Saturday 15 May – Every day life
I feel I have neglected this blog for too long now and will renew my effort to write in it regularly. One of the reasons I haven’t written for the last few weeks is because I have been quite busy. Another reason is that I feel I haven’t had anything interesting to report. Nothing exiting has happened really. Everyday life does not interest me particularly but today it occurred to me that it might to other people. So to give you an idea of what my life here is really like, when I’m not travelling and such, I will tell you about what I would do in a regular week.
First, I can tell you about what I was doing just a few minutes ago. I really love weekends here because it gives me time to just relax, read a book and hang out with friends. The very best thing though is the mornings. Normally, I eat breakfast outside on the porch every day of the week. It is so nice to breath the fresh morning air, listen to the birds and look out over the stunning view of Kigali with its endless hills. On Saturdays and Sundays this city is so peaceful in the mornings. Sundays are the best since everybody is in church and it does not feel crowded in this very crowded country for once. On weekends I eat my breakfast outside as usual but I also bring my ipod and allow myself to sit for an extra hour before I start my day and just look out over this beautiful city and let my mind wander. It’s like meditation. Stress is generally not a problem here since people never hurry anywhere but it’s still wonderful to be able to take an hour to be in your own mind and just think of whatever happens to pop up.
Most Monday nights we go to quiz night at a restaurant in town. It’s not very advanced. The team that wins gets their dinner and drinks for free and gets the honor of making the questions for next week. The quality varies depending on the team that is in charge but it’s generally a nice way of spending a Monday night. One night of the week we have West Wing movie night with some friends. We are a small group who managed to miss the hype of the series when it was at its most popular and we are now watching the dvd box. It’s a very good excuse to hang out with some friend and we usually make it a pot lock, or knytis in Swedish. It’s a nice way of relaxing after a stressful day at work.
On average we eat out about twice a week. There are a lot of nice restaurants in Kigali which have really good food. I have found a great Chinese restaurant that makes the best noodles and dumplings! There are also some good Indian places that have great food. Aside from that there are a lot of restaurants that have typical western food like pizza, pasta and such. I have to admit that I rarely go to places that have Rwandan food. As I have mentioned earlier, it’s just not very nice. It’s always the same few dishes and it never tastes like much. They don’t put salt on anything and they don’t seem to use any other spices either. Coming from Europe where spices are very important it’s hard to get used to that. There are a lot of places here that make brochette (grillspett) most often with goat meat (sometimes they have beef or chicken) and they are not bad.
Sometimes when I go out for lunch during the week I go to one of many places that serve Rwandan buffet which is ok. The reason for the buffet is that I would never have time to wait one hour (which is not unusual) for my food during my lunch hour. The buffets here more or less contains the same things: roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, rice, pasta, one meat stew and another with either fish or chicken. At some places they have a nice salad to go with it and usually you get fruit afterwards. It’s not very exiting but it doesn’t taste bad either. Food here is mostly made up of carbohydrates and fat which is not very good for you. It’s hard to find fibers and slow carbs, and they put a lot of sugar in most things.
Every Tuesday since a couple of weeks back I have French class in the morning. It’s me and a friend who are taking lessons with a teacher who is actually really good. A couple of times a week I try to find time to go for a jog. There are no good places to run really so I just run around my neighborhood which is about 5 kilometers. It’s hard sometimes because I have to get past all the hordes of people that are everywhere in this city. And since I kind of stand out in a crowd people stare, or want to talk to you or just laugh and point. You get used to it after a while and I guess people get used to seeing you running there as well.
The nightlife in Kigali is not very impressive and if you’re a girl and go out dancing people basically never leave you alone so that’s not something I do very often. If we go out at the weekends we normally go to a restaurant for dinner and then stay for some drinks or go to a bar for a drink afterwards. We often invite people over for dinner and drinks and sometimes there’s a house party. Kigali is just not a party place.
So that’s what could happen in a typical week here. Not overly exiting but I can’t complain either. My internship is very interesting so I’m not bored at all, that’s what I’m here for. The best thing about it is that there’s no stress! We’re on African time even though people actually come in time to most meetings, at least in Kigali. In Uganda people might come several hours late or not come at all, but here people come and they’re usually not more than 15-30 minutes late. I can live with that. It’s a nice contrast to Sweden where everybody seems to be stressed all the time. Also, the climate here is perfect. It’s never cold and never too hot either. Ok, I might have taken that too far. Sometimes it’s hot and sweaty here but if you compare it to western Africa for example it’s nothing. It’s bearable. The altitude makes evenings and mornings cool and fresh and it’s green and lush everywhere. All crops grow like weeds and nothing is ever out of season. We have great fruit and vegetables all year round!
lördag 15 maj 2010
onsdag 21 april 2010
Wednesday 21 April – Sjuk
Antar att allt inte kan vara kul och spännande hela tiden när man är utomlands en längre tid. Jag har blivit förkyld, och det med besked! Tror aldrig jag varit så här förkyld tidigare faktiskt. Huvudet bultar, jag har feber, ont i halsen och snorar precis hela tiden. Inte kul när jag hade sett fram emot en massa kul saker på praktiken den här veckan. Inget att göra åt, bara att stanna hemma och se till att bli frisk så fort som möjligt. Tyvärr har infektioner en tendens att vara mer långdragna i det här klimatet än hemma. Jag har bara varit hemma en dag och är redan uttråkad. Det finns inte mycket att göra om dagarna och man får inte heller vara ifred eftersom trädgårdsmästaren och hushållerskan springer omkring här hela dagarna.
Vår hushållerska är, som så många andra i det här landet, djupt kristen och tillhör eventuellt någon sekt som typ Jehovas eller liknande. Det man vill höra när man är sjuk är ju inte direkt att det är Guds straff och att jorden är på väg att gå under. Vi hade ett mycket obehagligt samtal idag när hon tog min sjukdom som ett tecken på att apokalypsen är nära. Hon berättade om alla dessa människor i hennes kvarter som blir sjuka och dör oväntat i till synes ofarliga sjukdomar. Det är Guds straff, han kommer att släppa sjukdomar och elände löst på jorden innan han till sist kommer instifta paradiset på jorden. Det har hon läst i bibeln, så det är absolut sant! Och visst är det skönt att veta att paradiset är nära? Tråkigt bara att det måste stryka med så många människor på vägen tycker jag. Jag har väldigt, väldigt svårt för religiösa fanatiker och bokstavstroende så det blev inte direkt en behaglig stämning efter det där lilla utspelet. Man kan väl inte direkt klandra dessa människor för att de tar sin tillflykt till religionen efter alla hemskheter de varit med om, men det blir riktigt läskigt när folk inte verkar ha några spärrar alls och köper vad som helst i religionens namn.
Vår hushållerska är, som så många andra i det här landet, djupt kristen och tillhör eventuellt någon sekt som typ Jehovas eller liknande. Det man vill höra när man är sjuk är ju inte direkt att det är Guds straff och att jorden är på väg att gå under. Vi hade ett mycket obehagligt samtal idag när hon tog min sjukdom som ett tecken på att apokalypsen är nära. Hon berättade om alla dessa människor i hennes kvarter som blir sjuka och dör oväntat i till synes ofarliga sjukdomar. Det är Guds straff, han kommer att släppa sjukdomar och elände löst på jorden innan han till sist kommer instifta paradiset på jorden. Det har hon läst i bibeln, så det är absolut sant! Och visst är det skönt att veta att paradiset är nära? Tråkigt bara att det måste stryka med så många människor på vägen tycker jag. Jag har väldigt, väldigt svårt för religiösa fanatiker och bokstavstroende så det blev inte direkt en behaglig stämning efter det där lilla utspelet. Man kan väl inte direkt klandra dessa människor för att de tar sin tillflykt till religionen efter alla hemskheter de varit med om, men det blir riktigt läskigt när folk inte verkar ha några spärrar alls och köper vad som helst i religionens namn.
måndag 19 april 2010
Trip to Uganda
I’m sitting in my living room with the rain pouring down outside. This seems like as good a time as any to tell the story of my trip to Uganda. My Uganda adventure was plagued with bad luck already from the start. We were supposed to leave on Tuesday the 6th of April, but when we got to the bus station, Kampala Coaches, the company we booked our tickets with said there were no seats for us. We had booked the 5.45 bus and it was a big disappointment after getting up that early to have to go back home again. There was nothing to do really, all the other buses for that day were already full and they couldn’t get us tickets earlier than for the morning bus the day after. That’s Africa, lost reservations is its middle name. We went home. During the day I started to feel bad and discovered that I had a fever. Not very good news since I was planning on leaving the day after. It was a bit uncertain for a while but after careful consideration I decide to go. The problem with getting sick here is that it can be any number of things, both harmless and quite serious so one has to be much more cautious then at home. It turned out going was a good decision to go in the end.
