memories of byumba

Sitting in the office today I was thinking about how quickly time goes by. It was just over a year ago today that I arrived in Rwanda. A couple stories came to mind so I am going to record them over the next couple of posts.

In February my boss Apollo and I ran some training workshops for the program I worked on. These workshops were each three days long and were attended by local WV Rwanda staff. The first two days were spent learning new concepts, going over some practical ways of applying and using the concepts and planning how they could be integrated into the way the participants were currently working in their communities. The last day of the workshop was reserved for a field visit where the participants would try to put the new concepts into context. We did a number of these workshops so each of these field visits looked different.

While in the Northern Region we were running a training workshop in the town of Byumba. The town sits along the top ridge of a mountain and spreads down the steep terraced slopes. It is cold in Byumba, one of the highest points in the country. On a clear day you can see green hills stretching forever towards the Ugandan border. On the third day of this workshop we were planning to split our participants into two groups for the field visit. Each group had 8 people. One group went to visit some cooperatives that the participants had been working with and Apollo went with them. My group was going to visit another cooperative in a village 'nearby.' First everyone, both groups, went down the mountain to a local WV office in a nearby community. The other group left in the minibus while my group was left with our pickup truck to wait for our other transportation. It turns out there was a miscommunication regarding transport so we had to go in two shifts in the hilux to the village we were supposed to be visiting. From the way my colleagues were talking I thought it was just down the road. I even asked if we could walk but this suggestion was met with weird looks and a couple of laughs.
I was in the first group to go. We drove down the main road weaving past rice paddies and tea fields. Rwanda has a good network of main roads so this part of the drive was paved. We turned off the main road after about ten kilometers and drove down a gravel road through a tea plantation. I had never seen a tea plantation before so I was interested to see what it was all about. All I could see were acres and acres of tea leaves in the valley and climbing the sides of the mountains. After about five kilometers my colleagues directed my driver off the gravel road onto a path that winded and weaved its way up the mountain. The road fell away beside us and there were sections of the path where I was certain that our truck could not pass. I was pressed up against my side of the truck as if I could keep us from going over the edge. Didier, our driver, proved me wrong and navigated the tiny little path as if it were a three lane highway. I shouldn't have doubted as I had seen several times before how Didier could make the most frightening roads seem smooth.
Finally we arrived in the village nestled in a valley surrounded by terraced hills. Didier immediately turned back to get the second half of our group. While we waited for the rest of the group we sat down with leaders of the cooperative we had come to talk with. They were learning how to weave new patterns of baskets to sell to tourists and overseas. Talking with the women who were now able to send their children to school, who proudly showed their progress and were gaining confidence and dignity in the ability to provide for their families was humbling and encouraging. The rest of our group joined us and we talked how all our fancy concepts might fit into their contexts - this was all more for our participants than for the cooperative members. Then we sat back and just interacted with these people for a little while. Didier took one group of people back to the main road where we would meet back with the minibus and the rest of our participants. I stayed back to wait for the second trip and while we were sitting the kids got out of school and all walked past the compound where we were meeting. A couple noticed there was a mzungu and I became the centre of attention for a little while. The truck came back and we drove back up and then down that tiny path. This time my side of the truck was at the edge which caused me some concern at first. Then I got distracted by the beautiful landscapes surrounding me. Didier stopped a couple of times for me to take pictures ( I will try to add these to this post at some point) and eventually we joined the first group at the main road by the tea plantation. We waited here for the minibus so we could rejoin Apollo's group and go back to Byumba together. While we were waiting we bought some roasted maize from a vendor on the side of the road (mmmm) and shared it among the group. Even in the 'middle of nowhere' there are lots of people in Rwanda, being one of the most densely populated countries on the continent.
After a long wait Apollo arrived in the minibus and we piled in for the return to Byumba for the close of the workshop and dinner.