a stairway, but it opened up to a huge area with tons of fabric stores with beautiful fabrics. Though they were regular fabrics, and we were looking for fabrics from Rwanda. She then took us to another building in the city that had a huge room with tons of people selling gorgeous printed fabrics. It was an incredibly fun afternoon getting to find these areas in the city and getting to have outfits made from fabrics in Rwanda. I can't wait for them to come in!! 10/8: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! Very sad I can't be with you to celebrate but I hope you enjoy your presents!!
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10/4/2020 0 Comments Lake KivuTo get us out of Kigali for the weekend, SIT took us to Kibuye on the coast of Lake Kivu. The drive was supposed to be 3 hours which turned into 4 hours and 45 minutes (not so fun) and we didn't get to eat lunch until 4 pm. We relaxed on our porch that sat right off the lake until lunch was ready. It was incredibly peaceful as we sat in silence and listened to the quiet crashing waves. After lunch, which wasn't good :/, all of us except Caleb and Asia went on a walk to the town to see more of the views and pick up snacks for that night. The walk was gorgeous and relaxing after we had been in the van all morning. The next day we got up early for a beautiful boat ride around the islands to stop for a hike. It was incredibly peaceful getting to just ride on the water. I never realized how much I need to be close to water after being stuck in the city. As we pulled up on the island we were going to hike on a bunch of monkeys ran across the small shore. We explored the gorgeous hilly island for about 40 minutes, took some pictures of the sites, and grabbed some bananas to try and find the monkeys (we didn't). Some of the girls wanted to swim in the lake so our tour guide took us to Peace Island where they could get in the water safely. All of us girls went to a private part of the island, and some of them hopped in the water. I was very in-between on what to do because there are a lot of warnings about swimming there, but I decided not to get in. We hung out by the water for awhile, a bunch of us didn't get in, and just had a really relaxing morning. Afterwards we climbed some trees and went back in the boat to head to the hotel. Soon after we grabbed a quick lunch and came back to Kigali. It was a much needed weekend to get away from the stresses in the city and get a break from our school work. 10/2/2020 1 Comment Discussion with RwandansThis was a very heavy week.
9/28: In the morning we visited the Nyamata and Ntarama Genocide Memorial sites. These were churches where thousands of Tutsi's had taken refuge during the genocide and then were massacred within the churches. You can still see the bullet holes in the ceilings, broken walls from grenades, and worst of all the blood stained walls. I felt very humbled and deep in thought at each of the churches, as many of us were, trying to imagine and mourn for the thousands that lost their lives. Later in the day we got to speak with two of the survivors of the genocide which was a great opportunity and very emotional. They got to tell us of their experiences, how they've been handling life in Rwanda post-genocide, and the importance of memorials. They were very honest with us and vulnerable. They talked to us about the role of forgiveness, what peacebuilding looks like on a local and national level, and the balance of teaching future generations about the genocide without passing on the trauma. The conversations were incredible and I hope to get the chance to talk with them again during my research period. 9/30: In the morning we got to visit Never Again Rwanda, an organization that works to bring together communities to discuss their trauma and bond as a community. They run local meetings with survivors, bystanders, perpetrators, rescuers, really anyone that wants to come together to speak with one another. It's an amazing organization that works directly with the community and is making real impacts instead of more international organizations that lack the context of Rwanda. In the afternoon we had a discussion with Ex-Tigists or perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi's. We spoke with three men that had committed acts of genocide, they each took turns talking about their experience during the genocide and post-genocide of jail and gacaca's. Our director translated their stories into English for us. They each spoke very solemnly. It felt very odd to be in a room with people who had aided the genocide. They talked about the process they went through for coming back into their communities, and gaining forgiveness. They praised the gacaca courts for their ability to give them reconciliation for their crimes and apologize to their victims and their families. It was another humbling moment in getting to sit with them and try to gain new perspectives on how Rwandans have been working to continue to live together. 10/1: This morning we spoke with Hutu Rescuers from the genocide. One man was in the military at the time of the genocide, and helped dozens of Tutsi's escape to Burundi while his life was threatened. There was also a woman who had recently given birth during the genocide, who hid multiple children and women in her home. Every day militiamen came to her house and threatened that the next day they would come and murder her entire family and the Tutsi's. Both of their stories of heroism and bravery were incredibly inspiring and who you hope you would be put in their situation. I can't imagine what it would be to be constantly threatened as well as my family, I hope to never be in the situation. Their stories were inspirational. The week overall was very heavy. It was great getting to learn and speak directly from those who experienced the genocide. It's the reason why I came here, to go beyond the literature (mostly written by Western academics) and get to learn firsthand from the people. 9/27/2020 2 Comments Cosmo GirlThis weekend I was determined to find my way around the city by myself. If we were doing homestays we would've been on our own more. I slept in (still not quite on a great sleep schedule) and then got ready for my (long) walk. I decided to meet one of my friends on the program at Rubia's café, about a 30-40 minute walk. It was somewhat nerve-wracking as I tried to find my way there, but after a very long walk on a very hot day. At the café I met up with Asia and ordered a strawberry smoothie in Kinyarwanda, which was very fun! We stayed for a few hours, I eventually also ordered a chicken & avocado panini which was also really good. Unfortunately the café is a little expensive, but very worth it! I felt very accomplished to have found the place on my own and starting to feel like I know my way around.
