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September 2nd
I was waked up early morning a couple of weeks ago by the sound of chopping just outside my window on the west side of the house. I could feel the vibrations every time the axe landed. It felt like someone was attacking the house! On the west side of the house there is (was) a small copse of trees, thick scrub bushes and high grass, enough to block light and provide some privacy. And filled with birds and night critters. Going to the market I would walk through that area. I loved it. Small though it was, it gave me a good feeling. They have chopped all of it down, cleared it completely! Here trees are purely utilitarian, not appreciated except for resources. I am devastated. They fell the trees and then chopped them up and made charcoal, for sale on the spot. That was interesting. Seen it before, but everyone does it a little differently. The slow smoking of the charcoal mounds lasted for days. Someone has already begun to cultivate in anticipation of the rains. And maybe someone is going to build. “Ntacybazo,” one of my colleagues says to me when I railed about the cutting! [NA-chee-BA-zo: No problem/It doesn’t matter/No big deal] Really? My stomache hurts. And where will the birds go? There is still a very thin veil of cane on the south side of the house where some birds hang out. But I suspect it won’t last very long. My colleagues laughed at my insisting it remain there when I first moved in. They don’t like “bush.” Is this some kind of omen, a message that it’s time to come home?
In the Library on Wednesday a little (really! up to my chest!) Senior 1 student came over to me with a broad grin on his face and told me in very quiet and halting English to come with him to the newspaper section. There he pointed to two pictures in one of the papers and asked if it was me! I was shocked! There were two pictures of a man, an Emeritus Professor in the Education Department from Dartmouth, who is helping university students in Kigali develop live live theatre. I’ll swear he looks EXACTLY like me (or what I think I look like in my pictures). It was weird. I looked at it for a long time because I could hardly believe it. The shape, size, white beard, the bald head, the glasses . . . everything exactly like my pictures, except missing my army watch! He was even dressed exactly the way I dress here. I tore them out and am going to bring them home. My double! I am tempted to try and contact him, but the thought scares me a little!
The implementation of a new government policy began today: In areas not so far from Kigali the small van-taxis I have talked so much about (overcrowded, hot dirty, rickety—but colorful) are being replaced by large imported city buses much like ours in the States. Somebody’s foreign aid package, I’m sure. Scores of independent taxi-vans have been driven out of business, or relegated to the more distant remote areas if they can manage it. There are still some around, taking the routes that the buses can’t cover. But they aren’t allowed now to use the city bus parks! This new Kigali Bus Service (KBS) claims to be an independent bus business; but everyone I have talked to say that is a front, and that the business is being monopolized by the government as another source of revenue. The fees went up, of course. And, surprise, the efficiency of general transportation seems to have gone down. People are angry, long long lines waiting (I have NEVER seen anyone line up for anything in Africa!). At the end of the day, it took me more than twice the time to get into the PC office than with the old rickety vans! And I had to wait in line like forever, and had to stand up the whole way once I got on. And it costs more! Ultimately, from Remera I simply could not find one of the big buses going to Gishyushu (the Peace Corps Office) and had to take a moto. If I had been spotted by a PC official I would be sent home immediately! They have a very strict policy about not riding motos in or near the city! On that short bus ride in from my site, I saw what nearly turned into a mob because someone, as they have always done, banged on the side of the bus to be let off, but the bus wouldn’t stop. Rage! Unlike the van-taxis, these buses stop only at official bus stops, leaving many many people much further to walk than they are used to.
And what will the local entrepreneurs do with their large bunches of matoki bananas and chickens and other goods that they used to (somehow) pack into/on top of the taxi-vans? So much for the government support for entrepreneurs who depend on the vans to move small business goods! So much for modernization! Of course it LOOKS good to visitors/investors and others who write home about the rapid development in Rwanda.
A BIG problem in Rwanda is susceptibility to rumors, the number of which is at first entertaining, and then tiring, and then just plain scary. The absence of any critical thinking that I see every day in the classroom seems a norm. This makes people incredibly vulnerable to ‘voices of authority’ in a place where truth is determined by the state. Yes, I know about our own country! But it is a serious difference of scale here. I have mentioned this before, but several things have happened recently here at school and in the country that cause me to bring it up again. Here is something that I recently wrote to a friend:
“I suppose you have followed the M23/UN/Rwanda?/Uganda? stuff, at least
a bit. In an authoritarian state like this one you never get much trustworthy
news. VOA is cautious. BBC a little less so but lacking in detail. I “hear things”, and I can do basic math. But you probably know more than I do. We get the usual
warnings from PC and the State Dept, and I get a head full of reactions (quietly) from the people I hang out with. The rumor mill works overtime, usually full of nonsense and conspiracies. Just so you know, the U.S./Obama are in cahoots with the UN (which they control) to malign and ultimately take over/destroy Rwanda. And
somehow they are all in cahoots with the Illuminati!!!! “
Fighting is going on up in the northeast again, not far from volcano/guerrilla areas where I went climbing last year. We can hope that it doesn’t spread. Several have asked me about the fighting and the possible dangers to PCVs. There aren’t any dangers to us really unless something totally unimaginable happens. I am attaching a recent memo from our Director and from the State Department at the end of this letter, so you can see for yourself. This is the kind of update we get when anything is going on.
