36. Six month mark

April 24, 2016

It’s hard to believe that nearly 6 months have passed since we left Ann Arbor! Since saying farewell to friends and family last Fall, we have managed to get settled into our lives and routines here in Rwanda.

Life in equatorial Africa has a different rhythm than the Midwest of the USA. Seasons are now defined by the amount of rain we receive, rather than by temperatures, falling leaves, budding flowers, and blowing snow! Temperatures here range from the upper 60s at night to around 90 during the day, with most days in the 72-86 degree range. Sunshine abounds, and the trees and grass are always green.

Rwanda is known as the “Land of a 1000 Hills,” and we can confirm that this country has virtually no flat ground, except along some river basins in the valleys. Agriculture is the primary economic activity here, and the hills are absolutely covered with crops, including maize, banana, beans, potatoes, cassava, sugarcane, rice, coffee and tea.

We live in the capital city of Kigali. Even with a population of over 1 million, and development happening at impressive speeds, there are still plots of land used by residents to grow their essentials. Ruth Ann and our guard, Simeon, have managed to cultivate and plant a fairly successful garden in a portion of our property that is essentially an unused driveway. The soil quality on our property is very poor, but things are still growing.

Isaac and Naomi have just 5 weeks of school left. For Isaac, this third term of the school year, which started at the end of February, is all about preparing for and taking the Cambridge IGCSE exams. There is virtually no new material taught in the 3^rd term. Rather, teachers spend class time “revising” previously taught material, so students can be ready for the nearly month-long exam period. Isaac made the honor roll for the 2^nd term (his first term here), and he seems to be ready to do well on the exams in May.

Naomi also made the honor roll last term, even after being promoted from 5^th to 6^th grade after the Christmas holiday. She is doing well in the new class, and aims to be one of the top performers in her class this term. Outside of school, Naomi is taking violin lessons, spending time with friends and passing time reading books. She has taken a bit of an interest in running, which in this part of the world is more demanding than in Michigan (altitude and hills are the biggest challenges!).

John has devoted a lot of time to working on consulting projects for his Michigan clients. His plan to work with the local water utility in Kigali fell apart after the utility decided they needed a full-time person working for 2 years on the project, rather than a part-time person for 9 months. He has had a few conversations with local non-profits, who might be interested in his experience in local government and water utility issues.

Peak season (for coffee) has started! The coffee cherries are coming in to the 250 washing stations that dot the mountainsides. So Ruth Ann has been crazy busy with related items for the MSU project that brought us here, as well as efforts to grow her coffee importing and coffee consulting business. Selling consulting services to local coffee companies is proving more challenging than first imagined, so Ruth Ann is doing some independent research and visiting coffee washing stations to develop a better understanding of where she could best apply her skills in the coffee value chain.

[Note: in May Ruth Ann realized part of the problem to selling services like "lean training." There is an ingrained culture in Rwanda and other African countries that the trainer must pay the trainees to spend time in the classroom. It's bad enough that there is an assumption that all training is free, but add to that the expectation that all trainees will receive a per diem, sometimes as much as $10/day, and you can see why very little training happens and when it happens (with per diems paid), it is only marginally appreciated therefore it's impact is greatly reduced.]

We enjoyed a visit from Noah in January. He was stressed while here, as he was waiting for final grades and final acceptance from Ford for a job in the sales division. All has worked out for him, and he is now living in Memphis, TN. He is responsible for sales to all Ford dealership service departments in the state of Arkansas. He’s only been there 2 weeks, so he is still not entirely familiar with the work and territory. If anyone has experience living in Memphis, please let us know. Noah has so far found it very difficult to adapt to living in that area. He doesn’t know anyone there, and the culture is vastly different than what he is familiar with. Any tips to help him adjust would be appreciated! He hopes to be there only one year, but his assignment may go 2 years.

Locally, we have managed to see some of the country, and we hope to see more after school is out. We spent a few days at a lake resort in Gisenyi, which is on Lake Kivu, right on the border with DRC. Noah, Isaac, Naomi and Ruth Ann spent a few days in Musanze, visiting Volcanoes National Park. Noah and Isaac hiked to the top of Mount Bisoke (exhausting and muddy). They were lucky enough to see some gorillas on their hike. Naomi and Ruth Ann visited Rosamond Carr’s homestead and took a hike to see the Golden Monkeys. John stayed home to work on projects those days. We all travelled together to visit Akagera National Park, where we saw lots of baboons, some elephants, hippopotamus, bird, velvet monkeys and other wildlife.

