waiting...

(copied from the paper i duddled on this morning)
I think someone could write an entire dissertation on the time spent on "waiting" in Africa (possibly an entire Ph.D topic there). Last night I spent a good 60-90 minutes waiting on my friend Grace to show up, then another 2 hrs waiting on Jessica. This morning I spent a good 30 minutes waiting on the computer lab to open up and now that I am here, I am waiting for the "programme" to get up and running. I was told it will be another 2 hrs before it's working and was asked if I could return later. I asked if I could just wait here, as I have nowhere to go or be. "Pas du probleme"--- oh good.

I think my favorte "waiting" story in Africa has to be the one of my brother Kyle and I trying to catch a bush-taxi out of my village on a bright and early Saturday morning. Thank goodness for the saturday marche in Nymassilla or we would have never found a ride. Two mini-vans passed thru village on the main road that morning in a matter of 3 1/2-4hrs. The first had a little room on top of the van, but we chanced it and waited for the next one. When the door to the second one opened, there were around 24/25 people in there, chickens tied by their feet under the seats and any and all goods to be sold at the marche; that was inside. On top of the van were three live goats, large bags of coal, maize, etc--- all strapped down under a net to be sold at the marche. Kyle looked at me and said "there's no room," in which I replied" oh sure there is. Let's go," and in we piled.

I was stuck between two marche mama's who greeted me with a smile and an "allafia" which is "hello" in the local language of Kabye there. Kyle was stuck next to the sliding door which continued to fall-off, so he and the apprentice attempted to hold it on during the 50-60 minute rough, bumpy and dusty ride to the main road. Did I mention that the apprentice basically sat on Kyle's lap as well? Once we arrived to the main road, we stretched our legs, attempted to rid ourselves of the thick red dust/dirt we had accumulated during the 1st part of our journey, then jumped back into the van and headed south to Atakpame--- where working phone lines awaited us. Kyle wanted to call Lori and I gave Mom and Dad a ring.

Reflecting back on this story, I love it for numerous reasons. I love it because this was one of the many stories Kyle and I share from this two-week venture in Togo. While his visit was a little rough from time to time, I wouldn't change our time shared there for the world, not a minute of it. I love it because it now enables me to look at the situation from both ends--- Kyle's possible perspective and the average villager's possible perspective. While the mini-van situation might sound "out of this world" to possibly many of us, this is simply a way to get around for the villager traveling to and fro in many parts of Africa. Nothing more, nothing less. Heck at times the bush-taxi could be considerred the "posh" way to travel as it may be out of budget for many (I believe it cost us a total of just under $6 for the whole journey down to Atakpame). Many would have just walked the 21km int he scalding heat of the morning--- maybe biked it if that option was available. But to me, the bush-taxi had become the norm; squashed in like sardines, I didn't think twice about it. Just pulled out my book and went with it. That was just how it was. But for Kyle it was new, something different than what he was used to and it was good for me to remember that. Just as it is good for me to remember that it would be odd or different for any of my village friends to jump in a car and take a 5-hr trip with only three people in the vehicle.

It's just a difference in lifestyles--- in livelihoods--- which I think is good to remember from time to time. Here "en Afrique" you might have to wait longer than you wish, you might have to walk 21km for food, you will probably sweat A LOT, you'll get dirty, you may have only the essentials, you will hand wask your clothes (and if you wash like I do, they'll never be truly clean again), you may work from sun-up to sundown and not make an income but a living for yourself and family, you may have lost both parents to two separare wars only to wake-up and find yourself in another country--- not quite sure how you arrived there, but that is life for a number of people here. Does that make it any less of a livelihood than what we consider to be one back home in the West? I don't know, I am not the one with the answers--- you'd have to ask someone who lives here. I am just fortunate enough to see the differences in lifestyles--- in livelihoods--- both of which I have come to appreciate a great deal and love. There is so much to learn from both sides of the spectrum here, so much to be taken away. I guess it's just a matter of allowing yourself to be open to both--- not judging one as superior to the other, but rather maybe just different and that both of made up of positives and negatives. Like I said though, I don't have the answers--- I am still just learning.

And so I'll continue to wait and learn some more...

friday figuring

this is a second and final try. lost the last poste i just put up as the internet went down. quick things to respond to:
- my phone is up and working (or so i think), so m&d, give that a try over the weekend or anytime today. phone is on 24-7.