Wednesday
The second try at the bus was more successful. We left Kigali at 5.45 on Wednesday the 7th, Genocide Memorial Day. I have to say that the 10 hour bus ride was more comfortable than I had anticipated. There were plenty of room for the legs and the seats could be tilted back to an almost horizontal position. We brought breakfast and snacks. The first hour of the trip is through the Rwandan mountains to the border where the quality of the road is very good but it is nothing for people who get carsick. I do sometimes but had taken a pill before we left. Not everyone was that well prepared however. The lady sitting in front of us puked all over her fellow passengers. Not a dream situation at the start of a 10 hour journey. The first stop was at the border. Crossing the border requires a whole lot of queuing, since you first have to get an exit stamp at the Rwandan side and then an entry stamp or a visa at the Ugandan side, depending on your nationality. Swedes need to have a visa which costs 50 dollars. One very annoying thing about Rwanda is that queuing works rather differently here. People queue up in perfect lines, no problem, but the principle does not apply to everyone. Ordinary people have to wait in line, the elite just walk right past everyone to the front of the line. The people with a lower social status don’t dare to object and the elite think that they are entitled. It makes me so mad to see people behaving like that.
The rest of the trip was less comfortable. Ugandan roads are in much worse condition and there are speed bumps and huge potholes everywhere. It is mixed tarmac and dirt roads which also makes it a very dusty ride. We noticed that it was Genocide Memorial Day by the behavior of one man on the bus. He was obviously a survivor and seemed to be going through some sort of trauma. He was sitting right next to us and cried and singed as if in a trance all the way to Kampala. Another man joined him for moral support. It was very sad and also quite painful since none of them could sing at all. Despite of this we arrived well in Kampala. Our hotel was very central and quite cheap. Unfortunately, since we arrived one day late, they did not keep our reservation. Surprise surprise! Since it was already late and there was no other hotel close by we had nothing to do but take the only other room available, the most expensive one of course!
Thursday
I left early in the morning to go to Jinja. I left most of my things in the room and only took what I needed for the day with me. My friend stayed in Kampala over the day. First I got a bodaboda (that’s the Ugandan version of the moto) to another hotel where a free bus picked people up who were going to Jinja. My driver of course lied and told me he knew where we were going when he didn’t. In the end we got there after stopping three times on the way to ask for directions. I was already completely filthy since I had put sunscreen on before leaving the hotel and now all the dust from the roads had stuck to me. The bus came and picked us up and the drive to Jinja was about 1,5 hours. I was booked in for horseback riding only since our reservations for rafting had been for the day before. We were all driven to the rafting place and then I had to take a bodaboda to the riding. At least this driver knew where he was going. Jinja is the second largest city in Uganda, but as is the case with most towns in this part of Africa, it felt like a tiny village.
The horseback safari was incredible! It was three hours and it was only me and the guide that day so I had a chance to ask all sorts of stupid and peculiar questions about the surroundings and the wildlife. My guide was a young Kenyan guy who had worked there for less than a year and told me he thought I should have many children. If I start right away I have time to have quite many if I follow the schedule of giving birth to a new one every other year! Anyway we had a good time and he taught me a lot about termites, which we have lot of in our garden. The view was magnificent! We stopped at the highest hill looking over Bujugali Falls which are the first falls and rapids of the Nile, just a few hundred meters from the source of Lake Victoria. The scenery in Uganda is very beautiful and quite different from Rwanda. There are not people everywhere and all the land is not used for farming. There are actually wooded areas and plains and there was a great sense of freedom galloping around in this landscape! Having said that, it was also hard work, the heat was intense and well I have not been on a horseback in five years so I was just not in shape for it. Riding require a lot of leg muscles. It took me a week to recover from these three hours with blisters on my butt and calves and terrible muscle pain in my legs and back. I was definitely worth it though!
After my riding I had several hours to kill before the bus would take me back to Kampala. My bodaboda driver had been waiting for me during my three hour ride and I told him to drive me to Bujugali falls. I had a very nice afternoon there looking at the falls and having a bite to eat while enjoying the spectacular view. I was very tired after my demanding ride and getting up early that morning and was happy when the bus came to take us back to Kampala. Finally there I discovered that my friend had managed to get us a cheaper room and had moved all our stuff over to our new one. The problem was that I had not packed my things before I left for Jinja so she had had to pack for me without knowing really where all my stuff was. This was the start of my passport troubles.
Friday
Today was a bad day. I discovered that some things that I had put in a very secret place in the room were left there when we moved. It was my passport and a small sum of money. My friend cold not have known where I had put these things and as soon as I found out they were missing I asked the staff of the hotel if we could go back to the old room and get it. Unfortunately, the room had already been cleaned and there was new guests staying there at the moment. The cleaning staff said they had not found any of my things and we were also able to go back and look for ourselves but found nothing. I searched my bags over and over again and my passport was just not there. We decided there was not much more we could do for the moment and since it was a very hot day, we decide to take the bus to Entebbe to get out of Kampala.
We had a wonderful day at the shore of Lake Victoria, Entebbe is right at the equator. We sat at a beach bar all day and enjoyed some of the best food I’ve had since I came to Africa. The breeze from the lake was wonderful, a nice contrast to boiling hot Kampala. Entebbe is most famous for its airport and there’s not much to see there really. It’s a small town with some expensive hotels lining the lake and a very beautiful view. For us it was heaven compared to Kampala! Getting back to the hotel we found out the there were no news regarding my passport and I went and talked to the manager. He was a very sweet old man who had once been in Sweden for a conference and therefore had a soft spot for Swedes. He was sad to hear about my passport being missing and promised to investigate it as best as he could. I was hoping that a bit of pressure from him would make the passport turn up eventually.
This is a very interesting phenomenon that we observed in Entebbe. It's a rainbow that circles the sun! Don't know if it has something to do with the equator?
Saturday
The time for going home was coming closer and I still did not have my passport. My friends were leaving on the night bus to Kigali and I had only the day to find my passport or I would have to stay on alone. We had rushed to the Swedish embassy the day before to get there before the weekend but found out they only handle consular issues on Tuesdays-Thursdays. That meant I had to wait until Tuesday to get a new passport at the embassy. I still had not given up hope that it would turn up at the hotel somehow. We couldn’t do much more than wait anyway so we decided to go to a nearby shopping mall and have a nice lunch. We ended up staying there for the rest of the day getting manicures and pedicures. It was lovely!
In the evening the others got on the bus and I had to stay since the passport was still missing. The hotel manager was kind enough to give me a nice room to stay in for free until I was able to leave the country.
Sunday
The muscle pain from the horseback riding was at its worst so I went for a nice massage in the morning. It was lovely and really did wonders for my back! The next item on the agenda was a visit to the central police station to report my passport missing which was necessary if I wanted a new one from the embassy. I had been in contact with the office in Kigali, who had talked to the colleagues at the embassy in Kampala and managed to get me in already on Monday. The visit to the police was interesting. They were very nice to me and everything was done according to the book. I had been warned about the corruption in Uganda so I was surprised they didn’t try to charge me for writing my report. It took quite a long time though. I didn’t do much more than rest for the remainder of the day. It was so hot and sweaty in Kampala I didn’t have any energy at all.
Monday
Finally I could go to the embassy to get my passport! I was told to come at 2 in the afternoon and first I had to get some passport photos and withdraw some money at the bank. I didn’t know what it all would cost but was hoping that it couldn’t be more than 100 dollars. At the bank I found out that you have to pay 25 dollars in charges for every withdrawal, regardless of the amount. Bad news for me who only had 250 dollars on my account, making me pay 10% of the amount in charges. There was nothing to do I had to get the money!
At 2 I was at the embassy with my police report, photos and money hoping I could take the night bus back to Kigali the same day. There were some complications but I did make it in the end. First I found out that the emergency passport that I needed to get was as much as 200 dollars, I was utterly chocked! I also found out that it was a good idea to apply for a new permanent passport while I was here since it is not possible to get one in Kigali. This costs another 150 dollars, money which I did not have at the time. So I started by getting my emergency passport and filled in the application for the new permanent one. I then had to get to an internet café to transfer more money to my account so I could go to the bank and pay another 25 dollars in charges to withdraw enough money to pay for the second passport. The total cost for losing my passport was therefore 400 dollars! In addition, I also need to go back to Uganda to pick up the new passport when it’s ready, since they don’t send it and you have to pick it up in person. That means even more expenses further on. What a day! With my emergency passport in my bag I went straight to buy my bus ticket hoping there were still seats left for the night bus. I was lucky, there was! Finally I could go home.
I had met some very nice and friendly Ugandans earlier during the day who very were sad to hear about my troubles. They offered to drive me to the bus station and stayed there for a whole hour waiting for the bus with me! I was very excited about getting back home. The bus ride was ok and I actually met a lot of nice people. When you’re the only white person in sight you’re quite popular it turns out. It must have been an amusing sight to see all the others on the bus that was shivering in the cool night air and then me next to them who really enjoyed the comfortable temperature after the heat of Kampala. They were wearing thick jackets and scarves, and hats and all that and I had a skirt and a top on! We were back in Kigali at eight in the morning and I shared a taxi home with some of my new found friends. It was great to be back in beautiful and clean Kigali!
