Jul 15, 2023
‘Mosquito nets’ are now called ‘bet nets.’ PCVs spend a lot of time under them. I’m sitting under mine now blogging in the afternoon. It’s double-sized and held up by my four bedposts. Bed nets are quite necessary because no one wants malaria, which got a colleague of mine during the school break in April. He caught it in time, so he took medicine and was able to return to teaching right away. Others are not so lucky. Malaria still kills a lot of people. Bed nets also keep other critters besides mosquitoes out, too, so there’s a sense of security under them. Luckily, Rwanda does not have a lot of critters, but I have seen cockroaches and spiders in my house. My bed net was stolen during the burglary in April, but the police recovered it. In the meantime, Peace Corps gave me a new one. My nearest volunteer neighbor, Sandra, requested my spare bed net because her Kinyarwanda tutor did not have one.
Jul 13, 2023
I mentioned the construction crew working in the courtyard in my last post. There are about 7-8 guys and a woman as part of this crew. My Kinyarwanda is pretty bad and their English is worse, so communicating is difficult. This morning one guy said “engineer” and pointed to the guy who was working at the highest point. I tried to tell them that they were doing a good job. We laugh as we try to communicate. Added to this separation is that they are laborers and I’m a teacher. When I see them, I think of my father who worked as a plasterer, and then when that trade fell out of favor, he became a union carpenter. I see these guys pounding with tools, carrying heavy loads, and the constant up-and-down and think of how he did this, along with our mother taking care of things at home, so their kids wouldn’t have to. I’m heading out now and will give them some passion fruit and I’ll try to convey that I appreciate their work.
Jul 12, 2023
We rarely think about where our food comes from, but in Rwanda, you might be growing your own food or have gotten it fresh from an outdoor market. I took these photos of cassava, bananas and coffee in Nyamasheke. Americans generally don’t eat cassava. It’s kind of like a blander potato. Thais love them! Bananas are everywhere in Rwanda, come in many varieties and people here eat them in many different ways. As for me, I generally stick to the Cavendish banana for breakfast as many Americans do. Rwandans are not coffee drinkers and prefer water or tea. Coffee is a cash crop. Someone told me that farmers can get 10,000 Rwandan francs (about $10) for a kilo of dried coffee beans, which is considered good money. The coffee bean is inside a little ball like a small grape.
Jul 11, 2023
This past weekend was memorable. My fellow St. Teresa’s parishioner, Marie Gato, built a beautiful home for her family in the village where she grew up in Nyamasheke province, which is about as far as you can go from where I live in Rwanda. She asked if I would attend the blessing of the house by Fr. Placide. I said, “Sure, why not?” Her brother picked me up in Kigali at 4:25 a.m. and we left for what might be the most remote place I’ve ever been in. We were probably an hour and a half on bumpy unpaved roads to finish the trip. It was beautiful village, though – green and hilly with a nice view of Lake Kivu. You can see the houses in Congo from her village. Anyhoo, the whole village turned out for the house blessing ceremony on Saturday afternoon. It was quite an event. After Fr. Placide blessed the house, he was given a young female cow. There was a lot of eating and photos. I even made a speech, half in Kinyarwanda and half in English. I tried banana beer (yuck!) and swam in Lake Kivu. I finally made it back to Kabarore five days after I left with some serious laundry to do.
Jul 6, 2023
I have to grade about 150 final exams this term. (The Rwandans use the British English term ‘marking.’) I did so much marking that I drained a red pen! The students finished up exams on Wednesday and now they’re in a holding pattern until they are released by the school on Friday, July 14. Grades are due Monday and I’m just about done with the three classes that I have to grade. Should knock the rest off tomorrow morning before I head into Kigali for the weekend.
