Site Visit in Rango

As usual, I apologize for the delay in posting about site assignments and everything; I was incredibly busy preparing for the trip and then I got to my site and found out that there is no internet available within an hour of my school. This will be the last post in which I apologize for taking forever to write; otherwise I will be apologizing for the next two years. So what is this “site” I keep talking about? A Peace Corps site is the village in which a volunteer works during their service. My site is in Rango (the umudugudu, or village), Mareba sector (like counties in the US), Bugesera District (kind of like states), Eastern Province (regions). I am a one hour bus ride south of Kigali and then another hour moto ride southwest off the main road to Rango.

            Rango is a small village with no more than five stores (all of which sell the same things – sugar, soap, flour, and phone credit), two churches, and many small mud brick houses that have been plastered in cement. The market is in the sector next to Mareba, Ruhuha (about a 30-40 minute walk from my house in Rango), on Tuesdays and Fridays. The market is huge; it is the market that the big hotels and restaurants in Kigali come to buy animals, vegetables, and fruits for the week. Ruhuha is also where the police headquarters is. Though Ruhuha is bigger than Rango and you can find the most basic goods there, I have to travel an hour to the main town, Nyamata, for things like internet, mail, cheese (very important), plastic buckets and cooking supplies, and quite possibly toilet paper (I didn’t see any while I was in Rango or Ruhuha). To go to the bank, I have to travel into Kigali, which is another one hour bus ride from Nyamata, which is just such a long and annoying trip in mini-buses that are meant for 15 people, but actually squeeze about 23 adults, many children, and everyone’s belongings in. I’ll probably make that trip once a month and spend the vast majority of my free time in Rango.

            So what did my week in Rango look like? I left Monday morning at seven for Kigali with two other girls that are in Bugasera District and an LCF who would help get us to our sites. It was about a two hour trip from Nyanza in a nice sized bus to Kigali. Once in Kigali we squeezed into a mini-bus and annoyed all the other passengers with our huge hiking backpacks, purses, and motorcycle helmets (yes, Peace Corps gave us all flashy helmets that help us stand out even more than we already do). I was lucky enough to sit in the back row, which almost went out the back of the bus when we hit a speed bump too fast and the trunk door flew open (we had to hold onto the row in front of us as ours went backwards). Once we regrouped, we continued onwards to Nyamata where we dropped off Thais and Allison. From there I jumped on a moto after putting on my flashy helmet and headed to Rango to meet my headmaster. My LCF said it would take only ten minutes to get to my school, which was unfortunately 10 Rwandan minutes, which works out to be about an hour in American time. Please just picture me on the back of a moto with a 50 pound backpack, a purse, and a HUGE silver helmet – I looked ridiculous. Every time we went up a hill I thought I was going to go backwards off the bike; my abs and hip flexors were working overtime to keep me on that bike. We eventually made it to G.S. Rango, which will be my school for the next two years.

            My headmaster was there to meet me and we went to his house, where I spent the week with him and his wife. They were both so kind and ready to share their culture with me; it really made the week the best one I have had here in Rwanda and probably one of the best cultural exchanges I have ever been a part of. Monday afternoon we went to visit another teacher and his family and then that night, after dinner, my headmaster and I sat down to make a schedule for the week, which is when he decided to throw a curveball at me; he wanted me to teach English throughout the week. I have limited teaching experience and only three weeks of Tech training under my belt, so to say the least I was a little overwhelmed. Luckily, Tuesday is a market day so I got out of teaching then, but I did end up agreeing to teach an hour on Wednesday and two hours on Thursday to an S3 (the equivalent of 9^th grade in the US) class. They were already having a couple hours of math and science every day and the headmaster thought it would be a great idea to throw in some English, so with my six hours of experience in lesson planning, I threw together two lesson plans.