The other night a very loud thud on the thin ceiling above my head scared the crap out of me . . . it was like dropping a coil of large heavy rope on to a thin piece of wood. This was followed by a long pause . . . and then the sound of something being very slowly dragged across the ceiling —drag, pause, drag, pause . . . . From the sounds I am guessing a snake, which I have heard before. But a striking snake is usually accompanied by slowly diminishing screeches or screams from whatever got snatched! This time, complete quiet except for the creepy dragging. So don’t think it was a bird that got attached. Maybe a mouse. What ever it was was either shocked into silence or done in straightaway from the attack. Most of my birds having been driven away, this is my critter story for the week.
A few weeks back, at least since my last letter I think, I went with the school’s owner (Gaspard) several miles out into the countryside and up a mountainside to a piece of land he had purchased. He wants to build a Primary School there, and I have been helping him a lot with a lengthy application to the Japanese embassy for a major grant. $100,000! (Have I told you this already?) The road was near impossible to navigate from the gullies and potholes. Slow going, and we were in an old 4-wheel drive pickup. We came upon a disaster. Not life threatening, but a sad personal loss. Here everybody packs their vehicles (motos, bicycles, trucks, wheel barrows) at least double high what we would stack. Anyway, a large sized pickup, packed sky high, had just hit a gully and tipped, and most of its load just tumbled – different vegetables, pineaples and bananas, and other stuff spread all over the road and down the mountainside. A few people were standing around quietly with very long faces guarding the spill from looting. How in the world they could recover this I can’t imagine. Just thought I’d share. The short trip was really interesting. Much more rural than my house. Difficult to describe.
We just got a special bulletin from the Food and Drug Administration sent out to us through the Peace Corps that “strengthened and updated warnings regarding the neurologic and psychiatric side effects associated with the anti-malarial drug mefloquine hydrochloride,” what they call a “black box” warning! Great! That happens to be the med I have been using for the past two years! You might not find it as interesting as I did, because you aren’t taking this med! But here’s a short summary with direct quotes:
For the HEART: “Don’t take it with a med that is used to fight off fungal infection, or one that is used to treat malaria (sic)— You may get serious heart problems . . . that may lead to death.!” OK. Check.
Under MENTAL PROBLEMS: “paranoia, severe anxiety, hallucinations, depression, unusual behavior, feeling confused.” Apparently it also leads to suicidal thoughts and “Some people who were taking mefloquine committed suicide.” OK. Check.
Under PROBLEMS WITH THE NERVOUS SYSTEM: “dizziness, vertigo and loss of balance, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), seizures, convulsions, insomnia. “ And they add in dark print: “Dizziness, vertigo, tinnitus, and loss of balance can go on for months or years after mefloquine is stopped or may become permanent in some people.” OK. Check.
Surely I now have a pretty good excuse for having so much trouble with the language?? I f—ing couldn’t hear!!! There was a highlighted question in this med warning: “What is the most important information I should know about mefloquine?” The answer: “It may cause serious side effects, including liver problems.” And . . . they qualify all of the above for our comfort: “The most common side effects are [only] nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache.” OK. Check.
Actually, most in our group that take this particular drug only complain about sleeplessness and horrible nightmares. I sleep like a baby, but I can’t hear anything! And it’s a one-per-week dosage. There is another drug that we can take (some take it), but it’s every day. And it has its own problems (principal among them that most forget to take them “every day”). The PC is leaving it up to us to decide which to take. They are off the hook with the warning!!! I’ve already got two years behind me. Damage done. And I would definitely be one that would forget, and probably get malaria! So I’m sticking. I think the common PCV response to this warning is closer to a chuckle followed by: “Hey, we’ve got other problems here to deal with. That one will just have to stand in line!” Of course, to put it all in perspective, have you ever read the “Possible Side Effects” that come with a bottle of common aspirin? No way to avoid saying it: We are all lucky to still be above ground! I’ just saying . . . .
I share this with you primarily so that when I return you will excuse in advance any unusual or bizarre outbursts, or my “not listening to you,” or other anti-social behaviors, or excessive railing about the world situation, or Republican behavior . . . stuff like that!
