Beautiful Butare?

Norwegian neighbors, means norwegian food. Waffle saturday without brunost and syltetøy, but with peanut butter.

So, I feel like it is about time to say some more about the city I live in. I have been here for a pretty long time now, and I feel like I am at last starting to know what this city is all about. The natural starting point would be our house. It is a small place surrounded by high walls, situated on a dirt road, straight across from the National Museum of Rwanda. The Museum is also where one of my neighbors work, Solveig, a 24 year-old norwegian who lives in a house two meters away from us, within the same walls.

One of the (not so) many tarmac roads in Butare.

The main road twenty metres from our house, leading to the city center, it is also the road between Butare and Kigali. It has almost no street lights, so it can get pretty dark after the sun goes down, but luckily we are almost always together, me and Harald. This road is also the same road we walk every morning. At around 8:00 AM we walk the 35 minutes to work, saying mnaramutse (good morning) to everyone we meet, while trying to speak French with eachother at the same time. The walk is very nice; dirt roads, eucalyptus trees, pretty birds (yes, I think I will become an ornitologist before I leave this place) and friendly people everywhere.

Approaching the office.

The same main road between Butare and Kigali also leads to the city center. It reminds me of an old town from Western movies I have seen on TV. There are small, one-storey houses facing the main road. We have our hangouts; Hotel Faucon (perfect for brochettes and football on TV, and it also is one of the nightclubs on friday nights; The Melo Twist), Hotel Ibis (the mzungo hang out, where they serve very good food, even thuogh it normally takes an hour and a half to get it), and Cheers fastfood (a small café inside Matar supermarket run by two Lebanese brothers ). It is a nice little city center, always busy and plenty of things to look at.

We have witnessed quite a strange fenomena lately: Mass death of four winged bugs. This is just outside my office.

If you walk the around 200 meters the main road consists of, and take a right, you are headed towards the market. Being in a market place in any country is always interesting, and I really like this one. When you enter the narrow entrance in the brick wall surrounding the market area, you see around ten women sitting with an old fashioned sowing machine each, making beautiful dresses and clothes. You continue walking the narrow walkways, strong smells everywhere and people passing you left and right saying mzungo (white person), mwirwe (good afternoon) or practicing their English. After the sowing women, passing the electronics booths, you enter the clothes section. Everything is second hand – clothes coming from countries in the North, like Norway or the United States. I have seen some funny shirts around, like one with Norway and a picture of Bryggen in Bergen on it, or «Happy Bat Mitzva, Jenny, 2007. It never fails to impress. After the clothes comes the vegetables; no one hassles you, and you get a fair price without much bargaining. Avocados, tomatoes, oinions, bananas, pineapples, carrots, peas, beans, cuecumbers, pilipili: all you need to fill up the fridge at home. One section yet to be visited is the meat area – maybe I will have the courage to go there one day.

Me and a chameleon we found walking to work the other day. Pic: Harald Viken

So, yes, Butare is a beautiful city. I have to make sure to remember how it looks now, because all of the sudden all of the houses in the center have gotten the word TOWA written in red paint on the side of the them. It means demolish. So literally all of the buildings will be torn down. The explanation we have gotten is that they need to make room for progress – and with that constructing higher buildings. Even Butare’s oldest building, Faucon, is going down.

Officially in the Office.

My desk.

Yes, it is true. We have an office. It is a beautiful little yellow room in the Red Cross Branch main office in Huye District. We have printer, desks, chairs, folders, xerox machine (although it doesn’t work), and almost an internet connection (though the speed that was promised to us by the salesman of rwandatel has not exactly been reached.)

Now all we need is people. I want my office to be a place where people can come see the Youth Delegates; talk to us, get information, ask questions and teach us things. Things about Rwanda Red Cross, the Youth Movement, who is responsible for what and so on. So, inspired by Anniken and Invild in Sudan, me and Harald have decided to make an organizational map. I want to know who is responsible for what and how they relate to the rest of the organization, in all of the three districts we are working – Nyanza, Gisagara and Huye.

Maybe some of these people will pop by the office some day. From the Annual Partners Meeting in Kigali.

