We visited the capital's main hospital during the beginning of the week. It was surprising to see two small neonatal babies per incubator, and at least four broken incubators in the biomedical workshop. And behind the workshop, there was basically a junkyard filled with broken medical equipment and furniture. Hopefully, when we're assigned a hospital for next month, we'll be able to make a dent in this.
After that one day excursion, we started learning french instead of kinyarwanda. But to be honest, i have met few people in the street who know french. Kinyarwanda, by far has been the most helpful at buying food from the market, negotiating prices with moto-taxis, and finding places to eat.
Muraho- formal hello
Amakuru- Any news?
Ni meza- All good
Wiriwe!- Good afternoon!
Ni menshi -Too much
Murakoze- Thank you
One of the things that surprises me the most here, is how woman carry their children. The place their babies on their back and wrap a large blanket around them and their babies pretty tight! and just walk everywhere like that.
We had our first stomach issue this week, my partner, Sara was in stomach pain most of the week. And here I am still hoping that it doesn't hit me! Wish me luck! However, because my mosquito net was too high off my bed at the apartment, I received my first dozen mosquito bites. But thankfully Eugene, our landlord who knows 9 language, fixed it!
Thursday night, we ended up going to another live music club. This time it was a group playing, around 9 men singing and playing instruments and 6 women dancing. One ended up pulling me first to stage, but after last week many of my colleagues joined in with me! Even our Professor! It was another night dancing, but then the bar/club ended up having to close early so we ended up going to a karaoke bar down the street. Where there was a Rwandan lady singing all the American classics!
But the highlight of my week was the weekend! Saturday morning at 4 am the bus picked us up to go Volcano National Park for our hiking trip up Mount Bisoke. It was 2 and half hour drive to the volcanoes.
Fun Fact: Bisoke is the second tallest and half of it lies on Rwanda and the other half in the Congo! and all of the five volcanoes are all dormant.
The hike was a total of three hours, and they were the most physically and mentally exhausting hours of my life. The hike was steep and muddy! The path had many thorny bushes that would numb you for a couple of minutes. With a every step, my shoes were covered with mud. And the higher up we went the colder it got. By the time we reached the top, the porter was carrying my backpack and helping me up. But it was a personal accomplishment that I arrived with the faster group. We took an hour and a half at the top, eating and resting for the hike back down. It was super foggy but occasionally the fog would clear up and we could see the lake that was on the crater! The walk down was by far my favorite part of the hike! By this time, all the mud was an advantage. We took shortcuts instead of following the path down, we would sit down on the steep parts and just slide down on our butts. It was 4 of us including the porter, and every two minutes you could here someone slipping and yelling "Ow, Ouch, Woahh, Ahhh". That night, it took almost an hour to remove all the mud and dirt from my feet and hands and ended up falling asleep at 8pm! Its a new personal record, to be honest.
Sunday morning, all of my muscles were stiff and sore but I still managed to hop on a moto and take it into town. Sara, Emil(a colleague), and I decided to visit the Genocide Memorial Museum on Sunday, this one however was more of an informational on everything that led up to the genocide and how the world turned it back on Rwanda. Outside, was a wall of all the names of those whose lives were taken. We ran out of time to explore the entire museum, but we hope to return soon!
Week Two complete! And I am loving every part of Rwanda!
No comments:
Post a Comment