Caleb's Log v.6

Language!

So, first, a few facts.  Rwanda has a long, complicated history of different white people coming to town to "help" or rule or whatever.  When we were planning our trip for Tanzania, we were learning Swahili, but also knew that English was pretty universal, at least with anyone that had been through the school system.  When we switched to Rwanda, we knew two things, the official language is French and the local language is Kinyarwanda.  Duolingo does not have a Kinyarwanda lesson, so we studied some French in preparation.  Luckily Katie is fluent from her year abroad in Aix-en-Provence.  

So, we knew that Katie could get us through anything while we all tried to learn French and pick up a little Kinyarwanda.  Lexi and Athena take French and Kynarwanda at school.  (Mazie is continuing her Spanish education as an independent study, but also takes Kinyarwanda)

But, here's the thing.  We were wrong.  Sort of.  In 2006 the Rwandan government changed the official language from French to English.  So 16 (it's 2023????) 17 years ago they just announced, "Stop using French, start using English."

Can you imagine???  All of the elites in Kigali (educated and successful people) were French speaking and suddenly they were forced to communicate in English.  Professors who were fantastic lecturers had to deliver their lessons in English.  Bankers and lawyers had to draw up contracts in a new language. I can't imagine how strange and frustrating those first few years must have been.

Now there is a bit of an age divide.  Most 40+ year old, educated Rwandans speak French fluently and most younger Rwandans don't.  All the official signage is in English, which helps us but was totally unexpected.

For the uneducated population (I keep using the terms educated and now uneducated.  It feels dirty.  I just mean that they didn't go through the formal school system long enough to learn the foreign, yet official, language of the government) there wasn't much change.  Everyone speaks Kinyarwanda in the home and when they are in the city, the signs are in a language that they don't understand.  That's the thing that really gets me.  EVERYONE here speaks Kinyarwanda, yet EVERYTHING is written in English.  Yes, no exceptions.  It is pretty messed up that when our house worker, Ephriam, walks through his own neighborhood, he can't read the signs.

Language is so interesting, isn't it?  A whole code for a group of people.  The sounds are similar and yet every word is different and when two locals talk to each other, I'm like a 1 year old, trying to read body language and take some guesses at what they might be talking about.  I can't participate, I cry a lot, I have trouble walking, and I just want someone to hold me...or feed me.

We've picked up on lots of transitional phrases...things we say as we come and go.  Here is your lesson.

In the morning as we walk around or arrive somewhere we can say "mwaramutse," which means "good morning."  The start is that Mwa sound that we don't typically make in the US, where you put two consonants together like Nyugen or Mbappe.  It takes a little getting used to.  The whole word goes like this, mwa-rah-MOOTs-ay.  They say it back to us and we all smile.  

Language unlocks kindness. 

Sometimes they say "Amakuro," which means "how are you?"  It's pronounced ahma-KOO-row.  If they say that, you have to think quickly and remember how to say "I'm good."  It's not Byiza. That's like "I taste good."  Or maybe, "I'm a good person."  That is a bad response to "how are you?"  Instead you say "ni meza," pronounced Knee MAY-zah.  They really like it when you say that.  I asked my friend Audry if there is another response, like "okay" or "amazing" or "not great" but there isn't.  The only response to "how are you doing?" is "I'm fine."

In the afternoon you switch to "Mwiriwe," which is pronounced mwee-re-way, but the r is kind of like that spanish r that sounds like a d.  You try!  It means "good afternoon."

We say thank you all the time.  That's "murakoze," pronounced moor-ah-COH-zay.  The only response to murakoze seems to be murakoze.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Oh, thank you.  No, thank you. No, no, thank you.  

Thank you for serving me food. 

Thank you for coming. 

Thank you for welcoming me. 

Thank you for being so kind.

Can I go?  

Yes.

So, when you leave, you have two choices.  If the sun is still up, you say, "have a good day," "Umunsi Mwisa."  Poorly pronounced as, ah-MOON-see MEE-zah.  I guess I should be adding the subtle mw sound, but I'm not yet.  If it's dark out, you say "ijoro ryiza," pronounced E-joro gee-zah.