And we have also finally started some planning. Even though our first plans of workshops and visits got put off for a while due to a large school holiday until the beginning of January, we are now eager and ready to do something. So our first goal, besides all the practicalities, is to arrange a Sports Event here in Butare. We want to get to know the volunteers we will be working with and also get some attention to the work Rwanda Red Cross Youth does. And speaking of people who knows how to get attention; we met two swedish girls working for Clowns without Borders, who are travelling around Burundi and Rwanda for six weeks arranging shows wherever they go. They target vulnerable children and make sure that there is more happiness in the world. Check them out!

Clowns without borders. Clown on top, Karin, clown on the bottom, Camilla. Pic: Erika Boija.

And finally some news from Rwanda; I have finished knitting socks for Harald (now it is time to start the next pair), the first meal (apart from Harald’s delicious oatmeal every morning) has been cooked in our house, I have had three classes of French (improving every day), and it rains more and more due to the small rainy season (for those who thought Rwanda is a warm county – you are wrong!), and we went camping in lake Kivu with some new friends this weekend (Amahoro Island is now one of my favorites)

Our norwegian neighbor, Solveig, and me in front of our tent at Amahoro Island.

Bye Bye, Kigali (And Hello Again)!

Leaving

So, time had finally come to leave Kigali. After spending a month in the city just waiting, while doing important stuff of course, for the real work to start, we left for Butare early sunday morning. It is something exciting about leaving for somewhere. And this day it was especially exciting because me and Harald were going to the place we were going to spend our next eight months, Butare. Behind us we left a city which is changing every day; new sidewalks, street lights, highrisers and people trying to make a buck. And also a city full of contrasts; you see brand new Mercedes’ driving on dirt roads, passing kids playing with bicycle tyres, and you see gigantic brick houses being built everywhere, right next to more humble homes with roofs of corrugated iron.

Kigali view

Kigali (The picture which took me two hours to upload)

Butare

Our new home. After a three hour drive, which somehow felt longer due to too little sleep the night before, we had passed lush landscapes, driven uphill, downhill, and around hill; We had seen eucalyptus trees (which always makes me think of public baths in Peru), bamboo and not to forget plenty of goats tied to trees on the side of the road; We finally arrived Butare. The city is in the southern part of the country, not far from the border with Burund in the South and DR Congo in the West. All of the sudden we were there. Our house. It was not quite how I had pictured it, but, honestly, who is able to picture what your house will end up looking like in a new country? I unpacked all my suitcases, hung my map of Africa on the wall, and started knitting socks for Harald – I was at home. If you want to see pictures, check out these. We even got to know one of our neighbours on the first night. Before we even managed to set foot in our small, greyish green, house, the Russian-Abkhasian woman living next to us invited us over for tea and traditional home made Abkhasian bread. We managed to communicate through Haralds beginner Russian, her beginner English and a lot of hand gestures and smiles. A very nice surprise. Now we are just waiting for a chance to meet our Norwegian (!) neighbor who works at the National Museum in Butare.

Moving.

Back again

Only five days after moving to Butare, we are back in Kigali. I needed to pick up my visa at the immigrations office, which, after a whole lot of trouble to get all the right papers translated in to the right languages, and of course with the right stamps on them, was a very quick and easy process. It also gave us a chance to hang out at our favorite cafés, try out new restaurants and see some friends again. Not that I am saying that Butare hasn’t got anything to offer after work. We have made many belgian friends, played board games (“Life” from the 80’s) and figured out where to get the best dinners.

Sambazas, fish from lake Kivu, in a restaurant in Gisenyi.

Languages.

The importance of being understood.

During the second part of our roadtrip, namely the part where we went South-East, crossing the border to Burundi, I really got the feel for how important learning the local language is. Kinyarwanda is a very diffcult language, and its mix of strange sounds and very long words makes it feel impossible. The other 22 volunteers we went together with to Kirundo were all chatting away, laughing and having fun – while me and Harald, had to resort to either broken french, stuttering a few phrases in kinyarwanda or only talking to the ones who speak english. At times it can feel pretty frustrating not understanding what’s being said, but luckily we had Aline as a perfect translator when something important was going on. Even though we felt included during the three day-exhcange with the local Kirundo Red Cross, I think the most important for understanding the culture and what’s going on, is the language.

How to get there.

