stress relief

What a difference one day makes! Thursday I woke up stressed and anxious – couldn’t really eat breakfast. I mentioned in my last post that I had seen where I was supposed to stay and that it was really small. Well, I don’t think I conveyed exactly how small. It would have been ok I guess for a week or so – but 5 months? So as I thought more about it and started picturing the next five months I started to freak out a little. We had discussed with the WV Canada staff during our orientation that we needed to make sure that our accommodation was appropriate and comfortable so remembering that I decided to talk to my boss thursday morning and ask if there were any other alternatives.

Turns out there aren’t really any options in Nyamata. So I will be living in Kigali! It is only about a half hour drive to Nyamata from the city so it isn’t even a long commute. And I will probably be sharing a flat with at least one other Canadian so not only will I have room to turn around, I will have roommates again! I am very very very excited about this!! We are still looking around for flats, though one has caught our eye and it is fully furnished which is a big plus. It is near the church I attend here and not far from the main road where I can catch buses to get into the centre of town or to work. It is all an answer to prayer and it happened really before I even prayed about it!!

As for what I am doing at work, it is a little dull at the moment. We are working out of the main office right now and there is no space for us. Thursday I was sharing a desk with two other people and the day before that there were four of us. On friday Apollo (my supervisor and the coordinator of the project) and I snagged an empty office. We are working on the budget for our project right now. It is boring and slow work but it has to be done. We are nearly finished so early next week we will sit down with an accountant and figure out how many mistakes we made! Also on Monday we will be heading out to Gashora, the other area in which this project will be operating. It is near Nyamata, about 30km from there, so somewhere around 60 km from the city, if the roads were straight. Which of course they are not!

It is the rainy season now in Rwanda. What this means is that it is sunny and hot in the mornings and then the wind starts to blow harder around noon. The clouds come and there is at least one sustained downpour in the afternoon – Tuesday we had two thunderstorms – and then the winds calm down, the sun comes out and it is nice again, if a little cooler.

Today is saturday and it is 'work day.' The last saturday of every month people have to do work to clean or better kigali as a city. This lasts until 11am and nothing is open. I walked up to the main shopping centre this morning around 10:45 and it was down right freaky. No traffic - at all. Almost no people on the street. Nothing open and it creeped me out. I met up with two american girls who were also waiting to get into the coffee shop and we chatted and hung out until we were able to get in. I have met some really interesting people since I've been here. People from all over the world are in Kigali doing all sorts of interesting things!

Just another day at the office

So today was my second day in the office here in Kigali. Yesterday was slow and boring and I spent a lot of time trying to look busy even though I wasn't. We are trying to get the budget nailed down for the project - this is not the exciting part!! So it involved a lot of waiting for feedback and pricing. Today was more of the same in the morning, though it felt like things had actually been accomplished which is nice. This afternoon my supervisor was out of the office so I was told that I could work from my hotel if I wanted - space is at a premium. So here I am in a coffee shop a few blocks from my hotel working. Rather, now I am finshed working so I get to play! I met some fun people while I was working, so the day as a whole has been really good. I woke up this morning feeling a little homesick and frustrated but now I'm feeling much better. Just have to stay busy!

Tomorrow Apollo(my supervisor) and I are heading out to Nyamata, the area where we will be based. It is about an hour drive from the city and we'll be looking at what supplies and equipment we'll need, who we need to include in our trainings and I will also get to check out my accomodations for the next couple of months. Hopefully it is a good day.

Tonight I am meeting another CIDA intern who has been here in Kigali for a couple of weeks already. I have been meeting people left and right! Nice so that I have people to hang out with and things to do so i don't go insane.

Today is cold and rainy - on par for rainy season here. I'm even wearing long sleeves. Even grey and raining Rwanda is a beautiful place to be!!

Adventures from the road

I made it! I am in Kigali and I made here safe and sound, and on time. That in itself is a miracle.

