Coming up on my second week in Rubengera, I am still working on calling this place my home. If you head due west from Kigali until just before you hit Lake Kivu, you will run smack through the bustling little big city of Rubengera. My best, but woeful attempt at estimating the population here would put it around 50,000; give or take some 10,000. (Estimating size is clearly not my strong suit). It is about the size of Nyanza, which doesn't help anyone who hasn't been here. My house, (the one with the blue gate!) is located at the edge of the town proper. Basically you walk past the market, a few more stores, restaurants and such, and it's the only noticeable house before you hit the next cross road.
In brief, my house consists of a bedroom, tiny sitting room, bathroom big enough for a toilet bowl and meter square shower, and a "kitchen prep room," which is a sink. (If anyone has heard of the book, Left to Tell, the area where the women stayed is where I now live.) The rest of the house is closed off to me, which is fine. There is garden of gargantuan proportions, a cabana, guard house, and a whole brood of random animals. The caretaker / guard / gardener / animal keeper / neighbor who runs the property is a boy by the name of Everest who speaks little to no English or French, but is always willing to help. Supposedly it is Everest who takes care of the 3 dogs, 2 goats, random chickens, ducks, and one cow. I keep expecting rabbits and pigs to jump out of the woodwork. It's small, but I can already imagine my next two years in my cozy new house.
Work is a 15 minute walk up the hill to the health center, passing a primary and secondary school where they love to remind me that I am white. The health center is really a fledgling hospital, boasting a maternity center, PMTCT - prevention of maternal to child transmission which doubles as a prenatal clinic, nutrition center, Family planning center, voluntary counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS, ARV disbursement, pharmacy, 'surgical' rooms, pharmacy, laboratory, and other random bits and pieces. Technically I work for the Rwandan Presbyterian Church whose projects are directed and funded by USAID / CHF. My office sits in the forgotten annex behind the PMTCT building.
Walking through town is an adventure unto itself. It takes courage to steel yourself for the market and other shops that carry the daily necessities of Rwandan life. Integration, integration, integration has been the Peace Corps' motto for us. It's an interesting concept to attempt to fit in when simply walking through town turns heads. You just have to get used to the curious, unashamed but blatant stares. My coping mechanism; saying hello in Kinyarwanda and watching their face light up with laughter and disbelief, followed immediately by 20 more questions in Kinyarwanda in an attempt to discern if I really know the language. I don't. Usually my bravado shrivels up to a stupid grin as I continue on my way through town. Despite my uncertainties, I can always count on being cheered by the very Rwandan nature of Rubengera. Cows wandering through backyards, the smiling Mamas with infants on their backs, motos roaring through town with the matching green helmets, and the endless vistas of mountain after gorgeous mountain.
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