The beautiful sunset entering Burundi. Pic: Harald Viken

The trip across the border to Burundi was very interesting. After spending some time getting through the passport control, we could soon see the difference between the two countries. The amount of mud huts increased rapidly and there were not as many urbanized areas. It was quite fascinating witnessing this shift in two countries that are very much alike, in everything from culture, language to recent history. Burundi is a bigger country, but it has less inhabitants than Rwanda and is maybe a bit less known. Getting to Kirundo was easy, but getting there language wise might be a lot bigger challenge. We do try. Every day I ask; “how do I say this in Kinyarwanda?”, and slowly I am learning some words here and there. I know even know how to count until 19 – that’s a start!

Harald and me with local volunteers.

Multilingual.

Monday, we were able to be part of the annual partner meeting within the Rwanda Red Cross; Norway, Finland, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Commitee of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ICRC), as well as Rwanda Red Cross, the Minister of Health and other important people were represented at this meeting. It was very interesting being a witness to how languages affect who you choose to talk to – it is always easier talking to someone who speaks the same language as you. I also liked the fact that the meeting itself was multilingual. The ones who felt most comfortable with talking english did so, while quite a few chose french. As one woman said “The Red Cross has five official languages, and French is one of them”, as she was urged to speak English.

Me and Harald with the Rwanda Red Cross Youth President and Vice President.

Local Red Cross staff at the meeting.

Being in a place where multiple languages are being spoken is a wonderful opportunity to learn and refresh knowledge. We are planning to get a teacher in both French and Kinyarwanda when we eventually will move to Butare (hopefully on monday!). But having friends who speaks all of these languages is amazing – it means that you’ll get a very multilingual birthday party for instance. There is nothing like being sung happy birthday to in four different languages!

Happy! Cake, friends and singing. Pic: Harald Viken

Roadtrippin’

So, roadtripping in Africa is not like roadtripping anywhere else. Or at least not anywhere I have been before. There are many aspects that need to be considered. It is also important to remember that in the beginning  (or maybe the entire time?) of being a Youth Delegate, you don’t have much say in what activities your days will consist of, so surprises might come. Luckily, in our case, it has been a lovely week.

Ready for take-off. Paul and the driver. Pic: Harald Viken

The first thing you need for when going on a road trip in Rwanda, is patience. You never know when you are starting or what might come up to delay the plans that you have made. Our first trip was planned for saturday morning at nine. We actually started, impressively on time; Harald, Paul, Aline, the driver, Masted, and me were on our way to Gisenyi, in the North-West of Rwanda. The drive was scenic, the company was good and the roads, most of the way, had a standard way above my expectations. The drive was spent trying to name African countries and capitals – let’s just say our knowledge has room for improvement.

Me and Aline, with goat. Pic: Harald Viken

The other thing you need is an open mind for what you might be doing. Our first day in Gisenyi was spent on the shores of beautiful lake Kivu, which has loads of natural gas, which can cause you to drown, so swimming has to be done with a life jacket. We also all of the sudden got to see a rwandese farm. Aline’s aunt lived by the lake and we said hello to happy cows and fat goats just outside her house. Then we were driven, on the extremely bumpy and potholed, dirt roads, to visit a convent.  The convent was beautiful, calm and had a wonderful view. We spent the afternoon playing cards and we tasted the homemade wine and cheese the nuns had made.

Esra, nun, cheese and me. Pic: Harald Viken

One more thing which is good to bring, is a strong stomach. Motion sickness is not to be recommended when potholes are as large as the car itself. And when attending the Red Cross Youth activity, blood donation, it is not good to be a too sensitive soul. The activity itself was great. 80 people donated blood, Aline held a very good presentation about reproductive health and we got to do our first introduction about the Youth Delegate Programme for around 200 people. We finally got to meet a lot of local volunteers and saw what kind of activities we might be doing in Butare later on. Our stomachs did feel pretty weak after a while though, due to no food besides biscuits between 8 am to 6 pm –  and after what I have seen, I think we have to get used to that.

Aline is lecturing while I'm the assistant. Pic: Harald Viken

The last part of our roadtrip to the North was a trip over the Congolese border. DR Congo is a country that has gotten a lot of attention in Norwegian media lately, but we managed to get both in and out without major problems. We were introduced to another Red Cross activity, namely the dissemination of information about the volcanic activity in the region. In 2002, the city of Goma was hit by a major volcanic eruption where 150.000 people lost their homes. We got to see how the monitoring works and how destructive a volcano can be. I almost considered taking up geology studies for a while, when talking to the professor in charge. Almost. The most impressive sight though, was the red light coming from the volcano at night. Sometimes you can also see sparks and smoke coming out of it. It is one of three volcanoes in the world with an active crater, and can erupt at any moment. Monitoring and informaiton is the only way of being prepared for what might come.