- there is a very long story to go with the whole bit of transferring pounds over here and basically the gist of the story is--- because they say "the bank of scotland" it's not going down. they wanted to give me a "deal" yesterday and would take my "scottish pounds" for 1/4 of what they are worth. while i cannot aruge with them like my dear old friend aims, who is AMAZING at this kind of thing, i dropped my head down on the guy's desk to show my frustration of the situation and got "ohhhh... pole, pole mama". since WHEN did i get old enough to be considered a "mama" here? needless to say, i am fine at the moment and just want out of kigali as it is a little expensive for me.

- weekend plans are to head to Gisenyi by sunday. will hopefully meet my contact at the border on monday and go from there. need to discuss a few things with my friend grace first. she's a young somali girl i met the other night who is just a WEALTH of information. amazing what you can learn from people over a simple drink.

- while i am trying not to dwell on the events from 11 years ago, it's hard to walk around this city and NOT think of it. everything is even familiar to some degree just from what i've read and then of course the movie "hotel rwanda."

- much to say, but too much to report on this simple blog. my friends adam and jessica have been great to hang with the past few days, but as we are all headed in seperate directions now, maybe i'll be able to clear my head a bit of the surroundings i find myself in.

not sure i'll have internet access in Gisenyi, so if i do not, no worries. i'll catch everyone up afterwards.

Arusha to Nairobi to Bujumbura to Kigali...

So I arrived in Kigali finally after what seemed to be a longer day than I had expected. That's alright though. Kind of a nice and quiet day really.

Left Arusha bright and early this morning and headed up to Nairobi where I was to catch a flight over to Kigali--- or so I thought. Made to Nairobi safely, no problem, waited my 4 hours for the next flight (which wasn't a bother--- Nairobi airport now has a "Java House" in the airport, so I was fine), and then jumped on the flight to Kigali. Only after take-off did I begin to think I was on the wrong flight. I wasn't though. I just wasn't aware we would be stopping in Bujumbura first.

Bujumbura, Burundi is like nothing I have ever seen in my life. The city sits on the edge of Lake Tangiyika (and I KNOW I didn't spell that right) and is literally covered by the vastness of the mountains. It felt like the mountains were towering all aorund us when we landed and that they could literally open up and swallow this small piece of flatness that was right in the middle of them. It was quite overwhelming just to sit there and look out.

So I have literally a thousand and one things going through me which I would like to put down on here, but I am limited for time and money at the moment. It appears that no one believes me that the currency that reads "Bank of Scotland" is really the british pound. If that's the case, this could get VERY INTERESTING!!!! (which i have to smile about) And, there is no ATM machine here. No worries, I have enough money, I'll just have to budget a little tighter than even I was ready for. I am sure I can work it out at a bank tomorrow.

I am at least going to find myself some food tonight. The place I am staying at is quaint, small, but with it's own shower--- so that is pretty nice. Even has warm water. Must run. TIme is up.

Well, things seem to be panning out for the best here. Tomorrow I take off for Kigali first thing in the morning. I know--- or have an idea--- as to where I am staying my first few nights (thanks, Bryce). I have a LOT to get done in Kigali and in a rather small amount of time at this point because.... I heard from one of my contacts in Goma yesterday and it appears they were wondering when to expect me. SO.... it appears things are back in line with their original plan. I will do my best to get my visa and then head over to Goma for two weeks--- assuming everything goes accordingly, which they never do. My plans are to stay in Gisenyi (the Rwandese border town-- 5K from Goma) at night as I know more about the accommodations there at the moment.

Not a whole lot to update on. I feel very relaxed and at ease after my first three weeks here. Being around family has definitely helped, but being around Jessica the past few days has helped more than I could have imagined. She is just a wealth of information when it comes to fieldwork and bouncing things off her has done me a ton of good.

As far as other news, I kind of have a line on a job as well. Nothing serious just yet, but I have been talking back and forth with the NGO-- the IRC (International Relief Committee)-- and they seem more than willing to work with me on this. Still too early to tell, but hopefully things will blossom with it. It will all work out for the best no matter what happens though, so I am not too worried about it.

Jess leaves late tonight and I leave first thing in the morning. I feel very ready to go (much better than I did two weeks ago) and will touch base when I am in Kigali. Ta-ta for now...