Nightmares and Long Stares

Well it has officially been two weeks since I landed in Rwanda. Each day is extremely busy with trainings and language classes. Learning Kinyarwanda isn't easy but I am taking it one day at a time and trying not to get frustrated!

Every Peace Corps volunteer is required to take malaria prevention medication. (Unfortunately no vaccine exists for malaria yet, which is why it hits places like Africa so hard.) The kind I chose is once a week and one of the main side effects is vivid dreams and occasional nightmares. (A small price to pay for avoiding malaria!) I was skeptical about the dream thing, but the past few nights I have had some pretty weird ones.

Two days ago my host mom came out of the side house (there are two small houses in our compound, the parents and I sleep in the main one, and the children in the side one). She was holding something but since it was already dark, it was hard for me to see in the dim lighting of the courtyard. Then I realized it was a dead rat (and screamed to the delight of the entire family). Mama dropped it on the ground- way too close to me for comfort. 

That night I dreamed that there was a rat trapped in the mosquito net that surrounds my bed. I was in the bed and couldn't get the rat out. Then my host mom came in and was speaking to me in Kinyarwanda (I took that as a sign my language skills are improving!) 

As far as Long Stares are concerned, living in Africa sometimes feel like you are in a fishbowl. People look. A lot. All the time. Foreigners are rare and interesting, and in a small town there's not much else to do except people watch. I've experienced this before so it doesn't bother me like it used to. My village is pretty rural and small, so there aren't an overwhelming number of people. It's nice because I have started to recognize some of the neighbors and the same kids come outside to play everyday. (We play with balls they made themselves, out of bunched up plastic bags that they tie together with string). 

My lunch (beans, rice, green beans, potatoes, and avocado).

The "Average" Day

So people keep asking what my days look like, here is a basic overview of how most go:

I wake up each morning around 6:30, my host mama gives me some warm water to take my bucket bath. There is a little room next to my bedroom I use as a shower area. After I'm all clean and dressed I sit down to breakfast. It always consists of tea with sugar and some type of bread/roll. 

After breakfast I brush my teeth outside (there is no sink in my house). Then I walk to my language class. It is about a 10 minute walk that takes me into the tiny "town" area of my village. It is a small strip of tiny stores and bars. (My class starts at 8 am and there are often men already drinking). I have class with one other volunteer so it is very personalized. At 12:30 we have a lunch break. There is only one restaurant in the town (very few people here ever go out to eat). Our lunches are buffet style with lots of yummy food. The staples are rice, potatoes, beans, a vegetable (green beans, peas, or cassava leaves), and pineapple or avocado. 

Our town- Karama

After lunch we have another hour or two of language (although by this point in the day we are normally super tired, not sure how much learning is really absorbed). In the afternoon I walk around with the volunteers who live near me. There are four within a 10 minute walk from my house. (There are 5 that are 45 min away and then the rest are almost a 2 hour walk). My group is the farthest away from the "hub"

The hub is the Peace Corps office. We go there two or three times a week to do trainings (cultural, technical, medical, etc). On hub days all the volunteers attend. So people (like me) who live far away from the hub get picked up by the Peace Corps land cruiser. It's a good opportunity to see all the volunteers I don't live close to. 

In the evenings (I am home by 6 pm every night) I hangout with my host family. My mom is always trying to teach me new words and help me say things correctly. I mostly just repeat everything she says. I watch her cook dinner most nights. It's a long process because she cooks over fires. She has many different pots and pans but normally only two fires, so you have to wait for something to cook before starting the next thing. It typically takes 2 and 1/2 hours to make dinner. So we eat around 8:45 (by then I haven't eaten since 12:30 so I'm definitely ready to eat). Our dinners always have potatoes and a sauce (normally with beans and other veggies in it) and sometimes another starch like rice or uragali. (It's hard to describe- its kinda like thick cornmeal). 

Mama in the courtyard

After dinner I get ready for bed (by the end of the day I'm exhausted). Sometimes my family does prayer time. They sing, read the bible, and pray. All in kinyarwanda. It's a very nice way to end the day. 

Falling in Love

Well. It's official. I'm in love. I know, I know. "It's too soon, you don't know each other that well yet, you're so young." But it's too late. Rwanda has taken a firm hold on my heart. 

Seriously though, it hasn't even been a week and I am amazed by this beautiful country. I have been overwhelmed by the love and friendship my host family has given me. It is weird to think I have been here for such a short time, because I feel so comfortable already. 

I am living in a small compound with my host mom, dad, and three siblings. The parents don't speak any English. Not a single word. Two of my siblings are in 6th and 9th grades but neither of them speak English. They might know some words but if I ask them "how was your day?" Or other simple things, they look at me like I have five heads. I moved in with them on Saturday with a vocabulary of 5 kinyarwandan words. (I now know like 10). So obviously the language barrier has definitely been huge. But my mom is super great and always tries to explain things to me and teach me new words. (She also never hesitates to laugh at the stupid things I try to say). Living with them is great and is definitely motivating me to learn quickly so we can communicate better. 

The road to my house (the one on the left, and our amazing view)

Pictures really don't do Rwanda justice. The hills are breathtaking. 

I am lucky enough to have electricity, but we really don't use it very much. I have a pit latrine (drop toilet) that is made of concrete. Which is considered nice since many other volunteers only have a dirt floor. We don't have a water pump so the kids fetch water everyday. I went with them, it's a little bit of a hike, down to the bottom of the valley. There's a little pipe that has a small stream of water flowing out of it. Everyone takes turns putting their Jerry cans under the stream. The water is basically clear, but it still needs to be boiled or filtered. My brother (who is 1/2 my size) can carry a 20 liter jerry can of water on his head all the way back home up the ridiculously steep hill. They tried to get me to pick it up and put it on my head, I couldn't get it past my shoulders. (This was extremely entertaining for the entire family). It really blows my mind that the kids are that young yet that strong. 