I guess I should add that a few days after I got back they called from the hotel in Kampala and told me that they've found my passport! How frustrating since that does not change anything. It's too late. The old passport has been cancelled and I still have to go back and pick up the new one. I just wasted 400 dollars that I don't really have. They told me that they found the passport in my old room, but I don't believe that. We searched that room several times and it was just not there. My theory is that somebody took the passport and the money and when the police came by and made inquiries he/she got scared and put it back in the room so that someone would find it. That way it would not be stealing and nobody would get in trouble. I will call them back and ask more questions. They also found my money which is a nice surprise. Maybe it's possible to get some money back on my insurance...
This is the lovely dog that we took care of. How can anybody be afraid of this little cute thing?
These birds can be found here and there. Some sort of crane I think.
Country side outside Jinja in Uganda
Wednesday
The second try at the bus was more successful. We left Kigali at 5.45 on Wednesday the 7th, Genocide Memorial Day. I have to say that the 10 hour bus ride was more comfortable than I had anticipated. There were plenty of room for the legs and the seats could be tilted back to an almost horizontal position. We brought breakfast and snacks. The first hour of the trip is through the Rwandan mountains to the border where the quality of the road is very good but it is nothing for people who get carsick. I do sometimes but had taken a pill before we left. Not everyone was that well prepared however. The lady sitting in front of us puked all over her fellow passengers. Not a dream situation at the start of a 10 hour journey. The first stop was at the border. Crossing the border requires a whole lot of queuing, since you first have to get an exit stamp at the Rwandan side and then an entry stamp or a visa at the Ugandan side, depending on your nationality. Swedes need to have a visa which costs 50 dollars. One very annoying thing about Rwanda is that queuing works rather differently here. People queue up in perfect lines, no problem, but the principle does not apply to everyone. Ordinary people have to wait in line, the elite just walk right past everyone to the front of the line. The people with a lower social status don’t dare to object and the elite think that they are entitled. It makes me so mad to see people behaving like that.
The rest of the trip was less comfortable. Ugandan roads are in much worse condition and there are speed bumps and huge potholes everywhere. It is mixed tarmac and dirt roads which also makes it a very dusty ride. We noticed that it was Genocide Memorial Day by the behavior of one man on the bus. He was obviously a survivor and seemed to be going through some sort of trauma. He was sitting right next to us and cried and singed as if in a trance all the way to Kampala. Another man joined him for moral support. It was very sad and also quite painful since none of them could sing at all. Despite of this we arrived well in Kampala. Our hotel was very central and quite cheap. Unfortunately, since we arrived one day late, they did not keep our reservation. Surprise surprise! Since it was already late and there was no other hotel close by we had nothing to do but take the only other room available, the most expensive one of course!
Thursday
I left early in the morning to go to Jinja. I left most of my things in the room and only took what I needed for the day with me. My friend stayed in Kampala over the day. First I got a bodaboda (that’s the Ugandan version of the moto) to another hotel where a free bus picked people up who were going to Jinja. My driver of course lied and told me he knew where we were going when he didn’t. In the end we got there after stopping three times on the way to ask for directions. I was already completely filthy since I had put sunscreen on before leaving the hotel and now all the dust from the roads had stuck to me. The bus came and picked us up and the drive to Jinja was about 1,5 hours. I was booked in for horseback riding only since our reservations for rafting had been for the day before. We were all driven to the rafting place and then I had to take a bodaboda to the riding. At least this driver knew where he was going. Jinja is the second largest city in Uganda, but as is the case with most towns in this part of Africa, it felt like a tiny village.
The horseback safari was incredible! It was three hours and it was only me and the guide that day so I had a chance to ask all sorts of stupid and peculiar questions about the surroundings and the wildlife. My guide was a young Kenyan guy who had worked there for less than a year and told me he thought I should have many children. If I start right away I have time to have quite many if I follow the schedule of giving birth to a new one every other year! Anyway we had a good time and he taught me a lot about termites, which we have lot of in our garden. The view was magnificent! We stopped at the highest hill looking over Bujugali Falls which are the first falls and rapids of the Nile, just a few hundred meters from the source of Lake Victoria. The scenery in Uganda is very beautiful and quite different from Rwanda. There are not people everywhere and all the land is not used for farming. There are actually wooded areas and plains and there was a great sense of freedom galloping around in this landscape! Having said that, it was also hard work, the heat was intense and well I have not been on a horseback in five years so I was just not in shape for it. Riding require a lot of leg muscles. It took me a week to recover from these three hours with blisters on my butt and calves and terrible muscle pain in my legs and back. I was definitely worth it though!
After my riding I had several hours to kill before the bus would take me back to Kampala. My bodaboda driver had been waiting for me during my three hour ride and I told him to drive me to Bujugali falls. I had a very nice afternoon there looking at the falls and having a bite to eat while enjoying the spectacular view. I was very tired after my demanding ride and getting up early that morning and was happy when the bus came to take us back to Kampala. Finally there I discovered that my friend had managed to get us a cheaper room and had moved all our stuff over to our new one. The problem was that I had not packed my things before I left for Jinja so she had had to pack for me without knowing really where all my stuff was. This was the start of my passport troubles.
Friday
Today was a bad day. I discovered that some things that I had put in a very secret place in the room were left there when we moved. It was my passport and a small sum of money. My friend cold not have known where I had put these things and as soon as I found out they were missing I asked the staff of the hotel if we could go back to the old room and get it. Unfortunately, the room had already been cleaned and there was new guests staying there at the moment. The cleaning staff said they had not found any of my things and we were also able to go back and look for ourselves but found nothing. I searched my bags over and over again and my passport was just not there. We decided there was not much more we could do for the moment and since it was a very hot day, we decide to take the bus to Entebbe to get out of Kampala.
We had a wonderful day at the shore of Lake Victoria, Entebbe is right at the equator. We sat at a beach bar all day and enjoyed some of the best food I’ve had since I came to Africa. The breeze from the lake was wonderful, a nice contrast to boiling hot Kampala. Entebbe is most famous for its airport and there’s not much to see there really. It’s a small town with some expensive hotels lining the lake and a very beautiful view. For us it was heaven compared to Kampala! Getting back to the hotel we found out the there were no news regarding my passport and I went and talked to the manager. He was a very sweet old man who had once been in Sweden for a conference and therefore had a soft spot for Swedes. He was sad to hear about my passport being missing and promised to investigate it as best as he could. I was hoping that a bit of pressure from him would make the passport turn up eventually.
This is a very interesting phenomenon that we observed in Entebbe. It's a rainbow that circles the sun! Don't know if it has something to do with the equator?
Saturday
The time for going home was coming closer and I still did not have my passport. My friends were leaving on the night bus to Kigali and I had only the day to find my passport or I would have to stay on alone. We had rushed to the Swedish embassy the day before to get there before the weekend but found out they only handle consular issues on Tuesdays-Thursdays. That meant I had to wait until Tuesday to get a new passport at the embassy. I still had not given up hope that it would turn up at the hotel somehow. We couldn’t do much more than wait anyway so we decided to go to a nearby shopping mall and have a nice lunch. We ended up staying there for the rest of the day getting manicures and pedicures. It was lovely!
In the evening the others got on the bus and I had to stay since the passport was still missing. The hotel manager was kind enough to give me a nice room to stay in for free until I was able to leave the country.
Sunday
The muscle pain from the horseback riding was at its worst so I went for a nice massage in the morning. It was lovely and really did wonders for my back! The next item on the agenda was a visit to the central police station to report my passport missing which was necessary if I wanted a new one from the embassy. I had been in contact with the office in Kigali, who had talked to the colleagues at the embassy in Kampala and managed to get me in already on Monday. The visit to the police was interesting. They were very nice to me and everything was done according to the book. I had been warned about the corruption in Uganda so I was surprised they didn’t try to charge me for writing my report. It took quite a long time though. I didn’t do much more than rest for the remainder of the day. It was so hot and sweaty in Kampala I didn’t have any energy at all.
Monday
Finally I could go to the embassy to get my passport! I was told to come at 2 in the afternoon and first I had to get some passport photos and withdraw some money at the bank. I didn’t know what it all would cost but was hoping that it couldn’t be more than 100 dollars. At the bank I found out that you have to pay 25 dollars in charges for every withdrawal, regardless of the amount. Bad news for me who only had 250 dollars on my account, making me pay 10% of the amount in charges. There was nothing to do I had to get the money!
At 2 I was at the embassy with my police report, photos and money hoping I could take the night bus back to Kigali the same day. There were some complications but I did make it in the end. First I found out that the emergency passport that I needed to get was as much as 200 dollars, I was utterly chocked! I also found out that it was a good idea to apply for a new permanent passport while I was here since it is not possible to get one in Kigali. This costs another 150 dollars, money which I did not have at the time. So I started by getting my emergency passport and filled in the application for the new permanent one. I then had to get to an internet café to transfer more money to my account so I could go to the bank and pay another 25 dollars in charges to withdraw enough money to pay for the second passport. The total cost for losing my passport was therefore 400 dollars! In addition, I also need to go back to Uganda to pick up the new passport when it’s ready, since they don’t send it and you have to pick it up in person. That means even more expenses further on. What a day! With my emergency passport in my bag I went straight to buy my bus ticket hoping there were still seats left for the night bus. I was lucky, there was! Finally I could go home.