Okay, I'm getting really annoyed that I don't actually know how to do phonetic spelling correctly.  That J is the J in soup de jour.  How do you indicate that?  And the gee is like a martial arts robe, you know, a gi.  I'm going to have to switch to a video blog.  Do people still call them vlogs or is that dead?

I digress.  

Yego (YAY-go) = Yes.    

Oye (OY-yay) = No.  

Byiza (be-ee-zah) = it's good or it's nice. 

Nawe (GNAW-way) = and you? (Amakuro?  Ni meza, nawe?)

Angahe (ON-guy) = how much does it cost? 

So, we can say hi, thank people, and say goodbye. Beyond that, we can not say anything.  I guess we can say "how are you?" and respond to that question.  That's been fun.

Luckily everyone in the service industry speaks English.  Every now and then, Katie busts out French and off we go in full "local" language conversation that I can pick up 10% of.

Oh, I played soccer/futbol on Wednesday night (blog post definitely coming) and I learned two phrases that I almost never used.  Tuze (two-zah) and Ndi Hano (de hah-no) which mean "relax" or "calm" and "I'm here."

Ndagakunda!

PS (because I don't like changing what I've already written.  Stream of consciousness!)

Google translate is so frustrating.  If you type in "I'm good" it translates as "Ndi mwiza."  If you swap directions, it translates "Ndi mwiza" to "I am beautiful."  That means I'm asking google translate to tell me how to say "I'm good," and by its own admission, it's spitting out "I'm beautiful." One cannot learn on the internet.  Full stop.

Alexa Dickinson is 8!

Lexi (Alexa as she is known professionally) turned 8 today and WOW what a day she had. 

7 AM: Birthday Zoom with family (Dickinson and Hansen sides).

8 AM: Off to school.

Daytime: Class field trip to a food factory.  Lexi gives the experience a "meh" overall but reports having 2 cups of ice cream.

3:20 PM: FULL ON BIRTHDAY PARTY in class at school.  Caleb and I brought in 24 cupcakes & 24 juice boxes.  Classmates all made cards and brought small gifts for her.  Two girls and then two boys were called up to give speeches in honor of the occasion, followed by some remarks by two of her teachers.  A dance party ensued.  It was a WHOLE THING.

4:10 PM: Headed over to Question Coffee.

4:15 PM: Birthday Zoom with friends. 

 

4:30-6:00 PM:  Hanging out at Question, bday video call with Jane, waiting for Lexi's favorite Q Coffee employee (Kevine) to arrive for a surprise party she schemed with us to arrange (on her day off).  Originally planned for 4ish but (Rwanda time - Caleb will definitely take this up in a future log) actually happened around 6.  Worth the wait. 

6:30 PM: Headed home, breakfast for dinner (pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs).  After the ice cream + cupcakes + sugary Q Coffee drink + cake, my child with the biggest sweet tooth in the world voluntarily passed on the maple syrup.  

9ish: Off to bed, exhausted and well celebrated.

Caleb's Log v.5

It's been a few days since I wrote anything (I wrote this 6 days ago...so...it's been even longer).  We had our first weekend and it was lovely.  We met several local people that Katie was put into contact with, thanks to her connections.  It was a fun and informative weekend.  I'm starting to grow a long list of things I want to talk about, so I guess I have material for several more posts.

Golf

Labor force and the living wage

Futbol

People we've met

The language

Adjusting (or not) to the ever-present time difference

Death of a fish

Security

Blackouts

Government structure.

I think today I'll talk about the haves and have-nots.  It will involve several of the ideas above. :)

Our whole family had a lovely lunch at Lambert's house with his good friend, John.  Lambert is Katie's colleague who runs the Bridges to Prosperity project.  John is an economics guy.  (can't remember if he teaches or what).  While he gave us a lesson on the local economy, our delicious meal was prepared by Lambert's house helper.  (I don't know their titles, actually)  He is in charge of the landscaping of the home, security, house cleaning, and apparently cooking.  Lambert pays him 50,000 RWF per month, which equates to roughly $45 USD.  According to John, this is right about at the poverty line.  I believe it was 1.20 USD per day.  So, Lambert's house helper makes enough to be just above the poverty line EXCEPT, he has no bills.  No rent, no food, no utilities.  So, he gets to save nearly every penny he makes.  I think he buys his own clothes, but certainly not cleaning supplies or food.  So, he's pretty well off.  This job is highly sought after by people without formal education.

