Thursday, May 21, 2009

Swine Flu in Rwanda

Now that swine flu has safely been downgraded in the world news headlines (BBC radio tells me the top story nowadays is the reported Tamil Tiger defeat in Sri Lanka), I think it is finally safe to post that blog title. In fact, there is no such thing as swine flu in Rwanda. You can all relax now. BUT, despite the fact that no cases have been diagnosed or reported here (or even in our region), Peace Corps sent out Tamiflu to those of us in the Nyamasheke district. According to the messenger, because we are the most remote group, they didn’t feel they could get to us quickly enough in the event of an epidemic (don’t I feel safe) and therefore we get to be responsible for self-medication (with PCMO consultation, of course.) Take-home message: feeling blue? Get yourself some Tamiflu!

I’m kidding, of course. As the responsible pseudo-public health expert I am, I feel obliged to add that improper medicine consumption leads to all sorts of problems (including the emergence of drug-resistant strains.)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Picture #7


Lake Kivu.



Cyangugu

This past weekend we hitched a ride with our neighbors (the nuns) in the parish car into Cyangugu (also known as Kamembe), the only big town in the region. Along the way we met up with the other two Peace Corps volunteers in our region. Whereas the other big cities I have visited in Rwanda, Butare and Kigali, have both had a decidedly Western influence complete with “supermarkets” stocked with treats like potato chips and bars of chocolate, Cyangugu has nothing of the sort. There is a much more “we are out in the middle of nowhere and know it” feeling to Cyangugu, which is wonderful because it leads you to all sorts of odd little discoveries, but also means that the comforts of home are quite a trek away. As examples of the strange things that occurred while we were in Cyangugu, the first hotel we stopped in (the hotels in Rwanda always seem to have the best restaurants), we encountered a “Big Bass Billy” (you know, one of those mounted plastic fishes that sings) and then at the second hotel we were led through a mini fake forest to a wide cement expanse complete with three swing sets and a gorgeous view of Lake Kivu.

Picture #6


The view from our backyard.


Our house.


The tea fields.

Site...Finally

My arrival at site has been a little more eventful than most because I ended up switching sites halfway through the first week at site. As I mentioned earlier, my site was supposed to be a tiny little umudugudu not that far from Kigali and right off the main paved road that connects Kigali and Butare. I met many wonderful people during my time there, including my host family and some of the health center staff, but for programmatic reasons the Peace Corps Rwanda staff decided to move me to the west of Rwanda.

The two sites are about as different as possible- my first site was close to Kigali, but without running water or electricity. My new site, located near Cyangugu and the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, is highly remote (in fact, the most remote Peace Corps site in Rwanda) but has both electricity and running water. While none of Rwanda is “flat”, we are truly in the mountains here, which provides for some spectacular views, including the vast tea fields along the dirt road that leads to our site. Our house is located at the very top of one such mountain and as we walk down the first hill every morning, I always get this strange sensation that the villagers must see us as the white people descending from their big house on the top of the hill like gods descending from Mount Olympus (with the appropriate amount of distain attached, of course.) To get to the health center, we have to walk by the primary school, which means that at the end of the day we often end up with a group of children tagging along behind us, and we always make sure to stop and say goodbye at the bottom of the hill. I will truly feel at home here once I can walk up that hill without getting winded!

I say “we” ” because I am living with another Peace Corps volunteer in this mansion on the top of a hill. Typically this is not acceptable in the Peace Corps- volunteers can’t live together unless they are a married couple, but it is my understanding that this site was once supposed to be for a couple and Peace Corps Rwanda decided it was remote enough that it made more sense for two volunteers to live here together. So when I pulled up after my brief stint at my first site my roommate had already been here for half a week. In fact, we have been playing a weird game of musical sites because the girl that was supposed to be her roommate was moved to a site out east when one of our two couples went home. My roommate and I are strangely similar- she is a vegetarian too, is an MI getting her MPH, and she and I share the same birthday. Crazy, right? Our main focus at the moment is finding a wait to create separate health jobs in a small community. We tried to arrange a meeting to create two separate job descriptions, but they ended up simply telling us to split a list of health topics. As a result, I am responsible for HIV and AIDS, malaria, and nutrition. Easy task.