I had met some very nice and friendly Ugandans earlier during the day who very were sad to hear about my troubles. They offered to drive me to the bus station and stayed there for a whole hour waiting for the bus with me! I was very excited about getting back home. The bus ride was ok and I actually met a lot of nice people. When you’re the only white person in sight you’re quite popular it turns out. It must have been an amusing sight to see all the others on the bus that was shivering in the cool night air and then me next to them who really enjoyed the comfortable temperature after the heat of Kampala. They were wearing thick jackets and scarves, and hats and all that and I had a skirt and a top on! We were back in Kigali at eight in the morning and I shared a taxi home with some of my new found friends. It was great to be back in beautiful and clean Kigali!
I guess I should add that a few days after I got back they called from the hotel in Kampala and told me that they've found my passport! How frustrating since that does not change anything. It's too late. The old passport has been cancelled and I still have to go back and pick up the new one. I just wasted 400 dollars that I don't really have. They told me that they found the passport in my old room, but I don't believe that. We searched that room several times and it was just not there. My theory is that somebody took the passport and the money and when the police came by and made inquiries he/she got scared and put it back in the room so that someone would find it. That way it would not be stealing and nobody would get in trouble. I will call them back and ask more questions. They also found my money which is a nice surprise. Maybe it's possible to get some money back on my insurance...
This is the lovely dog that we took care of. How can anybody be afraid of this little cute thing?
These birds can be found here and there. Some sort of crane I think.
Country side outside Jinja in Uganda
söndag 4 april 2010
Sunday 4 April – Trip to Uganda
On Tuesday I will go to Uganda for the rest of the week on a little holiday. I will take the bus to Kampala first and then go to Jinja, a town on the shore of Lake Victoria, where one can do all kinds of fun stuff. They have white water rafting (very popular), horseback riding, hiking, mountain climbing, bungee jumping and much more. I’m only going to be there for two days and will do the rafting and the horseback riding. Everyone who has done the rafting say they’ve never been so scared before and that the rapids are very powerful. I’m looking forward to an exhilarating experience! Kampala is also exciting. It’s a big city where you can find a lot of things you can’t find in Kigali. The prices are much lower, the restaurants are good, you can shop all kinds of things that you can’t find here, like nice clothes for instance. Also the nightlife and cultural supply is much more developed. In short it’s a nice change from Kigali that feels quite small when you’ve been here for a while.
The bus to Kampala takes 10 hours and it’s not a pleasant ride. The road serpentines through the mountains and the roads on the Ugandan side are quite bad. There is also the border-crossing which will take time when you are a whole busload of people buying visas and queuing up to get a stamp in the passport. It’s relatively expensive as well, 50 dollars for a visa. I wonder if it’s less expensive for me now that I have a Rwandan visa which makes me a resident… I will have to find that out. Anyway I don’t really look forward to the bus ride but I guess sometimes good things come to those who are willing to put up with bad things to get there, or something like that! I'm a little bit worried about the weather as well. We are now in the most intense part of the rainy season and the last week have been very wet. I do hope that it will be better next week. I guess it does not matter if it's raining when you're rafting and actually most things can be done despite the rain. There might be a risk of getting stuck somewhere if the roads get to wet and muddy though. I don't know, there's nothing to do but hope for the best.
The bus to Kampala takes 10 hours and it’s not a pleasant ride. The road serpentines through the mountains and the roads on the Ugandan side are quite bad. There is also the border-crossing which will take time when you are a whole busload of people buying visas and queuing up to get a stamp in the passport. It’s relatively expensive as well, 50 dollars for a visa. I wonder if it’s less expensive for me now that I have a Rwandan visa which makes me a resident… I will have to find that out. Anyway I don’t really look forward to the bus ride but I guess sometimes good things come to those who are willing to put up with bad things to get there, or something like that! I'm a little bit worried about the weather as well. We are now in the most intense part of the rainy season and the last week have been very wet. I do hope that it will be better next week. I guess it does not matter if it's raining when you're rafting and actually most things can be done despite the rain. There might be a risk of getting stuck somewhere if the roads get to wet and muddy though. I don't know, there's nothing to do but hope for the best.
lördag 3 april 2010
Saturday 3 April – Easter
Sorry I have been neglecting my blog lately. Dog-sitting is quite hard work it turns out which gives me little time left to write. Am also busy arranging my trip to Uganda next week which is taking much more time than expected. Celebrating Easter in Rwanda is not very exciting. People go to church and that’s it so there’s not much holiday spirit or celebration anywhere. We had an Easter dinner at a colleague’s yesterday with some Swedish food such as meatballs, herring and Kalles kaviar but that was all the celebrating I will be doing this year.
Something I find odd is that Rwandans don’t have Monday off work next week. This is a very religious country and most people are Catholics so they should really think Easter is important. Since this is supposed to be the time when Jesus was first crucified and then rose from the dead it should be a big deal, don’t you think? If you decide that long Friday when, according to the bible, Jesus was crucified is a national holiday, how can you not make Easter Monday, when he rose a national holiday has well? That would mean that you celebrate the death of Jesus but not the resurrection. The fact that he rose again is supposed to be some sort of proof of his holiness, right? Anyway I don’t get it but as was pointed out to me last night, there is no reason or logic in religion.
Next week, on the 7th of April, is Genocide Memorial Day in Rwanda. As you can imagine this is not a happy occasion and usually the whole month of April is rather depressing here. There will be a lot of official ceremonies and speeches during the week and a few seminars on the subject. I don’t know if I should be happy or sad to miss it. I will not be here since I’m going to Uganda for the whole week and in a way it feels nice not to have to stay here since it will be very quiet and slow. On the other hand this is something that is a part of Rwanda’s history and maybe experiencing this week of sadness is something one should do when living here. I don’t know. A lot of people are leaving and I guess there’s a reason for that. Hopefully the week will pass without violence or other problems. This is a high-risk time for that kind of thing since everybody in this country and abroad does not agree that the genocide is a very sad event to remember or grieve. I would not want to be in a big crowd at the stadium or elsewhere that day.
Something I find odd is that Rwandans don’t have Monday off work next week. This is a very religious country and most people are Catholics so they should really think Easter is important. Since this is supposed to be the time when Jesus was first crucified and then rose from the dead it should be a big deal, don’t you think? If you decide that long Friday when, according to the bible, Jesus was crucified is a national holiday, how can you not make Easter Monday, when he rose a national holiday has well? That would mean that you celebrate the death of Jesus but not the resurrection. The fact that he rose again is supposed to be some sort of proof of his holiness, right? Anyway I don’t get it but as was pointed out to me last night, there is no reason or logic in religion.
Next week, on the 7th of April, is Genocide Memorial Day in Rwanda. As you can imagine this is not a happy occasion and usually the whole month of April is rather depressing here. There will be a lot of official ceremonies and speeches during the week and a few seminars on the subject. I don’t know if I should be happy or sad to miss it. I will not be here since I’m going to Uganda for the whole week and in a way it feels nice not to have to stay here since it will be very quiet and slow. On the other hand this is something that is a part of Rwanda’s history and maybe experiencing this week of sadness is something one should do when living here. I don’t know. A lot of people are leaving and I guess there’s a reason for that. Hopefully the week will pass without violence or other problems. This is a high-risk time for that kind of thing since everybody in this country and abroad does not agree that the genocide is a very sad event to remember or grieve. I would not want to be in a big crowd at the stadium or elsewhere that day.
lördag 27 mars 2010
Saturday 27 March – Hundvakt
Ska vara hundvakt 10 dagar framöver. Det är min handledare som ska iväg på semester och har bett mig och mina sambos att ta hand om hennes hund. Hon heter Keli och är en stor labrador som är väldigt snäll och social. Hon har även ganska mycket vaktinstinkt så hon ser till att skydda oss också! Så fort det går förbi någon utanför på gatan börjar hon morra och skälla. Var ute och gick med henne första gången igår och hon är verkligen en trevlig hund som är lätt att ha att göra med.
