Since last post (5 days ago) we have done multiple things that all require their own in-depth & well-constructed posts. Namely:
1. Toured Western Rwanda - Nyungwe rainforest, Lake Kivu, Northern lakes & volcanoes region. So beautiful and so different from our safari last week!
Fabulous rainforest
Most amazing sunset ever - Lake Ruhondo
2. Hired an interpreter & had an extended conversation with our house staff, Theo (guard) and Violetta (housecleaner), covering their personal histories (challenging and tragic), their aspirations (opportunities for their children and themselves), our place in our community (should we let the kids come in The Gate?? Should we give them stuff? It's very. very. complicated.), and more mundane aspects of house management (where should we put the shoes that we want/don't want to have washed?). Emotionally exhausting... extended post needed on continuing process of confronting global inequities & our micro/interpersonal & macro/systems-level role(s) / inadequacies in addressing them. (I'm finding myself needing to cycle between looking at/ looking away... as noted, much longer post needed.) Interpreter is scheduled to come back on Thurs so we can talk to our neighbor, Vestine, and the village head. Goal: figure out how we can be good neighbors, or not bad neighbors, or ???, in this particular context.
3. (Earlier today- present) Field trip back to N Rwanda with a team of local & CU Boulder researchers + billionaire philanthropists connected to Bridges to Prosperity and other development projects. Mom & Caleb joined for the morning to see a school (where my CU Boulder colleague Evan Thomas & his team have installed water filters) and a B2P bridge, and then Ahya/Caleb went home and I continued on with the team to stay overnight in the volcanos region and visit some more sites tomorrow. More thoughts than I have the capacity to relay rn on research, power structures, imperialism, capacity building, knowledge ownership, etc etc etc.... [Sidenote: This blog's many Caleb-aficionados will be interested and likely unsurprised to hear that he was pulled over by the Rwandan police & our registration-equivalent paperwork was confiscated (the person we're renting from apparently doesn't have the right license), and then 5 MINUTES LATER he/we got a photo speeding ticket... some things are universal.]
Here we are on this bridge, with Christian. He's great.
The team at dinner.
Headed back to Kigali tomorrow. Caleb goes back to CO on Friday for 2.5 weeks, which will be an interesting next chapter. Taking applications for short-term drivers/ neighborhood diplomats / financial managers, along with the previously-posted documentarian position.
We’re back in Kigali for a couple of days in between our two
safaris with Ahya. On Saturday morning
our guide, Anaclet, picked us up in his safari vehicle and we drove from Kigali
to the South entrance of Akagera National Park.
Along the way we stopped at a fruit stand and stocked up on bananas,
pineapple, mangos, and passionfruit for the trip.
Once we got to the park, it didn’t take long to start seeing
wildlife! Our first sighting was a pumba
(warthog) that Anaclet spotted – I missed that one, but we found a small troop
of baboons a few minutes later.
(Sidenote: we had fun looking up names for groups of different safari
animals… found some very entertaining ones.)
We continued our tour of the south end of the park and saw an obstinacy
of Cape buffalo, a dazzle of zebras, and a few giraffes (not a full tower
or kaleidoscope yet). Also
lots and lots of impalas and topi, another type of antelope. We found a couple of white rhinos (not a full
crash), and then stopped at a lakeshore and spotted a bloat of
hippos.
We then drove from the south end of the park up to the
north, stopping for lunch at a pretty lakeside spot where Lexi practiced her
gymnastics (she’s been doing a LOT of that, and has mastered her
backbend!).
We arrived at the Karenge Bush Camp around 5 pm and had a
few minutes to unload our stuff into our tents (definitely a “glamping” set-up
– Logan/Dylan, we decided the tents reminded us of Animal Crossing).
Then we loaded back up into a different open-air
safari vehicle for a night drive! This
was definitely a highlight of the trip.
We drove down the hill from the camp as the sun was setting and were
greeted by our first elephant, an old bull who was right next to the road. Such a treat to hang out with him for a
while.