Planning – you’re gonna like it!

The first week of our stay in Rwanda has been concerned with planning. We have tried to plan how our new life and work in Butare is gonna be. It is incredibly difficult considering the fact that we have never seen the city, nor talked to the volunteers or the staff in the district. But people keep telling me “Butare is a great city, you’re gonna like it!”, or “The volunteers in Butare are very active, you’re gonna like them!”. So hopefully that is what is gonna happen.

Me and Harald are sitting in Paul’s office at the Red Cross Headquarters, waiting for the Secretary General to sign the contract for our new home in Butare, two hours south of the capital, Kigali. The house is green, has three bedrooms (“one for Sigri, one for Harald and one for me when I come visiting,” says Paul), a kitchen with a frigo and a cooker, bathroom, living room and a TV. And we’re even gonna be living in the neighborhood of another norwegian woman who works at the National Museum. And now it is not too long until we’re moving in.

Harald and local children outside the new Red Cross office in Bugesera.

What else is being planned are all the trips around the country that we are gonna do to get to know the different activities of Rwanda Red Cross. On monday, which was a day off due to Id celebrations (a few percent of the population is muslim), Paul took us to see his manioc growing in the country side. We got to use our kinyarwanda, the local language, when talking to the kids surrounding us; “Muraho, wi toande?”, meaning hello, what’s your name. They were all very cute and posed willingly for photos.

Paul Bizimana, our contact person, and also the youth leader of Rwanda Red Cross, is very eager to show us the country. He is planning trips East, West, North and South. This weekend we’re going to Gisenyi on the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo, and next week we are doing a small exchange with Burundi Red Cross. Great!

Being taken care of.

Mr. Zebra in Nairobi National Park

So far, in both Kenya and Rwanda, we are being taken care of at all times. That being if we want to buy water, eat dinner or just drive around the city. Ingrid, the program co-ordinator for Norwegian Red Cross in East Africa, even took us on an urban safari, just a short drive outside Nairobi. It was astonishing. I never expected seeing that much wildlife – ever. Everywhere we drove we saw giraffes crossing the road, zebras grazing and pretty rare rhinos just relaxing by the side of the road. Amazing!

Rhinos!

Workwise everything is being taken care of as well. We get up in the morning and have breakfast, which arrives with a slowness that even made the other mzungus, europeans, complain out loud the other day. Outside, our driver is waiting, and we go down to the large Red Cross compound. It has about twenty one-storey buildings and a large green park. Most of our days we spend running errands, that being getting work permits, checking our e-mails, greeting the seceretary general or just having luch at the cantina. And we wait. We are trying to get into the whole african time-way of doing things, that meaning that things wont happen until they happen.

It is pretty hard getting used to having my whole week planned and organized by others, and that also including a lot of waiting. It will be a good lesson to learn. I try to just sit back and relax. And in terms of being taken care of even in my hours off work: It also means that I get to go to safaris, meet people and not to forget eating dinner at Aline, the former youth delegate’s house tonight. African life is great!

Mr. Giraffe!

Meeting Africa.

My first few days under the African sun, or you might say comfortable 26 deg, has already passed. Me and my co-delegate, Harald Viken, arrived safely in Nairobi sunday night, and our first meeting was with our Red Cross driver, Erikanna. He was a funny man who was easily impressed by our humble attempts at learning some swahili. My new favourite word is karibu, which means welcome or you’re welcome.

My first meeting with the African continent has been spent trying to figure out what this place reminds me of. And I’ve decided it reminds me a little bit about everything. The smell of dust reminds me of Peru, the streets remind me of cities of Central America, but the red earth only reminds me of what I’ve seen on television.

Nairobi has been great so far. Good hotel, good food (that being italian and japanese), and very interesting meetings with all of the different parts of the Red Cross East African Zone Office. People have been very helpful and informative, and I’ve even been so lucky to meet two friends from home during these two days. Birgitte, working as an intern at the Norwegian Embassy, and Maren who is here with Kirkens Noedhjelp.

I like meeting people and seeing places, so I cannot wait for the next nine months to get started. Well, they actually have. Kigali tonight.