Six Weeks in Rwanda
Friday, June 30, 2006
More Pictures from Rwanda
Here are some more of my pictures from Rwanda. This set includes our trip to Goma and our visits to some rural areas to present the services of our new business.
Rwanda1
Rwanda1
The First Picasa Album
I finally got a moment (and some time with a good Internet connection) to post a few of my pictures. You must realize, though, that these pictures are all about two weeks old. I have a lot more coming, but who knows when I'll be able to post them. Click here to see the first batch of pictures from Rwanda.
A Few Pictures from Jutta
Jutta had a chance to upload a few of her pictures. Click here to see them.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
LMI in the News
We made the news! AllAfrica.com recently featured this story on our project: http://allafrica.com/stories/200606280858.html
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Colleen's Pictures
Colleen left for the States last weekend. Since she's been back, she's had a chance to upload a bunch of pictures from her camera to the Web. To look at them, click here.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Half Way
Okay, three weeks down and three to go. How did that happen? We've been so busy and having so much fun that time has passed really quickly. We've run into a lot of problems since my last post, but we've also found solutions for most of them.
As I said earlier, one of our tasks is to go out to each of the cooperatives and train them to use a GPRS enabled laptop to access the internet. The first problem was that we didn't have the GPRS cards. They came a day later than we expected, but that wasn't a big deal. The real problem was that the cards didn't fit in the PCMCIA slots of the laptops. Tim decided to tackle this problem himself, and he eventually was able to order some adapters which should be here by the midde of next week. That puts Ashley and I more than a week and a half behind schedule! We'll have to be a little creative in the way we visit the cooperatives, but we might still be able to get everything set up.
A more pressing problem is the fact that some of these cooperatives are out of range to receive the GPRS signal. There was some miscommunication before our team arrived, and the booster antennas were never ordered. When we contacted MTN, the local phone service provider, they said that they had no boosters in stock. There weren't even any available in Kigali! We were left to find a solution on our own. Jean-Claude has been calling people all week and getting different answers from everyone. Some say that our GPRS cards aren't designed to accept booster antennas, while others seem to think that the antennas are readily available somewhere.
We've followed a lot of leads and run into a bunch of dead ends, but I think we've finally found an acceptable solution. Early in the week we called Albert and asked him to look into the situation. Today I met with him and he put me in contact with a lady from Grameen. She said that her company is in possesion of a few of the boosters we need, and she offered to let us borrow one until we can order more. She also offered us the contact information of Grameend's supplier. If we can get that one antenna, we'll be able to go out to the cooperatives and train the people to use the machines. Then they'll just have to wait until enough boosters can be shipped.
Our team has been working with a guy named Mike Sun. He's a doctoral student from the US studying computer engineering. Mike has been working on this project for a long time now, and he has a good handle on all of the interactions with Terracom and MTN. He's been able to help me a lot with the Internet cafe networking issue. He encouraged us to stick with Windows because administration is easier. Even though we really like the idea of using Linux (it's perfect in many ways), we decided to take his advice. I had the idea of using DeepFreeze, a program my Dad told me about. It is a utility which restores the computer to a set state each time the machine reboots. This way, the cafe technician can spend less of their time clearing viruses and other junk off the hard drive and more time helping people with the services.
When I reinstalled Windows on the Linux machines, I realized that many of the drivers were missing. Dell didn't include a driver disk with the computers, for some reason, so I had do download all of the drivers from their website. This was a big problem, though, because our connection is unstable so it is impossible to download large files. I called up Didier, the NUR tech specialist, and asked him to use the University's connection to download the files. He was happy to help, and I'm picking up the files this weekend.
The spotty connection to the Internet had been very curious to me, so I asked Mike Sun about it. It was strange because the machines didn't simply lose their Internet connection, but their connection to the switch was completely lost as well. We looked at the network for quite some time, and finally decided that it must be some kind of problem with the router. Sure enough, we looked up the router model online and found nothing but bad reviews. So we need a new router. We asked Tim to buy one on his trip to Kigali this weekend, but who knows if he'll get around to it. The cafe will definitely need a reliable router if it's ever going to make any money.
This morning we went to one of the rural villages near Maraba to give a presentation of the services our Internet cafe will offer. When we got there we had to wait for a long time to find out which room we would be in. During that time, I took out my camera and took some pictures. At first the people were shy and didn't want their picture taken, but eventually a couple of them agreed to let me take their photo. Once they realized that they could see the picture right after I took it, my camera became a big hit. Everyone crowded around and wanted to be the next person to pose. I even let a few of the people take the camera and take a picture themselves. Finally our room was ready and I went to help set up the projector and the laptop.
