how come no one is panicking?

Debbie Downer alert....


Just in case you were beginning to think that Rwanda is all dancing at Cadillac and delicious dinners with excessive amounts of garlic and lounging by the pool, I'm in kinda a more serious mood today, and wanted to share about my weekend, which was sobering to say the least.


On Good Friday, I spent my day off driving out to a village with Eben (good friend of mine). He had set up a contact with a guy there, and there was another American guy who is apparently interested in setting up an NGO whereby people can sponsor kids for school. These kids are mostly orphans, or half-orphans, left by themselves completely or left to take care of their siblings as a result of the genocide, and one chance they have at making a life for themselves is to go to school. This guy had arranged for all the kids to be gathered on Friday. Eben asked if I wanted to help, and so we drove out to take pictures of the kids, in order to eventually set up a website where people can read about the kids, see their pictures, and choose one to sponsor. We thought there'd be about 100 kids.

Me and about 1/3 of the kids. Shortly after this, Eben introduces himself and me. There's a rumbling of "Nah-omi... Nah-omi...." amongst laughter. I'm extremely humourous here.

We showed up, and were completely overwhelmed. There were 500 kids waiting for us, swarming the truck as we pulled in. We spent the day taking pictures of each of them until my battery died, and so for the past few days I've been working on organizing and editing the pictures, linking them with the names and their stories. Some are AIDS victims, one is only 11 months old and was abandoned.



As we're driving away, bouncing along the dusty red road, Eben and I are quiet. We know about the multitudes of NGO offices in Kigali (seriously, you name it, it's here), seen their logos on the SUVs driving around the city, and admit that there is a lot of good work being done. But our frustration - the knowledge that it just doesn't seem to be enough - is overwhelming.



I guess in this day and age, no one can really claim to not be aware of the problems that some countries face. But if people could meet these kids, take their pictures one by one, smile at them and say hello in extremely poor kinyarwanda, I have to believe we'd all be doing more.



Saturday was April 7, which is the day the genocide began here in 1994. This day, nothing is open, and almost everyone goes to memorial services to observe the International Day of Reflection of the genocide. The atmosphere here was completely different than usual. Everything was quiet, people were subdued even in conversation on the street, and I was reminded in a huge way of the pain this country continues to feel. The memorial services continue for quite a while now, and tonight I am heading to one of these events to participate in some of the trauma counselling.



The weekend ended on a much better note, with a quick trip up to Ruhengeri for Easter dinner on Sunday, which was great! I got to meet a bunch of really nice people, go to a church service (translated for me by Peace, thank goodness), and see a house that's being renovated to become a home for orphaned kids. (P.S. to Nem: I was on the bus when you called, that's why the cell phone cut out.)



Anyway, it's great to hear from you all. I am missing all of you so much! I'm alone now in the house, and maybe starting to feel a little homesick (I dunno, lately I'm dreaming a lot about my horses, driving my car, and eating certain foods. Oh, and the people I love! Yes, you.) I'm heading to Uganda next week sometime, so watch for some pics up from that little adventure soon.



Melly: Thanks so much for the message, sweetie. Keep sweatin' away, and remember squatter's rights when it comes to space issues!!! Also, take care of your thumb! Guess you could call Customer Support, and they'd put in a work order entitled "Fix Melly's Thumb" and you'd be good as new round about the year 2090. Tell Suzy she'd better write me soon, or else!



The Ever-Faithful Ryan: Yeah, Kilimanjaro!!!! On it, and ON IT, my friend. We'll be passing by that way, but lack the funds (like $2000 American) and arctic-type gear to climb Kili (somehow didn't plan on ice picks and the like when I packed for Africa), so we'll prolly end up climbing something slightly less intimidating, like Meru. Wiki that! The Serengeti is also on our list, and again will be limited to the meagre amafaranga, ie. we will like have to catch a ride on the back of a zebra or some such. But I am so psyched about Tanzania and Kenya!!!! Except Nairobi. It's nicknamed Nairobbery. The travel books are all "You WILL get mugged. Just so's you know". This does not appeal to me.



Love and kisses.



N

P.S. I think I've made it so anyone can publish comments now... Sorry about the pain in the arse signing up to google thing!!!