July 5

July 5, 2013

I’ve been pretty busy since our arrival in The Hague on Sunday so I haven’t had much time to write or blog.  We’ve been visiting various international courts this week: the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and finally the International Criminal Court.

We sat in on two cases at the ICTY, which was very interesting. In both cases, issues came up with translation. For some reason, I didn’t think this would be an issue but some of the staff at the ITCY said it was a very common problem and was something they had to address daily.

Coming from Rwanda to the Netherlands has been a drastic change and I’ve noticed some things about Western culture that I hadn’t necessarily paid much attention to before.  In Rwanda, the culture is very conservative and women don’t wear skirts above their knee.  PDA is also something you never see and actually I think it’s against the law in some places for couples to even hold hands.  This is a stark contrast from the Red Light District in Amsterdam and even the woman rubbing her boyfriend’s back on our tour at the ICC.

I’ve had a great time this week and really enjoyed the Netherlands but I honestly wish we had just spent another week in Rwanda. While visiting the various tribunals was very interesting, it doesn’t compare to the first-hand experiences we had in Rwanda – not to mention that I wasn’t as familiar with situations the other tribunals were prosecuting as I am the ICTR.

One other thing I’ve noticed this week is that even though Dutch is the national language of the country, literally every person I’ve spoken to speaks perfect English as well.  At home, most of my friends don’t speak a second language and foreign language classes are not as prevalent during primary school.  I think that’s something that needs to be addressed in schools earlier because knowing multiple languages is such great skill to have.

Right now I’m on a train to the airport in Brussels and I can’t believe that our trip is over. I’ve learned so much and made so many great friends and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to be a part of this program. In 20 hours I will be home and am excited to see how I can take the knowledge I’ve gained about Rwanda and about myself over the past six weeks and apply it to my life.

Final Reflections - June 29

I’m currently on the plane to Brussels and we are stopped in Entebbe, Uganda.  I can’t believe that the Rwanda part of our trip is over and I’m feeling more bitter than sweet about it.  I’ve learned so much about the country, the culture, and myself throughout this experience.

Rwandans can tend to be very closed off at first and it’s somewhat hard to break through and form relationships.  The Peace Corps has Rwanda listed as a tough country to be in because of how difficult it is to become integrated into society.  However, throughout the past five weeks, I was fortunate enough to have made wonderful friends who have turned into a second family to me.

Jackson and Benoit, along with the rest of the staff at Bethany, were extremely hard to leave at the airport.  Since we got to Rwanda, they have done everything possible to make us feel comfortable.  Jackson would always accompany us on weekend trips so that he could translate for us and make sure the drivers didn’t get too crazy.  Every time we returned to Bethany after a weekend trip, I felt the same way I did coming back home from Chapel Hill my freshman year.  I’m going to miss Benoit and how his face lights up every time he smiles.  I’m going to miss Jackson and how he says “Okeyyyyyyyyyy” every time he sees me.  I’m going to miss Pacifique and how he tries his best to speak to me in English.  I’m going to miss the guards and how they instantly smiled (and laughed) when we got back to Bethany and said “mwiriwe”.

I was very fortunate to have a wonderful experience with my host family, especially their two daughters. They welcomed me and Elke into their home and referred to us as their older daughters when talking to members of their church.  Rose was so interested in our culture and wanted us to feel like their home was our second home. When we came back to their house for dinner the week we left, Rose made the chipati that me and Elke loved so much the first time she made it for us.

Not only did I make new Rwandan friends, but I was lucky enough to be accompanied by 20 amazing students and teachers from UNC that I didn’t know before. Rwanda isn’t a typical study abroad destination and it definitely shows in the people in this group. Everyone was truly interested in what we were learning which made for an even better trip.  From Peter’s difficult to understand questions, to Sarah’s ability to make friends with anybody, to Elke’s humor and Emily’s constant positivity, everyone brought something to the group and I am so lucky to have spent this time with each and every one of them.

There are so many things about Rwanda that surprised me, but one thing that has stood out to me since I got there. Despite all the horrible atrocities the country endured in 1994, they are still a highly religious culture.  I couldn’t imagine going through the things these people have been through and still having faith that there is a God.