When everyone started to pile into the room, I had a good idea. I connected my camera to the computer and uploaded the photos I'd just taken. Then I put them on the screen as a slideshow for everyone to see. That created quite a ruckus! The people were talked to each other and pointing to the screen, very excited to see themselves. They all wanted copies of their pictures, and I told them to come to our Internet cafe to have them printed. What a great advertising tool!
Ashley's Powerpoint presentation went very well, and the people were amazed by the possibilities of the Internet. That's our biggest challenge here: explaining the Internet and convincing these rural folks that it is something they want to use for both business and fun. The biggest hit was a music video that we got from little Jean-Claude. Our friend Gilbert from NUR acted as the translator, and he did an excellent job of explaining everything to the crowd.
Oh, before I forget, I have to tell you about our weekend. As I explained in my last post, we were invited to spend the weekend in Goma by the owner of a hotel there. We rode the bus to Kigali on Friday evening and ate dinner with the Olds. It was our last time to see Virgil and Jerman in Rwanda. We stayed at the Hotel Gloria. That was a pretty bad choice. It was a very cheap hotel, which is good, but the beds were really sketchy and there was no running water.
The next morning we met with Thierry and rode the bus to Gisenyi. It was a beautiful drive through the countryside which took about three hours. When we got to the border, there was a man there with a letter for us. It said that he would take us through all of the border formalities and take us to the hotel. He even paid for our visas!
When we crossed the line to enter the Congo, we noticed a drastic difference between the two countries. Goma has an active volcano which erupted in 2002. As a result, the whole town is covered in dark gray ash. What a contrast to the beautiful orange clay of Rwanda! The people there are very, very poor, too. The streets look exactly like something you might see in a Save the Children commercial. It was really sad to see how these people lived in such poverty. There are UN trucks and troops all over the city helping out, but the people there need much more aid than what they are currently getting.
Our guide drove us to a much nicer part of the city and toward Lake Kivu. It was there that we entered Hotel Karibu. Our host, Victor Ngezayo, had left us a note telling us to meet him for dinner. This gave us a chance to check into our rooms, take a hot shower, and explore the hotel. It's probably more accurate to call it a resort than a hotel, though. What a wonderful place! When we checked in at the main desk, we were greeted with fancy glasses of pineapple juice. Our rooms were in little clusters with a great view of the lake. There were tropical flowers everywhere, and the grounds were meticulously maintained.
At 6:30, we met with a hotel employee who guided us down toward the lake. We found Victor and his daughter Nyutta there at his house. We also met his wife Bridgette there a little later. Eventually we made our way down to the lakeside. We had a delicious candelight meal while we overlooked the water and watched the stars. Victor told us all about his business career in coffee and his political aspirations. One of the most popular topics was his experience with learning to fly and making trips around the globe.
We went to sleep around 11, and I slept very well on those comfortable beds. In the morning we went for a swim in the lake. I could only tread water for a little while, but Jutta stayed out for a good half-hour. Thierry even jumped in, and we found out that he doesn't know how to swim at all. It's okay, though, I was able to help him get out without too much trouble. There was Congoleese coffee waiting for us when we got out, and we had breakfast up by the pool. Victor had a political meeting to go to, so we hung out by the water until lunchtime. Bridgette cooked us authentic Congoleese food and we left the hotel around 1:30. We didn't even have to pay, because we were special guests of Victor! I'm sure the rate at Hotel Karibu is very high, probably around $140 a night.
In Kigali we stayed the night at Bibi's place. It was very nice of her to take us in for a night. It was a bit strange, though, because the people there kept talking about the "muzungus" all night. She also didn't have any running water. The next morning we met Colleen and the 4H kids at the Chez Lando. We were able to take showers in their rooms. Ashley and I caught the 10AM Volcano back to Butare, and Jutta followed at noon. Fun weekend, huh?
Tomorrow we have another couple demos, so we're staying in Butare this weekend. I want to check out the museum while we're here. The girls are having their hair braided and dresses made. Since our Internet cafe will be in a different room than we originally planned, we have scheduled a Terracom guy to come and move the antenna for us. We also have an electrician scheduled to install some more wall outlets this weekend. On Monday we're meeting with an artist to hire him to paint a mural on the wall. Ashley and I hope to start going to the cooperatives by Wednesday, and I really want to get the cafe network up and running by then (but we need a good router first). If I could get the DeepFreeze on those machines before Wednesday, that will be good too.