            Tuesday morning I woke up with the cow next door and started my day by introducing myself to the students and staff at school and then heading to Ruhuha to meet with the Police Commander and then on to the market. At the market I bought two live chickens and a lot of fruits and vegetables. Because I’m not allowed to jump on a bike taxi without a helmet, I walked home while my headmaster’s wife road a bike with all of our purchases. After lunch, I had the chance to visit my future home, which is in the compound of the largest church in town. For now, I will only say that there is great potential in this house that has yet to be realized (hopefully it will be by January). It is a three room house with an outdoor kitchen/shower building and a squat latrine. There is no running water (the water source is about 15 minutes away) and right now there is no electricity, though I have been told that I will have it by January. From the house I went to meet with the umudugudu leader, who will be an important contact to have in the community if I ever have any problems or concerns. He was very nice and I am looking forward to working alongside him over the next two years.

            The rest of the week was kind of uneventful. On Wednesday I taught for an hour and then explored the community by myself for a few hours. During my walk I was mobbed wherever I went and received many wedding proposals (this is extremely common for young American girls). I stood my ground and was able to escape many awkward conversations and got to meet some great women and girls. I visited two homes; the first was home to a young woman with a new baby (who was so happy to see me, she peed all over my dress), and the second was home to the family of a 17 year old girl who had shown me around. They were so nice and had many questions, which were asked and responded to in kinyafranglish (Kinyarwanda, French, and English). From there, I went home and in the afternoon I went with the headmasters wife to get prices for furniture. Thursday, I taught two hours about how to give a presentation and public speaking. Between classes I was able to observe two other classes to see how Rwandan teachers conduct their classes, which I found to be very interesting. I had the rest of the day free and just hung out at home and helped cook meals. Thursday night I went out with the headmaster and his wife for brochettes (meat on a stick) and potatoes. I was SO full by the time we finished, but of course dinner was waiting for us as soon as we got home. In true Rwandan fashion, I pretended to be hungry and forced down two plates of food (it seems to be an insult if you don’t take more food). With a very full stomach, I sat through the nightly prayer session and then was more than happy to head off to bed.

            Friday was a day of travel back to Nyanza after a morning full of food. We ate breakfast at 8 and then the headmaster’s wife decided she wanted to make ubugali (AKA fufu, cassava bread – a very gummy mass of cassava flour mixed with water), so at 9:30 we made ubugali and soup and by 10 we were eating lunch. I got back around 3 PM and immediately left for the local restaurant to catch up with everyone and do an informal debrief on our week’s adventures. Everyone had such different experiences so it was exciting to hear about the challenges and successes at our individual sites.

            Now, after five days back in Nyanza, we are back to the usual grind. We start model school next week and will be teaching four classes a week for the next three weeks, so we have a lot of prep work to do before (three week plan, weekly plans, class management plans, and individual lesson plans). On top of that, language is being kicked up a notch and we are working towards more immersion work. With six weeks to go in training, we had our mid-PST assessment and were able to give feedback to Peace Corps, which was received positively and acted upon immediately.

            Last thing to talk about – THANKSGIVING! What might a group of 68 Americans living in rural Rwanda be doing for this food-heavy holiday? Cooking turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, apple cider, and apple crisp, of course. The turkeys were brought in from Kigali and will be cooked in a 5’x 7’ pit with charcoal and everything else will be cooked over charcoal. The local staff will not be helping, so it will be up to the 30 person Thanksgiving team and sub-teams (I’m on Team Stuffing!) to pull this off and cook a Thanksgiving meal for about 120 people. I will definitely let you know how it goes; I’m sure there will be plenty of amazing stories to share.

            I will conclude the post now with high and hilarious points from my week at site:

High and Hilarious Points of the Week

- a chicken flying up the wall then at my face after Thais tried to scare it away.

- a 4 month old baby peeing on me while I was chatting with her mom.

- learning how to prepare a chicken (yes, I killed it, plucked it, and then chopped it up for dinner)

- being told I’m hungry and then fed every time I yawned

- walking home without tripping thanks to the full moon

- successfully teaching three hours of English and living to tell about it

- having French to back up my limited Kinyarwanda; so few people spoke English, while most educated Rwandans also speak French in addition to Kinyarwanda.

- walking around Nyanza and talking to random Rwandans about their lives for language class

- getting WIFI at the training center, so I don't have to pay for internet anymore

- going a solid 5 days without a single bug bite (possibly a new record)

Stay tuned for Thanksgiving shenanigans…