The caddy that walked with me last week, Moses, makes 7,000RWF per round and he usually gets 1 or 2 rounds per day.  That's roughly 300k per month, which puts him well above the poverty line.  This was interesting news to learn, since a week earlier I thought, "how does this guy live off of $7.00 a day?"  Food is cheap (if you buy it in little shacks or markets around town, not the grocery store), transportation is cheap, (you can walk everywhere or take very inexpensive motorcycle taxis), housing is cheap, ($30/month).  So, I guess one can sort of get by.  

THIS IS HOW 70% OF RWANDANS LIVE.  70% are at or below the poverty line of 40k RWF per month.  However, I write this as I sit at Question Coffee that charges 3,500 for an  Americano.  We're renting our place (4bed, 2bath) for 1,700,000RWF a month.  Golf costs $100USD per round (I bought a membership, so I get unlimited "free" golf).  We went to a fancy dinner at Meza Molango and it was $315USD for the two of us.  (most expensive dinner I've ever had...in my life).

So how is it possible that I can sit at a 6-star restaurant, while being served by people who make 10 times the poverty line, while I look out onto a hill that has lost power for 45 minutes, whose residents make $1.00/day?  The disparity between those who have and those who don't is staggering.  There are nice cars here that cost as much as they do in the US.  So there are people who live here that can afford a 45k car and others that make $600/yr.  No one is homeless though.  (Or at least I haven't seen people sleeping on the streets or begging for money)

I don't really get it.  It is a society of two totally different worlds.  I'm not sure how to walk between them, especially when you add on our foreign status and our skin color.  I will say that it seems so normal here that the resentment is not palpable.  I cannot palp it.  When we pull our rental car into the gate of our nice home, no one seems to be bothered by that, even while they clean their clothes by hand and dry their socks on our patch of grass that is outside the gate.  I can't know what anyone is thinking, but I don't get the impression that there is a class war.

I guess one thing is that mansions with gates and servants are 20 feet from huts with no doors.  I haven't quite found a slum yet, where there are no gated homes with landscaped yards.  I've got some more learning to do, but I'm very confused right now.  

This post was not funny.  I am still funny.  At least I didn't talk about the death we saw on Saturday.  You're welcome.

A Rough Night

We knew there would be more ups and downs on this adventure.  Last night was a down.  Over the past week or so we've been noticing a burning smell (like rubber/electrical burning) in our living room.  Not great.  We unplugged our power strip and kept looking around for the source of the smell... it would go away, and then come back, usually in the evenings.  Last night after dinner it came back very strong.  Ephrem came in to investigate and found the issue: a faulty electrical box up in the corner of the room.  (Note the singed wires on the bottom.)

We shut it off, which cut the power to the whole house.  It was about 8:30 pm.  Mazie was mid-way through blow-drying her hair and pleaded with us to turn the power back on for 20 more minutes so she could finish.  We didn't do that.  Lexi finished her homework by flashlight and then we all went to bad.  Except the problem was we were back to night one: no fans + no plug-in mosquito repellent = hot and lots of mosquitoes.  Lexi wound up back in our room so Caleb moved to hers.  Then Athena came in (covered in mosquito bites) so I covered her in bug spray and moved to her room, where I slept on and off all night swatting the mosquitoes buzzing in my ears and willing our anti-malarial meds to do their job.  

The electrician showed up at 8 this morning.  Took a look at it and then Ephrem used the Kinyarwanda-English translation app on my phone to tell me this:

We took that to mean that he's getting the right parts and will fix it... soon?  Caleb and I decided to walk up to Question Coffee, where we're sitting and working now.  Hoping it will be fixed when we get back. Not sure how patient we need to be.