It has now been two weeks since our week-long conference in Kigali (missing the first week of our final school term, which pissed everybody off!) It was our COS (Close of Service) conference, telling us all about what we need to do before we are allowed to leave: paper work, med exam, psychological eval (???), paper work, bank stuff, paper work. The group’s initial response was something like: “And do you really think anything could stop us from leaving this place?” I thought it was going to be a waste of time, like most conferences. And I thought that since I had been through things like this before— the government hurdles to leaving, the problems of returning to the States, etc.—it would be old hat and a drag. I was wrong. It was one of the most useful and meaningful conferences I have ever attended. All 20 of us that are left (of the 37 who arrived) felt the same way. It was well organized, the information was obviously relevant, the tone was supportive and encouraging, the sessions were no longer than was absolutely necessary. Some of the sessions were aimed at the young folk (i.e. all of the group except me) who will be returning to unemployment, the opportunities available to them as returned PCVs, the problems that they might experience. Even though these do not apply to me now, I still found them very interesting, and I experienced some of the excitement that the young folk were feeling as they pondered their futures. Listening to the questions and answers, and the general discussion, made me want to start over again and do it with them! Ahhhh the years!
And as I looked out at our group I was impressed. The quality of these young people— all so very different in many ways, with no shortage of quirks and trying behaviors—gave me much needed dose of optimism about the future of our country. We have shared a lot together, and we have become quite close, despite the distances and the very different situations and personalities. Even though we still have a couple of months to go, this was the last time many of us will see each other again since our sites are so far apart, so there were emotional goodbyes, a premature ending since we were all headed back to our sites for two more months of work.
The Library is still doing great though problems have appeared, for the most part expected. It’s hard to imagine the school without it.
The rains started yesterday, the first of September, right on cue. Light and intermittent here at the beginning, but it should pick up as the month unfolds. This is the “little rainy season” that usually begins in September. It is welcome. Gone is the dust. The green will return, and the water. The countryside will ring with the clanking of large hoes digging into the softened soil to ready for planting. The daybreak sounds will multiply, a little too early for my preference.
Yes, I still have long talks and share food and grumbles with people I come in contact with, about their lives, their trials, their history, the future. But you have heard most of it before. If I stayed another year, I wonder if even the mundane would make it into a letter home? Happily I will not be able to test that.
I trust that you are all well and looking forward to fall changes, especially the colors. Maybe there will still be a few when I get home. Take care.
*******************************************
State Dept Warning via Peace Corps
Folks,
Because of the renewed fighting in eastern DRC very close to the border with Rwanda, including recent shelling near Goma and Gisenyi, travel is prohibited for Peace Corps Volunteers into Rubavu District until further notice. See the pasted in message below from the U.S. Embassy here in Kigali.
Begin Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens:
U.S. Embassy Kigali, Rwanda
Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens – Security Situation in the DRC and Cross-Border Fire
August 29, 2013
U.S. Embassy Kigali alerts U.S. citizens to reports of continued artillery fire from August 22 to the present into the Rubavu district of Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). U.S. Embassy Kigali has restricted travel to Rubavu district by official personnel. We urge U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Rubavu district.
U.S. Embassy Kinshasa continues to strongly urge all U.S. citizens not to travel to North Kivu province or Goma, DRC. U.S. Embassy Kinshasa currently reviews travel to North Kivu, DRC by official personnel on a case-by-case basis. We advise U.S. citizens residing or traveling in the DRC border areas to review the security message posted on U.S. Embassy Kinshasa’s website. U.S. citizens who reside in Rwanda but visit the DRC should update their Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to include an itinerary for “frequent visits” to the DRC.
U.S. Citizens living in the Rwanda district of Rubavu should exercise extreme caution when traveling in the border areas. If you are unfamiliar with the region, you should avoid approaching the Rwanda-DRC land borders. There are many areas where the Rwanda-DRC border is not clearly marked.
You can stay in touch and get Embassy updates by checking the U.S. Embassy Kigali website or receiving consular information on Twitter. You can also get global updates at the U.S. Department of State’s, Bureau of Consular Affairs website where you can find the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, and Country Specific Information. Follow us on Twitter and the Bureau of Consular Affairs page on Facebook as well, or you can download our free Smart Traveler iPhone App for travel information at your fingertips. If you don’t have internet access, you may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the United States and Canada, or from other countries on a regular toll-line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
If you are going to live in or travel to Rwanda, please take the time to tell us about your trip by enrolling in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). If you enroll, we can keep you up to date with important safety and security announcements. It will also help your friends and family get in touch with you in an emergency. You should remember to keep all of your information in STEP up to date. It is important during enrollment or updating of information to include your current phone number and current email address where you can be reached in case of an emergency.
The Embassy is located at 2657 Avenue de la Gendarmerie; the mailing address is B.P. 28, Kigali, Rwanda; tel. +250 (252) 596-400. The consular section’s e-mail address is consularkigali@state.gov. Routine American Citizens Services are available by appointment Tuesdays from 09:00 to 12:00 and Fridays from 09:00 to 12:00, except for U.S. and Rwandan holidays.
For after-hours emergencies, please call +250 (252) 596-400. For additional information on consular services, please visit the Embassy’s website.
End Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens.
If you have any questions regarding this restriction, please contact either Gloriosa Uwimpuhwe or me directly.
Thank you.
Steve Miller
Peace Corps Country Director
Peace Corps Rwanda.
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