Two weeks ago we were in Uganda for a few days. Rwanda was essentially shut down for the annual Genocide Memorial week. Many expats take the time to leave the country to visit other places. We were amazed as we drove through Rwanda to the Uganda border and saw not a single business open. The road was practically all ours, as Rwandans were meeting in their local villages to discuss the genocide, and learn about preventing future genocides.

[Author: John]

35. Uganda Vacation - Isaac Bungee Jumps!

April 7 - 12, 2016
This week was Genocide Memorial Week (GMW) in Rwanda. The schools are closed and businesses are all closed for the first day or two, and then they are only allowed to open for a half day for the other days. No alcohol is served in the restaurants. It's a very solemn time. And one that we felt we would have difficult participating in -- so we took a family vacation. We drove north to Uganda.

John spent many days researching possibilities and coming up with an itinerary. We knew there would be a lot of hours of driving, and sure enough -- it was a loooooooot of driving. To make things worse, because of some crazy Google maps, GMW, and a torrential downpour, it took us an hour just to get out of Kigali. The first day ended up being about 12 hours of driving -- from Kigali to Entebbe, Uganda. The kids were great. Very patient and did not complain. Even at the very rustic road-side toilet stops!

In Entebbe, we stayed at the wierdly cavernous, but nice, "Sanctum Hotel". Sight-seeing here included the botanical garden and a fun zoo. We hired a guide at the garden, who did a nice job showing us the flora and fauna. At the zoo we passed on the guide, and were entertained by the many animals in "close to real" kind of settings for zoo captivity. For example, the chimpanzees and "big cats" were all in open spaces -- just with big fences. No windows and cement floors for them to live on like I'm used to seeing in U.S. zoos.

After two nights at Sanctum, we drove further north about 3 hours to Jinja. Again, the trip could have been 2 hours, but with Kampala traffic as jammed as it always is, it took 3 hours.

Jinja likes to call itself the "source of the Nile." (Rwandans disagree, and say Lake Kivu is the source of the Nile.) In any case, it was fun to stay at a guest house called the "Source of the Smile". (It was not a dentist office!) It had fun and interesting decor all made with things from nature and recycled things like wine bottles and all sorts of tiles and pieces of mirrors. Had a bit of a hippie-70's feel.

The first night we went to dinner at "The Keep", a restaurant in Jinja that Isaac selected from his research on-line. It was great! We all enjoyed it. They had great espresso drinks, a "15 minute" menu and nice wait staff.

The next day, (Sunday), in the morning we just hung out at the lovely guest house pool. John, unfortunately, was feeling pretty ill due to some bad food, so we took off for the afternoon, leaving him to convalesce in bed. That's when we took Isaac to the bunjee jumping place. Oh my! The staff there were obviously experienced in helping people, probably many mothers, be at peace with paying $125 to have their child thrown over a ledge!  Seriously, I was scared. But Isaac wasn't. So we paid, he got weighed, and then they took him out to this crane-like apparatus, 44 meters above the river. He jumped! It was pretty amazing! A small raft-boat was right there to pick him up and in a matter of about 10 minutes he was back -- all smiles and laughs. He wanted to go again!  (Mom said "no".)

From there we drove up the river a ways to a place that offered kayaking and stand-up paddling. Naomi and I got a 2 person kayak and Isaac tried out a stand-up paddle boat. It was beautiful, calm and had a kind of "secluded" feeling out on the river. Since they built a damn on the river, it is very wide and calm, almost like a lake, but there is definitely still a current. Naomi enjoyed it a lot, and Isaac did, too. Even though he actually found a way to nap for awhile on his stand-up boat.

That night the three of us went out to eat without John, who still did not feel well. The next day he felt much, better, though -- thank you God! We all went into town and spent way too much on souvenirs, including some snacks at the "The Source" cafe (started by an acquaintance of John's). That day, Monday, we drove from Jinja to Kampala. And on Tuesday, we woke up very early to beat the traffic jams, and got out of Kampala by 7am. We got home to Kigali around 5pm! Much better timing on the way back.

34. Multicultural Festival at Isaac's High School

April 2, 2016

West African face paint at Green Hills Multicultural Festival

Isaac prepared pancakes, syrup and home-baked tortilla chips as his contribution to the Multicultural Festival at Green Hills Academy. It was bigger than I expected with the large gymnasium housing about 10 different countries, including the large Rwanda "area", which included three grass huts and a line of about 10 djembe drums. Spilling out on the the grassy hillside outside the gymnasium were more countries - India, Australia/New Zealand, Kenya, West Africa, Uganda. It had a bit of an "ice cream social" feel, as you had to buy tokens which in turn are used for food.

