5 weeks left: Still 5 weeks left?

Life: In January, we had a big conference at a beautiful hotel on the banks of Lake Kivu, and we talked, essentially, about endings and beginnings. What did Peace Corps mean to us, what did we do, how can we feel proud of it, how do we bring things to a close, and what will we do next. It was really well done, and made me feel good and peaceful about my experience, and more prepared for finding meaningful work once I am done here. It made things feel like they were ending really, really soon. But that was over a month ago, and now there is more than a month to go. It’s strange—too little time to start new things, but too much time to start wrapping things up in earnest, too early to start packing up and giving things away, too early to really say goodbye, but having those goodbyes looming in front of you.

Work: The health post is still going. I took a few more pictures this week. I wish I could be there more often, but it’s far, and there’s a lot of administrative work to be done back here at my site. I won’t bore you.

Crafts and Cooking: There has been a lot of cooking going on, since there are a lot of things I have been saving for later, and now there’s not much later left. In the last week alone, I’ve made chocolate ice cream, brownies, my grandma’s apricot bars, barbecue sauce, sushi, with lots more plans for the weekend. Now that we have memorized the word for ribs, we have talked it over with the owner of our preferred local restaurant, and are having goat ribs on Friday, with my barbecue sauce. We are very excited about this.

Also, I’ve been making a lot of things. I finished a pair of socks, and finished knitting a scarf, except for the crochet trim, which bored me, so I started yet another scarf. Plus, working on some small goodbye and thank you gifts.

6 weeks left: How to disengage

Work: The health post is working! There are staff, medicines, and supplies, and, most importantly patients. The work and the problems of getting it open have given way to the headaches and frustrations of all the little problems, and making sure that things are going to continue going smoothly once we leave.

The health post accountant with her new neighbors

Life: It has dawned on me that we are actually, really leaving. One of our peace corps neighbors is finishing early and going home next week, so we sent him off with a party last weekend. It’s sad, but he’s a good friend, and I don’t doubt that we’ll see him again soon. We do tend to get together a lot, and it seems like we do it increasingly as we get closer to the end, and each time, we ask ourselves if this is the last time. I’m sure this isn’t, but it hangs in the air. I think we get especially close to each other because we’re disengaging from our work and communities. It was hard watching Brandon say goodbye to his Rwandan friends, and start giving his things away to neighbors. I know I’m going to see these guys again sooner than I’m going to see my Rwandan family here. As we pull away from Rwanda, I think we pull together, just like we always do when things are difficult. I just hope that in the end that doesn’t make things even harder.

The Boys, one last time

Crafts: So, as I’ve mentioned before, my friend Anna and I visit the local prison about once a week to sew toys for children at the hospital with some of the female prisoners. Last week, we were wrapping up, and giving the new bean bags a quick toss to make sure the beans wouldn’t fall out, I had a vision: Brandon is a serious juggler. African fabric bean bags would be the perfect gift. Given that Anna has made hundreds of these things, she was the one to present Brandon with them. On my part, Tom had recently talked me into buying a promotional length of fabric for Primus – Rwanda’s most popular beer. Thinking about gifts that were both small and meaningful, I came up with a passport holder for Brandon. While I was sewing, I realized that the fabric was actually not for Rwandan Primus, but the Congolese brand. Still, I don’t think that that detracts from the overall effect.






And finally, a Valentine’s Day gift from our garden.

7 Weeks Left: Planned Obsolescence

Work: As things get busier here, I find myself focusing more and more on making myself obsolete. This was hard at first—I felt like I was slacking when I would ask a colleague to make a call, or fill out a form, especially since I was really excited about the work. To back up, our colleague Lysiane was promoted from part time interpreter to the full-time Rwandan representative of the NGO we work with, Humanity for Children. We were excited about this, because knew she would do a great job, and a more effective one that a succession of foreigners could. A shift in mindset doesn’t happen overnight, but it's been amazing seeing her grow in her new role. We’re working closely together, and I’m doing my best to teach her ways to work more effectively, and communicate with the American staff more effectively as well. As the opening date of our health post approaches and there’s more and more work to do, it’s a challenge to get everything done, but while is hasn’t been the most stress-free week, it’s been rewarding.

Life: Have I mentioned that I love Rwanda? It has the most perfect climate, and I swear I haven’t seen a single spot that isn’t incredibly beautiful in its own way. I couldn’t count the number of times I have taken the same route on the main (only?) highway in our province, but there are still spots that make me catch my breath, I had forgotten how beautiful they were. I have seen the starriest nights, the most perfect rainbows, prettiest sunsets, and the most shooting stars of my life.



A house in Gitarama at sunset. This is on a side road in the second biggest city in the country.


At the same time, it’s a tiny country, whose development– albeit turbocharged– is in early stages. Tom and I have done a lot of the major tourist attractions, like hiking in Nyungwe Forest, visiting Gisenyi and Kibuye on Lake Kivu, safaris and camping in Akagera park, and most recently, climbing Mount Bisoke. But, to keep things interesting, I like to have a running list of day trips. These have included a trip to a monastery and pottery in our District, requiring an hour and a half on a bike taxi, and our most epic to date, a walk to our friend Emmett’s site, which took about 9 hours, partially in a thunderstorm. For some reason, I was confident that we would walk back the same way the next day, so I took exactly two pictures. Here is one – featuring a Rwandan beehive. Unfortunately, we had to take a bus when it became apparent that our blister-covered, aching feet could not transport us back



Anyway, my most recent excursion was a trip to Kirehe District to visit the Kakira Imigongo cooperative. Imigongo are traditional paintings of raised geometric designs, generally black and white. They were traditionally used to decorate people’s homes, but have become a common handicraft, sold on wooden panels. They were not my favorite Rwandan craft at first, but I love them now, both for their vibrancy and their unmistakable Rwandanness. So, at the coop, there were a group of women sitting outside, forming the patterns in a mixture of earth and cow dung, and others painting them with natural pigments. They were kind enough to let me take pictures. And I was happy to buy a couple to bring home, traditional designs and unfortunately not the temptingly beautiful (and huge) village scene they had for sale.



Crafts: After lots of planning and evaluation of April temperatures of places we would like to go, Tom and I are planning on heading to a Nepal for a month after Rwanda. While I am incredibly excited about this, Rwanda has completely spoiled me temperature wise, and I now get cold and hot very easily, which is ridiculous. I am planning on freezing in Nepal, especially since I wasn’t really packing for a Himalayan trek when I left the U.S. for Africa. Luckily, our market is full of second hand clothes, and I’ve managed to find some decent hiking equipment and a fleece. To supplement those finds, I’m working on a pair of wool socks (thanks for the yarn, Aunt Yvonne!). I finished one, but I’ll wait to show you until both are finished. Instead, here’s picture of a scarf I knit on top of quilt I sewed.