Later that night Asia, Anna and I went to Kigali Heights with the Riders Lounge! It felt like the most natural/ regular night since getting here, which was really nice. Anna and I got cosmopolitans (at my moms suggestion) and Asia got another drink. The cosmo was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! We split a large pizza and just relaxed for hours. It was amazing getting to just relax and have fun. While I love being in Rwanda, SOO MUCH, it was nice having a night that felt like it could've been at Elon or home, just eating pizza and hanging out with friends. On Sunday I went on another adventure and found Inzora's café. I got to walk deeper through the streets in our area. Right after I got to the café it started pouring (I didn't know it would be raining and had no rain jacket or umbrella). I stayed there for awhile until the rain slowed down. I walked up to UTC and Kigali Heights, the local malls, to just see what they had. I grabbed some food and beer for dinner at Simba's and then went to head home for dinner. I would've walked but it started pouring again and I didn't want to walk the 40 minutes home. I found a taxi waiting outside, and figured out a way to help him know where I was going. I got a little flustered figuring out how to say where to go and getting the right change for the taxi driver. I got a little shaky at the end, but everything worked out and I was really excited to have done it by myself. I ended the night relaxing at the hostel and made pasta for dinner. 9/26/2020 2 Comments Eventful First week of classWhat an eventful week! (Hello St. Johns Choir group! Glad to have you all here! :D )
9/21: On Monday we began our first full day of classes. In the morning we had a lesson on sexual harassment and warnings of things that may happen in the city/ things/ places to avoid. Then we learned about more of the cultural practices in Rwanda and things we should be aware of. We broke out for lunch and a few of us went to the Shokola café, the top floor of the local library! The views were gorgeous, as always, and the food was incredible. Coming back we started to think about what we would be doing for our Independent study projects, then went home and had a group dinner in the hostel. 9/22: We started off the day with a Survival Kinyarwanda with one of our outside instructors. Took a nice break with chapati and meat samosa. Then 4 of us went to a local vaccine office and got our Yellow Fever vaccines. The nurse giving the shot acted very different than getting a shot in America. She said hello, asked if I liked eggs (I said no which was very surprising to her), she walked over and asked how I was and while I answered she gave me the shot. It was quick and very painless. For those that know me, I get very nervous and chatty whenever I am getting a shot, but this nurse moved so quickly that I didn't even have time to register what was happening. We went and had a group lunch at Meze Fresh, the Mexican restaurant, and came back to watch the movie Ghosts of Rwanda. After classes, Anna and I stopped at Gladden's café to study and have dinner. I got a salad for 1500 RF or $1.50 USD! 9/23: ANNA'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!! We start the day wishing Anna a happy birthday and heading to SIT headquarters for our last Survival Kinyarwanda class. We learned how to ask for directions, ordering at restaurants, directions to give taxi drivers, etc. After a break, we had two of our three Pre-genocide identity politics classes with Professor Bernard Rutikanga. The classes were incredibly engaging and informative. It is amazing what different information is released by American journalists concerning the genocide. For example, almost every article/history overview you will read about the genocide will say around 800,000 Tutsi's died. However, the Rwandan Government estimates that around 1.2 million Tutsi's died and have the statistics to back up the data. At lunch, we took Anna out to Casa Keza, an amazing local Spanish restaurant! While the food took awhile, the atmosphere was wonderful and the company even better! I got the Potatas Bravas (a bowl of potatoes) which was very delicious! Unfortunately, this lunch went on long and we were a little late to our last class with Professor Bernard Rutikanga, though he said it was fine and that we were on 'African time now'. On our walk home, Anna, Asia and I stopped at a cute local craft store and looked around for awhile. Asia bought some beautiful prints. Meanwhile, some of the other girls went to go get Anna's favorite cupcakes for an after dinner surprise! We had dinner at the hostel, and celebrated Anna's birthday right with cupcakes and South African white wine. After dinner, we sat around playing cards and having fun as a group. 