Problemet är bara att folk här är livrädda för hundar. Speciellt stora hundar så för dom är Keli verkligen skrämmande. När vi var ute och gick i området bytte i princip alla jag mötte på trottoaren till andra sidan gatan eller gick en stor omväg när de såg mig. Det är rätt ovanligt med hundar som husdjur här så det blev rätt stor uppståndelse när vi kom gående. Keli skötte sig exemplariskt och såg jättesnäll ut men det hjälpte inte mycket. Nästan tillbaka vid vårt hus mötte jag en mamma med tre barn. Ett av barnen började gråta direkt när hon såg Keli och sen när jag närmade mig började de allihop springa för de var så rädda. Jag ska väl tillägga att jag självklart hade Keli kopplad när jag var ute och gick. Ändå blev de så rädda att de sprang därifrån så fort de kunde. Det var en mamma med ett litet spädbarn på ryggen och två lite äldre barn. Eftersom jag inte pratar kinyarwanda så kan jag inte kommunicera med folk och förklara att hon är en jättesnäll hund. Vi var lite oroliga över hur det skulle gå med vakterna och hushållerskan men det verkar fungera bra. Keli blev direkt förtjust i hushållerskan Clothilde. Jag är rätt övertygad om att Keli är den bästa inbrottsförsäkringen man kan få här. Inte nog med att hon är stor, hon vaktar väldigt bra också! Om folk blir så rädda av att se henne kopplad ute på promenad så borde de inte vilja komma i närheten av vårt hus när Keli är på vakthumör. Som en liten bonus blir man även av med alla ödlor som bor i trädgården eftersom hon jagar dom och sedan äter upp dom. Tyvärr kommer vi nog bli av med alla fina fåglar också...
Problemet är bara att folk här är livrädda för hundar. Speciellt stora hundar så för dom är Keli verkligen skrämmande. När vi var ute och gick i området bytte i princip alla jag mötte på trottoaren till andra sidan gatan eller gick en stor omväg när de såg mig. Det är rätt ovanligt med hundar som husdjur här så det blev rätt stor uppståndelse när vi kom gående. Keli skötte sig exemplariskt och såg jättesnäll ut men det hjälpte inte mycket. Nästan tillbaka vid vårt hus mötte jag en mamma med tre barn. Ett av barnen började gråta direkt när hon såg Keli och sen när jag närmade mig började de allihop springa för de var så rädda. Jag ska väl tillägga att jag självklart hade Keli kopplad när jag var ute och gick. Ändå blev de så rädda att de sprang därifrån så fort de kunde. Det var en mamma med ett litet spädbarn på ryggen och två lite äldre barn. Eftersom jag inte pratar kinyarwanda så kan jag inte kommunicera med folk och förklara att hon är en jättesnäll hund. Vi var lite oroliga över hur det skulle gå med vakterna och hushållerskan men det verkar fungera bra. Keli blev direkt förtjust i hushållerskan Clothilde. Jag är rätt övertygad om att Keli är den bästa inbrottsförsäkringen man kan få här. Inte nog med att hon är stor, hon vaktar väldigt bra också! Om folk blir så rädda av att se henne kopplad ute på promenad så borde de inte vilja komma i närheten av vårt hus när Keli är på vakthumör. Som en liten bonus blir man även av med alla ödlor som bor i trädgården eftersom hon jagar dom och sedan äter upp dom. Tyvärr kommer vi nog bli av med alla fina fåglar också...
söndag 21 mars 2010
17-19 March - Planning days in Kibuye
The office has annual planning days when all the staff go away somewhere to discuss the coming year and other important issues. This year we went to Kibuye at Lake Kivu for three days. The schedule was packed and we were all pretty tired when we got back. Lake Kivu is in western Rwanda on the border with DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). The eastern province of North Kivu in DRC is the area where there has been the most active and prolonged conflict and last year was very bad. This is nothing you notice really on the Rwandan side of Lake Kivu so it’s a very safe area to be in.
The lake itself is also very interesting. Since it is situated in a volcanic area there are some special circumstances. Deep underneath the lake is a huge pocket of methane gas which leaks out into the lake and kills most of the life in it. This gives the water a beautiful green/turquoise colour and makes it very clear but on the other hand it poses a great danger for the people who live in the area around the lake. There is a constant risk that there will be a bigger leakage of gas that could form a big cloud and kill all the people in the area. This could happen either spontaneously or as a result of one of the frequent earthquakes in the region. The reason they know about the gas is that they started examining many of the lakes in Africa after a very unfortunate incident in Cameroon, where several thousand people died after a similar leakage from a lake. They found that Lake Kivu is one of the areas where there’s a risk that the same thing could happen again but on a much larger scale since there is more people living in the area and the lake is much bigger. The lake is also very deep and is one of the world’s biggest fresh water reservoirs. The scenery is beautiful with the volcanic mountains surrounding it.
The actual planning days were good and productive. We discussed a lot of issues for the coming year and analysed some of the developments during the former. One thing we have to handle in some way is what the Rwandan government calls Division of Labour. The government here is a very interesting development partner since they have a big ownership and are very much driven to achieve progress for their country. This is exactly according to the Paris Agenda (international guidelines for development cooperation) where it is said that the receiving government should own the process and that the aid should be channelled through the country’s own systems and the work should be led by the receiving country and not the donor agencies. Therefore they should tell us what they want and how they want it and the donors should supply it if they think it’s reasonable. The Rwandan government have now developed a division of labour framework for the donors, in an effort to decrease the transaction costs of having many donors active in the country.
They made the suggestion that all donors should only be able to be active in three different sectors (sectors which they have defined themselves) and thereby concentrate their funds and efforts on fewer areas and projects but hopefully with better results. This way we would all complement each other and not duplicate our projects at the same time as it is easier for the government to keep track of who does what and there would be less meetings and representation that takes up a lot of the government’s time and money. As it is now, even though the different donors started the process of adhering to the Paris Agenda and harmonising our efforts we still do a lot of the same things and work with a lot of different projects without a clear focus. The challenge for Sida is that we also have the Swedish government’s agenda to follow. Our government have its own opinion of what they want Sida to work with in Rwanda, which does not necessarily coincide with the sectors that the Rwandan government has suggested we be active in.
One of the days we also had RBM training (Results Based Management), something that has been increasingly popular the last couple of years. RBM is not very complicated really. The principles behind it stipulates that all projects should be designed with the results in mind and that results are all that matters, making activities totally superfluous if they don’t lead to the intended results. Thereby it’s very important that you have clear goals formulated when you design a project and that you develop clear results indicators to be able to measure if you’ve reached the intended goals. Not very complicated in theory, much harder to do in practice! Not everything is easy to measure, or even possible to measure, and some activities might actually have a value in themselves even though they might not achieve the results intended. However it is necessary to consider the feasibility and effectiveness as well as efficiency of the projects and programs when it comes to development so that you don’t waste money on projects that does not yield results.
Something has to be said about the hotel we stayed at as well. It was called Holiday Hotel and was a default choice really. We had already booked another hotel when, less than a week before the trip, they called and cancelled our reservation and Holiday Hotel was the only one that could offer 20 rooms on such short notice. Unfortunately it was quite bad. They did not have mosquito nets in any of the rooms and in some of the rooms either the water did not work or there was only cold water. The food was not very good and always delayed causing delays in our very packed schedule. The beds were huge but incredibly uncomfortable and the rooms were quite expensive despite all these flaws.
The lake itself is also very interesting. Since it is situated in a volcanic area there are some special circumstances. Deep underneath the lake is a huge pocket of methane gas which leaks out into the lake and kills most of the life in it. This gives the water a beautiful green/turquoise colour and makes it very clear but on the other hand it poses a great danger for the people who live in the area around the lake. There is a constant risk that there will be a bigger leakage of gas that could form a big cloud and kill all the people in the area. This could happen either spontaneously or as a result of one of the frequent earthquakes in the region. The reason they know about the gas is that they started examining many of the lakes in Africa after a very unfortunate incident in Cameroon, where several thousand people died after a similar leakage from a lake. They found that Lake Kivu is one of the areas where there’s a risk that the same thing could happen again but on a much larger scale since there is more people living in the area and the lake is much bigger. The lake is also very deep and is one of the world’s biggest fresh water reservoirs. The scenery is beautiful with the volcanic mountains surrounding it.
The actual planning days were good and productive. We discussed a lot of issues for the coming year and analysed some of the developments during the former. One thing we have to handle in some way is what the Rwandan government calls Division of Labour. The government here is a very interesting development partner since they have a big ownership and are very much driven to achieve progress for their country. This is exactly according to the Paris Agenda (international guidelines for development cooperation) where it is said that the receiving government should own the process and that the aid should be channelled through the country’s own systems and the work should be led by the receiving country and not the donor agencies. Therefore they should tell us what they want and how they want it and the donors should supply it if they think it’s reasonable. The Rwandan government have now developed a division of labour framework for the donors, in an effort to decrease the transaction costs of having many donors active in the country.
They made the suggestion that all donors should only be able to be active in three different sectors (sectors which they have defined themselves) and thereby concentrate their funds and efforts on fewer areas and projects but hopefully with better results. This way we would all complement each other and not duplicate our projects at the same time as it is easier for the government to keep track of who does what and there would be less meetings and representation that takes up a lot of the government’s time and money. As it is now, even though the different donors started the process of adhering to the Paris Agenda and harmonising our efforts we still do a lot of the same things and work with a lot of different projects without a clear focus. The challenge for Sida is that we also have the Swedish government’s agenda to follow. Our government have its own opinion of what they want Sida to work with in Rwanda, which does not necessarily coincide with the sectors that the Rwandan government has suggested we be active in.
