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.