Adapting

After our moto lessons and lunch when my nerves had settled down a bit, Dennis and I hit the road up to Musanze again.  Looking forward to getting to a toilette and a shower I was met by a surprise; Musanze’s main water line had burst and the house had been without running water since Saturday. Definitely didn’t make being back so appealing! We did have a new stove (still lacking a gas tank), but nonetheless it meant cooking could begin soon. After spending the afternoon without water, it was definitely a lovely surprise that the restaurant we had dinner at had water!  We all took turns using the bathroom (glad to wash our faces and use a toilette we didn’t have to add water to via jerry can), and the bakery staff through we were quite the funny troop of muzngus! The manager was a lovely lady, and I am looking forward to going back for one of her baskets, and some bread goodies.  Then, upon returning home, the electricity cut (apparently a cash power issue, rather than an infrastructure issue) and so we ended up calling it a night by candle light. I was glad to have a personal modem for my wirelesss, because I still got a chat in with Mom and Hannah before the battery life on my computer decided time was up. I got to bed relatively early which was a welcome treat in such a ‘can’t do much’ evening.

Monday was productive however. With power back on (after we paid for some more wattage), Dennis and I got to work on the facilitator handbook after taking tea in town (taking=drinking). The handbook that we worked on is meant to help guide new facilitators into being successful, and provide a reference material to the more tenured members of the Spark team. From explaining the importance of all each step in the process to including example surveys, organizational forms and even ‘how to’ lesson plans for teaching communities various concepts. The handbook will be an end of summer output from my internship, but it is good to finally have a significant chuck in rough draft form. Dennis and I spent the day editing (in an amongst his chit-chat about building a chicken coop), and then we prepped for our evening meeting to explain the M&E process to the facilitator corps staff at our dinner meeting. This meeting in true style had been pushed back to 7:30 (from 3) and eventually was called off when all the facilitators were not going to be back in time to begin the meeting before 9. Dinner was delicious, but it also came extremely late (9:30 or 2 hours late) to be precise. I will give the house girl credit though, because she did manage to cook anything on our crummy electric stove. Then, after dinner, the girls left the stove on though- and that meant that it baked the pot on it all night long (and fried the converter to the stove itself). Not a happy thing to wake-up to, but at least nothing caught fire…

Today (July 10^th) was an interesting day- our site visit started out late, but ironically not because people were just running late- it was because we were all running on time for different schedules. Sounds a little confusing I am sure, but here’s how it goes. The plan was to leave at 8:30. This may seem like an obvious plan, but for me it meant from the house, and therefore to Dennis it meant to be at the taxi park at 8:40 with printed surveys in hand. This was not however the plan of our facilitator, he planned to have us literally on a bus at 825 to leave at 830. Oops. So while he was stressed out trying to collect Dennis and Aime from printing, I was twiddling my thumbs at home wondering why no one was ready to go (at 8:30). Finally, someone else mentioned Aime was with Dennis- so I began to wonder if I was 'waiting for Godot', and started calling around. This is when the confusion came to light and was clarified. By the time we actually were on a bus, it was 8:50….definitely putting us behind schedule. Aloys had been to the community of Bihanga previously, so it was good to have clear directions on where to go, but it also meant he knew exactly how much every second counted. To get to the village, we had the 20 minute matatu ride, followed by 20 minutes of a scenic moto ride over-looking Lac Bulera (literally breath-taking) and then one of the steepest 20 minute hikes I have been on in quite a while! At the bottom of the mountain, we could see our community gathering near the 2/3rds point. Dennis was so funny in his response to seeing them- “Wait, up there???!!”

Pic courtesy of Dennis!

This meeting was not Spark’s first with the community of Bihanga. They had already picked a project that they were leaning toward: sheep rearing. I am not sure as to the reasons for it, but some discussed today were classic income aspirations and fertilizer that would help to increase the communities farming outputs. The community was very different from the others we have visited; they were very hopeful and energetic, but also notably didn’t ask for anything. Partly this is because they are already receiving from us, but also because Muzngus had never brought their NGOs to the community before. They said thank you almost as many times as I do in a visit, and this just created an entirely different dynamic. Definitely their enthusiasm was contagious (even if it was in Kinyarwanda) and I was glad to have sat with the women of the village during the meeting even if it meant I wasn’t close to Aime for direct translations. There were only a few kids present, but many of the women were young enough that their children were attending primary school (which is free in Rwanda). The one that tended to hover near me was a cutie with a relatively sad looking orange sweatshirt on and some African print pants. He was rolling around tripping over rocks and grasses and even tried to walk on my purse (but was promptly scolded by the entire part of the village around me. He was shy, but polite, and of course adorably curious- my favorite time of kid- clearly. As the meeting went on, I loved seeing the views and listening to the energy that surrounded the group’s plans.  

Bihanga

After the meeting, we finished conducting our baseline surveys of Bihanga, said our thank you’s and headed back down the mountain. I was glad to be heading home, ‘cause I was beginning to get a bit hungry! Never want to be on an empty tummy! The moto drive had been so beautiful though, that I asked to a scenic view stop, which rather than taking us back (and including a pit stop) turned into a short drive down to the lake shore. It was equally lovely, and was nice to see the water lilies and clean (of garbage) shore of the lake. It’s refreshing to see water that is not just mud colored. Our moto drivers thought we were pretty silly wanting to take pictures, but then again they see it every day. Everyday wonders make for photos to strangers, but I hope that wherever I live throughout my life I always take time to enjoy the lovely spaces that surround me. From the McDowell’s in AZ to the sprawling vineyards of Charlottesville, there are always things and places to visit and enjoy. 

Lac Bulera

Rwanda’s nickname “Land of a Thousand Hills” is probably an understatement rather than an exaggeration. It’s definitely hills and mountains everywhere- the only plain I have seen is the grass plain of Akagera full of zebras, antelope and water buffalo, everything else you see is the top or bottom of mountains...truly takes your breath away how steep they are. Yet, people have adjusted to growing things and living on these mountain slopes is even more amazing. Our meetings today were literally on the edge of a “don’t fall you will keep rolling till the bottom” slope (unless you got caught by the maize plants). Adaptability is often a word I use to describe Rwandans, and even in their farming, they continue to prove it every day.

I wish I could truly show how amazing this view was looking over the terraces.