As it was starting to get dark, we also saw an owl and two
hyenas (less than a cackle) headed out to hunt. We continued our drive into the night – we
had two guides and one drove while the other shined a spotlight back and forth,
looking for eyes reflecting in the dark.
Quite an experience to explore the bush and savannah in the dark. We saw many “prey” animals – tons of zebras
and topi and impalas just doing their thing and trying to avoid being eaten. We didn’t end up seeing any other big
predators aside from the hyenas, but we did spot a few little genets, which
basically look like housecats with slightly longer noses. Another highlight was finding ourselves in an
open savannah filled with fireflies – we turned off the lights and enjoyed that
and the starlight for a while.
The next morning we were up at dawn again for a sunrise
drive.So many birds!This lilac-breasted roller was definitely my
favorite.
As we were getting ready to turn back for breakfast, another
vehicle tipped us off that they’d just seen a lion up the road 1-2 km. We drove up the road and right when we thought
we’d missed him and needed to turn around, we spotted the big guy lying in the
tall grass! Pretty magical.
He got up and moved when we got a little closer in the car,
and we saw that he had a limp. Anaclet
thought he may have gotten it by stepping in a hole as he was chasing prey – he
seemed to think the injury wasn’t too serious and he would recover. We hung out and watched him a while longer
and then went back to Karenge for breakfast, then quickly packed up and spent several hours driving back down to the south end of the park to the Akagera Game Lodge. Lovely and more of a classic resort feel, with a pool the kids enjoyed and great view over the park.
On Sunday morning we drove down to the lake for a boat cruise. In safari-dom, the animals known as the Big Five are the rhino, elephant, buffalo, lion, and leopard. Apparently this goes back to hunting/poaching days - these are the hardest animals to kill I guess? We certainly weren't trying to kill anything, but seeing "the Big Five" is still a thing, and the only one we were missing was the leopard. We looked for one on the way too and from the boat but no luck. Oh well.
On the boat ride we many more bloats of hippos...
and lots and lots of cool birds. This goliath heron was my favorite.
We also spotted a crocodile but he slipped back into the water too quickly for a photo.
After the boat we made our way back to the hotel, packed up, and did one "Last Impression" tour - we were lucky and spotted a small crash ofwhite rhinos, and lots and lots of baboons.
Then we said goodbye to Akagera and drove from the park to a nearby community where a friend of Anaclet's has started a cultural village. The goal is to teach local communities about pre-colonial culture and social structures in order to preserve some of this heritage and promote a renewed social unity: they repeated what we heard at the genocide museum, which was that Rwandans of different groups (cattle herders, agriculturalists, tradespeople) lived in harmony before colonization, and that the division and eventual genocide were the result of a loss of that unity. In the village, they have different types of houses that people in these different groups would have lived in. They also have cattle and a banana farm, and we got to participate in making banana juice, which would then be made into banana beer. It was quite a process, peeling the bananas and then mashing them up by hand in a big trough.
They also teach traditional dance to local schoolchildren, and we got to watch a short performance and try it out ourselves. None of the kids were willing to try it but Ahya and I gave it a shot. My young teacher was very engaging and patient with me!
[I'll add these village pictures later - out of time right now!]
After the village, Anaclet brought us up to our final lodging spot (and possibly our favorite): the Akagera Rhino Lodge. We stayed in three separate units, all very unique and comfortable with amazing views (despite the ubiquitous haze) of the countryside, park, and lake. A very relaxing end to our trip.
On Monday we had a lazy morning and headed home! And now we're packed up and about to head out on safari #2 to the west (rainforests and lakes).
1. Thursday was International Day at Green Hills. The primary school classes each represented a country and had a parade in the morning. Lexi's class repped Pakistan.
2. Ahya arrived Thursday night!! Our first visitor!
We got to show her around a little today, and have been enjoying the various treats she brought for us, including... TORTILLA CHIPS which we ate with fresh guac from our avocado tree today!!! So good. She also got to spend a little time with neighbors outside the gate today, and experience the overwhelm and moral tumult that is so much of our life these days. Welcome! And then off to Pili Pili for dinner!