Poster for the Multicultural Festival

There were such delicious options for food! The France group had everything: croissants, baguettes, many quiches and an entire creperie set-up by the Kimi Gourmand restaurant. The Germany group had authentic pastries and breads from the La Gallette bakery in town -- Americaner, Berliner, Apfelkuchen, Dunkelbrot and real whole-grain Broetchen! Not surprisingly, we were very attracted to this one and spent a fair amount of time as family there. Well -- minus Isaac. Isaac seemed to dissolve into the woodwork soon after Ruth Ann brought him at 10am. He dropped off the things he had made and started tossing the football with some friends inside the gym, and then he disappeared. The Polish booth was interesting, too. They had a fascinating story about a Polish man who biked the length of the African continent in the 1930's and even had photos of him meeting the last Rwandan king.

With Naomi's friend, Aisha, and Eric, a master's student from Ruth Ann's project.

But what was truly fun for us was the fact that the constellation of countries represented was so different than what one would see in the US. Burundi and Congo had substantial booths. Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia had a joint-booth with great food, authentic clothing, photos, crafts. Kenya, Uganda and India had very large and elaborate booths. It felt much more like I was learning something and seeing new things than I usually feel at these types of events.

The finale of the program was the Rwandan dancing. The large troupe of young people had obviously trained well. The enthusiasm and energy of the large audience of parents and siblings watching the dancing, singing and drumming was what really got the excitement level high. In terms of music, it was also treat to hear the Green Hills band play Michael Jackson's "Thriller"!  John and I were the only ones in our group who could really appreciate that one! Didn't get that one taped, unfortunately. The video below is a snippet of their rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In." One of the few American tunes that probably has been enjoyed more than "Thriller"!

33. "Hump Week" - Things We've Learned To Live Without

Mar. 24, 2016
SOME people in our family have been counting weeks. It turns out this week is "hump week" -- the half-way point of our stay. So regardless of our level of homesickness, it is a good time to stop and assess some things. See our lists below!

Things we’ve learned to live without:

·         Dishwasher

·         Clothes dryer

·         Drinkable tap water

·         Garbage disposal

·         Reliable electricity

·         2 cars

·         Bicycles

·         Television

·         Unlimited data

·         Hardware stores

·         Shopping malls

·         Voicemail

·         Air conditioning

·         Winter, snow, brown lawns, barren trees

·         Traffic controls in many places (who needs stop signs?)

·         Mail

·         Fast food (it is culturally inappropriate to eat while driving, walking on street, or any place in public that is not a restaurant)

·         Tools

·         Frozen foods (there are some, but very few, comparatively)

·         Decaf coffee (RA has to import her own)

Things we’ve learned to live with:

·         24/7 personal guard

·         Housekeeper/cook

·         Metal bars on windows and doors

·         Large brick walls around property

·         Large metal gate at driveway entrance

·         Tropical plants

·         Constant warm weather

·         Hills, hills, hills everywhere

·         Being foreigners (language, skin color, culture)

·         Very limited supplies in grocery stores

·         Uninsulated house (but we don’t really need it)

·         Dirt roads (and associated red dust)

·         Unpredictable rain storms

·         Unusual insects & critters in the house

·         Noise (construction, church music, parties)

·         Tropical birds and bird songs

·         Thinner air (we live 4,830 feet above sea level; our Ann Arbor house is 3,880 feet lower!)

·         People EVERYWHERE (Rwanda may be the most densely populated country in Africa)

32. Small Groups Ministry - Alive in Rwanda!

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016
Today's church service at the English-speaking church we attend in Kigali, (Christian Life Assembly, or CLA) was an interesting juxtaposition for me of church messages 35 years ago and today. It was around 1981 that my dad, a paster in the United Methodist Church, studied for his D.Min and wrote his dissertation on the importance of small groups in the church. Embarassingly, I don't think I've ever read his dissertation, but I've always believed in the central importance of small groups. My Dad did, too, obviously, and so do people today!

At CLA they call small groups "cells" and they are small groups meeting in people's homes on Wednesday evenings. The word "cell" refers to how every living being is made of cells. (Not referring to prison cells!) At CLA, they're purposeful in promoting it and supporting it with Cell Ministry Retreats, etc. Today a good part of the worship service was devoted to promoting joining a cell. I've been tentatively exploring it. In December I got the name and number of the cell leader in my neighborhood. I called and he called back. Still haven't gone, though. So the encouragement today was a good idea.

