Brenda's African Adventures

Tuesday, 15 June 2010

Location: Canada

Heike: Sponsored Children Visits in Tanzania

They live in a world so very different from ours and we arrive as representatives of their sponsors in Canada. We have only a small gift for each child, as all the planning and preparation for meeting the container and bringing the totes, so lovingly prepared by sponsor families at home, has gone awry, due to unforeseen changes in shipping schedules, etc. But what do these children and their parent/ aunt/ uncle/ grandmother /grandfather/friend, or whoever has accepted the responsibility to accompany them to meet the Canadian visitors, know of such things? We are their link to a world larger, and certainly far wealthier, than their own and the personification of the love and support that they feel in knowing that they have a sponsor and that someone far away cares about them and their life in a small village in a rather remote area of their developing country.

We smile and stutter our way through a few words of Swahili - Jambo! Habari gani? - in our attempts to make a connection, until we quickly cede to the skills of a World Vision interpreter, who has traveled as much as 100 kms to provide their valuable service to us today. Soon both parties start to relax a little and we engage in an exchange of information that hopefully will be meaningful in its own right, even after the visit is over. Of course, once we arrive back in our rooms that evening, other questions and comments come to mind, that we could have asked or shared, but time slips by, even "African time," and so some things are left unsaid for perhaps another occasion in the future.

The games provide a connection beyond the language barrier. The "crazy muzungus" engage and entertain with antics that surprise the reserved adults and delight the children. A ball bouncing off a head or appearing suddenly when thrown from an unexpected direction or angle needs no translation, it is quite simply both fun and funny. The children know how to share meager resources and include everyone. The ball is thrown around and across the circle with due care for the younger ones and an extra oomph in the arm from an older one, who would like to contribute a challenge to this communal game.

Soon lunch is being served. It may have been cooked outdoors, and we may also eat it under nature's canopy, but proper hygiene is observed by all and hands are duly washed with soap under the flow of clean water from a pitcher into a basin. Now the choice to eat in the traditional manner, with fingers only, or with a spoon, is left to the individual. The food is warm and plentiful. It varies only slightly from one visit to another, as the staples of rice, beans, chicken or beef, (sweet) potatoes and peanuts form the basic diet of those who live so close to the land. We sit companionably in groups and partake of the feast, wondering perhaps if this is a long-awaited special meal for some, or if here too there can at times be excess, as we notice what is occasionally left behind on a plate. Our impressions are those of the moment, and are added to the large collection that has already accumulated in our minds and will still be processed further, from a distance, when we are home again.

All too soon it is time to say our good-byes and climb back into the vehicles that have brought us here, while the children and their guardians drift off down the red earth road and begin their long walk back home.

Wednesday, 09 June 2010

Location: Kigali, Rwanda

Rylan

Yesterday morning was spent at the Bonded Broker where we had the chance to see the crate again but that's a far as it went. The process to get the crate to Muhanga involves alot of different paperwork and signatures, it has been quite the learning lesson for all of us and the next container will be much smoother.

During the afternoon we split up into two groups to get everything done we needed to get done before we leave. Brenda and Yves stuck around the Bonded Broker to get things sorted out and then Heiki, Richard and I took an hour long bus ride to Muhanga to see exactly where the crate is going once all the paperwork is finished. The GO office had been busy at work the previous 2 days to build a brick foundation for the container to be laid onto.

We also visited the Hospital in Muhanga where we dropped of 3 full bags of toys, notebooks, pencil crayons and miscellaneous items to give to some of the children suffering from illness. Some are orphans, some have AIDS, some have been there 3-5 years which was hard to hear. It was tough to see some of the children sick in beds, hooked up to different IV's but we were able to bring smiles to many of the children faces which made it worth it.

Brenda and Yves ended up arriving in Muhanga at around 4:45pm for our 5 o'clock meeting with Faustine, a very helpful nice man who works at the Muhanga Mayor's District Office who is going to help us sort some of the paperwork. To end the evening we had a nice dinner our last night at the hotel with Richard, Yves and Bievenue who all volunteer for the GO Office in Muhanga. They have been so helpful to us this entire trip, we really couldn't have done it without them.

Brenda will fill everyone in on more of the details when we get back. We are getting ready to catch our flights in an hour and begin our journey back home.

Monday, 07 June 2010

Location: Kigali, Rwanda

Monday, June 7th

Wow what a day! We just got back to the hotel after spending the day in a trucking yard. We finally laid eyes on the crate this morning, but after 9 hours of breathing in exhaust fumes, it now seems like ages ago After following up on our lead from Saturday, we were sent from one office to another, then another and then back to a trucking yard where we FINALLY saw the crate for the first time. (It was a joyful moment but I have to say, our expectations have been lowered to the point where we’re just glad that we still have a crate.)