Before this issue, we had decided early last week that we're going to move houses.  I started looking for other places after our first rough night, but then we worked out the main kinks and have been pretty happy where we are.  But the owner of one of the places I was looking at reached out and invited us to come look at her place, and Caleb and I went over there last Monday.  It's got a couple of key advantages over where we are now.  The house itself is a little bigger (bigger kitchen, a little more separated living space), it's got desks in two bedrooms that Caleb and I will be able to use for evening meetings, and it's got a really nice outdoor yard with more space for the kids to play, fruit trees, vegetable gardens.... Overall just a little nicer.  Location-wise, it's a similar distance to the kids' school, but the route is mostly along a paved sidewalk (vs our current route along dirt roads), which will be especially nice as it gets rainier.  The neighborhood itself is also more lively, with people out & about along the street and a main road with lots of shops very close by.  (This is a pro and a con... the quiet of our current neighborhood has its advantages.)  It was a tough decision and the kids had mixed feelings about moving (we've been putting them through a lot of transitions), but we ultimately decided to do it at the end of the month.  So that's coming up this weekend.  The owner has been really friendly and responsive and says we can move earlier if we want, so if this electrical issue doesn't get sorted we may jump ship early... Caleb and I both have busy work weeks so it would not be convenient to throw moving into the mix, but it also won't work to have another night like last one.  Ergh.  Stay tuned.

Update: old box has been replaced with this more confidence-inspiring one. Some iffy looking wires remain. Power & internet are back, fans are running, mosquito repellent is fired up. Things are looking up again! Barring other setbacks, we'll wait and move over the weekend.

Two Weeks

It's Saturday again which means it's been two weeks since we got here.  It feels like a lot longer and it's also gone by quickly... time warping in the way it does when every day is different and we're still constantly learning and adjusting and trying to find routines where we can.  The walk to school and back has been one of the most stable and consistent parts of our weekdays, and school in general has given the kids a lot of structure, though their schedules vary day to day (and even include some big field trips... more on that later).  We go to Question Coffee nearly daily (sometimes multiple times a day, with and without kids).  We know where to get the main things we need (though we're still learning about new spots, including the enormous Kimironko Market we went to today... more on that later too).  So we're settled in in some ways, but still settling in many others.  

Some new things this week.  The kids started some after school activities.  Lexi had gymnastics on Tuesday, and said it mostly went well.  Athena thought she had table tennis on Tuesday but when she showed up they told her it was on Thursday, which is when she was signed up to have football (soccer).  She tried to go to football on Thursday and couldn't figure out where that was meeting, so went to table tennis instead.  We think she can do football on Monday.  Mazie also signed up to play football but that hasn't started yet.  We think she might have a game this coming Friday.  Her big event this week was a field trip to Akagera National Park, where she saw elephants and giraffes and zebras and even more excitingly GOT TO CREATE HER FIRST INSTAGRAM POST.  

We'd been holding out on letting her get IG but gave in when she convinced us that she needed it to communicate with her new friends she's made here.  She's clever, that one.  

I had a field trip this week too.  On Thursday I went with Lambert and some of his colleagues to Muhanga District, about an hour southwest of Kigali.  Their team is starting a new project distributing water filters to schools around the country.  The project is being financed through carbon credits, with the rationale being that filtering water to make it drinkable is a substitute for boiling it, and thus avoids carbon emissions from the fuels that would be used for boiling.  The purpose of this trip was to visit a couple of schools to test out the setup and see whether there was sufficient water pressure at the taps for the filter system to function.  The first school we visited was a public Catholic school (K-12 I think), near the main road and a small town.  The filter setup took a while - it was the first one they had done and they had to make a couple of runs to town to get all the right parts.  Meanwhile, we had lots of time standing in the sun and chatting with the dean of the school, who was very excited about having the filter.  I also got to be a big attraction for the kids, who were curious about the muzungu (white person) and crowded around me to observe and touch (I firmly asked them not to touch) and practice their English (How are you?  What is your name?).  I also enjoyed seeing the school buildings (I love seeing the educational paintings on the walls), and watching their lunch routine (kids were in charge of carrying large bowls of a maize porridge and beans up the hill from the kitchen to the cafeteria... one poor kid tripped and spilled his bucket of beans).  

In the end, they got it all set up and the water pressure was good.  They took it apart and will bring the keeper back in a few weeks.

