Anddddd We're Back!

As of April 18, we have officially started term 2! After a long two weeks of vacationing, getting my dog, and commemoration activities, things are starting to get back to normal while we settle into the new term. The students are back and ready to learn, and the teachers have been slowly trickling in throughout the week. Some classes have started, while others will (fingers crossed) begin in the second week. And lucky us, we are making yet another time table :) (I sincerely hope you can recognize the sarcasm here). Any time in the next few weeks we will be receiving visitors from the Ministry of Education and the Japanese Embassy to “bless” our six new classrooms; shiny and ready to be dirtied up by some nursery and primary students! All week the late students have been asked to work on gardens outside of the new structure to make it pretty for our super important visitors. But hey, who can’t be excited about meeting the Minister of Education and some other high up officials?! Great opportunity. 

Overall, this term will look a bit different for me. I will have about half of the in-class hours that I had before and will instead be focusing my energies on teacher trainings throughout my sector. Each week, I will continue to work in English clubs with my secondary students, as well as the secondary students at Rwamashongoshyo (there may or may not be a “y” after that first “sh”, I’ve seen it written on signs both ways..), and conduct teacher trainings every Friday. For the teacher trainings, I’ll be working at two schools biweekly: my school and Runyinya Primary. These skills-based trainings will hopefully help with the transition to the new, competence-based curriculum. I’ll also be organizing several sector-wide trainings (5 before December 2016, and 7-8 during the 2017 academic year) for English Teachers and School-based Mentors (SBMs). Gotta love grant writing…

Animal Updates. I still have 3 chickens, one of which is convinced that my couch is her nest and lays an egg on it every day… She also picks on my poor Simba, chasing her around the house. Aside from developing a phobia of chickens, Simba is awesome. I forgot what it was like to have a dog at home and can genuinely say my house is my home at this point. It feels complete. So far, I’ve brought her to my school once to start working with the children on appropriate behavior with animals. It was a huge success and she’ll be accompanying me more often for my shorter days at school. The kids are also learning to knock on my gate if they want to come in, and I let them play with Simba. Sometimes she tries to chase them, but for the most part she is on her best behavior as long as I’m in sight. As far as my unwanted pets that live in my house, the rats are definitely back. Haven’t seen them, but boy can I hear them. And the tiny multicolored finches have decided that flying into my house and getting stuck is quite the game. Most of my free time is spent catching and releasing tiny red birds. Or mopping my house when it floods. Or fighting a losing battle with these GIANT spiders that live on my walls/in my clothes…

But it’s all good :) Every day is an adventure and so far April has been a pretty great month. Maybe in May I’ll even get a water tank for my rain water!

Commemoration

At the end of the term, I spent the last week of exams/grading at my In-Service Training (IST). For the first time since our site installation in the beginning of December, all of Ed. 7 was reunited in the same place. Super exciting, mildly nerve-wrecking as many of us have become hermits and rarely leave our sites, exhausting, but overall good. We had some useful sessions, some much needed reconnecting time with other volunteers, and a lot of coffee and snacks. If there is one thing Peace Corps Rwanda does well, it is caffeinating and feeding us at their trainings so we don’t go completely stir crazy. Our IST finished on my birthday, so I left with a nice card from everyone and lots of hugs. That morning, a small group of us left as a caravan for the bus station to head back to Kigali where we would split up to go to our respective destinations. 

Lisa, Katrina, Stephanie, and I began our journey to Gisenyi in the northwest corner of Rwanda on the Congolese border. After a long bus ride to Musanze, what seemed like an endless twege ride, and a brief moto, we made it to our hotel on the shores of Lake Kivu to enjoy some much needed time “not swimming” (PC says we can’t swim and we don’t want to be rule breakers) in the lake ;)

We spent our first evening at a restaurant called Thai Jazz, where we ate some much needed pizza and thai curry, and then watched a local dance group perform at a neighboring bar before calling it a night. The following morning, we relaxed and enjoyed our coffee (mainly Katrina and I because the morning can’t happen without several cups of coffee) before heading to the public beach across the street from our hostel. The first half of our day was spent “not swimming” and warding off creepy Rwandan men who were convinced they could say “I love you” and we would immediately want to marry them. Not really sure how this idea became a thing.. After some nice hot showers, we walked into town where we found food and ice cream for our last night in Gisenyi. Sitting on the balcony several levels above the street, you could see the mix of Congolese and Rwandan cultures. Everything was louder, people were more outgoing, and the general atmosphere felt somehow different than it is anywhere else I have visited in Rwanda.

After some much needed relaxation, I finally got home just in time for the torrential downpours to start. Fun fact, rainy season prompts subterranean termites to shed their wings. Funner fact, they are very attracted to light and can swarm your living room in less than two minutes… The end result involves hundreds of bug wings scattered through your house and you having so much anxiety that you don’t use lights at night for a week. I thought it was a nice welcome home present… I spent the next few days cleaning, visiting my neighbors who were convinced I had gone back to America, and preparing for my dog to arrive. Then it happened. Commemoration week. 

