First Week

So far, things have been going well. I’ve been in Rwanda for one week, but it feels like many. The days are so long usually filled with 3 language classes and a technical training. When I go out to the community I still feel like a stranger and know I havent been here very long. I am learning more and more, but it is still difficult to communicate with people. Tomorrow we get to meet our resource families and I hope that by having a family here in Butare, I will be able to walk through town and not feel like a silly muzungu.

I’ve already had so many amazing experiences. In DC, they had a big party for us where the Rwandan ambassador came and spoke to us and said “you will love walking in Rwanda”. This was a wonderful statement for me, because at the time, everything still seemed so big and unreal and that small statement made me feel so happy and everything became real to me, that I was moving to another country on my own, that I was going to become part of a culture different than mine and that it was going to be amazing and I am going to love it.

Then when we left DC, we had a looong flight to Brussels and then to Kigali. We didn’t get to explore much of Kigali, but from what I saw, it is very clean and its beautiful. Not as developed as Nairobi, but it did have coffee shops with wireless access, a shopping mall, etc. Butare is MUCH smaller without any buildings higher than one story. There is one small “downtown” area that I can walk in 15 minutes. But it has everything that you need; food, clothes, cell phones, hardware stores, music shops, restuarants and bars.
I met my resource family on saturday (I wrote the above a few days ago, but was unable to get onto the internet until now) and they are amazing. the family owns a shop that sells soda, beer, cigarettes, fruits and veggies. they have 3 girls, 2, 6 and 8 and they are so cute. They kept touching my skin and trying to rub off my tattoo. They played with my hair for hours and put dreds and braids in it. resource families are for us to practice our kinyarwanda and to have someone to ask cultural questions to. My family is really nice and i am so happy. My malaria pill makes me a little anxious and dizzy for the first day or two after i take it (its weekly), but i am starting to get used to it. I really love it here and hope everyone can visit. its beautiful and safe and clean!
I am teaching family planning, HIV/AIDS and water and sanitation to my fellow trainees soon. We all have to contribute to training and get practice teaching to others.
I thought of Bicknell today because we were talking about primary health care structure. They asked "what is primary health care?" and my brain automatically spat out "the kind of care most people need most of the time"