Today was just a day of tying up loose ends. In order to honor the first phases of our agreement with the Ministry, I get a one-hour capacity building training for ministry officials. Really, it sounds fancier than it really was. Ultimately, we held up our end of the bargain by showing up and presenting, the fact that only two people showed up was on them. On top of that, those that did come were an hour late to a two-hour session, and one of them played on his phone the whole time. While we waited, my professor helped me sketch out the chapters of my dissertation, so no moment was wasted! And despite its late start, the training session was productive. I gave a short tutorial based on some stolen slides from my dissertation chair on the basics of statistics and hypothesis development. The good thing that came out of it was, since my advisor’s slides are based on teaching undergrads statistics, it led them through exercises that helped us figure out what the Ministry might actually be looking for as far as final output. When all was said and done, we’d strengthened relationships and developed a slightly more concrete plan for the future of the project. That said, we were also running an hour late, which, when you’ve got a tight schedule planned for the day to tie up all the loose ends, makes everything else seem really rushed.
To the fitting! We rushed over and tried on the skirts we’d order from our friend’s tailor. As always, everything ran a bit tight and the tailor had not accounted for my ability to breathe and sit while wearing his creations. While he worked on the adjustments, we raced over to have lunch at our friend’s favorite restaurant. Assured that it would be a quick lunch, we waited and waited as people from the market were porting ingredients in behind us. We sat in the intense equatorial heat waiting for our meal, the smell of latrines washing over me as I tried not to think about where the smell was coming from. The food was delicious and we ate in a hurry. Quick like bunnies we hopped back to the shop to try the skirts back on.
Success! Our driver returned for us and brought me a sack of cash (literally) from what we’d given him in US to change. As I went out to the car from the shop to get something, I toppled over like a child onto the uneven bricks. My Crocks, though light and washable, may have overstayed their welcome on my packing list. I can’t blame them entirely, because I am clumsy and have weak ankles, but I can blame them a little for their squishiness. I bashed my knee on the pavement in the same place that I’ve bashed it before as a child (maybe something in the way I throw my weight?). I really just thought it was a bruise, but as I lifted my pant leg (thank goodness I was wearing long pants!) blood gushed all over the place. Our driver, showing the deepest concern for my leg, was reaching in and trying to help as I cringed with pain. Argh! Just before my long hike! WHY!? But, everything happens for a reason (or so they say) and this all comes at a time when I was considering abandoning my giant medical kit for something a little more condensed. I bled through several rounds of Band-Aids (it takes three to cover up just half of my gaping wound) and have gone through about a ton of Neosporin and alcohol swabs. It’s still really sore, it hurts to wear pants, and my knee has swollen to where it’s become creaky to walk. But, the hiking ahead motivates me and I’ll just have to suck it up for now. I should mention, my professor also fell the other day and busted up her knee in the fancy hotel where we catch up on internet time. I have a theory that it’s got something to do with over stimulation and being stuck in your head while you walk, thereby making it likely to trip and fall. She thinks there’s something psychological in the way we learn to walk on solid surfaces (as privileged people from the developed world). It’s probably just clumsiness and timing.
Sign the final agreement! So then we ran to the Ministry to drop off some very small gifts as thank yous to the people who had helped push our agreement through when things were looking really rough. We stopped by the lawyer’s office to make sure there wasn’t anything else he needed from us before we left the country. Sure enough, there was. And not only that, it required extensive formatting in MS Word (I need to give a capacity building training on Word—good grief!) and eventual printing from a slow printer. While we stood there awkwardly describing our entire project over again to the lawyer as he filled in the final details of this form, another lawyer in the corner started chatting with us. We’d never met this guy before, but we had noticed the sign above his desk in previous meetings with our lawyer. It reads something like: “Jesus is coming. Are you ready?” So this cheeky young lawyer proceeds to tell us that we’re beautiful (which I didn’t hear so I had to make him repeat it) and that my professor must be my mother because we look alike. She’s not nearly old enough to be my mother, and we don’t look alike. The honest truth is that many African’s I’ve met think that all white people look alike, and I’m pretty sure that’s what was happening here. It’s not insulting at all, just in case you take that away from this statement. When I first moved to Japan I had a difficult time telling many people apart, and I still struggle with Japanese actors. I can see where he’s coming from. It was actually a little humorous. But humor can only take you so far. At some point, I had to abandon my professor to take care of the final legalese in order to attend to my disgusting wound that was starting to soak through again. Eeew. Just what I wanted: a festering wound in a land where everything requires a handshake and a hug! Sterilize me please, I’m oozing.
The day finished out with a final trip to the market, a visit to a friend who answered all kinds of questions about the Rwanda Red Cross’ involvement in the refugee crisis, and a nice quiet dinner with our host family. After dinner, we distributed some small gifts for our friend and her children. It’s always a joy to see people opening things and truly appreciating them. For me, it was alike a delayed Christmas. No pressure, all joy. My professor and our travel companion leave for South Africa bright and early in the morning. I can’t believe the trip flew by so fast. I’ve learned so much in such a short amount of time. I think I’ll need a month just to write up all my notes!