I have learned a lot and have so much more to do and see! So happy to be here :) 

Travels

So I started out my Peace Corps journey by flying to Philly on Tuesday and finally meeting all my fellow volunteers. It was so great to finally meet everyone, and it has definitely taken a huge load off my mind. I definitely was so much less anxious after I got to know them. We had "staging" which was a 7 hour information session. Most of what we went over was already covered in the packets we got, so it was not super overwhelming. Afterward about half of the group grabbed cabs and went out to our last dinner in America. We went to El Vez, a nice Mexican restaurant and enjoyed some great food. 

We got an early start on Wednesday, waking up and getting on a bus to JFK. It was about a 3 and 1/2 hour bus ride and then we had to wait around in the airport for a while since our flight wasn't until 5 pm. The two flights went well, nothing super remarkable or out of the ordinary.  

We got in to Rwanda last night (Thursday). It was super dark out and we have spent pretty much all of today in the Peace Corps compound doing paperwork. Tomorrow we meet our host families and I am super excited!! I will try to keep in touch, still working out the internet/phone stuff!

The Journey Begins

Well today is the day! It is so surreal because I feel like I have been waiting for SO LONG for this to really happen. I applied to the Peace Corps in January of 2012, so it has definitely been a long process. I got so used to waiting I don't know what to do now that it is actually time to go! (Speaking of waiting, my flight from Dulles to Philadelphia is currently delayed, so apparently the universe REALLY wants me to lean how to be patient!!)

I definitely have mixed feelings. I am super excited, but saying goodbye to my friends and family was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I have been on the verge of tears for the past two days, but thankfully everyone has been super supportive and helped me keep it together. Although I will miss everyone like crazy, the only reason I am even able to go on a trip like this is because I have such a fabulous support system standing behind me. 

I am so excited to meet all of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in Philadelphia and get started on this adventure. I still have not really processed that I will be gone for two years. I am trying not to focus on that and instead think about all the positive things about working for the Peace Corps. Hopefully I will have Internet occasionally to keep this updated. The first 10 weeks we will probably NOT have Internet, so I will see what I can do. 

If anyone want to write me letters my address (for the first 10 weeks ONLY) is: 

Peace Corps Rwanda

Attn: Kim Sprout

P.O. Box 5657

Kigali, Rwanda 

 

Wrapping Up

Ok so if you followed my travels in Sierra Leone you might have noticed that I got a little behind. Ok, I got wayyyy behind. I feel like I just left it way too unfinished, so here is my attempt to catch you up. (Including the two posts from April that I just blatantly copied and pasted off my church blog...did not even attempt to figure out how to get rid of the white background. Sorry!)

So after Allen and I finished up the National Exam Prep Classes, we took 16 children and 4 of the Aunties on the National Learning Journey. We all piled on a bus and went to explore the Northern part of the country. I was excited because I have never seen any of the country besides Freetown (the capital) and Bo (where the Child Rescue Centre is). The kids were ecstatic because they never get to go on trips so this was a HUGE deal for them.

On the bus ready for the journey!

Our first two days we spent exploring Makeni and the surrounding areas. We saw many things that most people from America are used to seeing often, but are extremely rare in Africa. For example, in Makeni the children AND the Aunties saw their first train, electric streetlights, and shopping mall. I was so glad I got to be there and share in their wonder. It really is an amazing world we live in when you take a moment and really think about it!

Excited to see a train!

We also got to go on a tour of a hydroelectric damn which was probably my favorite part of the trip. It was very cool to see how innovative Sierra Leone has become. I was really impressed with the facility and that they are using alternative energy. (Remember those street lights I just mentioned? They use solar power!) The kids were pretty impressed with the dam, and it even provided a chance for some "dare-devil" activities. One section of the dam, which was suspended high in the air over the river, only had metal grates to walk on. So you could see through them straight down to the water. This did NOT go over well with most of the kids. It took some persuading and hand-holding, but I finally convinced them all to walk over it. I was so proud of them!

Lansana happy he did it!

We got to see some other interesting things on the trip like a factory, university, clock town, football stadium, 5 star hotel, etc. But the most important part of the trip for me was just spending more time with the kids and getting to know them all even better. It was a long four days with lots of driving and not the most ideal sleeping conditions (I ended up in a double bed with two of the younger girls every night). But I loved every minute of it.

Eating a yummy cassava leaf stew. (Can you spot me in the back?!)

When we got back from the trip, I only had one more full day in Sierra Leone. To say it was hard to leave is the biggest understatement of the year. It. Was. SO. HARD. To. Leave. To say I love each and every one of the children at the CRC is the second biggest understatement of the year. Words cannot express how much I care for these children. I have been home for over a month and not a day goes by that I don't think about them. It makes me very sad because I don't know when I will see them again. But even when I miss them, I can't help but smile because once you meet these children your life will change. Dramatically and for the better. I can't be sad for long because I know life is a beautiful and amazing thing. I know the world is a messed up and confusing place, but it is still good. I know that even at my worst, there are people who are always going to see the best in me. Thank you to everyone who made my trip possible. It was the best two months of my life. Sierra Leone will stay in my thoughts, and the children of the CRC in my heart. Forever.