The "cell ministry" team had a good skit. First each of about 8 people walked across the stage silently carrying a sign with their excuse for why they said "no" to joining a cell. (Nice music was playing in the background.) The signs had words like:

• Too Boring
• Too Busy
• I don't speak a local language (the one white-person had this one!)
• They don't keep time (this guy was marching)
• The people are not my age.
• I am a mature Christian

Then, we heard how cells can change lives, and help our lives be better. We are being the church when we help each other through our losses and sorrows. Because those come. We lose our loved ones and jobs are lost. But others have lived through these things, and when we can share with someone who has "made it through" we are encouraged and can be encouraging. Then we can celebrate the triumphs -- even the small ones in life.

I'm hoping to find a small group here. They say they have one in Kibagabaga!

31.5 Akagera National Park Adventure

Jan. 13 & 14, 2016

John swooped into the meeting Ruth Ann was in at the Rubilizi campus in Kigali -- with kids in the car -- to help us get-away to Akagera. We drove about 2 hours to the town of Kayonza where we had reservations at the eco-lodge at the Womens Opportunity Center. (Ruth had been there before, but not stayed there.) At this lodge they have the luxury safari tents for sleeping, with attached bathrooms. There is a covered sitting area where we enjoyed playing cards while the dinner meal was prepared. It was beautiful and fun!

In the morning we tried to get going early (around 6) to arrive by 7am at the Akagera visitor center. But we were a little slow. And only a few meters into the park we spotted an elephant! It appeared to be a teenager -- just crossing the road and nibbling on some branches. We got to the park center around 7:30am and met our guide and driver for the day. After a brief orientation, we hopped in their safari vehicle with the opening in the roof and we were off!

I think everyone enjoyed the half-day ride through the park. Our guide was excellent. We saw impala, waterbuck, zebra, birds, a hippo. We saw the cages that brought the lions to the park last year, but not the lions themselves. At the end of our park visit we were treated to the most amazing sight of all -- a full-grown adult elephant was feeding on the side of the road as we drove up. He (she?) looked at us and we stopped and gazed at him. Then he walked towards us! He walked right up on the road in front of our car! This is when John decided to start the car and back up a bit. This gave the elephant some pause. He decided he had learned enough about this strange carload of people and continued over the road and into the bush!

31. Volcanoes National Park visits

Naomi with Intore drum and dancers at Roz Carr's farm.

Jan. 5, 2016
Naomi interviewed Ruth Ann about the family experiences the first week of January 2016 when Noah was here. The following describes our visit to the northern city of Musanze, which is near Volcanoes National Park.

On January 5th we drove from Kigali to Musanze. We stayed at a hotel called Garden Place hotel. My room was very nice and clean; it was on the first floor. We had two rooms, a girl’s room and a boy’s room. Because we were on the first floor it was very easy for Naomi and Isaac to play Frisbee just outside the sliding door. 

Early the next day we were supposed to leave the hotel at 6:15am. And the hotel had Breakfast ready and waiting for us at 5:45am. However, kids were slow getting up. When they were finally at the breakfast buffet I reminded the kids that this day, January 6^th was Epiphany, a day that is about realizing things that are from God!  So it was 6:40am when we left for the hike that started at 7:00am. Fortunately, the hiking group did not leave without Isaac and Noah, but we had missed most of the Intore dancing. (we got there just as they were finishing up.)

Noah and Isaac got to drink tea with their guide and fellow hikers as well as talk to an interesting British teacher and fellow hiker. After brief introductions the group of ten to fifteen left for the trail head in their rented safari vehicles while we drove our Rav 4 on the nasty, rocky roads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vU8RdErfYQ)

The trail head was a tiny village, where Isaac and Noah got out, got their hiking sticks from the guide and headed off down the muddy road on what looked like could be a very wet day. I drove back to the hotel with Naomi, where we met Clemens, a German student volunteering at the Episcopal church next to the hotel.

We invited Clemens to join us on our quest to find Rozemond Carr’s farm. After about an hour we found, to our delight, The Farm!

At the farm we met the guide named Ulrich. He explained that he had another group there as well, which we would learn was the very nice couple, Mike and Caroline from the Netherlands. Ulrich gave us a tour of the grounds and then explained that he had to meet Mike and Caroline who had payed and reserved a lunch inside Rozemond’s house. During the tour Naomi exclaimed, " This is so fun! I can't believe I'm here and I'm seeing this!"

