I’m not exactly sure when I’ll be posting this entry because the wifi situation has been very iffy and annoying, and there’s too many things I want to bring up so I’m just going to post several shorter entries instead of attempting to write a comprehensive one. This entry will be a general update on life in Kigali and the program, and its title means, “Let’s share a good life!” It’s the slogan for Primus, a brand of beer that is popular here, and these words are often seen painted onto the walls of various establishments around the city.
I’m going to admit that I’ve had the hardest time adjusting here in comparison to any of the other countries I’ve had to spend considerable time in. I’m also going to admit that I’m not exactly feeling the, “This place is amazing and I really wanna stay here for a long time” vibe. Maybe I will eventually, or maybe I won’t, only time will tell. Don’t get me wrong, this place is amazing, and I’m super happy I get to know Rwanda as my first African country after only hearing about it for so long, though now that I’ve been to six continents and met a lot of people from a lot of places I’ve gotten a really good sense of what it is I like and need. More on that on another entry, oops. I’ll get to the point now.
I’ve had three full weeks of classes now and have been in Rwanda for almost a month. Time flies!! Since my first entry and now, much has happened. After my somewhat anxiety-inducing first weekend at my host family’s, I’m pleased to say I’ve gotten the hang of the schedule with the SIT program and the day to day routine. It’s very fortunate that we have a program handbook with a day to day schedule, which I can’t stop looking through, being a person who loves schedules and having full planned days. However, I don’t get that much work to do at all, so even if this country doesn’t take time seriously and buses don’t run at set times, I don’t feel stressed with how much time I spend waiting. I leave the house with my host family early in the morning and first, the little girls get dropped off at school, then my other host sister, and then my host dad takes me to the SIT headquarters because he works really close to there. This morning, neither my host mom nor dad were available, so they called one of their affiliated taxi drivers in advance to take us where we needed to go. At SIT, we don’t have a regular schedule, thanks to their “experiential learning model.” We’ve had various site visits, a four-day trip out of town to Butare, and visiting lecturers who are specialists in their particular fields (including the advisor to the president of the country). We also take Kinyarwanda classes. Luckily I just refer to the handbook so I know what we’re doing each day, and I feel like I’m learning a lot and the days are well spent. Though the workload is nowhere near what I would get at Harvard, being in country and having to adapt and learn things and deal with group dynamics is already quite exhausting! In terms of assignments, we get weekly readings, and at the end of the week we have student-led reading discussions as well as processing sessions where we talk about our experiences so far as a group. We had to write a two-page paper on a critical analysis of genocide memorials, and over these two weeks we’ve been working on a draft research proposal.
However, I’ve spent a lot of time sitting at home doing nothing on the weekends, using up 3G on my phone. I’ve at least done something every day during the weekends I’ve had here, but I haven’t gone around as much as some of the other people in the program. I think it’s just my stingy and lazy nature, and it’s also because I really hate having to go back home when it’s dark, especially given where I live. I don’t live as far out as I thought I did, since I only need to take one bus to the city center and from school to get back home, but I live kind of far from a main road and there aren’t any good street lights so I’d rather just get back home early and relax. I also have it on my to-do list to try and write my own song for once, having received encouragement from some friends; considering my love of writing and my love of singing, I’ll come up with it at some point for sure!
My host family is lovely. I speak English with my host dad, French with my host mom, English and French with my host sister, French with the little host sisters, and from time to time I’ll say things that I know how to say in Kinyarwanda. Again, more on that in another entry. They’re not really the type of family to go out and do things together because the parents work so much, but when I do get the chance to talk to them, it’s always a good conversation. One evening, I was chilling in the living room with my host dad Teddy, when he suddenly had to leave to take a phone call for Radio France International. Soon after he returned to the living room, he pointed to the TV and said, “Look, it’s me!” and sure enough, there he was, being interviewed by a national news station about the effects of Brexit on Rwanda. We both watched it, and I was pretty impressed even if I couldn’t understand the Kinyarwanda, and he told me he watches his interviews to see where he can improve. Then a few days later, we left the house especially early so that we could drop him off at a radio station headquarters because he was about to do a radio interview about economic causes of xenophobia. On the way to school, Louise, my host mom turned to that radio station and told me, “Listen, it’s Teddy!” and sure enough, there was his familiar voice coming over the radio waves. Then he was also out of town one day too to meet with USAID representatives overseeing a project the NGO he works at is working on. It seems like he’s kind of a big deal.
On another front, I am pleased to say that I have Rwandan friends! I kind of cheated though, since a good friend of mine from Kigali at Harvard, Justus, connected me to them. They’re really amazing people, and are basically college students who also run an NGO (I kinda know how that is myself hahaha). They work mainly with education issues for poorer children in the country, and after their first project planning meeting of 2017, they met up with me at the city center. They’re all around 23-24 so a bit older than me, but I don’t mind; it’s quite nice, even. They’ve played such a huge role in helping me feel welcome here, sending me texts from time to time to check up on me and ask me how I am, or greet me good morning. My experience would certainly be drastically different without them, and they’re impressive and inspiring young people I consider myself lucky to know.
As for Kigali itself, I figure it merits a few words. The city is spread out across all these hills, which makes for some spectacular views but also some perilous trails on the unpaved roads. For a city in a poorer country it’s very clean, and it prides itself on that (I mean, this country bans plastic bags). Of course, it has its slums and underdeveloped areas alongside its fancy buildings, its impressive mansions and its homes with no electricity. There are certain areas where one can find a lot of foreigners roaming about, and others where I’m so starkly different from everyone I inevitably feel so many eyes on me wherever I go (which is something I don’t think I’ll ever get used to, more on that in another entry). Something of extreme importance to me no matter where I go is the café culture, and so far, this city hasn’t disappointed. I have by no means already explored a lot of what this city has to offer in terms of cafés, but I’ve already been to two Bourbon Coffees (a Rwandan chain that also exists in my beloved city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I go to do homework at least once a week), as well as Shokola, the self-proclaimed “Storytellers’ Cafe” on the rooftop of the public library. Honestly, the atmosphere of the latter café is that which the café of my dreams would have. It has windows for walls that overlook not bustling downtown city streets but surrounding hillsides, nice tables to do work, comfy seats, an outdoor terrace, and a modern vibe. Also, it’s one of those places a lot of foreigners come to. Though they don’t have iced lattes, the smoothies are delicious and I don’t mind paying American prices for them. I deserve to splurge on something! I’ve been working in Shokola for the past several hours just now on my research project proposal and now on this entry, taking in the relaxing view around me letting time pass by as I write. Though overall I don’t think I can truly see myself in Kigali as a longtime resident, I’m learning to accept that maybe I can’t feel completely at home everywhere as much as I would have wanted to think, and I’m learning to appreciate moments like these where I can truly be in my element and feel at home.
But for now, I shall leave this entry and start to work on the other ones I have planned for this update.
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