Ice cream?

Taking tonight as something of a breather - bought some bread and plan to borrow some peanut butter from David so I don't have to head out again tonight for food. Feels good to just hang out around the guesthouse, because we've been up to a lot lately.

So far, what I've enjoyed the most has been Thursday's work at the secondary school. There's a serious need for people to teach English to secondary schools - especially the poorly funded ones. The government decided three months ago that all schools would be required to "phase in" teaching of English. They're grappling to do so (the vast majority of the teachers aren't fluent), although this year the only level that is required to teach purely in English is level one of primary school. Anyway, each of the volunteers who headed out there on Thursday were guided to classes in our respective major areas, to teach short units in English. I taught English composition to my class, a class of about 40 kids around the age of thirteen. I strained to remember the five-paragraph essay format, and we did a few sample compositions - one on the United States (because they wanted to hear about the US from me,) and another on HIV/AIDS.  I was the subject of laughter a few times - once when I loaded my red polo with chalk dust from my phrenetic board-writing, once when I dropped my one piece of chalk on the ground, and once when I kept teaching, not knowing that it was 5:00 - end of classes for the day. The kids were so helpful, so curious, and lots of fun. Many of them travel to the school three hours by bus to attend school, and as a result, many spend the night there each night. Looking forward to going back. The next three hours we helped some teachers with their English skills - a class which quickly devolved into a discussion of differing education systems between Rwanda and the States. More great people. A few people from our group will be going every night while we're in Kigali to work with the teachers during the evenings. Absolutely beautiful scenery around the school. It's on top of one of the 'hills' about 20 minutes outside Kigali. 

Saturday we got up early and participated in Umuganda - a day in which the Rwandan government requires all citizens to participate in some kind of community-based service. We just walked down the road to see about 20-30 people working on clearing one of the clay roads. A couple of us made our best attempts to help, and our 'neighbors' were happy to have our help, though I quickly learned th value of staying out of the way when others know how to to a job better than I do. I spent most of the time gathering the cleared grass and weeds and moving it away from the street. One of the neighbors - an English teacher named Fontain - translated for us during what was essentially a town hall meeting that immediately followed the service project. It was interesting to see the sort of hybrid community-organization/local government that influences people in their daily lives, regulating things like keeping emergency numbers nearby, keeping animals in appropriate pens, and working together to ensure that the city is beautiful. 

Friday is field trip day. Last week was to the memorial sites of Nyamata and Ntarama, churches where Tutsis fled to during the 1994 genocide for protection, before 10,000 and 5,000 were killed in the massacres at each, respectively. Remnants from the killings are still very evident. There isn't a lot that I can say to communicate the feeling one gets at places like those. One thing that stuck out in my mind - of many - was just the eerie quiet of Ntarama. The statistics and timelines we study are one thing, but the images and subtle (and not-so-subtle) remnants from what happened there are certainly another. I really can't do the place justice. No one can.

A lighter note. My favorite past-time remains exploring the city. Yesterday, we were able to spend some time in Nyarirambo - a burough of sorts in Kigali - where we found some DVD shops and a movie theater, but no ice cream, which we've all been craving for a few weeks now. We've figured out the mini-bus system, after one or two trips out of the way to the Nbaryugogo bus station. Kigali continues to expand as we discover more and more of it, and I'm still loving the city. 

Another fun thing from this week was Wednesday night's Champions League Final match. We headed up to Amahoro Volleyball Stadium to watch the broadcast of the European Championship on the big screen with 4,000 (mostly Manchester United supporting) soccer fans. An unplanned break from the action occurred when pouring rain broke the signal. Nonetheless, the fans didn't yell and scream and throw things (like I'm afraid they might in the States). In fact, when word reached those with radio headphones on that Lionel Messi had scored the game's clinching goal, a dull roar exploded from the crowd (some of disapproval, some in delight to hear that Man U was going down). The signal came back, and I'm now aware (thanks to replay) that Lio's goal was phenomenal. Props to Barcelona for ensuring that I don't have to watch Cristiano Ronaldo lifting the Champions League Trophy for another year. 

Meeting with a group that is to present a proposal to reform the UN's protocol for responding to genocide for class tomorrow. Not a small task, but one that's much easier given the parameters that the "international community" isn't mired in the mess of bureaucracy and politics that it often finds itself. Then an early night to bed probably. Looking forward to that.

Life in Kigali

Partly because of procrastination, partly because of lots going on, I've struggled to get something written down about Kigali. But definitely not because I lack something to say. 

I've loved Kigali. Immediately from the drive back to Solace Guesthouse - where we're staying - and the first views of the city, I felt more at home here than I did in Arusha. It's a city that's certainly in the midst of a transformation. The first thing I noticed was the vast amounts of construction going on in the city. Rwanda is the greenest and hilliest country I've ever seen. What we call hills in Carolina, and even in southern Indiana - yeah, they don't really register in Rwandan terms. The better roads - and the nicer hotels, embassies from other nations, etc. - sort of line the tops of the hills. The others are clay, bumpy, and wind downward through neighborhoods. It would take living here for years to figure out getting around the city. No roads go straight in one direction; everything winds and curves around.

