work begins- interview #1

My interview with Chris Fry from UN ICTR (the Tribunal) here in Arusha went well. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect, so I came out ahead--- or so I felt and still feel. His expertice deals more with the women of Rwanda from the genocide, not the situation in Congo, but that's fine. I'll make it work; piece by piece.

He is going to get me about 40-50 testimonies from women who were raped during the genocide; those documents should make for some interesting reading. He first asked if I had read anything like that and when I told him what I had been reading dealing with the war in Congo, he said I would be fine. I imagine it's a great deal along the same lines; some testimonies are from 11 years ago and some are from December 2004.

We talked more about the underlying tension of Rwanda and the potential it has in eruptiong again, just not to the same degree. Rwanda has come a long way over the past 11 years, but much of it seems "top-layer surface" covering. However, I can't say a great deal just yet about Rwanda because I have a great deal of back ground reading there. The situations in Rwanda and Congo are similar and different all in the same breath. One interesting fact Chris did mention was when collecting the 50+ testimonies of these women back in September 2004, it was all done on the very, very DOWN LOW for these women. It seems they didn't want their friends, families or communities knowing they were talking to the UN or knowing they had been raped during the genocide. A bit early to say but that leads me to believe that any chance of reintegration process is out the window. Possibly a bit skeptical of me, but if these women are struggling with the truth in their communities 11 years after the fact, how on earth is there reintegration going on in Congo? However, I still need to read the transcripts from these testimonies and talk to this women's support org in Kigali-- IBUKA.

On a sidenote, Shan and I started messing around with little words in Kinyarwanda last night. Between my horrid French, knowing only a few words (therefore basically nonexistant) of Swahili, and now trying to pick up a few things in Kinyarwanda, I am starting to forget English. Basically, my 2 1/2 year old goddaughter could easily serve as my translator here in Tanzania. Too bad she doesn't speak Kiryanrwanda as well. As far as my French, I have no excuse... I DID live in Togo for a while. I am just a poor excuse for a linguist.

Last side note: my nephew turned the big ONE yesterday! Happy birthday to Aidan!!!