Thus far, we have been conducting a community needs assessment (a fancy title for getting to know the people around us and determining the biggest health concerns) and teaching English to the staff at the health center. They learn quickly- during yesterday’s lesson (time) I taught them the vocab for early, late, and on time, so when one of the staff walked in late, they are made sure to tell him he was late. We fill out our days with trips to the market and cooking our own food (in Rwanda, it is typical for each house to have a cook.) Strangely, we seem to be getting worse at bargaining, though with avocados for the equivalent of about ten cents how can one complain?

Picture #5


Group at swearing-in.

Swearing-In and Vacation at the Lake House

Sadly, we have left Butare and Pre-Service Training (PST) behind and are now full-on PCVs. Most PCVs are thrilled to be out of staging, but because we were so spoiled and surrounded by muzungus, it is hard for many of us to move beyond the honeymoon phase. It is time to deal with the reality of being on our own in a foreign land, with new jobs to do in a language that we only kind of sort of know the very basics of.

The swearing-in ceremony, held at the ambassador’s house (the ambassador from the United States of America to Rwanda, not to be confused with the ambassador from Rwanda to the United States of America), was high-class all the way, from mini quiches to the US seal on the cutlery and china. All sorts of Rwandan dignitaries were there, including the Minister of Education, and all manner of Rwandan press. Later that night, we were on Rwandan television in all three language formats: English, French, and Kinyarwanda. In fact, when I was in Kigali I was trying to buy a part for our gas stove in a hardware store in Kinyarwanda and the guy asked me if I was one of the “ones who are trying to learn Kinyarwanda and the Rwandan culture” because he had seen us on TV. The program included a speech by one of our own in English, a much-practiced speech by two of our group in Kinyarwanda (part of which was aired on TV) , and speeches by the Ambassador and Country Director. Honestly, as a true Peace Corps volunteer, I found the most exciting part of it all was the good food: mini pizzas, homemade cookies, and freshly squeezed juice. This was all followed by the requisite group photo session, in which, despite the million and one pictures, we failed to take a picture in which we were all looking at the camera (see picture.)

To celebrate our new status as official Peace Corps volunteers, the Peace Corps Rwanda staff put together a nice little outing for us to Lake Muhazi, a lake in the Eastern province of Rwanda. The house and property on the lake are actually all owned by the US Embassy so we were accompanied by four of the ten US Marines that guard the Embassy. The Marines had a tiny little blow-up motor boat that they used to take people wakeboarding on the lake. Talk about a scene that doesn’t belong on a lake in the middle of Rwanda, especially when to get to the lake you have to drive by huge demobilization and reintegration centers. The rest of the day was spent drinking Primus on the shore and throwing around a football (turns out, even in Rwanda, it is handy to have two brothers that force you to learn such things.)

Picture #4


A crossroads outside of Butare.

Bicycles and Brunch in Butare

On our last Sunday in Butare, a group of us went out to our favorite brunch spot- Hotel Ibis. Though Hotel Ibis has a storied past- it was built during Belgian colonial times and was once used by the interahamwe as headquarters- today’s Hotel Ibis is a muzungu hangout that provides the best people watching and breakfast in town. To be honest, I am sure that we would all be thrilled for any semi-American breakfast food, but the omelettes and French toast at Ibis really are fantastic. This particular Sunday morning, as we sat there remising about our eleven weeks in Butare, the Rwandan national cycling team road by. As the true triathlete that I am, I sat there and gawked, spinning my head as they went back and forth down the main street of Butare. Instead, I abandoned all attempts at following the conversation and imagined myself on my Cervelo following them over the hills of Rwanda. I suppose traversing the dirt roads on my Trek mountain bike will have to do. If riding the hills of Nepal doing aid work can help Chrissie Wellington become the triathlete she is today, just maybe it might do a little something for me too.