We had a meeting with a contact at the Rwanda national branch of the Red Cross and she’s offered to take us to several repatriation camps in the local area. She’s also set us up with a contact to take us into the Congolese refugee camps run by UNHCR in the western part of Rwanda. All this will take place in two weeks, however.
It’s rainy season in Rwanda now, just a little earlier than usual. It turns out that means torrential downpours for an hour at a time and then drizzle and then sun. Thankfully, my parents convinced me to buy a raincoat before I left! I’m also appreciative that my over-prepared mother forced me to bring toilet paper with me. Sounds silly, but it’s not a luxury we’ve had for the last 2 days! This also extends to the lack of water this morning. We had to fill a bucket with water and put it in the tank of the toilet to flush. I washed with baby wipes (also thanks to my mom!).
It’s been a really busy two days. After the visit at the Red Cross yesterday, we ventured into the local market and bought some famous Rwandan baskets. It was crowded and full of people not used to seeing foreigners in their midst. We were constantly hounded by teenage boys trying to sell us bags to carry our stuff (of which we had none at the time). Plastic bags are illegal in Rwanda- part of how they keep it so pristine here. As a mark of globalization, we saw an Obama plastic shopping bag for sale in the market. They love Obama here. His picture is everywhere. A woman at the market thought we were trying to take a picture of her– she started hissing at us. Literally hissing—tst tst. Four policemen hauled a woman buy who apparently wasn’t supposed to sell goods on the street. It was quite chaotic- as all markets in developing countries tend to be; chaotic in a good, vibrant way. We had a HUGE lunch– I thought I would go hungry here, but I eat more than I can possibly handle. In the afternoon we went to a women’s group that makes crafts for income generation. A shop full of women who only speak Kinyarwanda filled the converted garage and pedaled away on Chinese sewing machines. Their gardens were immaculate! It was really uplifting to see these women empowering themselves buy becoming financially independent.
Today we visited Women for Women International and learned about how they find the poorest of the poor women in Rwanda and train them with life skills and income generating trades. We also made our way to the Rwandan Women’s network- a group that helps women affected by the genocide to become financially independent. This includes women “widowed” because their husbands are in prison as perpetrators of the genocide, and those women who were raped during the tragedy. It’s an interesting mix of women and aimed at reconciliation by integrating them in a common goal. We were also surprised to find a bread shop behind the facility making sweet rolls which they sell in the market to make additional income.  |
| Add caption |
To finish off the day, Julienne, our host mother invited us to go along with her to a civil marriage ceremony. There were four weddings taking place, and the government official overseeing the ceremony only spoke Kinyarwanda. The old man who sat across from me gawked the entire time…it was a little disconcerting. Afterwards we were transported to the reception where were were awkwardly subjected to filming and pictures. At least they had clean, functional bathrooms! Apparently this civil marriage is just a formality- like getting a marriage license. Julienne’s cousin and his wife will have a large ceremony this weekend. Unfortunately we won’t be able to see that because we’ll be on safari! :)