3. Tomorrow at 6 am we're heading out to Akagera National Park on our first safari! The kids have the week off so we're squeezing in a couple of adventures. So... I'm going to bed.
For today's adventure I decided it was time for a haircut. I went to a "saloon" on the main road close to our house.
Before
After
Here's the pic I showed the guy to give him a sense of what I was going for. Twins, right??
I got a little nervous when I saw that the scissors he had were the same ones Athena bought for $2 at a nearby shop. He did most of his work with the clippers, though, and while it's a little uneven, it'll do for now.
After the chaos of last week we've enjoyed a mostly calm weekend. (By the way, yesterday marked 5 weeks here!) Our main excitement yesterday was taking Lexi to get her ears pierced! Our arbitrary family rule is that you can do this when you turn 8, and Lexi told us she was ready. We went to Mothaland Arts, a tattoo shop and piercing place, where Jaycee welcomed us, numbed Lexi's ears with a topical cream, and then did the piercing. We enjoyed the Kendrick Lamar soundtrack and the cool art on the walls while we waited. This ain't no Piercing Pagoda. Smooth experience overall, and Caleb has plans to go back... stay tuned.
Before...
Waiting for the anesthetic to work...
Here we go... a little nervous.
After!
Thanks, Jaycee!
From there we headed to Pili Pili, a restaurant/hotel/small resort-y space not far from our house that we were introduced to by a colleague on Friday. Lexi brought her friend Sophia, and we all spent a long afternoon relaxing by the pool (and swimming, in Lexi and Sophia's case), sipping cocktails and juices, eating yummy food, playing football, enjoying the beautiful view, and generally decompressing. It was exactly the day we needed. Feeling much better and ready for the week ahead.
Let's get back to normal, shall we? You know what's good for that? Food!
Before we left I knew there would be things we'd miss food-wise while we were here. We brought a small stash of some comfort foods (like Annie's mac and cheese and peanut butter) and I talked to master chef TyTy about maybe making us a bundle of ingredients to take with us. We decided it made more sense for us to get here and figure out what we can/can't get and then have him help put together some things for Ahya to bring when she comes (this week!). With us just passing the one month mark here & Ahya's trip around the corner, Ty reached out to see if I knew enough yet about what we might need. I told him that aside from a short list of items I've already asked Ahya to bring (more Annie's, dijon mustard), what I'd really is like is a consult with him about how to make the most of all of the things I can get here. We're talking later today. Here are some notes I sent about what we can/can't find so far.
Here are some abundant items:
Rice
Potatoes
Onions
Beans (lots of kinds)
Tomatoes
There is maize (not sweet corn). Don't know what to do with that. Corn flour also available.
Green bananas/ possibly plantains?
Veggies in the local markets:
Eggplant - big purple ones & also some little green things that I think might be an eggplant variety? (Gisèle confirmed these are eggplant and very yummy fried with onions)
Cauliflower
Carrots
Green beans
Peppers (bell & hot)
Greens from our garden - still don't know what they're called but they're very yummy sauteed with garlic
I put an egg on them this morning. Delicious.
Available at fancier supermarket:
Broccoli
Mushrooms
We have cooking oil (olive & sunflower) & a pretty good spice rack. Couple of spice mixes we made & brought with us (taco seasoning, breakfast potato mix). Seems like we can get most spices we'd want here. Fresh ginger is also abundant.
Meat - locally, can get whole chicken (or the butcher James will hack it into pieces if I want).
Boneless chicken available at fancier stores. Beef also available in different forms (Caleb has made burgers with ground beef from the fancy supermarket).
Tilapia available very fresh (pulled out of a tank & chopped up on site).
Also in frozen fillets at the supermarket. Another fish called capitaine which is likely Nile perch. Tofu is rumored to be available at one Indian grocer but they haven't had it when we've gone twice.
Peanuts & peanut flour also abundant.