One of the days we also had RBM training (Results Based Management), something that has been increasingly popular the last couple of years. RBM is not very complicated really. The principles behind it stipulates that all projects should be designed with the results in mind and that results are all that matters, making activities totally superfluous if they don’t lead to the intended results. Thereby it’s very important that you have clear goals formulated when you design a project and that you develop clear results indicators to be able to measure if you’ve reached the intended goals. Not very complicated in theory, much harder to do in practice! Not everything is easy to measure, or even possible to measure, and some activities might actually have a value in themselves even though they might not achieve the results intended. However it is necessary to consider the feasibility and effectiveness as well as efficiency of the projects and programs when it comes to development so that you don’t waste money on projects that does not yield results.
Something has to be said about the hotel we stayed at as well. It was called Holiday Hotel and was a default choice really. We had already booked another hotel when, less than a week before the trip, they called and cancelled our reservation and Holiday Hotel was the only one that could offer 20 rooms on such short notice. Unfortunately it was quite bad. They did not have mosquito nets in any of the rooms and in some of the rooms either the water did not work or there was only cold water. The food was not very good and always delayed causing delays in our very packed schedule. The beds were huge but incredibly uncomfortable and the rooms were quite expensive despite all these flaws.
Monday 15 March - Field visit to Kayonza
I feel I’ve neglected the blog this week. I have been very busy but I will try to retrace my steps and tell you about the most interesting things that happened. We had colleagues from Sida in Stockholm visiting and a very full schedule. On Monday we went on a field visit to Kayonza district to look at how some of our civil society partners are working. It was a long day and we made three stops that I will tell you about.
The first project we visited is actually located in Kigali, not far from where I live actually. It is called Village of Hope and is run by the Rwanda Women Network and started out as a refuge for women that were victims of rape but survived the genocide. Many of these women had contracted HIV/AIDS since it was a strategy during the genocide that the men carrying this decease would be the ones raping the women so as to inflict as much damage as possible. A small piece of land was donated by the government and the women could come here with their children. It later developed to a sort of women’s shelter for women who were victims of both gender-based violence and rape. Women and the older children who have dropped out of school are trained in order to develop skills that could generate an income.
This is some of the things the women and children in the village has produced.
They also make money from baking bread that they sell to some of the schools in the area.
The second project we visited is situated in Kayonza district about two hours east from Kigali. First we met with the district authorities who are cooperating with the NGO’s on the projects. It was more of a courtesy visit but it was interesting to see how engaged and helpful these authorities are. It makes a big difference! After this meeting we continued to a village where an organization called AJPRODHO (a youth organization that works for human rights) have started a micron credit project. It’s a way to empower poor people on the country side that does not have access to the financial system so that they can get a chance to improve their lives. They create small groups which have to be made up out of at least 70% women. It is a well known fact that women are much better at paying back their loans then men in poor countries. I’m not going to get in to the discussion about why but this is a pattern that has been observed everywhere where this kind of projects have been organised.
These groups then sit down together and decide on a constitution that will set the rules for their activities. The principle is that they all have to save a certain amount every week that is place in a communal fund and after four weeks a number of the members get to borrow money that they can decide to do whatever they want with. After five weeks they have to pay the loan back with interest as in any bank. This particular group had decided that the minimum contribution per week should be 100 RwF (a little more than 1 SEK) which constitutes one share. One could buy a maximum amount of 4 shares per week and the amount they were allowed to borrow depended on the amount they had contributed every week. All members had small books where their transactions were written down so there would be no confusion. They had a small cash box where they collected all the money which had three locks with three different people in possession of the keys and a fourth who keep the box. A small amount of the savings is also put in a different social security fund which is used to help the people in the village who have more urgent needs.
We had lunch on the shore of Lake Muhazi. Across the lake on the opposite shore President Kagame has built a house. The view was very pretty but we had to wait over an hour for our food which delayed us significantly!
The book where they register their transactions. One stamp represents one share. It is done like this to make sure that everybody understands even if they can't read.
The final project was perhaps the most interesting one. It is run by AJPRODHO and deals with the issue of gender-based violence. It is a sensitization campaign that aims at raising awareness and change people’s opinions on the subject. In Rwanda gender-based violence is the most common crime and it is widely accepted as normal. We attended a village meeting where representatives of the organisation led the discussion and people were able to stand up and share their views. The most striking thing is that the discussion did not look very different from what it does in Sweden for example. A bit frightening since the context is so different. The discussion centred a lot on gender equality and most of the arguments were very familiar. What bothers me is that Sweden, which is supposed to be one of the most equal countries in the world, is still discussing the same issues as they do in a small poor village in Rwanda, a country which is light years away from Sweden on any equality index. It illustrates some disturbing features of the Swedish society I think. Anyway it was a very interesting experience!
When we arrived we were welcomed by women dancing and singing.
The first project we visited is actually located in Kigali, not far from where I live actually. It is called Village of Hope and is run by the Rwanda Women Network and started out as a refuge for women that were victims of rape but survived the genocide. Many of these women had contracted HIV/AIDS since it was a strategy during the genocide that the men carrying this decease would be the ones raping the women so as to inflict as much damage as possible. A small piece of land was donated by the government and the women could come here with their children. It later developed to a sort of women’s shelter for women who were victims of both gender-based violence and rape. Women and the older children who have dropped out of school are trained in order to develop skills that could generate an income.
This is some of the things the women and children in the village has produced.
They also make money from baking bread that they sell to some of the schools in the area.
The second project we visited is situated in Kayonza district about two hours east from Kigali. First we met with the district authorities who are cooperating with the NGO’s on the projects. It was more of a courtesy visit but it was interesting to see how engaged and helpful these authorities are. It makes a big difference! After this meeting we continued to a village where an organization called AJPRODHO (a youth organization that works for human rights) have started a micron credit project. It’s a way to empower poor people on the country side that does not have access to the financial system so that they can get a chance to improve their lives. They create small groups which have to be made up out of at least 70% women. It is a well known fact that women are much better at paying back their loans then men in poor countries. I’m not going to get in to the discussion about why but this is a pattern that has been observed everywhere where this kind of projects have been organised.
These groups then sit down together and decide on a constitution that will set the rules for their activities. The principle is that they all have to save a certain amount every week that is place in a communal fund and after four weeks a number of the members get to borrow money that they can decide to do whatever they want with. After five weeks they have to pay the loan back with interest as in any bank. This particular group had decided that the minimum contribution per week should be 100 RwF (a little more than 1 SEK) which constitutes one share. One could buy a maximum amount of 4 shares per week and the amount they were allowed to borrow depended on the amount they had contributed every week. All members had small books where their transactions were written down so there would be no confusion. They had a small cash box where they collected all the money which had three locks with three different people in possession of the keys and a fourth who keep the box. A small amount of the savings is also put in a different social security fund which is used to help the people in the village who have more urgent needs.
We had lunch on the shore of Lake Muhazi. Across the lake on the opposite shore President Kagame has built a house. The view was very pretty but we had to wait over an hour for our food which delayed us significantly!
The book where they register their transactions. One stamp represents one share. It is done like this to make sure that everybody understands even if they can't read.
The final project was perhaps the most interesting one. It is run by AJPRODHO and deals with the issue of gender-based violence. It is a sensitization campaign that aims at raising awareness and change people’s opinions on the subject. In Rwanda gender-based violence is the most common crime and it is widely accepted as normal. We attended a village meeting where representatives of the organisation led the discussion and people were able to stand up and share their views. The most striking thing is that the discussion did not look very different from what it does in Sweden for example. A bit frightening since the context is so different. The discussion centred a lot on gender equality and most of the arguments were very familiar. What bothers me is that Sweden, which is supposed to be one of the most equal countries in the world, is still discussing the same issues as they do in a small poor village in Rwanda, a country which is light years away from Sweden on any equality index. It illustrates some disturbing features of the Swedish society I think. Anyway it was a very interesting experience!
When we arrived we were welcomed by women dancing and singing.
lördag 13 mars 2010
Friday 12 March - Field visit
Today I went on a field visit in the south of Rwanda. To be honest I don't remember the name of the place but it is situated about an hours drive straight south out of Kigali towards the border to Burundi. Here the country side is strikingly different from the northern and eastern parts of the country. The terrain is more flat and bushy, almost like semi-savanna and the area is not as densly populated. We were in luck because the weather was very good, sunny and warm.
When we arrived in the village we were shown a very interesting project. One of Sida's civil society partners is bringing cheap electricity to villages by installling solar panels and teaching the inhabitants in these villages how to use and maintain the equipment. Another organisation has built all the 110 houses in the village.
Four of the women were sent to India for 6 months to learn how to operate and maintain the equipment. These women have the responsibility of training women from other villages so that the knowledge can spread throughout Rwanda. These women also manage a fund where all the families in the village have to contribute 1000 RwF every month to pay for the maintenance of the equipment.