9/24: Oof, this morning did not start great. I woke up very sick for a few hours, and tried taking meds though they were barely working. Though this was the day we were going to the Kigali Genocide Memorial, and I was not going to miss that. So I took some more meds and pushed through, getting to the SIT Headquaters. Once there, unfortunately, I threw up. It made me feel somewhat better, but also pretty weak. I let our facilitators know, but we agreed that I could still go, knowing there were restrooms at the memorial if needed or that I could go sit in the van/be taken back to the hostel if I felt sick. Though feeling like crap and weak, I made it to the memorial, and it was very much worth it. This memorial was built in the 2000's, and had around 250,000 buried in mass graves outside. Inside there were exhibits teaching the history of the genocide, tributes to the victims and survivors, and reminder for the youth. It was a lot to take in, violent images, and reminders of the past. One exhibit was dedicated to the lost children, showing a panel with their name, a nice photograph, details of their favorite foods/activities, and then how they were killed. It hit everyone the hardest, and many of us, including myself, were brought to tears at the horrifying details of what these children endured. We were there for around 2 1/2 hours, taking in the emotions and horrors of the event. Afterwards we had lunch as a group at Sundowner, and went back to SIT for a debrief. Our debrief was with Apollon Kabahizi, who was in charge of building the memorial and was involved in everything with it. If there was anyone to talk about the Memorial with, it was him! He explained how he wanted it to be shocking and not allow for the denial of the genocide, but not be a place of trauma and allow for survivors to come and reconcile with their past. He included an exhibit detailing genocides that have happened across history because he wanted to show that this isn't something that has only happened in Rwanda. The discussion went on for awhile and was incredibly touching and informative. That night Anna, Asia and I got together and went to Casa Kava's again to share tappa's and enjoy the night and reflect on the day. 9/25: (3 months til' Christmas!) We had our first Research Methods & Ethics Class and started planning our ISP's. After a break, we have many tea breaks, Grace and I were the leaders for this week's readings. Everything went very smoothly and we got some great deep discussions going. Every week we will have a "processing session" where we talk about how we've been feeling about the program, and kind of just a general check-in. Our leaders of the session decided for us to go to lunch together at Fresh Foods Restaurant, where we wrote down anything we wanted to bring up anonymously. We had some productive discussions, and got to know each other better. Later that night, Anna, Asia, Caleb and I just hung out in the common room and decided to watch Midsommer (which I was only able to stay for the beginning of). Overall, it was a really great start to the first (real) week of classes! (Sorry to Elon people who are about to do mid-terms!) 9/20/2020 0 Comments Hiking Mt. Kigali![]() Today's adventures included hiking up a biking trail on Mt. Kigali! Six of the girls on the program got together to call two taxis to take us to the town Nymirambo where we could access the trails. Mixed with the heat and hills it was quite the hike, though completely worth it seeing the beauty of Kigali. It was a great bonding experience for all of us while we went on this long venture. Half-way up we passed this cool looking restaurant/bar stop with these large circle domes for people to sit under. We kept going up and saw beautiful sites, as well as people tending to their farms. All of the landscapes were incredibly beautiful and I really enjoyed our time, we stayed out for a few hours! After walking for awhile we started to head back, and took a quick break in the shade of a bunch of pine trees. It kind of felt like I was in North Carolina with all of the pine straw, which felt nice for a bit. We then made it back to the bar and ordered a round of Mutzig lager's while we waited for our food. I got a plate of chips (french fries) which came with onions, a slice of tomato, and a big plop of MAYO! They were basically thick potato wedges, which was really delicious. It rained while we were under one of the circle domes but only lasted for about 20 minutes. We continued along and the taxi drivers met us and took us back to the hotel. Later that night one of the girls on the program put together a buffet spread for us to make our own spring roles! It was a super fun time and the spring roles were amazing! Overall a really great day! 9/19/2020 1 Comment City travel![]() After some much needed sleep and getting over jet-lag, one of the girls on the program (Anna) and I went out to look for lunch and a café to start working around noon. We tried one spot close to the guest house, but they were out of most things on their menu unfortunately. So we kept on walking (up a hill, we were very tired) but then looked on Google maps and found a great looking place for us to go that said it was only a mile away. That turned into about 45 minutes of walking the streets of Kigali to find it. The walk was actually really fun because it was along the embassy strip with no hills and a nice sidewalk. We finally found the Inzora's rooftop café around 1pm! We went upstairs to find a bookstore at the front, and towards the back there was the café. There wasn't a lot of food to offer, but they had really good looking drinks so I got the Fruit Passion smoothie (sooo good!!). There was a bottom layer with the bookstore and then a rooftop floor that was completely outdoors, though a little too hot for today. We studied downstairs for a few hours and I worked on my Kinyarwanda. After awhile we packed up and headed back to the guest house. Before we left we took a look around the bookstore part and found some very nice postcards and a lot of books in French! We agreed that it was definitely somewhere we were going to go back to! We took a taxi, which was an adventure of its own trying to get the driver to understand where we were going. Though he was really nice and we got to the hostel. We really going back