Friday, June 09, 2006
First Post from Rwanda
Well, we all made it here in one piece. I was very sick on June 4th with a fever, so the flights to Brussels were very difficult. The plane was cold (like planes usually are), but this was especially bad news for me. I wanted to sleep, but was very uncomfortable. When we got to Brussels, I was in pretty back shape. Carrying around my bags and looking for our hotel was not very fun. Once we got our rooms, I went straight to bed. Everyone else went out to see the city, but I missed out because I decided that getting some rest would be a wiser use of my time. I slept for a few hours, and my fever was gone when I woke up. The group came back and I was able to walk around a bit with them. We saw the Basilica, which I hear is the fifth largest cathedral in the world. Then we had dinner at a tiny little cafe. I had a big problem trying to withdraw money (the machine said I had entered the wrong PIN), but I was able to get some in the airport on the way out.
The flight from Brussels to Kigali was eight hours long. It didn't seem too bad, though, since I was feeling better. I was able to read all of Left to Tell in one sitting. When we arrived in Kigali at 8PM, it was already very dark. The sun sets here around 6:30, and it gets dark very quickly. The moon and the sun both sit very high in the sky, too, since we are so near the equator. We rode vans over to the Hotel Chez Lando, which is a very beautiful hotel. The rooms are quite nice (nearly new) and the staff is very cordial. The beds are comfortable and the whole place is surrounded by beautiful gardens. We ate dinner at the hotel restuarant, having kabobs and Rwandan beer. Kabobs are the standard food here, usually served with rice or chips (fries).
On our first full day in Kigali, we met Albert, Colleen's partner for the project. He is a very helpful contact, since he understands English so well and has such an easy time navigating around his native country. We talked for some time in the hotel lobby and then proceeded to the bank to exchange our Euros for Rwandan Francs. While Albert discussed an exchange rate and made all of the necessary arrangements, which took quite a while, his nephew Thierre showed us around some of the tourist shops. Tierre works for Albert as his driver, and he is a pretty good friend to Ashley, Jutta, and I now. He speaks French and English very well, and has been working with us on our Kinyarwanda. After we got our money we went to the Kigali Genocide memorial. It was a powerful place, with a museum inside and mass graves with gardens outside. There are over a quarter of a million genocide victims buried there, from what I understand. After lunch at the hotel, we met with the ICT Taskforce at the Ministry of Education. We explained our plans to them, and they shared the details of their many initiatives with us. It was very intereting to hear how much work they are putting into ICT throughout the country.
The next day it was off to Butare. It was a two hour drive. We stopped in Gitarama along the way to check out their telecenter. It is supported with help from USAid and has a special focus on getting women to take advantage of technology. There are about twelve computers with flat panel monitors. They are in nice condition and are relatively new, I think. The connection speed is very slow, but it is certainly better than nothing. It was really good to be able to talk to the staff and get a feeling for how a real Rwandan telecenter works.
Butare is a small town with a big university, like Pullman. We were slightly mobbed when we showed up, but the crowds dissapated quickly. We moved into our hotel, our home for the next month. Then we took a tour of the university and called it a night.
Today we visited the PEARL headquarters and the Maraba coffee cooperative. It was good to see the place where we will be doing our work. We also had a meeting with the vice rector of the National University of Rwanda. I'm running out of time, so I'll have to end there. More to come!
The flight from Brussels to Kigali was eight hours long. It didn't seem too bad, though, since I was feeling better. I was able to read all of Left to Tell in one sitting. When we arrived in Kigali at 8PM, it was already very dark. The sun sets here around 6:30, and it gets dark very quickly. The moon and the sun both sit very high in the sky, too, since we are so near the equator. We rode vans over to the Hotel Chez Lando, which is a very beautiful hotel. The rooms are quite nice (nearly new) and the staff is very cordial. The beds are comfortable and the whole place is surrounded by beautiful gardens. We ate dinner at the hotel restuarant, having kabobs and Rwandan beer. Kabobs are the standard food here, usually served with rice or chips (fries).
On our first full day in Kigali, we met Albert, Colleen's partner for the project. He is a very helpful contact, since he understands English so well and has such an easy time navigating around his native country. We talked for some time in the hotel lobby and then proceeded to the bank to exchange our Euros for Rwandan Francs. While Albert discussed an exchange rate and made all of the necessary arrangements, which took quite a while, his nephew Thierre showed us around some of the tourist shops. Tierre works for Albert as his driver, and he is a pretty good friend to Ashley, Jutta, and I now. He speaks French and English very well, and has been working with us on our Kinyarwanda. After we got our money we went to the Kigali Genocide memorial. It was a powerful place, with a museum inside and mass graves with gardens outside. There are over a quarter of a million genocide victims buried there, from what I understand. After lunch at the hotel, we met with the ICT Taskforce at the Ministry of Education. We explained our plans to them, and they shared the details of their many initiatives with us. It was very intereting to hear how much work they are putting into ICT throughout the country.
The next day it was off to Butare. It was a two hour drive. We stopped in Gitarama along the way to check out their telecenter. It is supported with help from USAid and has a special focus on getting women to take advantage of technology. There are about twelve computers with flat panel monitors. They are in nice condition and are relatively new, I think. The connection speed is very slow, but it is certainly better than nothing. It was really good to be able to talk to the staff and get a feeling for how a real Rwandan telecenter works.
Butare is a small town with a big university, like Pullman. We were slightly mobbed when we showed up, but the crowds dissapated quickly. We moved into our hotel, our home for the next month. Then we took a tour of the university and called it a night.
Today we visited the PEARL headquarters and the Maraba coffee cooperative. It was good to see the place where we will be doing our work. We also had a meeting with the vice rector of the National University of Rwanda. I'm running out of time, so I'll have to end there. More to come!