I know it’s hard for those of you who have never been here, to understand just how things work (or don’t work sometimes.) It's hard to even describe what all took place today. The amount of people that were involved in the process, the red tape, the haggling, the shifting from one office to another, the language barrier, the culture barrier and the resulting frustration of having to work in this environment.

Eventually things progressed to the point where it was decided they would need to off-load the crate contents so they can check the cargo with the excel spreadsheets and decide if it can clear customs. We cautioned them about what an undertaking that would be and reminded them of our timeline. They compromised by agreeing to modify the idea. A small army of workers converged on the crate and created an isle down the middle by moving the necessary contents to an adjoining shipping container. They can now crawl around in the container and look at what they need to and they’ve made the rest easily accessible. In the morning, the inspection will take place and then if everything is OK, we can move to the next step.

During this process, we started the negotiations around moving the crate to Muhanga, which is about an hour away. (No one seems to know the actual distance; no matter how many times the question has been asked, everyone just says “it’s about an hour away.”) The first quote we got was $2200. I quickly pointed out to them the discrepancy in that quote and the fact that it cost around $17,000 total to truck it 400kms from Penticton to Vancouver, ship it half way around the world and then truck it from Dar es Salaam to here.

Rylan and I walked over to talk to Rananja, the guy from Inchcape Shipping that I met before the Tanzanian leg of the trip. He said he’d do what he could to help and asked me to call him back in the morning. (He’s a guy that’s going to be a big help to us when it comes to shipping in the future!!) Benoit and I haggled some more over the cost of a crane to off-load at the site and we all agreed to meet at 8:00am to go over all the options once again. I feel there’s a transparency in the people and systems here and I’m just glad at this point that we’re dealing in Rwanda and not Tanzania.

By the time we headed out to go home, it was just getting dark. The area we were in was down in the industrial area and on a very busy street. The air was thick with fumes, there were very few street lights. We knew it would be hard to get a cab. The motorcycle guys that we use during the days were everywhere so we took a chance and grabbed four of those. Driving on then during the day can be considered by some to be unsafe. At night, it was crazy. I don’t think any of us could see through the glare of lights on the cracked and taped-together visors and that was a good thing. At one point as we were weaving in and out of the traffic, there was an accident so our guys just rode up on the sidewalks around the jam. Rylan told me later that he even hit a car bumper with is leg. In the end we all made it back safe and sound with more PR material for blogging!!!

Sunday, 06 June 2010

Location: Kigali, Rwanda

Sunday, June 6th.

After having one of my best sleeps, Franklin cooked us breakfast over coals in his back yard kitchen. We rented a bike from one of his friends and headed out to Gashora which is about a 45 minute drive. There are a group of Canadian university students staying out there and one of them is Kathy M’s son (co-worker of mine.) It turns out they weren’t around today but I did see the project they were working on and it was a nice drive out to the lake.
On the way back, we had a little problem with an empty gas tank. While I guarded the bike on the side of the highway, Franklin headed back to the nearest village in search of fuel. There was a steady stream of people riding and walking by me on the road, and I heard the word ‘mzungu’ in almost every comment. Many of the people stopped to stare or to chat. Our conversations were limited to “Good morning” What is your name?” My name is _____.” Everyone wanted to show off their very limited English! I don’t know Kinyarwandan but they know the word petroli and could make their own deductions as to why this ‘mzungu’ was standing on a highway beside a bike in the middle of nowhere. Franklin finally showed up to tell me that there was no gas in that village.
After a couple full mini-vans rattled by, Franklin flagged down one and sent me back to Nyamata. He would wait for a friend to bring him gas. I thought four across was the limit in each row of these very small vans but these people thought we could fit in five. There were sacks of potatoes and grain on laps and I laughed at the whole situation when a man carrying three dead chickens crawled in at one of the many stops. When I got out at Nyamata, I was confused about which direction it was to Franklins and was surrounded by a crowd of people all clamouring to help. No one could understand me but eventually I found someone who spoke Swahili and he understood what I wanted. I hopped on the back of his bike and he deposited me safely at Franklin’s. I was now worried about being late for my next agenda item so hired a motorbike to speed me back into the city.

Costa’s sister Denise, (She loved the clothes Beki!!) attends a boarding school that has over 1200 or so co-ed students. Her school is built on a hill in a very beautiful setting with an amazing view of that part of the city. Visiting day is the first Sunday of every month and the rest of the time, you need special permission for even a short visit at the gate. I was surprised to hear the rigid schedule the kids must adhere to and could not picture any of the Canadian kids I know being able to handle the situation here. Denise also told us that there is no breakfast served, lunch is only potatoes and supper’s menu consists of cassava, beans and more potatoes. That’s it!!! No variation except for once a week, when they are served rice. Over half of all of the kids are orphans, many who have survived the genocide and she said they are all very ‘troubled.’ She also explained in detail the’ indiscretions’ that the headmaster demands from the girls at the school. People here are powerless to do anything about these matters because of the alternatives they would face, in this case dismissal from school and no chance at an education. It was very hard to leave her there as she asked me if I had any more information about the chance of her getting a VISA to come to Canada.