that there was a much more direct way we could've taken to get there... oh well, know for next time. We all decided the other day that tonight we would try cooking for ourselves in the kitchen and made plans with the cook. Some of the other girls went out shopping for supplies for a pasta and sangria night. Everyone contributed to the cooking/chopping of the veggies and drinks. I worked on chopping up the red peppers. The young man who works as a cook here was hanging out with us to help while we worked in his kitchen, being very supportive! He helped show each of us easy ways to peal and chop up veggies. We then sat down for dinner and had so much fun, it was the best night yet! At first, we played 2 truths and a lie which was a good way to get to know everyone. Afterwards we played a long round of Never Have I Ever and just joked for hours. Coming out of the dinner a few of us got together to watch a movie and just hang out. Overall it was a really fun day, getting more and more used to the environment and excited for the next few months! 9/15/2020 0 Comments First Day in the city
9/14/2020 0 Comments QuarantineAfter arriving at the airport in Kigali, we were shuttled to our hotel, to get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine until our test results came back. The hotel was gorgeous and the room was really spacious. I took a quick shower and then was called to get my test. Those giving it were really nice and it was an oral swab instead of nasal which was much better! Then I took a long nap until lunch came around 2 PM. It was chicken thighs, potatoes, pasta, and fruits. It smelled so good, but I was too tired and fell back to sleep until 5:30 PM. I ate the meal once I woke up and it was still very delicious! The wifi in the hotel wasn't great so there wasn't too much that I could do on my phone or laptop. I put the TV on in the room, the two channels were either wrestling or soccer. So I watched soccer for awhile and tried staying awake so that I could fall asleep at a regular time later that night. I talked with my dad around 6 PM which was his lunch, it was really nice getting to talk with family. Dinner came around 7:30 PM. It was soooooo good!! Delicious strips of steak, soft rice, chunks of potato, and beans. There was also fruit which seemed to consistently have watermelon or pineapple. Dinner done, I tried staying awake until it was a regular time to fall asleep. I was able to Google Meet with my mom which was also really nice getting to talk about the day and see a family face. Sleep unfortunately didn't come so easily. I think because I had taken a nap I was just a little thrown off. ![]() I had finally started sleeping, when at 7 AM they brought us breakfast. Another tray of fruit, and then a little sesame bread bun and a fruity cinnamon bun without a lot of glaze. Both were very yummy as I ate with a view of the city. I feel incredibly grateful that I have been given this experience to come to this gorgeous city. After breakfast I just relaxed, watched some soccer and waited for my test results to come back. Around 11:30 AM I got my results back that they were negative and I was allowed to leave the quarantine! 9/13/2020 0 Comments Flights9.12.2020- Today is the first day of flying for my trip to Rwanda. My first flight is a one-way from RDU to JFK, and then I will be beginning my round-trip flight from JFK to DOH to KGL over the next day or so. It was very sad saying goodbye to my family and my pets. Being at college only an hour from home I have never been away from them for too long. Sometimes I feel silly that my first trip off the East Coast is all the way to Rwanda, but may as well take a leap of faith. I'm hoping that the traveling goes well. There doesn't seem to be a lot of people at the airport so hopefully the risk of exposure to COVID-19 will be low, though I will still take every precaution. I am by myself for the RDU to JFK flight, however I will be meeting up with another girl from my program in JFK and we will be doing the rest of the flights together which is exciting! I know that she is an experienced traveler so I'm sure we'll be all set!
Update 8PM EST: Flight from RDU to JFK went smoothly. Then came the mayhem of ending up in the wrong terminal and trying to figure my way around. Then I finally made it to the right check in at Qatar airways and everyone was super friendly and helped me get to the right place. Unfortunately all of the restaurants had closed, but luckily I brought snacks and there will be food served on the flights. 9.13.2020 Update 11PM in DOH: The 12 hour flight went really well! The dinner was salmon and mashed potatoes which was really good! I slept for some of the flight but overall really enjoyed it. Coming out I now really want to start travelling more and getting so see more places! Everyone except one of the people in our program were waiting in the Qatar airport for us to come in. We've been playing cards and walking around/bonding which has been really fun. I am very excited for the adventures to come! Now we wait until our last flight at 2 AM where we will arrive in Kigali, Rwanda at 7:25 AM. Update 8 AM: AND WE’RE HERE!!!! It feels incredibly unreal that this dream has come true. Everything is so beautiful and everyone is incredibly nice! The last flight went really well, I watched Clue which is one of my favorite movies, and had two small glasses of South African wine with my dinner. I am so excited to start exploring and tasting the cuisine! |
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