Saturday morning we left for safari at Akagera National Park. It’s about a three hour journey from Kigali, only our jeep broke down along the way. Luckily, we broke down in a tiny village whose local health clinic was managed/funded by the Bill Clinton Foundation. While we waited for someone to come help fix the car, some of us ventured up to the center and got a tour. It was pretty minimal, but for that part of Rwanda, it was quite big and well staffed. People lounged about the yard waiting for treatment or to have babies. It felt a little invasive that we were there at all…
Afterward, we walked back down to where the jeep was being fixed and I passed the time by taking pictures of the local children. They love to see themselves on the digital screen! After a while, they started wanting to take the pictures of themselves. It was fascinating to see what they took pictures of. After the initial shock of getting the camera and taking silly pictures of each other, they began to work together to form the Partners for Health logo, which obviously has a huge impact in the community. Then, they were fascinated with taking pictures of all the foreigners waiting around for the jeep to get fixed. A girl the town considers “foolish” had a bit of a breakdown- screaming and crying, and at one point hyperventilating- and this captured the attention of the camera for a while. But mostly, the boys (note, the girls were probably all inside working) just wanted to take pictures of themselves and foreigners. One boy, sporting a little girl’s tank top, became very proficient after watching me use the camera. He could not only take pictures, but was framing them for composition, zooming, and using the preview button– all within about thirty minutes. Imagine what they could do with their own cameras!
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| Taken by the local children |
At the park, we were greeted by baboons roaming around the hotel grounds. The rooms had hot water! The first hot shower in five days!! I was also able to charge my batteries since we finally had electricity again. We were able to see a wide variety of antelope, as well as warthogs, hippos, giraffe, and water buffalo. We even saw a crocodile. But the lions were apparently all killed sometime around the genocide, and the elephants remained elusive. It rained for a good portion of the second day, and there was no air conditioning, so the jeep stayed a bit stuffy. There was also some kind of panic over biting flies, so they made us keep the windows closed. At the end of the day, I think I got some really great shots on my camera and can check safari off my to-do list!
Tomorrow starts the real work as we begin preparations for the gender conference coming up on Friday!