The pace of life these days is wonderful. I had an amazing two weeks in Rwanda that
ended with a night of bowling and ‘clubbing’ with a new group of friends that I
had met through a friend of a friend of a friend x2. The club we went to was supposed to be
popular locally, and had a classy hippie intellectual feel, but wasn’t said to
pick up until 3am. We left around 2:30
when exhaustion and lack of sufficient people watching took hold. It was a great group and I love meeting young
people who have had amazing experiences, are incredibly bright, and are
passionate about what they’re doing. My
final day in Rwanda was spent with my Professor, learning more about her work, each
other’s lives, and how to spot the unadvertised gems that aren’t in the guide
book. I love clasping my lonely planet
anywhere I go to make sure I see all that there is to “see,” learn about the
area, and mostly to feel confident that I won’t be seen as an incompetent
tourist and thus easily taken advantage of.
My professor Nancy, fellow classmate Jen, and I crossed the
border into the DRC yesterday around 1pm.
We took an easy flight from Kigali to Kimembe (on the Rwanda side) and
got in a taxi to the crossing. The
southern side of Lake Kivu seemed more appealing to me than the north that I
had visited. I don’t know if it was
because the view is better, looking down at the water with great greenery, or
if it is my optimism knowing that this is the place I will be spending some
time in and my excitement sees it as preferable. Either way- it’s undeniably gorgeous. And for this I’m grateful. Nancy’s colleagues met us at the crossing,
which made it a smooth process for us.
It was actually simpler than any other border crossing I’ve done in
Africa, because there weren’t swarms of people. Had they not met us, I’m pretty sure it could
have been the most difficult crossing I’ve ever made on this continent. The
bridge to cross over did surprise me and I wasn’t sure that cars made it over
it, but sure enough we did.
We had a very warm welcoming and Nancy’s colleagues had
decorated the house since her last visit to make it more like a home. We sat and talked for a while, much in French
which I’m trying to be diligent in listening to and using my dictionary, but
also in Swahili and English. Paul is an
engineer who started an organization called Rama Levina Foundation with his
wife who is a doctor trained at Panzi, a well known hospital in the area, but I
haven’t met her yet. Rama Levina
provides health services to those hardest to reach including with mobile
clinics. I am hoping that this will be a
good connection for me to explore the issues I am interested in. Remy started a microfinance organization with
Paul’s brother called PAIDEK, but more remarkable for me, has 10 successful
children! Clovis, Remy’s son stayed in
the house while no one was here and is an economist on the project. They are all remarkable people that I hope and
am excited that I get to learn about their country from.
The project house is massive and I feel a bit spoiled like
we are staying at a beach house. Right
now I’m sitting on the second floor living room that has a balcony overlooking
the lake and peninsula where the largest UN peacekeeping force in the world (MONESCO)
has a base. Last night Jen and I were
sipping our airport bought treasure Amarula on the balcony when we witnessed
the UN slowly patrolling the street below us.
It was kind of surreal and we actually stopped a beat to acknowledge how
strange it was. We were sitting in the
Congo (where I’ve dreamed of coming for a few years) feeling fairly secure, but
knowing and curious about the undercurrents of what we don’t know about that
are both frightening and intriguing.
Last night when we were out to dinner, since we hadn’t yet
bought our stock, Nancy got a call from a former colleague Eileen. An American woman was sick, at a local
private hospital, and they were worried.
Nancy and Jen are both nurses, so they went to check it out. Ashley is a 28 year old woman and we have a
remarkable number of similarities. We
both just finished our first year of PhD programs, vegetarian, interested in
mental health and trauma recovery, became yoga teachers in our quest to
understand healing the mind, determined to work in the DRC, and our birthdays fall
on the days that alternate as the summer solstice. Strange.
After a rough day and night, Ashley is now staying with us and it has
been a pleasure to learn about her work and meet the Congolese friends she has
made.
Today was our first trip to the market and Jen and I decided
it was best to people watch outside the market as Angelina, who helps out at
the house, and Nancy haggled with the sellers.
Paul has invited us to his nephew’s wedding on Thursday and I stupidly
didn’t bring anything nice to wear so I’m on a mission to get a dress made by
Thursday. I may fail, but darn it, I’m
gonna try. The first step of buying
fabric is complete. Jen and I found a
blue and green wax fabric that looks like it has peacocks on it J Ashley works with a woman who teaches sewing
and sows well and fast, so hopefully we can get dresses and go as twins to the
wedding. I love weddings and
dancing.
On the way back from our excursion today, I had my first
adverse experience with the police. Our
car was selected as one to be pulled over and checked to make sure all our
documents we in order. The glove
compartment was a bit out of order, but the 4 documents required were in
there. We were stopped at a roundabout
where there is a statue of some soldiers and 6 Congolese flags. I, more impressed with the pretty blue flags
actually than the metal monument, started taking pictures while we were still
driving. Something about flags and the
display of loving one’s country always gets to me. I’m so American. When we were stopped, Jen passed her phone to
me to snap a picture.
Whopsiedaisies. The police didn’t
like that and instantly started talking fast and angry. I tried to talk but they didn’t want to
hear. One police came around to my side,
stuck his hand through my window trying to open the back door. Nancy, with impeccable reflexes, pushed his
hand out, rolled up the windows, locked the doors, and turned off the car. When things settled down, she opened the
window a tad and said it wasn’t right for him to try and enter a car with three
women in it, it was our first time here and we didn’t know, and that all our
documents were in order. She then got a
call from Clovis who had heard through the grapevine that we had been stopped
and was checking to make sure we were okay.
We were, the police said we could go right after the call.
This evening I went on a run with Nancy which confirmed that
I need to get my arse in better shape.
It was fun running along these streets because it was almost like
running in a race. I suppose it’s a
semi-strange sight to see 2 white ladies running along so we easily attracted a
bit of attention. I was running behind
Nancy, sometimes at longer distances than other times, and felt empowered by
frequent comments of “courage” (in French) and smiles from men and women. When we got home Remy had stopped by to
visit, for work planning, and to check that all was okay. Later, in a house full of non-cooking types,
we made an exciting dinner of eggs, sweet potatoes and avocado. Eileen and her brother Alan had come to visit
bearing a large basket of fruit and veg from their father (who we had met the
night before in the hospital) possibly worried that the 3 vegetarians need to
get enough to eat. Not eating meat may
be stranger here than it was even in Tanzania and I have a feeling that I will
probably be doing some meat eating at some point over the summer. The avocados here are almost the same size as
the watermelon I’ve seen in Africa (which is much smaller than the American
ones) and very tasty. Just as the 6 of
us were enjoying our platter of eggs, potatoes, and avocado, the lights went
out. With a little help from
solar-powered lanterns, we were able to enjoy the rest of our dinner along with
some interesting conversation about how health centers and prisons operate
here.