Over the past two weeks I have begun to settle in to life in Rwanda. I haven't done anything worth taking a picture of so this update will be a little dry. I'll do better I promise. I have been going to Kigali each Friday. There are many people based there that I need to meet with, plus there's the issue of trying to get my work visa, so I just plan on the weekly trip. I take the bus, it is 2 hours each way and costs 3,000 Rwandan franks (about $5.50). In Kigali, there are the little mini-vans that will take you all the way across town for 150 Rf, which is little more than a quarter.
Going on Fridays tricks me into thinking that I have a 3-day weekend and taking the bus helps me to develop language skills. I have my vocabulary sheets, but it seems like the right word is never there. It's the same way when the locals try to talk to me, their English vocabulary is limited so what they say might not be what they intend to say. For example, I started taking tennis lessons because tennis is the only opportunity for recreation here in town. The tennis instructor is a really nice guy who is Rwandan and also speaks French. At the end of the lesson last Saturday, he pointed to his stomach and said "it is because you are soft here that you chase your breath." I thanked him for pointing that out to me.
I am also learning to adjust to "Rwanda Time." It is a time zone like none other. I learned about Rwanda time this past week when I went to my first faculty meeting. The meeting was scheduled for 9am. I was there at 8:55. Two other faculty members were on time and they both brought their computers with them. I thought that it was odd to bring your computer to a meeting. By the time that the meeting finally started at 10:45, they had gotten much work done. I'll take mine next time.
I share an office with a great guy, Dr. Bhebhe from Zimbabwe. He has a PhD. in Animal Breeding from Texas A&M so we have lots to talk about. While he and I were waiting for the faculty meeting to start, I asked him if there would be doughnuts. We laughed and throughout the day would mention other foods from home that are unique to the states, like hot wings, pit bar-b-q, a backyard fish fry and cheeseburgers.
On Wednesday morning I learned a few things from Bhebhe. I was late to work because I went to town to watch the election coverage on the TV at the local hotel. There was a huge crowd there and they were all cheering. When I got to the office, Bhebhe was watching the election coverage on his computer. We talked a bit about the election. I won't bother you with all of the trouble in Zimbabwe since their previous election, but with that history on his mind, he watched ours in amazement. He saw the large crowds that were not violent, he saw the mixing of races celebrating together and not killing each other, he saw one party transfer power to the other without military intervention and he discussed how these things have never happened in Africa. Here, the national boundaries cross many tribal boundaries. It sounds strange at first but imagine America without ever having European settlers, now overlay the states and force the tribes to get along. I realized that the world is so interested in US politics because it functions as it is intended to. We actually pull it off. Only about half of us are ever happy with the results and we argue and debate the issues, I always tell myself that the whole thing is a waste of time, but it isn't a waste of time. In most countries, people die if they oppose the ruling party. People get beaten, houses burned down and families murdered as examples to any neighbor who thinks of voting for the challenger. The world watches America and cheers because we vote without violence, they watch in amazement and dream that it could happen in their country some day.
On Monday I am going back to Uganda. A guy there that I will be working with told me the other night that he voted once but never will again. He talked about the corruption and the violence, the threats and the bribes, he commented on how fortunate we were to have that opportunity and for the process to occur peacefully.
At MGVP I work with a guy from Congo, he too praises our system. Monday night he asked me if I had voted. I told him that initially I wasn't going to but I eventually did at the US Embassy in Kigali. He told me that it was good, regardless of who I voted for. He explained how things have gone in his country, that the elections never matter, about how people never allow democracy to take place. He told me that the system is there, but that when a person becomes frustrated, they don't discuss things and wait for the next election and use the system, instead they assemble an army and take control of a region, like Nkunda is doing now.
I was in Nairobi, Kenya last year just before there election and there was much tension around the town. After the election, whole communities were burned, murder and mayhem prevailed. They celebrated this past week because a descendant from that country is now the President of the greatest nation on earth, they also celebrated the fact that it was even a possibility, that it occurred peacefully, it's an amazing concept that we all just assume but the folks here can only dream of.
On a lighter note, I had a different conversation with Benerd, my friend from Uganda, trying to explain daylight savings time. The Equator goes through Uganda so for him, where he lives, over the course of a year the sunrise will vary by 10 minutes. On the longest period of daylight, the sun rises at 6:55am and on the shortest, 7:05am. There have been other interesting conversations this past week like explaining time zones when discussing why the election results come in at different times across the country. I also had fun explaining about swing states and why the focus was different for different states by the campaigns. It is really fun to see how unique our country is through the eyes of the people here.