The people are very friendly. Granted, there isn't a lot of tourism around Rwanda, except for those on their way to see the gorillas on tours and such. We're pretty obviously outsiders; but immediately, even the first day we walked (an hour and a half) to the city center, people stopped and helped us find our way. A few people from the group have friends who live here, and we've met some local Rwandans through the guesthouse and the church which runs it. We've figured out places to eat, go out, and so on through them. Language has been a barrier sometimes, but most often we have someone from our group who speaks enough French, or whoever we're trying to talk to speaks enough English at least for basic conversation.

We're taking two classes, the first of which is International Criminal Law, taught by UNC's own Donna Lefebvre, and the second is History and Current Issues of Rwanda, taught by a rotating group of guest faculty members, always taught at the National Commission Fighting Against Genocide, a nationally funded think-tank that researches the 1994 genocide, as well as others throughout history and abroad today. The first week we've recounted the contributing factors and defining characteristics of the 1994 genocide, and went into the effects we still see today. The classes on international criminal law have forced us to deal with the structural barriers that have too often ensured that the "international community" does nothing until the dust is already settled in conflicts like Rwanda, and sadly, today in Sudan.

We've also started work at various service placements around the city, mine at a private secondary school about 20 minutes outside of Kigali. About three months ago, the Rwandan government ruled that all schools would progressively change language of instruction to English from French, effectively changing the second, "formal" language to English to accompany the native Kinyarwanda. As a result, many schools are grappling with the change, because many teachers, who have taught for many years in French, may lack fluency in English and the resources to adapt. So, Thursdays during the day, and a couple other nights during the week, I've been and will be going to the school first to instruct students in English (just so they can hear certain vocabulary words in English and practice their skills) and later to help teachers with their English skills. 

Friday, for the weeks in Kigali is field trip day, where we've so far gone on one tour of the city, and visited the genocide memorial sites of Ntarama and Nyamata.

That's the basic overview of what we're doing in Kigali. I'll talk more about what I've been doing for the last week, but right now I have to get to bed. Though my blog says something about it being mid-afternoon, it's actually about 1am here. 

Arusha

A fitting way to begin the trip was a day safari in Arusha National Park about 40 minutes outside the limits of Arusha – a place I now refer to as a “town” instead of “city” like I did before I left. About a block from the Arusha Naaz, where we’re staying, there’s a roundabout, a market, a few shops in a town center which I’ve been told already several times is the “heart of Africa” – exactly halfway between Capetown and Cairo. You can see Mount Meru down the street to the north, in the direction of the ICTR court, where we spent the day today.

We drove about forty minutes outside Arusha to Arusha National Park for a one-day safari. Jeeps open, standing as we drove, it was really just the “biggest” place I’ve ever seen. So expansive. We thought seeing giraffes, African buffalo, and zebra from the bus was surreal, until we got out of the buses, and walked to an overlook over the park in the foothills at the base of Mount Meru. After that, we walked up to the giraffes, stopping periodically to learn something about what we were seeing from the rangers of the park, who were two of the friendliest people we’ve met in Arusha so far – vegetation, buffalo, giraffes, and so on. There’s nowhere I’ve been in the states (or anywhere) that’s just been so open. I remember being more aware of my breathing when the hike started to get a little faster, realizing how quiet my surroundings were when we weren’t talking to one another.

I think today is the first day that I’ve fully adjusted to the time change, and been able to remember exactly what day it is. But since I slept about 4 hours in the one-and-a-half days that we traveled, I was able to sleep like a rock both nights. Arusha is six hours head of Carolina and Indianapolis. This morning, we ate breakfast and headed over to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). We started the day by observing the trial of Dominique Ntawkulilyayo – the former sous prefét of Butare, in the south of Rwanda – through glass via several translators between English, French, and Kinyarwanda. The hour we watched included a defense cross-examination of a defense witness, who had also participated in the genocide. It was unnerving to hear the witness admit to his participation in 1994, though remaining evasive and vague in his answers, saying things like “I was present when people were killed” as an answer to the question of whether or not he killed. The prosecutors and investigator – one Canadian, one Botswani, and one Rwandan – who shared some of their expertise and experiences with us were two of the most interesting and eloquent people I’ve ever talked to. 

The second session we watched – Edouard Karemera (vice president of MRND and Minister of the Interior) – was even more unnerving, just to see how elusive he was when he answered questions, essentially giving what I jotted down as a “defense of omission.”

 A lot of thoughts about the politics of the ‘international community’ are swirling around in my head after discussions with the group, the court officials, and the reading, but they are too disconnected and unintelligible for me to make sense of it all so far. Many of those thoughts are focused on the limited role given to Rwandans, and the constant spectre of the unbelievable failure of the internatioanl community back in 1994 to prevent what happened. And all it would have taken was a few thousand troops.

Other little things: the bananas and mangoes we ate for breakfast were delicious; Arusha is not very lively at night on the streets, and never, ever should a group of 22 go out to dinner at one restaurant.

 It went too quickly, but Rwanda is the place that’s been on my mind since before I left. We’ll be there tomorrow.