My fellow intern Miriam and I left our hotel in Tanzania very very early on saturday morning. We piled all our stuff in the van at 4am and needed to be at the airport for 5am for a flight that left at 6. So we're driving down the road in the dark, trying to get a little more sleep and the check engine light comes on in the dash. The driver ignores this and keeps driving. Then the van starts making odd noises, lurching and clunking. The driver pulls over and checks under the passenger seat - I guess this is where the radiator is located. Good thing Miriam and I had some bottles of water and these were sacrificed to the radiator. Steam and smoke billowed out into the van so that Miriam and I and all our stuff smelled like burning oil and gross, but it seemed to do the trick and we were good to go. Or so we thought. Just as we pulled into a small town the jerking and clunking started again and we barely made it into a petrol station before the van quit, smoke billowing. So we were stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark. You should have seen Miriam and I standing on the side of the road laughing. What else could we do?! Evenutally we found a taxi and made it to the airport - at 5:50. Miraculously they let us on the flight and we got to Nairobi close to the time we were supposed to - around 7am. My flight to Kigali was boarding at 6:45. I really thought I would be stuck in Nairobi but God must have been watching over things because that flight was delayed and I made the connection easily. So much stress and all before 8am!!

So now I am in Kigali and am very happy to be here! Last night I went to a wedding with some friends and wore a traditional rwandese dress - pictures to come - and now I'm off to Jen and Serge's daughter Isabella's first birthday party.

Greetings from Kilimanjaro

After a LONG trip with almost no sleep I have arrived! And it's great! The workshop is going really well - I'm very busy and haven't completely recovered from jet lag yet, but I'm learning lots, meeting interesting people from all over and I'm really loving it. I have a better understanding of what I might be doing once I arrive in Rwanda, though that will still change I'm sure!

I am really excited to actually be doing development stuff. Discussing Livelihoods Approaches and how they translate to activities and interventions on the ground and talking about systems theories and what they look like in real life, observing them in a Development Project. Frankly I'm in heaven!!

I'm also really excited about the feedback I'm getting from the people I'm working with. I don't need to be patted on the back or anything like that but to hear that I'm doing a good job, asking good questions - this makes me more sure that this is where I am supposed to be, and what I am supposed to be doing. That is a good thing!!

Last post from Canada

Well, it is almost time! Finally. I am almost packed and only have a few errands to run tomorrow and then I am ready to go. It is so weird to think that in a couple days I'll be back in Africa. I'm excited but I'm going to miss friends and snow and hot showers. But I am excited for avacados, fanta, mountains, banana trees and people everywhere. So this will be my last post from Canada. I'll try to post from Tanzania - I'll be in Moshi town just outside of Arusha at the foot of Kilimanjaro for five days and then off to Kigali Rwanda. I don't know how many people still read this but I enjoy posting here more than on facebook.

Now I will go to sleep and then it is only 1 more sleep until I go!

FIVE DAYS!!!

Happy turkey day everyone! Yesterday my family had a very yummy turkey dinner and it was nice to spend time with the family. Especially since I leave for Africa in five days!!

I have not posted in over a week since I did not have internet access at the house where I was staying and I thought maybe I shouldn't post while at work. There have been many blog worthy events but I will just summarize the important ones.

First, I saw the movie 'Shake Hands with the Devil' on wednesday night. I really liked it. Roy Depuis plays Gen Dallaire and does a really great job. The movie is a little technical - looks at the hows and whys of the genocide, but it is well done and especially for a Canadian film, it is worth seeing.

Second, I spent most of the week doing work that actually had to do with what I studied at school! I was going over annual plans and logical frameworks for programmes in tanzania, senegal and mali. I loved it! I even took two home to do over the weekend since it is so busy and I actually enjoy the work.

And finally, I recieved my finalized itinerary this week. I leave on saturday - this saturday! at 6pm from Toronto. There are 7 of us from world vision traveling together for a 5 day workshop in tanzania so I'll have company on the long flights, which is nice. we are flying through amsterdam but only have 3 hours there so no exploring the city this time. But this means we get to Arusha tanzania on sunday evening. Then I spend five days learning and seeing mount Kilimanjaro and then I leave for rwanda bright and early on the 20th. I land in Kigali at 8:25am where I'll be met my Pip and David, two friends from my last trip. Very excited!!

There is so much to do between now and saturday!! People to see, things to pack. It's crazy! i will be trying to post on a regular bases while I am away, and while some of the posts may be cut and pasted into facebook, this will be my primary post place. I just like it better :)