Stove:
We have a gas range (4 burners) & electric oven. Unlike our last place there is a temp control on this one but I don't know how accurate it is. Could probably get a thermometer but that might be an easy thing for mom to bring - would help Mazie bake, which I'd like to encourage. We don't have a grill of any type.
We miss tortillas & have been successful making flour ones. I've also learned we can get fresh & very yummy chapati (tortilla-adjacent) on our main street. (Got some for me & Lexi on our way to school a few days ago. 100 RWF or about 10 cents each.) With abundant avocadoes (including from our own tree) we'd love tortilla chips which don't exist here... I think I'd need masa harina (not just corn flour) to make corn tortillas to turn into chips. (Ty found a recipe that uses cornmeal & flour... gonna try that.) (As I'm writing this, we are sitting poolside at Pili Pili, a recent find not far from home with the relaxed & vacation-y vibe we're needing right now. We ordered the guacamole & chips. The chips are not french fries, which is what chips normally are here, but some type of fried dough. An ok guac vessel but an inadequate tortilla chip substitute. The quest continues.)
One other funny food note. We've now heard from two Rwandans (Joseph & Gisèle) that people here have a different relationship with food - it's a necessity, not really something to fuss over or talk about. As Joseph put it, you don't talk about it when it comes out, why talk about it when it goes in? However, two other Rwandans (Lambert & Olive) disagreed, saying that food is important and discussed here like other places. It's almost like Rwandans aren't all the same and have different experiences from one another. Weird.
Let me start by saying that everyone is fine and we’re going
to be okay.So, as you read below, you
can get worried, but don’t overdo it, okay?
As you all know from our last post, we were robbed on
Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.As you can imagine, it has called into question some of our assumptions of this
place and some of our hopes for our experience.We want our kids to experience something different from Louisville and
something different from the US.We know
that will come with struggle and sadness and some scary moments along the
way.But, it’s not our intention to put
our kids' lives in danger.No educational
adventure is worth the health and safety of our children.And yet, here we are in the middle of Africa
surrounded by danger.No, Rwanda and
Kigali are not suddenly dangerous.The
world is dangerous and Rwanda is no different.I mean, it’s different, but the world is not free of risks.As Katie said in her post, the risk of
property theft is not unique to our new community. We’ve experienced it in
every state we’ve lived in the US and I’ve felt much safer here than in most
major cities in the US.
But on the way to school, there’s a section of the sidewalk
missing and I keep thinking, does no one ever get distracted, not see the hole
and fall into it?I’ve posted about the
traffic here, but pedestrians are not protected.It’s real life frogger and you’ve got to be
aware of that.
Today, as the kids and Katie approached the school, there
was one more major intersection to cross.The huge traffic circle near the middle school.This is a tough spot, because the road is
pretty wide and cars don’t yield to pedestrians.The good news is that the traffic gets heavy
enough that it all just kind of comes to a stop and you can walk through.Well, while they were waiting to cross, Mazie
was standing on the back edge of the sidewalk, when another pedestrian walked
by her.In order to make room, she took
a step back.However, the sidewalk ended
there and Mazie stepped back into nothing.Behind her was a 20 foot cliff (retaining wall).Her heavy backpack dragged her down quickly
and she fell headfirst down the wall.She hit her butt and backpack on the wall and flipped over a second time
as she approached the bottom of the retaining wall.She did a full flip and landed feet first in
the concrete ditch full of water.She
fell 20 feet, did a back flip and landed in the middle of a concrete structure.She bruised her butt and scraped her right
arm and her thighs a little.She’s absolutely
fine.However, a slightly different fall
could have ended with her head hitting first on a concrete edge.How she tumbled that far with no serious
injury is purely remarkable. A miracle, if you're into that sort of thing.
No educational adventure is worth the health and safety of our
children.Yet here we are.An intruder in our home on Wednesday morning
and our child falling to her near death on Thursday morning.So now what? Pack up and go home? I mean,
maybe.Is this really worth it?What are we getting out of this?What are we learning and how are we
helping?Are we really at risk of dying
on this trip?