As I said earlier, one of our tasks is to go out to each of the cooperatives and train them to use a GPRS enabled laptop to access the internet. The first problem was that we didn't have the GPRS cards. They came a day later than we expected, but that wasn't a big deal. The real problem was that the cards didn't fit in the PCMCIA slots of the laptops. Tim decided to tackle this problem himself, and he eventually was able to order some adapters which should be here by the midde of next week. That puts Ashley and I more than a week and a half behind schedule! We'll have to be a little creative in the way we visit the cooperatives, but we might still be able to get everything set up.
A more pressing problem is the fact that some of these cooperatives are out of range to receive the GPRS signal. There was some miscommunication before our team arrived, and the booster antennas were never ordered. When we contacted MTN, the local phone service provider, they said that they had no boosters in stock. There weren't even any available in Kigali! We were left to find a solution on our own. Jean-Claude has been calling people all week and getting different answers from everyone. Some say that our GPRS cards aren't designed to accept booster antennas, while others seem to think that the antennas are readily available somewhere.
We've followed a lot of leads and run into a bunch of dead ends, but I think we've finally found an acceptable solution. Early in the week we called Albert and asked him to look into the situation. Today I met with him and he put me in contact with a lady from Grameen. She said that her company is in possesion of a few of the boosters we need, and she offered to let us borrow one until we can order more. She also offered us the contact information of Grameend's supplier. If we can get that one antenna, we'll be able to go out to the cooperatives and train the people to use the machines. Then they'll just have to wait until enough boosters can be shipped.
Our team has been working with a guy named Mike Sun. He's a doctoral student from the US studying computer engineering. Mike has been working on this project for a long time now, and he has a good handle on all of the interactions with Terracom and MTN. He's been able to help me a lot with the Internet cafe networking issue. He encouraged us to stick with Windows because administration is easier. Even though we really like the idea of using Linux (it's perfect in many ways), we decided to take his advice. I had the idea of using DeepFreeze, a program my Dad told me about. It is a utility which restores the computer to a set state each time the machine reboots. This way, the cafe technician can spend less of their time clearing viruses and other junk off the hard drive and more time helping people with the services.
When I reinstalled Windows on the Linux machines, I realized that many of the drivers were missing. Dell didn't include a driver disk with the computers, for some reason, so I had do download all of the drivers from their website. This was a big problem, though, because our connection is unstable so it is impossible to download large files. I called up Didier, the NUR tech specialist, and asked him to use the University's connection to download the files. He was happy to help, and I'm picking up the files this weekend.
The spotty connection to the Internet had been very curious to me, so I asked Mike Sun about it. It was strange because the machines didn't simply lose their Internet connection, but their connection to the switch was completely lost as well. We looked at the network for quite some time, and finally decided that it must be some kind of problem with the router. Sure enough, we looked up the router model online and found nothing but bad reviews. So we need a new router. We asked Tim to buy one on his trip to Kigali this weekend, but who knows if he'll get around to it. The cafe will definitely need a reliable router if it's ever going to make any money.
This morning we went to one of the rural villages near Maraba to give a presentation of the services our Internet cafe will offer. When we got there we had to wait for a long time to find out which room we would be in. During that time, I took out my camera and took some pictures. At first the people were shy and didn't want their picture taken, but eventually a couple of them agreed to let me take their photo. Once they realized that they could see the picture right after I took it, my camera became a big hit. Everyone crowded around and wanted to be the next person to pose. I even let a few of the people take the camera and take a picture themselves. Finally our room was ready and I went to help set up the projector and the laptop.
When everyone started to pile into the room, I had a good idea. I connected my camera to the computer and uploaded the photos I'd just taken. Then I put them on the screen as a slideshow for everyone to see. That created quite a ruckus! The people were talked to each other and pointing to the screen, very excited to see themselves. They all wanted copies of their pictures, and I told them to come to our Internet cafe to have them printed. What a great advertising tool!
Ashley's Powerpoint presentation went very well, and the people were amazed by the possibilities of the Internet. That's our biggest challenge here: explaining the Internet and convincing these rural folks that it is something they want to use for both business and fun. The biggest hit was a music video that we got from little Jean-Claude. Our friend Gilbert from NUR acted as the translator, and he did an excellent job of explaining everything to the crowd.
