I had a hard time waking up this morning. I was tired, I had a cold shower to look forward to, and a long day ahead. But, I opened my front door, and a metallic purple bird flew into the path in front of my house and chirped at me. Then another, which seemed like a good omen for the day. Then, after shower and breakfast, I walked to work and saw mongooses-- a big, social business of mongooses. Some scampered behind a bush when I walked by, but a lot of them just stayed where they were, and watched me with faint interest. Sort of like my cat. It was awesome.

I'm at my site after half a weekend in Kigali, and half at my husband's site. Kigali is expensive, especially if you want to eat something different from simple Rwandan food, food that's very good, but pretty repetitive. By the weekend I'm craving something else, but if I eat out the way I want to at restaurants in Kigali, I spend as much as I would in DC. It was nice to go back home, spend time in the kitchen with Tom, and make Indian food, which we did on Sunday night. Daal, chapati, and green pepper curry.

3 coves of garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1" of ginger, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds

4 green peppers, cut into 3/4" squares or so
8 med tomatoes -- skins removed and roughly chopped

1 tbs ground coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt to taste.

heat a few tsps of oil in a frying pan. Add cumin seeds and fry, let them sizzle for a few seconds, then add ginger and onion. Fry until onion browns at the edges. Add garlic and saute for a few seconds. Add peppers and stir fry for 4-5 minutes. Then add tomatoes and the spices, and some salt. Stir, bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until the peppers are a nice soft-but-not-too-soft consistency. salt to taste and serve with rice or chapati. It gets even better the next day.

It’s been hard to figure out how to write about my new job. I’m working for Inshuti Mu Buzima, a complete public health dream job. I like what I do, the committed people I work with, and the incredibly, implausible beautiful spot where I’m now located. Tom and I are now living in separate towns, which is not ideal, but very doable thus far—we’re only about 40 minutes apart, and have managed to see each other every weekend.

Last week I got a fantastic package of letters from a third grade classroom in Ohio, through the Coverdell Worldwise Schools Program. I had an awesome time responding to them, and can’t wait for the next ones. I hope I have at least sent a bunch of boys running to wikipedia to learn about the black mamba. It also feels weird to write things like, “yes, there are lions and elephants here” (I’m really close to a game park).

One of my favorite things about the letters was how incredibly familiar the kids’ point of reference is. Tom read the letters first, and was just waiting for me to get to the letter that asked me if I liked Bob Evans, of if they have “cricks” in Rwanda (do people say crick instead of “creek” anywhere else but Ohio?). And while writing, “yes, I like chicken mcnuggets, but, no, they don’t have McDonald’s in Rwanda,” is funny, it also gets to what excites me about this exchange. In a lot of ways, I have no idea how I got here. I know why I made different decisions at different points in my life, but how I got from a farm in Ohio (a home that I’m proud of) to a village in Rwanda pursuing a career in global health still feels a little like a fluke, and the fact that I’m getting to do exactly what I want feels like a fantastic stroke of like, despite all the work I’ve put in. If I can make kids aware that people lack basic necessities of life like water, adequate sanitation, decent housing, or that kids like them suffer from diseases that can be prevented by something as simple as a mosquito net, that’s good. If I can convince them that they can do something about that, or make them question injustice and inequality, that’s pretty good too. Even if I get someone to want to travel, I’m happy.

Women and kids waiting on vaccination day