“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I swear everyday I’m here feels like a week in Rwandan time. I get up between 5:30 and 6 every morning (those of you who know I’m not a morning person, please close your mouths from the shock) and we have class from 8am till at least 5pm, with usually 4 hours of Kinyarwanda lessons. After only 3 days I already feel that I’m picking it up quickly (apparently this “immersion” thing really does work!) though my resource family loves to point out my “English accent”. The rest of our classes are centered on technical training and personal health and safety. The technical training seems to be broadly focused, with sessions on the Rwandan health system, infection diseases, income generating activities, nutrition and family planning. Don’t worry, PMUers, we’re also doing a lot on Monitoring and Evaluation and conducting needs assessments!

Oh! My resource family! Where do I even start? First, they’re beautiful. Once we’re more comfortable with each other hopefully I can take some photos. My mom’s name is Jeanne and my dad is Alexi (though I haven’t met him yet). Jeanne sells clothing (umucuruzi we miende) at the Nyanza clothing market and he works in electricity of some sort (we struggled for the translation for awhile and I’m still perplexed). They have four children: Clement (age 10), Kevine (age 8), Carve (age 6) and Karine (age 2). When Jeanne and I were walking up to their house yesterday afternoon, Karine came running down the road and right into my legs for a hug (unbelievably adorable and of course she spent the rest of my time there giggling with her face in her mother’s lap). There are also two other children in the family, Jacques and Josine. Jacque is 25, speaks fairly good English and goes back to university in Kigali on Sunday. Jeanne did not mention them when I first met her and I didn’t want to pry, but did ask how they were related. Jacques did not go into specifics, but one can only imagine what his answer might be (another reminder that the genocide is a constant subtle undertone here, in every aspect of life). They thoroughly enjoyed the lollipops and postcards I brought of DC, as well as the photos of my family and friends (Mom and Dad, they said you were “beautiful”!). I’m going back on Saturday and look forward to learning much more about them and from them during my time in Nyanza.

We had interviews with our Associate Peace Corps Director (APCD) to discuss our academic/professional backgrounds and any preferences we have for our site placement. 70% of the sites are with community- based or faith-based organizations, with the remaining 30% at health organizations. The health organizations are mainly hospitals and health clinics and the majority of our work would be focused on capacity building of the Rwandan staff (training in everything from patient recordkeeping to database management to accounting to monitoring and evaluation to health education). While I did state a preference for a health organization, I want to remain entirely flexible and will be ecstatic with whatever placement I get I’m sure. But speaking of site placements, we will actually find out what they are by the end of March!! This is much sooner than I had expected and means that unlike the last group of PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees, learn the lingo!) our “site visits” in early April will actually be to our permanent sites. This way I’ll get to see my town and meet my coworkers and supervisor well in advance of when I actually begin work, and get an idea of what kind of house I’ll have!

My APCD also asked us preferences about electricity and water and I surprisingly found myself saying I had no preference. I know it’s only been a week but I don’t even think twice about cold bucket showers or using the pit latrine. I may even secretly enjoy it. I might need to rethink the electricity part, but the majority of current volunteers have electricity at least part of the day so fingers crossed on that one.

Did I mention that they feed us all the time? My brother keeps asking me how much cassava I’m eating and I keep telling him the answer is “none”. Let’s just say I’m extremely glad that I have a 20 minute walk to and from class since while we do have a lot of vegetables, starch is definitely the star of our plates. So what are we eating? Well, breakfast is usually bread (or yummy croissant shaped rolls) with peanut butter, honey or jam; either eggs (read: “omelets” with more onion than egg) or fruit (passion fruit, tree tomatoes, bananas or avocadoes); and coffee and tea. Lunch and dinner are usually pretty similar. We’ve had everything: spaghetti and meatballs (with a definite African twist), goat, chicken (or possibly rabbit, today’s lunch was unidentifiable), always accompanied by some kind of potato (most often fried) or rice and vegetables. Amazing, fantastic, yummy veggies; seriously we’ve had carrots, spinach, eggplant, cabbage, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, and many other Rwandan specialties I can’t even begin to say the name of. Oh they also have an endless supply of samosas and other fried dough for our 10am “tea break”. Regardless, the food is really good, and I can’t wait till they begin to show us how to cook it ourselves. Let’s just say, if you come visit, I promise you won’t go hungry!

Tonight we had our welcoming ceremony with the Nyanza district authorities including the Mayor of Nyanza and the Police Commander. All of the speeches were extremely eloquent and reminded me how much it means for us to even be here. Peace Corps’ return to Rwanda was not taken lightly and it is a testament to this nation’s determination and hope for the future. Mup (our training manager) was beaming the entire time and his speech explained how proud he was of us and our decision to commit 27 months of our lives to the country of Rwanda. I haven’t mentioned Mup yet, but he’s pretty much fantastic. So happy and so motivated and really makes us feel loved and supported. I feel privileged to be here and hope that we can live up to the high expectations they’ve set for us.

AH! I have so much more I want to write, but I know I have many many more blog posts in which to do it. So I think I’ll stop rambling and just say Murabeho and until next time…