The answer is yes.Of
course.(sorry, there were a lot of questions
in that last paragraph and I assumed you knew which one I was answering) Yes, we’re at risk of dying on this trip.But not in a profoundly different way than we’re
at risk of dying on the flight over, or by going to a school in the US that
might experience an active shooter.It’s
bullshit to pretend that we can entirely avoid risk.
(live interruption of the blog, but it’s relevant.
Theo is going around checking all our doors to make sure we’re
locked up tight for the night. That’s great, but having someone try to open
that back door while I sit in the dining room is a bit unnerving. It’s Theo,
right?)
We’ve always attempted to parent our kids without a
leash.You all may know of it as “Dickinson
style parenting” which is just a complicated version of “they’ll never learn
their lessons if you don’t allow them to suffer some consequences for their
actions.”We want our kids to walk the
world aware of their surroundings, trusting of those they meet, but aware of
the inherent risks in the world.
Is this strategy going to get them hurt?Yeah, probably. But if the goal is to prevent
them from ever getting hurt, that’s a game you’ll never win.We’d rather give them the tools to identify
threats, avoid negative outcomes, and overcome injuries (mental and
physical).
Are we actually accomplishing any of that here?I don’t know.Seriously.
I just don’t think a stolen tv and a freak accident are
reasons to abandon this journey.We
might need to slow down and talk more about some of these serious dangers.
It’s hard though, because we’ve been trying really hard not
to look down on this country or the people who live here.It’s hard to say, “In America, there would be
a guard rail there to prevent this exact situation, so you’ll have to be
careful here, since they don’t have those kinds of rules to protect human life.”(You should hear the voice I’m using when I
say that.Total asshole.)
It does feel like Rwanda is stuck in the past in some ways.Not stuck, just behind.We didn’t used to have rules about how wide
the railings on your deck could be until enough babies crawled through railings
and fell.They have fewer laws around
worker safety, pedestrian safety, road quality, etc, etc.Why though?Just seems like people who make 2 dollars a day and don’t have running
water have more to worry about than guard rails on a sidewalk.
Here's another example.All over town the shoulders of the road end with a concrete ditch.It’s about a foot outside the line and it’s
about 3 feet deep.It would take nothing
at all to veer 2 feet to the right and drive into one of those ditches.(I’ve seen one motorcycle and one car stuck
in a ditch, so far.)We would never
allow that in the US.So, Rwanda is more
dangerous than the US.Okay.But no one outside the military owns a gun here.So, there you go.Suicide rates in Rwanda don’t come close to
our epidemic in the US.
What’s gonna kill Mazie?Maybe a terribly constructed retaining wall sidewalk situation in Kigali
or maybe an out-of-control skier in Winter Park.
We can’t live our lives in fear, but we need to not be
idiots about the risks that are right in front of our face.
We’re not leaving here, yet.We’re learning and growing and failing and succeeding.We’re not done doing whatever we’re doing.
It’s hard to write this post, because we want you all to
know how lovely it is here and how much we’re enjoying getting to know this
place.To tell you that some of the
roads smell like sewage or that crossing the street is dangerous feels like a
bad part of the story that we should just leave out. #VisitRwanda
In 7 days, Katie’s mom will be here to visit us.In 9 days we’re going to Akagera Park for a safari.Our first “vacation” of the trip.We’re going to see rhinos and elephants and
leopards and lions and all sorts of amazing natural beauty.
It’s great here, but it’s also real.It’s not perfect.
Love you all.Miss
most of you!
PS
Some thoughts from Mazie about her fall.And yes, these are real actual things she’s
said.
She was really glad she didn’t get her hair wet, because she was having a great hair day.
Super bummed that she lost an airpod in the fall & is demanding new ones. (Katie went down into the ditch to look for it - no luck. Lost in a watery grave.)
She thought it was pretty cool, because she felt like she was in a movie.
Can’t describe any of the actual falling. Felt like she was dreaming or something and then her feet were just wet and cold.
View from the top. She landed right next to that concrete square part in the ditch.
View from the bottom (as Katie was attempting the airpod rescue).
