Wrapping up Rwanda

Agaandi!

My time in Uganda has been quickly reduced from months to weeks to days. I am making plans to do some traveling in my final few weeks in East Africa and have scheduled some meetings along the way towards my pinnacle destination of Zanzibar where I plan to do some scuba diving. I am feeling a little badly about leaving the project before it is completed but I think that if I want to see the total completion of the project I will need to actually delay my return to Canada and unfortunately I cannot do that.

I have been trying to load pictures onto this blog but Blogger has changed their platform for loading photos and for some reason it rejects mine. I don't know if it's me or if there's a flaw in the system. If someone out there has some insight I would love to hear from you about it. This means no more pictures at least for a while. You'll have to settle for my meanderings alone.

The low point of this trip came the other day when I learned that my girlfriend was breaking up with me over e-mail. That kinda sucked. I always thought that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Who ever said that should have a couple of toenails forcibly removed.

Butare, Rwanda

My time in Butare turned out to be a fairly challenging experience. Because it was the Independence Day long weekend in Rwanda, all the guest houses were completely full. I even caved and decided to try the more expensive hotels in town but they too were at capacity. I was stuck with no where to go. The Arabic owner of the internet cafe I was using offered to take me in and told me I could stay at his cousin's place who was out of town. Because it was late at night and because I was desperate, I welcomed this option with enthusiasm. As I followed him down some very dodgy alleys I was pained with a sickening feeling that he was leading me to robbery and certain death. As the electricity in the city of Butare cut out and we descended into extreme darkness, I suddenly realized that my life was in this stranger's hands. When we finally reached my home for the evening, I couldn't help notice how messy and scary looking the place was. "Lock the door after I leave" he said. "There are many dangerous people in this part of town." It sounded like good advice and I took it. Falling asleep in that room was easier than you might imagine because I was so tired. I awoke the next morning to the call of a rooster and was met shortly afterwards by a couple of new Arabic strangers who wanted nothing more than to have me join them for breakfast. My scary experience had come to a happy conclusion.

Kigali to Gisenyi (Rwanda)

Next stop was Kigali where I would have to find another bus to Gisenyi. A gorgeous beach town that happened to be on the way to Kisoro back in Uganda and I had plans to be there. Now I know after the Butare story, you must think I'm crazy for letting myself get into such a predicament but an even worse mistake was failing to bring enough money with me. Rwanda is more expensive than I thought and ofcourse, because of the Independence Day holiday the banks were all closed. Somehow, I lucked out again through the kindness of a stranger. I met a young Rwandan named Faustin at the bus station in Kigali who told me that he will be staying with his friends at a beach house in Gisenyi. I explained my situation and boldly asked if I could stay with them.

Next thing I know I am staying with three guys in a house literally 5 minutes from the beach. They had a cook who prepared us excellent meals throughout my 3 day visit. These guys knew how to have fun. They had people coming to the house all the time, they seemed to know everyone in Gisenyi, and we partied hard at the pubs at night. The only catch was that two of the three guys were gay and one in particular was pursuing me quite agressively and I had to draw a firm line regarding what I was and was not comfortable with. After that, we all got along famously.

The bank finally did open for a few hours on the Saturday morning and I woke up my Mom at 4:00am (Toronto time) to wire me some money, which she did literally at the 11th hour. My Mom is the best. Thanks again Eema!

Goma (DRC)

Before leaving Gisenyi on my way back to Uganda, I crossed the border into Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo for no other reason than to get the stamp in my passport and hunt down some cool arts and crafts, which I succeeded in doing. Goma is a strange place. There are beautiful parts but they are hidden and lie behind locks and security lines. There is only one part of the beach outside of the resorts and private homes accessible to the locals but it is the ugliest part littered with boulder sized rocks. Most people used this area to bathe, wash clothing and ofcourse obtain their drinking water. Other parts of Goma seemed like a ghost town but this is probably because it was a Sunday. I did pass some small church with spirited drumming and singing coming from inside. The ground is all black, a remnant of the volcanic erpution that descimated most of city. The wealthy areas of town however, were untouched by the lava.

Kisoro

After leaving Rwanda and crossing over back into Uganda I stopped into Kisoro where I visited with an NGO called Compassion. They hosted me on a site visit to see their water project known. I visited people's homes and learned lots about a technique known as SODIS or solar disinfection. This is where place bottled water on a corrugated metal surface so that the sun's rays can purify the water. Compassion put me up in a pretty swanky hotel and it was so nice to relax after my Rwandan adventure.

Faustin's visit to Uganda

Faustin (from Rwanda) has since come to visit me here in Mbarara (Uganda) and we just finished hanging out over three days of fun. We did a safari at Lake Mburo National Park where we saw lots of zebras, monkeys, baboons, and impalas. We also attended the launch of a new television station at the nearby Lakeview Hotel where we were treated to live performances and free alcohol. It was a pretty crazy night and I may have networked my way into having Dax' documentary potentially aired on the Uganda television station.

A couple of cool things I'm working on at the moment are preparations for a two day introductory BioSand Filter workshop for an NGO called Healthy Child Uganda, a communty education module on waterborne diseases and some August travel plans. So although there may not be photos to come back and see there may be some interesting stories coming soon...

Cheers,

Leor