As I’m sure many of you are aware, Rwanda suffered a brutal civil war that culminated in a genocide which claimed the lives of over one million innocent people. The Genocide Against the Tutsi lasted approximately one hundred days before the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took hold of the country and ended the widespread killings. When discussed, people say it was a crime committed by Rwandans, against Rwandans, and ended by Rwandans. For this reason, the commemoration of this genocide is very important to help fight against genocide denial and genocidal ideology that, in some cases, stays latent among the people. Starting on April 7 and continuing through April 13, every person in Rwanda is requested to attend “commemoration discussions” at the umudugudu (village) level. These discussions last anywhere from 40 minutes to 3 hours, and are led by several respected members of each community. It is a time to discuss the history of Rwanda, the factors that led to the genocide, the consequences of the genocide, and for survivors and perpetrators to come together to seek reconciliation within their community. Some survivors speak about what happened, but many just ask the perpetrators to tell them where to find the bodies of their loved ones. Twenty-two years have passed, but every year new mass graves are found and the bodies of those killed are relocated to genocide memorials throughout the country. For instance, in my community, the bodies of people who had been killed were discovered and brought to the memorial. At our meetings, perpetrators were encouraged to come forward and help to identify the names of the individuals who had been found in order to provide closure for their families. For those few hours every day, the entire country shuts down. It is almost impossible to find any public transportation, all of the shops are closed, and anyone not attending the meeting stays inside their house. Commemoration is a solemn time in Rwanda, but it is amazing to see people come together to help the survivors in their communities to get through this period of mourning. Words cannot describe what happened here, and the pain that is still felt, but the collective, genuine dedication to rebuilding Rwandan society is phenomenal. No one will ever forget what happened in Rwanda, and no one should ever try to forget, but time is slowly healing the deep gashes that were left in the wake of 1994.

Reflections on Packing

This post is meant for all of those anxious FPCVs who are searching the internet for blogs to help them with packing, as I know I did about this time last year. You’ve accepted your invitation, you’re all sorts of stressed out about medical clearance, but you’re almost there and the idea that this is really happening is both extremely exciting and mildly terrifying. BREATHE. It’ll all be ok. Packing was easily one of the most stressful aspects of my Peace Corps experience thus far, and probably will maintain that title until I approach my COS conference. So below, find a recommended packing list for PC Rwanda. Hope it helps :)

1. Luggage (BRING A HIKING BACKPACK, a smaller carry-on backpack, and a normal suitcase. Duffel bags get ripped easily)

2. Sleeping Bag (I didn’t bring one, but ended up buying one later on after training. You need this for PST and its great for when you go to visit other volunteers) *Sidenote: I brought my own pillow and am soooooooo happy that I did*

3. Sheets (Bring 1 twin fitted sheet for your bed, maybe at your host family, but maybe not until you get to site. Also bring one full size flat sheet)

4. Power converters (bring a universal power adapter/converter to have during PST, unless all of your stuff will work with 240v *still need an adapter*)

5. Phone (I brought my unlocked iPhone with me, it’s been great to have and you save a lot of money from not having to buy a decent phone while here; bring a good case like otterbox or lifeproof)

6. Laptop (I highly recommend you bring a laptop with Microsoft office and a good antivirus program if you can. It will make life so much easier when you are writing grants)

7. 1TB external hard drive (I bought a drop-proof one on Amazon for about $50 I think)

8. Flash Drives (Bring 2-3 good sized flash drives *I brought this many because I lose them all the time...*)

9. Clothes 

Women: 2 light, neutral colored sweaters; 1 pair jean capris; 1 pair black skinny jeans; 2 below-the-knee length skirts; 4 nicer short-sleeved shirts; 3 nice sleeveless, but still cover tops of shoulders, shirts; 2-3 undershirts/tank tops; a ton of underwear; 2 bras; 4-5 pairs of socks; rain jacket

Guys (via Byron): 5 dress shirts (some short sleeve), 3 dress pants, 2 t-shirts, 1 pair jeans, 7 pairs socks, 7 pairs underwear, 1 tie, 1 fleece jacket, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of swim shorts, 1 towel, 1 belt [khaki pants get dirty after one wear, so don’t. Black socks are fantastic because you can’t see if they are dirty] 

*don’t worry too much about clothes, you will get a bunch made from the local fabrics and you can also buy clothes in the markets*

10. Shoes 

Women: Teva Capri and Teva Kayenta *great for the rainy season*; black keds; running sneakers

Guys (via Byron): 2 pairs dress shoes, 1 pair normal shoes, most guys bring chacos too

11. Cosmetics and Whatnot (just bring enough shampoo and body wash to make it 3 months; I don’t everrrrr wear make up here, save the room)

12. Watch (I brought my running watch Timex Ironman Triathalon series; soooo important for managing classes and generally keeping track of what day it is)

13. School Supplies (I wish I had brought more of this and less clothes. Bring children’s books, ESL/TEFL short activity books, etc.)

14. Kitchen Stuff (bring a few of your favorite spices, you can buy more in Kigali but they are expensive; DEFINITELY bring a good knife and a sharpener)

15. Miscellaneous (leatherman multipurpose tool; battery powered fan *awesome for those hot sticky nights*; rechargeable batteries *regular batteries are available but they are poor quality and there is no good way to dispose of them*; host family gift *just bring something from home for your parents, don’t worry about kids*; headlamp is key because chances are you’ll be wandering to your latrine/cooking/generally losing power/ expect to be in the dark); bring things from home that will help you make your house a home and feel comfortable, and things that will entertain you when you inevitably get reallyyyyyy bored over school breaks; BRING A GOOD WATER BOTTLE)

16. Kindle or e-book reader (you'll get a ton of free books from other PCVs)

 

I hope this helps and seriously don’t stress too much. Literally anything you can’t fit, don’t worry you can most likely buy it in Kigali, however you will not have access to Kigali for most of (Pre-Service Training) PST!