Since I have neglected my blog for so long, I figured I would give a brief overview of some of my activities. My time thus far has been split between working and living in Rubengera, attending economic development trainings throughout the country, and hanging out in Kigali with friends.
In Rubengera, I have been continuing to work at the health center. Every once in a while I head out with my counterpart to attend a meeting or training to a new cooperative or saving and lendings group. These trips typically involve a long difficult journey on the back of a motorbike, long meetings in Kinyarwanda, and a lot of forms noting who has attended the meeting and how much they need to be reimbursed. The organization I work with, CHF has a lot of ambitious goals to greatly increase the number of parents and guardians who are in savings and lendings groups, which is the primary poverty reduction strategy of the government. It is pretty cool to see how just getting people together and encouraging them to put aside some money every other week can result in them making huge progress in improving their own economic situation. I have also spent a lot of time working at the health center. Granted I am still unable to do much more than sit and watch the nurses however, I have had a few days where the nurses allow me to participate in some of their activities. Taking blood pressures, weighing and measuring babies, and recording patient data have all helped make me feel somewhat more useful than a fly on the wall. I have also been able to ask more questions about healthcare in Rwanda, however even though I can ask the question, more often than not I cannot fully understand the French reply. I have greatly enjoyed learning about my health center and even seeing areas for improvement.
Tranings have been met with mixed feelings so far. I have been to an ISLG (internal savings and lendings group) training in Musanze and a cooperative development training in Butare. Despite the gracious accommodations CHF provides for us, it seems slightly extravagant, especially when they reimburse me 15,000 RWF when my bus ticket to the site only costs 2,200 RWF. The hotels feed us well and typically there is hot water and wireless internet which is always welcomed and appreciated. The amenities are typically what make up for the long days on incomprehension. I understand that having the trainings in Kinyarwanda is most beneficial for the greatest number of people, but translating entire days of presentations is virtually impossible. Colleagues with sufficient English skills are assigned to sit next to us and give us a play by play, but as anyone that has ever tried to do this can testify, an entire day of keeping up with repeating everything just doesn't happen. They soon are engrossed in trying to pay attention that we are forgotten. As well, having 10 people trying to translate at the same time creates quite a raucous, much to the displeasure of everyone else. I am at least comforted with the fact that my counterpart is able to get information from there trainings.
Many weekends now I have found myself either willingly or unwillingly in Kigali. Luckily there always seems to be someone around to hang out with and enjoy the good, albeit expensive dining options. It's always fun to be able to speak English in whole sentences and just enjoy being American. These weekends are unfortunately much to easy to get used to, which is why it is a relief to be back in Rubengera this weekend. The 4th of July was a fun occasion celebrated by most. By some bad luck I encountered my first real "African" sickness that same weekend. For anyone that has never had amoebas, hope you never get the chance to experience it. Mostly it involves a lot of you curled up on your bed, swinging between wanting to sleep and throw up. Thankfully, with the wonders of modern medicine, the amoebas are long gone, I hope, and my weekends in Kigali can once again be enjoyable.
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