Over two weeks in Rwanda and it's a weird feeling because on one hand time is flying by way too fast and on the other hand I feel like I have been here forever! I am completely accostomed to not expecting toilet seats, toilet paper, soap or even running water to flush or wash hands.... I have even gotten really used to holes in the ground. I am used to bucket laundry, eating and living with all kinds of creatures, nightfall at 6pm, taking motos to work and all around the city....
Still however getting used to being called "mezungu" everywhere I go, which means "white person". I have never been so aware of the colour of my skin or the assumptions that go along with it. I have never before experienced being such a visibly different target or treated so differently because of my ethnicity. It is something that is Definitely hard to adjust to.... Especially when I am stopped to ask why I am here, how it compares to America... "we don't have much like you do over there....we get by with what we have." I never know what to say or how to respond. Yes, our lifestyle is most definitely one of excess and luxury, and day to day I don't have to think about rationing or fetching water,what I will eat for dinner or how I will manage a fulltime job during school to finance an education. There are assets here that our society has lost touch with however... The sense of community, talking with neighbours, the culture of embracing friends and holding hands and appreciating the gift of each day. I have 3 more weeks but I am already scared of how I will adjust to the culture shock I know will be inevitable upon my return. I am extremely appreciative of the opportunity to immerse myself in this different way of life, to get a more wordly view and understand and connect with a different culture. One thing I have definitely seen here is that no matter how different our lifestyles are there is something special about the universality of a smile, a handshake, dancing and sharing a laugh across language and cultural divides. I have been able to experience the reality of a global community and our shared humanity.
A brief overview of the last couple weeks....we started our fieldwork placements with one of our 5 partner organizations; Ishyo, COPORWA, usienga y manzi, AJPRODHO, and RAPP, the one I am placed with. More about that later. We have also gone on many incredible field visits including "ivuka arts" an organization that provides art classes and a childrens dance troupe for kids in a rough community in Kigali. I went to visit "rwanda knits" a program ofRAPP and part of the "women's village of hope" a village of women creating various projects to generate income. We went as a group to a human rights NGO called LIPRODHOR "league for the promotion of human rights in rwanda". Went to a city called Butare for the weekend to see one of our Rwandan participants in a concert and another participant at the orphanage he runs as part of the "rwandan village concept project".
3 of us went to a memorial about 45 minutes away from butare called Marambi. This was the site of the mass killing of 50 000 people in April 1994. 18 000 bodies have been excavated from mass graves and are in display in the rooms upon rooms of the abandoned school. It was overwhelming and eerie and somehow still unimaginable even being in the room witnessing the result of genocide. I am glad I took the trip out there: to pay tribute and to be left forever with real images I won't get out of my head.... Information in a book or movie is too easy to take in and move on. This is a permanent reminder. I couldn't help but remember my experiences travelling to concentration camps of the holocaust last summer and was filled with anger that I have been a witness and have seen the sites of one too many places.
Sunday back in Kigali our LAC human rights delegation hosted a mini conference on "arts for peace and human rights" with local artists from theatre, dance, music, visual, literary and film backgrounds. Today we had meetings with the Media High Council as well as the National Human Rights Commission. Tomorrow morning we are meeting with the Ministry of Sport and Culture.
This week is full of fieldwork projects, more visits to local NGO's and the Nyamata Church memorial. Really looking forward to experiencing it all!!!
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