This woman showed us how it all works and what they do. The solar panels are on the roof of the houses and are connected to batteries which are charged with the electricity that is generated. Every house get two lamps to ligth up the house and one mobile lantern that can be brought along when going to the citchen or the outside lavatories. If charged for 12 hours the lantern will last for a whole week.
On this black-board were written down a guide for the work they do. I don't really know what the purpose is since none of the women could read or write... It is also a great achievement that they managed to learn all this is a foreign country without understanding the language!
The woman also really wanted to show us her house. This is in the bedroom where she now has electricity and can charge her mobile phone or listen to the radio. The houses are small but the standard is not bad. She also had a mosquito net which is a luxury for many people in this country.
This is the yard behind the house. The small house to the left is the citchen. It seems like the citchen is always situated in a separate building here. In the middle is the shelter for the cow. This woman is obviously quite well off.
After the visit in the village we went to two genocide memorial sites that were on the way back to Kigali. During the killings a lot of people sought refuge in the churches where they thought they would be protected either by the priests or by God himself maybe. Both of these memorials are churches where people had gathered but couldn't be protected. They were all slaughtered and these memorials serve as reminders of the atrocities mankind is capable of and to send the message: never again!
Church 1
In this church about 10 000 people gathered and hid for a whole week before the interahamwe attacked it with grenades and broke in. It's unbelievable to think that that many people managed to fit in this small space and I can only imagine how many people were already dead from starvation and diseases when the killers entrered the building. Layed out on the benches are the clothes from all these people that lost their lives here. Only five persons survived this massaker.
In the crypt of the church are some of the remains layed out together with personal belongings and the notorious identity cards people were forces to use. The first thing written on them underneath the picture is the racial belonging, either hutu, tutsi, twa or other. There is also a coffin containing the reamins of a woman that was brutally raped and then impaled in front of the terrified crowd of people next in line to die.
Outside the church are the mass graves where most of the people are burried. Here lies the reamins of more than 40 000 people from the surrounding area and the number increases every year as more remains are found. Every year on genocide memorial day (7 April) the remains found during the year are layed to rest here during a traditional ceremony. The color purple represents sorrow and white stands for hope.
Church 2
The second church is much smaller than the first. About 5000 people gathered here in this little space and only 10 persons survived. Here also the clothes of the people who died here have been hung in the ceiling and on the walls.
Unlike in the other church all the bones have been layed out on display inside the church and have not been burried in mass graves. It was not until 2007 that the clothes were separated from the remains and ordered in this manner. Most of the sculls have big wholes in them and the evidence of violence is present on most of the bones you see.
The walls are littered with wholes like this from grenade explosions. As well as in the other church this is how the killers managed to get into the church.
People brought food, cooking utensils and all they owned to the church showing that they had planned to hide out there for a longer period of time.
This banner reads: If you knew yourself and if you knew me, you would never have killed me.
When we arrived in the village we were shown a very interesting project. One of Sida's civil society partners is bringing cheap electricity to villages by installling solar panels and teaching the inhabitants in these villages how to use and maintain the equipment. Another organisation has built all the 110 houses in the village.
Four of the women were sent to India for 6 months to learn how to operate and maintain the equipment. These women have the responsibility of training women from other villages so that the knowledge can spread throughout Rwanda. These women also manage a fund where all the families in the village have to contribute 1000 RwF every month to pay for the maintenance of the equipment.
This woman showed us how it all works and what they do. The solar panels are on the roof of the houses and are connected to batteries which are charged with the electricity that is generated. Every house get two lamps to ligth up the house and one mobile lantern that can be brought along when going to the citchen or the outside lavatories. If charged for 12 hours the lantern will last for a whole week.
On this black-board were written down a guide for the work they do. I don't really know what the purpose is since none of the women could read or write... It is also a great achievement that they managed to learn all this is a foreign country without understanding the language!
The woman also really wanted to show us her house. This is in the bedroom where she now has electricity and can charge her mobile phone or listen to the radio. The houses are small but the standard is not bad. She also had a mosquito net which is a luxury for many people in this country.
This is the yard behind the house. The small house to the left is the citchen. It seems like the citchen is always situated in a separate building here. In the middle is the shelter for the cow. This woman is obviously quite well off.
After the visit in the village we went to two genocide memorial sites that were on the way back to Kigali. During the killings a lot of people sought refuge in the churches where they thought they would be protected either by the priests or by God himself maybe. Both of these memorials are churches where people had gathered but couldn't be protected. They were all slaughtered and these memorials serve as reminders of the atrocities mankind is capable of and to send the message: never again!
Church 1
In this church about 10 000 people gathered and hid for a whole week before the interahamwe attacked it with grenades and broke in. It's unbelievable to think that that many people managed to fit in this small space and I can only imagine how many people were already dead from starvation and diseases when the killers entrered the building. Layed out on the benches are the clothes from all these people that lost their lives here. Only five persons survived this massaker.
In the crypt of the church are some of the remains layed out together with personal belongings and the notorious identity cards people were forces to use. The first thing written on them underneath the picture is the racial belonging, either hutu, tutsi, twa or other. There is also a coffin containing the reamins of a woman that was brutally raped and then impaled in front of the terrified crowd of people next in line to die.
Outside the church are the mass graves where most of the people are burried. Here lies the reamins of more than 40 000 people from the surrounding area and the number increases every year as more remains are found. Every year on genocide memorial day (7 April) the remains found during the year are layed to rest here during a traditional ceremony. The color purple represents sorrow and white stands for hope.
Church 2
The second church is much smaller than the first. About 5000 people gathered here in this little space and only 10 persons survived. Here also the clothes of the people who died here have been hung in the ceiling and on the walls.
Unlike in the other church all the bones have been layed out on display inside the church and have not been burried in mass graves. It was not until 2007 that the clothes were separated from the remains and ordered in this manner. Most of the sculls have big wholes in them and the evidence of violence is present on most of the bones you see.
The walls are littered with wholes like this from grenade explosions. As well as in the other church this is how the killers managed to get into the church.
People brought food, cooking utensils and all they owned to the church showing that they had planned to hide out there for a longer period of time.
This banner reads: If you knew yourself and if you knew me, you would never have killed me.
onsdag 10 mars 2010
Wednesday 10 March – furniture
For the last three weeks I’ve been living in a room with only a bed and nothing else in it. I’m not the one to complain about such things but it’s starting to get old now. Last weekend I was out furniture hunting with a colleague from the office and my new house mate but we didn’t find anything. For me who is used to IKEA and minimalistic design the furniture here is a big disappointment. I have a small room so I need quite small furniture and everything here is so big and tasteless. I did not find anything that even fit in my room in any of the places we visited. I guess I will have to live without furniture for some time before I find something that works but it’s not too much fun having all my stuff on the floor. I do have a closet for my clothes but everything else is in a pile on the floor. Frustrating but I’ve heard patience is a virtue so I guess it might do me some good…
söndag 7 mars 2010
Sunday 7 march – Genocide memorial
Today I visited Kigali Memorial Centre which is a genocide museum in Kigali. It is also a memorial with mass graves of more than 200 000 people which has been brought there from all around Kigali for their final resting place. Inside the museum you get the whole story of the genocide including the history leading up to it, the actual event as well as the aftermath. It is all very tastefully done and comprehensive. You can also watch short video where genocide survivors tell their stories. In addition there are also the remains of some of the victims on display as well as the belonging found at the killing sites such as clothes and personal belongings. The reason why they show this is not only to make your stomach turn but also as evidence so that nobody can come and say that this never happened. There are also hundreds and hundreds of photographs of people who fell victim to the genocide so as to give a more personal picture of these gruesome events.
On the second floor of the museum they take on the subject of genocide in more general terms and tell the story of several other genocides that has occurred during the twentieth century. Here you can learn more about the killings in Cambodia, the holocaust, Bosnia, Namibia and the genocide on Armenians in Turkey. It is an experience that is quite hard to digest and there is so much information to take in that it is overwhelming. It does make you wonder how people can treat each other this way. In certain situations human life seem to be worth very little. Outside the museum they have planted a beautiful rose garden in memory of all the people that are laid to rest here. The spot of the museum is truly beautiful as well and you have a nice view of Kigali from there. You do need to have lots of time when you go there since there is a lot to take in and it feels almost respect less to the victims not to read and look at everything carefully.