Oh, before I forget, I have to tell you about our weekend. As I explained in my last post, we were invited to spend the weekend in Goma by the owner of a hotel there. We rode the bus to Kigali on Friday evening and ate dinner with the Olds. It was our last time to see Virgil and Jerman in Rwanda. We stayed at the Hotel Gloria. That was a pretty bad choice. It was a very cheap hotel, which is good, but the beds were really sketchy and there was no running water.
The next morning we met with Thierry and rode the bus to Gisenyi. It was a beautiful drive through the countryside which took about three hours. When we got to the border, there was a man there with a letter for us. It said that he would take us through all of the border formalities and take us to the hotel. He even paid for our visas!
When we crossed the line to enter the Congo, we noticed a drastic difference between the two countries. Goma has an active volcano which erupted in 2002. As a result, the whole town is covered in dark gray ash. What a contrast to the beautiful orange clay of Rwanda! The people there are very, very poor, too. The streets look exactly like something you might see in a Save the Children commercial. It was really sad to see how these people lived in such poverty. There are UN trucks and troops all over the city helping out, but the people there need much more aid than what they are currently getting.
Our guide drove us to a much nicer part of the city and toward Lake Kivu. It was there that we entered Hotel Karibu. Our host, Victor Ngezayo, had left us a note telling us to meet him for dinner. This gave us a chance to check into our rooms, take a hot shower, and explore the hotel. It's probably more accurate to call it a resort than a hotel, though. What a wonderful place! When we checked in at the main desk, we were greeted with fancy glasses of pineapple juice. Our rooms were in little clusters with a great view of the lake. There were tropical flowers everywhere, and the grounds were meticulously maintained.
At 6:30, we met with a hotel employee who guided us down toward the lake. We found Victor and his daughter Nyutta there at his house. We also met his wife Bridgette there a little later. Eventually we made our way down to the lakeside. We had a delicious candelight meal while we overlooked the water and watched the stars. Victor told us all about his business career in coffee and his political aspirations. One of the most popular topics was his experience with learning to fly and making trips around the globe.
We went to sleep around 11, and I slept very well on those comfortable beds. In the morning we went for a swim in the lake. I could only tread water for a little while, but Jutta stayed out for a good half-hour. Thierry even jumped in, and we found out that he doesn't know how to swim at all. It's okay, though, I was able to help him get out without too much trouble. There was Congoleese coffee waiting for us when we got out, and we had breakfast up by the pool. Victor had a political meeting to go to, so we hung out by the water until lunchtime. Bridgette cooked us authentic Congoleese food and we left the hotel around 1:30. We didn't even have to pay, because we were special guests of Victor! I'm sure the rate at Hotel Karibu is very high, probably around $140 a night.
In Kigali we stayed the night at Bibi's place. It was very nice of her to take us in for a night. It was a bit strange, though, because the people there kept talking about the "muzungus" all night. She also didn't have any running water. The next morning we met Colleen and the 4H kids at the Chez Lando. We were able to take showers in their rooms. Ashley and I caught the 10AM Volcano back to Butare, and Jutta followed at noon. Fun weekend, huh?
Tomorrow we have another couple demos, so we're staying in Butare this weekend. I want to check out the museum while we're here. The girls are having their hair braided and dresses made. Since our Internet cafe will be in a different room than we originally planned, we have scheduled a Terracom guy to come and move the antenna for us. We also have an electrician scheduled to install some more wall outlets this weekend. On Monday we're meeting with an artist to hire him to paint a mural on the wall. Ashley and I hope to start going to the cooperatives by Wednesday, and I really want to get the cafe network up and running by then (but we need a good router first). If I could get the DeepFreeze on those machines before Wednesday, that will be good too.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
The Network
We've been networking like crazy. We meet so many people every day. Have I said this already? It's been hard lately because I've started confusing names and faces. Anyway, we had a great meeting with Tim Schilling and he was able to set up clear goals for the rest of our trip. Tim is the head of the PEARL project, which is using money from its USAid grant to set up the Maraba Internet Cafe. He gave us these two objectives:
- Develop a business plan for the Maraba Internet Cafe and attempt to get the business running before we leave.
- Go to each of the cooperative sites, deliver a GPRS enabled laptop, and teach the people there how to connect to the internet and communicate with PEARL and the other cooperatives.