Mike and Caroline invited us to join them for lunch and we great fully accepted! The six of us enjoyed lunch served by Fanuelle, who had also cooked for Rozemond! After lunch we had a tour of Rozemond's house and after that we toured the classrooms and the museum. Finally, we were ushered to the garden that was specially designed by Rozemond for guests to watch traditional dance performances. For the finale Naomi and Mike got to join the drum line!

Muddy evidence of their successful climb on Mt. Bisoke!

Our group drove back to Musanze and got to the Hotel just before Isaac and Noah got back from their hike. When they got out of the car their boots were covered in mud. So we had to get them washed. That night we made a burrito dinner in the hotel bedroom. Delicious! Everyone slept soundly.

The next day it was Naomi and my turn to do a hike. Naomi also had trouble getting out of bed, so we didn’t leave on time. That meant that we missed the Intore dancing, but didn’t miss the hike. Our guides name was Beck and his assistant was Joyce. Beck told us many interesting facts about Golden Monkeys. For example:

• The Virunga Massive is a unique habitat of the Golden Monkeys.
• Two groups have been habituated. The group that we trekked was called Kabatwa. 
• Each group has over 100 Monkeys. This was their breeding season so there were many males in the groups. 
• They are total vegetarians. Bamboo is their main food. 
• They are active during the day and sleep at night. 
• Their long tail helps them jump. 
• 20-year life span. 5-month gestation for babies. 1.5 years between babies. 
• Eagles and wild dog are their natural enemies. 

We had a twenty-minute drive to the trail head and then our group of about 17 tourists started our hike. The first part was across farm fields and then we stopped outside the fence of the national park. We waited while Beck the guide, radioed with the trackers in the forest.  It took awhile, and during this time I noticed how much Joyce seemed enchanted with Naomi. Joyce wanted to braid Naomi's hair! Naomi let her and it looked quite nice.

Soon we were over the fence into the park proper and I was loving the trek through the dense bamboo forest, uphill on a muddy, windy path where we frequently had to push aside branches and vines.  Naomi, on the other hand, did not like it at all. After 10 - 15 minutes she was asking to go back. After another 5 minutes she was nearly crying and after another 5 mins, she was crying. Everyone tried to encourage her. The guides, the other tourists, and, of course, her mother. 

Turned out it wasn't just the dense forest. She was getting stung by nettles through her thin polyester sports pants and she was getting bites from red ants that had gotten under her pants and started going up her legs. So now I felt terrible for not having her dress in heartier hiking gear. Some of the other tourists had ankle coverings that strap onto the lower leg much like "snow guards" for skiiers. I had overheard at the trailhead that these were used especially to deter the red ants. 

Naomi needed help to finish the hike to the monkey's habitat. Due to red ants, she only wanted to be carried!

Joyce ended up being Naomi's savior. She helped her get all the red ants off, she gave Naomi her polyester jacket to wrap around her waist as extra protection from nettles, she recruited the guide with the machete to make sure Naomi's path was well-cleared. After all that, when Naomi still cried pitifully to be allowed to turn back, Joyce and Beck recruited one of the porters to carry Naomi piggy back style. Then, what really helped, was hearing that they had found the Golden Monkeys! "Just 5 minutes ahead!" The rest of the group was already seeing them.

Sure enough -- just a few yards further through the bamboo, we got to a clearing where the monkeys were leaping, scampering and climbing about. Naomi stayed on the porter's back and then switched to to Joyce's back! And then, after about 30 mins, switched to another assistant guide's back (also a woman). So for the entire 1 hour that we had for "viewing" the monkeys, Naomi stayed on the back of our guides. She loved it though. We were all loving it. We laughed at the monkey's funny antics and admired "how cute" and how well they jump. We "ooo-ed" and "aaah-ed" at each new movement or scene we saw as the dozens of monkeys moved around all about us. Big ones, small ones, all with bushy cheeks, big eyes and long tails.

When it was time to go back, Naomi stayed on Joyce's back. This was a huge effort for Joyce, and we really couldn't thank her enough. When we got outside the national park border, Joyce set Naomi down and collapsed on the ground! I was so worried we had ruined her back, and therefore her career as a park guide! But eventually she recovered. She sat up and walked out, over the farm fields, with the rest of us.

Moral -- when going on a national park hike, wear proper hiking gear!