After saying a sad good-bye we headed back to our room to plan how we could make the best out of the limited time we have over the next few days before we leave. We’re heading down to the IMA office first thing tomorrow and then will go out for a meeting at the mayor’s office in Muhanga. We’re taking our last pile of gifts to the hospital to give out and then will take photos of some of the places where our medical equipment will be delivered. Rylan, Heike and I spent a reflective evening out on the deck discussing the trip and the exciting future of The One Person Project.

Saturday, 05 June 2010

Location: Kigali, Rwanda

Saturday, June 5th

We didn’t make any progress in finding our elusive crate today. The email that I’d received from Diamond Shipping asking us to contact AMI Kigali led me to believe that it was a trucking company we were looking for. The phonebook here for a city of over 1,000,000 people is only ½” thick and doesn’t appear to have very many actual phone numbers in it. No one that we talked to had heard of them. When I Googled ‘AMI’ I found that it was a company that transported coffee. It was Denise who figured out that the letters were in the wrong order and yes, there was an IMA Kigali and she even provided me with an address. We took a cab down and I couldn’t believe when I saw the building that it was in was the one I’d actually been in two weeks ago when Yves and I ran into the Bangladeshi who called his friend to help us. It turns out that IMA stands for International Marine Agency and it’s a government office (which happens to be closed on Saturdays.) We didn’t get to actually see the crate but left feeling optimistic that we might get some answers first thing Monday morning!

I had been invited out to spend the night in Nyamata at Franklin’s so left Heike and Rylan to do their own thing in Kigali for the night. I hoped on a motorbike and headed up to the busy bus section of town. Even though I feel very comfortable alone in this city, this is one area where it can be a little unnerving. There are three intersecting roads all with mini-buses and vans lined up everywhere. People tend to crowd around you, trying to sell you everything including phone cards, gum, fruit and boiled eggs. The men crowded around me, all advising me on which bus I should take and where I should stand. I realized I had gotten there early and would have to wait another 45 minutes in this mayhem. Suddenly I heard someone call my name and there in a van parked nearby, was Chartine, the head of the Nyamata World Vision ADP, whom I had gotten to know on previous visits. She and her husband crawled out and offered to wait and take the next one with me. It was really nice to see her again!

After dropping my stuff off at Franklin’s, his wife Christella, daughter Laura, their friend Jean-Claude and I headed over to an outdoor community dance featuring a live band. It was a magical night that I’ll never forget. As soon as we arrived many of the kids that were dancing in the large common area came running up to greet me. The music was a ménage of country, reggae and African and my dozens of little dance partners and I danced to every song. The children kept trying to touch my hair and were all clamouring to hold my hands. I remember looking around at Franklin’s family, all the little kids, the teenagers break-dancing, the young men dancing together along with everybody’s parents and I just felt so fortunate to be able to be a part of this community. I even ran into a few people whom I’d met on previous trips. Everyone was so friendly and excited that I was there; it was a great feeling. We ended walking home exhausted after 1 pm and I became the first ‘mzungu’ to ever stay at Franklin’s house. What an honour!!!!!!! I felt bad that Rylan and Heike had missed out on this wonderful evening.

Saturday, 05 June 2010

Location: Kigali, Rwanda

Rylan


Patience is Key

We are on day 21 here in Africa and nothing could have prepared me for the lessons learned on patience. Time is much different here than in Canada, things just take longer and there isn't much you can do about it; you must realize it's a different place, a different culture and it has it's good points and bad points.

Waiting 10 minutes just to get on your hotmail can be very frustrating at times because we are used to instant high speed internet. Waiting 2 hours for a meal sometimes can be frustrating when you are in a rush because we are used to service in 20 minutes. The whole ordeal with the shipping container and it taking so long can be very frustrating because all of us have worked so hard to get it to this point and we are literally probably 10 miles away from the container in Kigali and we can't see it, we can't open it yet.

Patience is key here and I realize you just have to slow things down a bit and not try to rush things, not try to force things and just learn to calm yourself down and not be in such a hurry - because if you don't it will be a very long and frustrating trip. A lot of people in Kigali and Kahama seem to be very happy and I believe one of the reasons is that they have this patience and live more in the moment and not so much in the future (as I tend to do at least!).

We have a lot to learn from this magnificent place

It's almost 10am right now so i am going to go down to the local restaurant with a great book and have lunch by noon (it will probably be faster than that but just in case :)