On Tuesday night we were invited to dinner at the house of a Russian couple in town. They both work as professors at NUR. They were very happy to entertain us, since they said that they don't often have a chance to have guests over.
Wednesday was the training day for the cooperative accountants. We met them at PEARL with the laptops we'll be installing at Maraba. Some of them had never even seen a computer before, let alone used one to create Excel reports for their jobs. I help one girl by first showing her how moving my finger on the trackpad made the cursor move on the screen. In a few minutes I had her drawing with Paint, and in an hour or so she was working hard on the typing tutor program I had brought. By the end of the day, she was touch typing in Word without ever looking at her fingers! The people we worked with were so dedicated; they didn't even want to take a break for lunch. On guy, a student at KIST, was a pretty advanced user, but he was still very interested in learning more. I ended up showing him how to make a simple website because he wants to start his own e-commerce business someday to sell coffee from the cooperatives.
In the afternoon I went to Maraba with Jean-Claude to set up the network there. Jean-Claude is very easily discouraged when things go wrong. He usually gives up if he runs into a problem. We've all learned this very quickly, so we have to be very motivated when we work with him. Today we needed a screwdriver to open up one of the desktop cases. Jean-Claude said that he forgot his and that no one in town would have one. I asked our driver Gaspard, though, and he drove me to the town mechanic. He lent us a couple of screwdrivers and we went on our way.
There was a problem setting up the network because Jean-Claude had forgot the router configuration CD at the PEARL office. He suggested that we all drive back to town (30 minutes round trip) to go get it. I told him that he could go, but that I would stay behind and try to make it work. While he was away, I worked with a couple of NUR students and we were able to connect a couple of the computers to the Internet. We simply bypassed the router and connected the Internet to the first port of the switch. When Jean-Claude came back, we'd been surfing the net for a good half-hour. I explained to the university students how we had just implemented a peer-to-peer network and how that was different from the server-client network we had originally wanted to install. They were very interested in the process because they had talked about networking in class but had never had the chance to work with one in a hands-on fashion.
The next day (Thursday), we went back to Maraba to finish the network setup. We brought all of the laptops and all of the accountants. I set up the computers, and the accountants learned to use the Internet and send emails. This is very impressive, especially considering that some had only been computer-users for less than 24 hours. Gilbert, an NUR student, gave an excellent description of the Internet that everyone seemed to understand. At the end of the day, though, it was decided that all of the computers needed to be disconnected and brought back to PEARL. I tried to convince everyone that this was not necessary, and that it would take too much time and effort to bring them back up and set everything up all over again. Everyone was too quick, though, and the computers were back in the box before I knew it. This means that I lost a whole day's worth of work!
In the evening we went to the Faucon to watch Sweden vs. Paraguay and have dinner. We got a huge three course meal for 2000Frw! We were joined by Cleophus, Gilbert, Jean-Luc, Peter, and Sam. It was very fun, especially since we didn't have to talk business all night.
Today we went up to Maraba because Jutta had a meeting with all of the potential Internet cafe managers. Its purpose was to get everyone on track and excited about running an Internet cafe. My job was to get some computers online and demonstrate how the Internet can be used. We ended up calling Tim Schilling at PEARL and having a conversation for everyone to hear. It was great! All of the people in the room were very excited about the concept and I think that Tim was very impressed with our progress.
Tonight we're heading to Kigali. We will meet the 4H group (another of the projects Colleen is heading up) and maybe take a trip to Goma. We met a hotel manager from there when we landed in Kigali and he invited us to visit and stay in his hotel.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
The weekend has been a bit less hectic so now I can tell you a bit about our social life. We have become friends with many students and a professor named Gerald. Gerald and the Rector's aide, Cleophas who is a student in IT, took us to the Safari club on Friday night. It is a club that mostly only students go to. There is a dance floor, a bar, and a small pool room. They play pool the same way but one side has all yellow balls and the other has all red. It is funny because not that many girls were at the club which made Jutta and I stick out even more even though the fact that we are Mizungus (white people) does not help much either. It was very fun though! We hear many people call us mizungus, especially little kids. It is quite funny and in no way a derogatory term. A little boy did a double take at us yesterday and then tugged on his mother's arm and said "Mama! MIZUNGUS!" with wide eyes. She just laughed and said hi to us. We have not bought anything yet but have been browsing in the market and in a store that is close to our hotel that raises money for women. One of the top things on my list is to pick out some fabric and have one of the seamstress women make me a rwandan style dress just for fun.
