End of the week-Meeting with PC

Thursday we had our regional meeting with PC in Kamembe. We left in the morning on the motos and about 15 minutes into the drive, we see a gigantic mass of people on the road. We had seen people running and going in big groups together, but thought that it must be an ubukwe (wedding), but when we saw about 200+ people on the road blocking our path, singing and beating drums, we had second thoughts. Weddings here are usually huge, but don’t take up the entire road! I guess there was so pilgrimage type thing going on with the catholic church and people were walking from my town to who knows where. Well anyways, so we got past the stragglers in the back, but could not get through the masses, so we would stop and wait a while, then ride up to behind the big mass and repeat. Finally we went off onto a footpath and were able to stay on that for a while until we headed them off. While on the footpath, passing people was so funny because 1. there are never motos on the path, and 2. we are white. The look of shock mixed with confusion was priceless. We waved a lot while on that path. It was a beautiful drive and I wish I would’ve been able to get out my camera more to take pictures. When we got close to the paved road, the motos stopped and we had to walk the rest of the way to the town on the road because the police were stopping people up ahead to check for insurance. I think my moto driver is not registered to be a taxi, so he is not allowed on the main road. When we got into the taxi, the police man we were talking to in town got in with us and when we were almost to Kamembe, we pulled up behind this giant truck and there was a boy hanging onto the back. Well the truck was going very slowly up this hill, so the police man jumped out and as soon as the boy saw him, he jumped off and ran into the woods and the police man chased him for a second then got back into the ibisi (taxi bus-its really just a minivan) and we kept going. When we got into town, we went into a shop that has a refrigerator and got cold yogurt and drinks and then went into the market to look at igitenge (fabric used to wrap as a skirt). As soon as we stepped out of the shop, four boys started asking us for money. One of them grabbed my hand and started shaking my arm and wouldn’t let go for the next 20 minutes and followed me all through the market. I just ignored him after the first few minutes and attempts at saying no to him. He finally gave up after we left the market and went to the post office. My favorite driver came and got us and took us to the center where we had lunch and started the meeting. After the meeting, we all went out to a hotel by the lake and had drinks and ordered dinner. The soccer matches were on the TV, so I got to see the US beat Spain and then Brazil beat South Africa. The power went out after the US/Spain game for about a half hour. The hotel didn’t have a generator, so we sat by candle light and with a huge lantern waiting for dinner. The driver and I were hanging out in the car listening to a CD he put in and the Cops theme song came on. I sang the part that goes “whatcha gonna do when they come for you” and the driver said “I’m gonna run”! haha. Then we got into a conversation about how in Rwanda if you don’t drink a lot of beer with your friends they ask “Uri inkoko?” (are you a chicken?) and I explained that that is called peer pressure and we use the same phrase in the US. I split a vegetarian pizza and lasagna for dinner with one of the other volunteers and no one wanted to try the lasagna! I tried to share and pass the plate around, but all the Rwandans looked at it like it was poison. When we got back to the center, the game was on and a bunch of men were all sitting around watching it. I was the only woman. That night, I slept okay, but I woke up to a dog barking like crazy and then the church bells rang for I swear 5 minutes straight at 6am, the bell tower was right behind my building. The center was beautiful. It was located on top of a hill that overlooked the lake and Bukavu, DRC. The conference room was pretty sweet too; it was a circular building with an amazing view. We got really lucky on the way home, we got a ride with PC to the town on the road and the motos were there waiting for us. Saturday we sat around the house doing nothing and then on Sunday, we went for a hike up the huge hill next to us. The hill isn’t that bad, but the path has no switchbacks so it just goes straight vertical! We were dying, but met a lot of people on the way and got followed by a bunch of kids. When we got to the top, the road continued on pretty much on a flat, so we went along that and found a little town. After our sweaty adventure, we jumped into the shower quickly and then the nun took us to visit our resource family (FINALLY!). They live pretty close and they have a 4 month old baby boy. He is so cute. We just played with him and they gave us fantas and some food and we got stuck because it started raining. But if you have visitors and it starts raining they say you are good visitors (abasitsi beza) because you brought the rain.