Från ett ämne till ett annat är det en sak jag tänkt skriva om ganska länge men som aldrig blivit av. Det gäller det här med att pruta. Vi befinner oss ju i Afrika så att pruta hör ju till men det verkar inte direkt vara satt i system här. Det är lite svårt att förklara, man förväntas pruta på de flesta ställena men ibland verkar folk inte riktigt förstå vad det handlar om. Ibland när man åker taxi eller moto så drar de till med ett riktigt överpris när man frågar hur mycket det kostar att åka någonstans. Andra gånger ger de det ”rätta” priset direkt. Det händer även ibland när man börjar pruta att de ger ett lite högre pris och när man sedan kontrar med att erbjuda hälften så tar de det bara utan att ens försöka få en bättre deal. Man blir lite förvånad för om man varit i t.ex. Asien är man ju van vid att det kan vara en ganska lång process och att man hamnar någonstans mitt emellan i slutändan. Jag har även varit med om att de prutat ner sitt eget pris, t.ex. när man erbjuder dem ett pris så kommer de själva en lägre summa. Ja, det är inte lätt att förstå sig på alla gånger. Det finns ingen direkt förutsägbarhet i processen och ibland vill de inte pruta över huvud taget. Man lär sig ju efter ett tag vad saker och ting kostar men det är inte alltid de själva vet det vad det verkar. En rätt kul egenhet tycker jag. Det verkar nästan bero mer på vilken personlighet man stöter på än att det är en kulturell grej. Vissa orkar helt enkelt inte med att hålla på och pruta och ger dig sitt pris direkt.
On the second floor of the museum they take on the subject of genocide in more general terms and tell the story of several other genocides that has occurred during the twentieth century. Here you can learn more about the killings in Cambodia, the holocaust, Bosnia, Namibia and the genocide on Armenians in Turkey. It is an experience that is quite hard to digest and there is so much information to take in that it is overwhelming. It does make you wonder how people can treat each other this way. In certain situations human life seem to be worth very little. Outside the museum they have planted a beautiful rose garden in memory of all the people that are laid to rest here. The spot of the museum is truly beautiful as well and you have a nice view of Kigali from there. You do need to have lots of time when you go there since there is a lot to take in and it feels almost respect less to the victims not to read and look at everything carefully.
Från ett ämne till ett annat är det en sak jag tänkt skriva om ganska länge men som aldrig blivit av. Det gäller det här med att pruta. Vi befinner oss ju i Afrika så att pruta hör ju till men det verkar inte direkt vara satt i system här. Det är lite svårt att förklara, man förväntas pruta på de flesta ställena men ibland verkar folk inte riktigt förstå vad det handlar om. Ibland när man åker taxi eller moto så drar de till med ett riktigt överpris när man frågar hur mycket det kostar att åka någonstans. Andra gånger ger de det ”rätta” priset direkt. Det händer även ibland när man börjar pruta att de ger ett lite högre pris och när man sedan kontrar med att erbjuda hälften så tar de det bara utan att ens försöka få en bättre deal. Man blir lite förvånad för om man varit i t.ex. Asien är man ju van vid att det kan vara en ganska lång process och att man hamnar någonstans mitt emellan i slutändan. Jag har även varit med om att de prutat ner sitt eget pris, t.ex. när man erbjuder dem ett pris så kommer de själva en lägre summa. Ja, det är inte lätt att förstå sig på alla gånger. Det finns ingen direkt förutsägbarhet i processen och ibland vill de inte pruta över huvud taget. Man lär sig ju efter ett tag vad saker och ting kostar men det är inte alltid de själva vet det vad det verkar. En rätt kul egenhet tycker jag. Det verkar nästan bero mer på vilken personlighet man stöter på än att det är en kulturell grej. Vissa orkar helt enkelt inte med att hålla på och pruta och ger dig sitt pris direkt.
fredag 5 mars 2010
Friday 5 mars – life in Kigali
I’m now starting to feel like this is home. I am settled in my house, am starting to actually know what I’m doing at work and know my way around Kigali pretty well by now. The routines are also starting to be established. I work-out a couple of times a week, study some French when I get the time and go to quiz night on Mondays. It’s not much different from my life in Sweden since I don’t have any money and it rains quite often. Well maybe a little different. I think to myself sometimes when I walk through the tall grass by the lake that if I get bitten by a snake I will probably not survive, even though there’s a hospital 300m away. If it’s a mamba or a cobra it doesn’t matter. Luckily there doesn’t seem to be a lot of snakes in Kigali and they mostly come out at night. And well I wouldn’t like to get sick in this country at all actually. Not sick enough that I have to go to the hospital anyway. I’ve heard some horror stories so I better stay healthy and not getter sicker than my little home pharmacy can handle. Apart from that I guess there’s also the water situation. Water can be quite scarce here in the dry season, that’s normal but we are having water problems now, during the wet season, as well. Some days the pressure is not high enough to take a shower and when that happens you can only hope that you’re not just back from a jogging tour.
Now that I’ve talked some about the negative things about living here I guess I should mention some of the positive ones. First of all there’s the wonderful weather which is not too warm and never cold. It rains a lot this time of year but that just cools the temperature a bit and that is a good thing. Then there’s the food. You can find an amazing supply of fruits and vegetables! There never seems to be the wrong season for anything and they can actually get three harvests a year here. If you by locally produced foods there’s not at all as much chemicals and preservatives in them as there is at home and they taste much better. It feels so much healthier than the food at home even though there’s more sugar and fat in it. You just don’t eat as much since you get everything you need through a smaller quantity. Another positive thing is the stunning beauty of this country. Calling it “the land of a thousand hills” is really not an over statement! There are terrace fields all along the slopes of the hills where they grow all kind of crops like coffee, tea, bananas, corn, potatoes and cassava. There are so many nice things about this country it would take forever to list them here. I think I'll stop here for now...
Now that I’ve talked some about the negative things about living here I guess I should mention some of the positive ones. First of all there’s the wonderful weather which is not too warm and never cold. It rains a lot this time of year but that just cools the temperature a bit and that is a good thing. Then there’s the food. You can find an amazing supply of fruits and vegetables! There never seems to be the wrong season for anything and they can actually get three harvests a year here. If you by locally produced foods there’s not at all as much chemicals and preservatives in them as there is at home and they taste much better. It feels so much healthier than the food at home even though there’s more sugar and fat in it. You just don’t eat as much since you get everything you need through a smaller quantity. Another positive thing is the stunning beauty of this country. Calling it “the land of a thousand hills” is really not an over statement! There are terrace fields all along the slopes of the hills where they grow all kind of crops like coffee, tea, bananas, corn, potatoes and cassava. There are so many nice things about this country it would take forever to list them here. I think I'll stop here for now...
tisdag 2 mars 2010
pictures from field visit to Musanze
I just managed to get a hold of the pictures from the fieldvisit I went on last week and thought I'd share them with you.
When we arrived we were met by the whole village and the women danced and singed to welcome us! Very nice and typically African.
This woman lost 12 of her 13 children in the genocide and barely survived herself. You can actually see the pain and hardship she has been through in her face. She now lives in the reconciliation village with her only surviving child.
Some boys were playing football. This goes to show that children are the same everywhere, no matter under which conditions they live. Playing is what they live for! These kids are too poor to have a football but they make due with a ball made out of... eh what is that exactly? (Normally it's made out of banana leaves)
You are met by this stare almost everywhere you go and it's a very illustrative example of what is lacking in the Rwandan society, trust - interperonal trust. To me this look expresses distrust and suspicion. However, as soon as you start interacting with people it disappears.
This is what all the houses in the village looked like. The government have decided on a common standard that all the houses have to meet, with the result that they all now look basically the same. ALL the 137 houses in the village looked the same and were the same size. Notice also the color of the soil. It's all black vulcanic rock in this area. The soil is very fertile and this part of the country is the most productive but at the same time also the most densly populated, more than 1000 people per square km!!!
Inside the newly built and not yet completed trauma centre. Here we had to listen yet again to the compulsary and neverending speeches. And after that, we had to stand in a circle and pray of course. That's just a normal day in Rwanda...
The local police really wanted to show us the weapons they'd confiscated. A hand grenade anyone? This is not exactly what I call safe storage. They could easily expload for any number of reasons because of the rust and bad shape their in.
When we arrived we were met by the whole village and the women danced and singed to welcome us! Very nice and typically African.
This woman lost 12 of her 13 children in the genocide and barely survived herself. You can actually see the pain and hardship she has been through in her face. She now lives in the reconciliation village with her only surviving child.
Some boys were playing football. This goes to show that children are the same everywhere, no matter under which conditions they live. Playing is what they live for! These kids are too poor to have a football but they make due with a ball made out of... eh what is that exactly? (Normally it's made out of banana leaves)
You are met by this stare almost everywhere you go and it's a very illustrative example of what is lacking in the Rwandan society, trust - interperonal trust. To me this look expresses distrust and suspicion. However, as soon as you start interacting with people it disappears.
This is what all the houses in the village looked like. The government have decided on a common standard that all the houses have to meet, with the result that they all now look basically the same. ALL the 137 houses in the village looked the same and were the same size. Notice also the color of the soil. It's all black vulcanic rock in this area. The soil is very fertile and this part of the country is the most productive but at the same time also the most densly populated, more than 1000 people per square km!!!
Inside the newly built and not yet completed trauma centre. Here we had to listen yet again to the compulsary and neverending speeches. And after that, we had to stand in a circle and pray of course. That's just a normal day in Rwanda...
The local police really wanted to show us the weapons they'd confiscated. A hand grenade anyone? This is not exactly what I call safe storage. They could easily expload for any number of reasons because of the rust and bad shape their in.
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