We ate at hotel uwugo (or something like that) last night and had rabbit and some potatos that were absolutely delicious. We also tried three kinds of banana beer last night and banana wine the night before. They are very strong but very good! You have to be careful though because it is almost like hard alcohol!
We have been spending quite a bit of time on the campus of NUR and have met many students. I met a student in civil engineering today named Albert and told him that i would love to get together with other engineering students and see what their curriculum is like here. Cleophas showed us his curriculum for computer science and Kylan and I were amazed because they have some a broad area of study. It is almost like they are studying two or three majors. It is a very rigorous program! We are also going to try to set up a meeting with some of the IT students so that we can talk to them about some ideas for the coffee cooperative. We need some input on what will work the best for Rwanda and who better to tell us than Rwandans themselves? We went to lunch with two students named Gilbert and Jean-Luc today at Iris and it was like real rwandan food with rice and beans, a banana dish, casava root and fries. Always fries! We met a young man at lunch that just finished his undergraduate degree and now volunteers for Health Unlimited which is an organization that helps students and others have a health plan. There are so many initiatives and programs and projects! It is good to see people making it for themselves and also helping out their country along the way. I have a feeling that we will be hearing much more about Rwanda within the next couple of decades which is so exciting!
Well that is all for now!
Ashley
Meeting People
We're meeting so many people! It has been really fun over the last few days to talk to Rwandans and make friends, especially when we use our limited (but growing) Kinyarwandan vocabulary.
On Friday the 9th, we ended the evening by having dinner at the Ibis Hotel with Gerald (a NUR professor). We were joined by a student name Cleophus, who is very interested in using ICTs to bridge the poverty gap in Rwanda. We talked for some time, tried some banana beer (it was pretty good but tasted more like wine), and went to the local disco.
For Saturday, most people from our group left to go see the gorillas. The three student team members stayed behind. First we met with Herbert, who introduced us to his friend Moses. Moses is apparantly the CEO of a US-backed company called Rocket 2020. His job is to set up telecenters in the major cities of Rwanda and return a profit to his investors. He is a very big talker, and he claims to have a special blessing from the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame. However, he has never contacted the ICT Workforce in the Ministry of Education or been in contact with any of the major players we have met. We will have to see how legit he is.
We decided to do some work and figure out how we would set up the network at Maraba. We talked to a man named Mike who is doing consulting work at NUR, and he had some very good ideas. He is working with Sun Ray ultra-thin client technology for the university, which is very exciting to me. If only we could have this at WSU! With Mike, we decided that the best approach for Maraba would be to have the laptops serve as thin clients and have an off-site server to save data. Perhaps we can use some server space at NUR.
In the evening, Gerald took us to an authentic Rwandan restaurant. It was very much like the Ethiopian food we had in Kigali. You eat it with your hands. We had rabbit, potatoes, and banana beer. Beer is a very common drink in Rwanda; it is safe to drink in case the water is bad. Herbert and Cleophus came with us.
Today we went to the university church in the stadium. It is very much like a gospel church in the US, except that there are people playing soccer on the field at the same time! After that we met with Gilbert to gain access to one of the computer labs. In doing that, we met someone new named Jean Luc. We all went to lunch together at a real Rwandan restaurant. The hotel restaurant is quite expensive, so it was nice to pay less and eat with the locals. At lunch we met Vincent, a Rwandan university graduate who works with a British health-related NGO. We made arrangements to see his office sometime. He is using radio theater to promote the prevention of malaria, TB, and other issues that are important in Rwanda.
We started a little project today to create a new online Kinyarwanda-Swahili-English-French dictionary, which we call kamusi. I started it as a wiki with a group of the Rwandan students. Anyone can get on and edit this site as long as they know the password: gilbert. The students seemed very interested, and hopefully this can become a good resource for people trying to learn a new language in Rwanda.
On Friday the 9th, we ended the evening by having dinner at the Ibis Hotel with Gerald (a NUR professor). We were joined by a student name Cleophus, who is very interested in using ICTs to bridge the poverty gap in Rwanda. We talked for some time, tried some banana beer (it was pretty good but tasted more like wine), and went to the local disco.