We then drove to another school that was down in a beautiful valley off the main road.  I was even MORE of a novelty there ("Please don't touch me") and the attempts to connect the filter there were observed by a big group of kids.  Unfortunately that school's system was supplied by a large rainwater tank and the water pressure wasn't good enough for the filter to work.  Lambert mentioned a potential fix, but said it's quite expensive.  We packed up again and drove back to Kigali

Today's family field trip was to Kimironko Market, accompanied by our friend Gisele.  As I anticipated, it was a large and overwhelming place... packed with vendors selling fruits and veggies and beans and household goods and hardware and souvenirs and clothes.  Gisele was a huge help, bringing us to her preferred vendors and helping us navigate and translate.  We bought black beans, ALL the fruit (two types of passionfruit, bananas, mangoes), cauliflower and bell peppers and hot peppers and onions and tomatoes, a rechargeable lantern (for the frequent power outages we've been having), and a decorative walking stick with gorillas on it.  (Back home, we have a joke every time we're going to Costco - Caleb will tell me to get some walking sticks, meaning "pick up whatever random thing they're selling that we don't really need."  I realized after we left that he ended up walking out of the Costco of Kigali with... a walking stick.)  We did not manage to find a small digital clock, which is something Athena has been wanting for her bedside table.  Sometimes even Costco doesn't have what you're looking for.

My other big adventure this week was taking a moto-taxi for the first time... I'll put that in a separate post, since I've also been meaning to answer Papa's curious question about bikes and how people get around.

Weekend Activities

Weekdays are for working & going to school, weekends are for exploring and connecting!

On Saturday we drove south of Kigali to La Palisse hotel in Nyamata, where we met my colleague Lambert to swim at the very large and beautiful pool.  The water wasn't too warm and the kids didn't stay in long, but I swam some laps and we all hung out for a while waiting for food we ordered.  We're learning to expect things to take a little while. :)  

After swimming, we went to Lambert's house (a few kilometers from the hotel, back towards Kigali) where we ate a very yummy meal (beef, potatoes, and peas) and watched a Premier League soccer/football match.  

The main roads here are very nice - this is heading back into Kigali.  Large sidewalks/footpaths along the road.

We then came home and rested for a bit, and then Caleb and I went out to a very, very nice restaurant called Meza Malonga that's just up the hill from our house.  Some of the most beautifully presented and most creative food I've had (outside of Ty's restaurants, of course), highlighting ingredients and flavors from across Africa.  Meanwhile, it was POURING rain and the kids lost power back at the house, so while we were having a world-class meal they were eating mac & cheese (from our small ration we brought with us) in the dark.  An effective lesson in haves & have-nots.

Photos of our 11-course meal - we didn't even get a menu, they just brought out the courses. I did ask the chef-owner to send us the menu, so if I get it I can update with item descriptions.

  

 

This sorbet course served with dry ice kinda stole the show.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit and had breakfast at home, and then had Ildephonse over to our house for coffee.  My godmother, Jean, worked here in Kigali for USAID for several years, and she introduced me to Ildephonse, who runs a radio station in the northeast part of the country.  We had coffee and chatted with him for a while on our porch, getting a detailed and very helpful lesson in Rwandan government structure.  Caleb took notes and can provide more details.  

In the afternoon Caleb and I walked to our nearest shopping area, about a 20 min walk, and got supplies for the week.  Then we drove over to the area near the kids school to meet up with Gisele and her kids, Liz (6) and Nolan (5).  Gisele's close friend is married to Didier, a Rwandan who went to CU for grad school and worked on the Ghana cookstove projects with me.  Our plan was to take the kids to a nearby park, but it was raining again (it's been doing that a lot) so we went to a coffee shop in the MTN center (a small shopping mall) and the kids ran around up there.  Gisele works for an organization that supports women coffee growers and horticulturalists, so we chatted about her work and also got some advice on where to shop in town - next weekend she's going to take us to the Kimironko Market.  

 This evening we'll have dinner at home (spaghetti) and Zoom with the Dickinson family, and then it's time to get ready for our second school/work week!  Caleb and I will both be ramping up our work, including lots of evening meetings, so that will be another adjustment.  I'm also going to go to Lambert's office a couple of days, and may go with him to visit a school where they're testing out a new water filtration system.  So much to learn about...

Lambert's office is in the Silverback Mall

Tour of our Kigali House

Here's where we live!