For Saturday, most people from our group left to go see the gorillas. The three student team members stayed behind. First we met with Herbert, who introduced us to his friend Moses. Moses is apparantly the CEO of a US-backed company called Rocket 2020. His job is to set up telecenters in the major cities of Rwanda and return a profit to his investors. He is a very big talker, and he claims to have a special blessing from the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame. However, he has never contacted the ICT Workforce in the Ministry of Education or been in contact with any of the major players we have met. We will have to see how legit he is.
We decided to do some work and figure out how we would set up the network at Maraba. We talked to a man named Mike who is doing consulting work at NUR, and he had some very good ideas. He is working with Sun Ray ultra-thin client technology for the university, which is very exciting to me. If only we could have this at WSU! With Mike, we decided that the best approach for Maraba would be to have the laptops serve as thin clients and have an off-site server to save data. Perhaps we can use some server space at NUR.
In the evening, Gerald took us to an authentic Rwandan restaurant. It was very much like the Ethiopian food we had in Kigali. You eat it with your hands. We had rabbit, potatoes, and banana beer. Beer is a very common drink in Rwanda; it is safe to drink in case the water is bad. Herbert and Cleophus came with us.
Today we went to the university church in the stadium. It is very much like a gospel church in the US, except that there are people playing soccer on the field at the same time! After that we met with Gilbert to gain access to one of the computer labs. In doing that, we met someone new named Jean Luc. We all went to lunch together at a real Rwandan restaurant. The hotel restaurant is quite expensive, so it was nice to pay less and eat with the locals. At lunch we met Vincent, a Rwandan university graduate who works with a British health-related NGO. We made arrangements to see his office sometime. He is using radio theater to promote the prevention of malaria, TB, and other issues that are important in Rwanda.
We started a little project today to create a new online Kinyarwanda-Swahili-English-French dictionary, which we call kamusi. I started it as a wiki with a group of the Rwandan students. Anyone can get on and edit this site as long as they know the password: gilbert. The students seemed very interested, and hopefully this can become a good resource for people trying to learn a new language in Rwanda.
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!
our first few days in the magic green country
We've arrived. At last. Rwanda is prettier than I'd ever imagined. And the people are stunning. Beautiful and super-excited when you try to pronounce a few werds in Kinyarwandan (miserably failing). So far we haven't really 'done' anything, apart from spending a couple of nights in Kigali. Now here in Butare, where the National University is, we've been visiting various ministries and such, mainly to show how awe-struck we all are in the face of all the new initiatives that the folks here have been creating over the last few years. I'm just hoping that we can actually contribute something too... The reception at the university was super-friendly, and being here is pretty much like life on steroids, permanently.
Kinyarwandan is crazy. The local language is virtually impossible for us to pronounce - but that has so far not stopped any of us little fools. And the locals smile and proudly help us along. It seems most foreigners don't make any effort at all, so we're on a winner already.
The people are beautiful. Some are tiny (beautiful), some super-tall (like way taller than I, even the women), and we've already learned several cool handshakes and other local customs (like men kissing each other on the cheek 3 times). It's been easy to make friends, and it seems all our weekends are already planned out. There's simply so much to see and do.
On the weekend, we're preparing our first lot of workshops... but now it's all about watching Germany win their first footie match! At least the Rwandans 'get it' about the world cup, and I've had several guys promise me they'll root for Germany. Let's see if they mean it.
Kinyarwandan is crazy. The local language is virtually impossible for us to pronounce - but that has so far not stopped any of us little fools. And the locals smile and proudly help us along. It seems most foreigners don't make any effort at all, so we're on a winner already.
The people are beautiful. Some are tiny (beautiful), some super-tall (like way taller than I, even the women), and we've already learned several cool handshakes and other local customs (like men kissing each other on the cheek 3 times). It's been easy to make friends, and it seems all our weekends are already planned out. There's simply so much to see and do.
On the weekend, we're preparing our first lot of workshops... but now it's all about watching Germany win their first footie match! At least the Rwandans 'get it' about the world cup, and I've had several guys promise me they'll root for Germany. Let's see if they mean it.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
ESPNsoccernet
The people we work with will probably be pretty interested in this site too. Is there a way to view it in French?
Le Football Rwandais
I hear that this is a pretty popular website among Rwandan Internet users. I'll have to include a link to this site on the Maraba homepage.
Internet Use: Value for Money?
This commentary by a Rwandan reporter is an interesting look at how Rwandans view the usefulness of the Internet. It's our job this summer to broaden the horizons of the people we meet, and showing them the sheer power of the Internet will be an important part of that.