The people of Rwanda are truly remarkable, which leads me to my final thought.  When I first met Elke, she was talking about how meeting people - not seeing sights - makes for a memorable trip.  While the beautiful landscapes and hills of Rwanda will probably never leave my memory, the one thing I will remember about this trip is the wonderful friends I made and the memories and experiences we shared in Rwanda.

June 29

June 29, 2013

Last night we had a party with the staff at the guesthouse to celebrate our time in Rwanda and to say goodbye.  Everyone wore traditional Rwandan clothing and 4 hours were blocked off for this event.  The entire staff worked so hard to put this together for us and it was very hard coming to the realization that our time here is almost over.

There were traditional Rwandan dancers and musicians and it was soooo entertaining to watch. The kids performing looked like they were a little younger than us, probably in high school.  It was cool seeing such a big group of kids who were interested in their traditional culture and performed it for us so well.

The party was very touching and I’m glad we stayed at a guesthouse where everyone works so hard to make us feel at home.  We’ve all became very close with the staff and I think we’re all found a second family at the guesthouse. I’m really going to miss staying up and talking to Jackson and listening to Benoit sing.

After dinner a few of us went to an art gallery party which was pretty cool. They had a room of artwork done by children and it was amazing how talented some of them were. We didn’t stay long and after that, Elizabeth and I tried to go to a bar near the guesthouse but it was really awkward and we didn’t stay for long at all. When we got back, Caitie, Lydia, Jackson and I went to the Mille Collines to hang out on our last night. It was fun to just relax with everybody before packing and getting ready to leave.

Today Chelsea, Sarah and I went to a restaurant called “Afrika Bite” which was one of the only moderate-priced restaurants that served Rwandan food. It was so good and I wish we had all found it earlier. The best part was the chipati, which my host family served me and I fell in love with.

We’ve had a great last couple of days between traveling to DRC and celebrating with the guesthouse staff. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to spend five weeks in Rwanda with and am so excited to return to this beautiful country sometime in the future.

June 28

June 28, 2013

Yesterday I took a trip to Gisenye with Lydia, Liz and Rachel.  Gisenye is a port town on Lake Kivu bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Gisenye is also beside the city of Goma in the DRC.  Goma is the city where refugee camps were set up after the genocide. These camps were mostly holding Hutu refugees and very few Tutsi victims.

On Thursday morning we took a 3-hour bus ride to Gisenye, which was pretty cramped.  Once we got to Gisenye we took a cab to our hotel which ended up being another branch of Bethany (the guesthouse we stay at in Kigali).

We decided to go straight to the border and scope out our chances of getting to cross – which were slim to none.  We went to the small border first and talked to the guard.  He was pretty nice and let us take a few pictures although we couldn’t actually cross the border into Goma.

Since we didn’t have much luck, we decided to go to the larger border crossing.  There were throngs of people moving across the border and I had no idea that many people went back and forth every day.  There were a lot of people who were physically disabled crossing the border and we guessed it was to get treatment but we’re still not really sure.

The guard this time told us we had to have a visa from the Congo embassy and wasn’t happy about us taking pictures.  We went further back to take some pictures of Goma and the volcanoes and one government official got super frustrated with us for “taking pictures of his people”. 

It started to rain so we took refuge under a building.  We met a Rwandan man who was around our age.  He told us that he was going to school in Goma and had to cross the border every day.  Rwanda changed its national language from French to English in 2008 (I think) and in order to continue his studies in French he had to travel to another country.  This was very interesting because I never thought about students having to deal with that as a result of the new national language.

Overall we had a successful trip to Gisenye even though we weren’t allowed to cross the border and we pissed off a few government officials and guards.  Just looking across the border at the Congo was a strange experience and felt very eerie, especially with the volcanoes.  I would definitely recommend anyone visiting Rwanda to explore this city.

June 23

Yesterday was Chelsea and Meg’s birthday so we decided to get dinner and go out dancing after.  We went to Republica Lounge, which is very Western and very pricy.  About halfway through dinner I look up and notice that one of the men sitting at the long table beside us looks oddly similar to Isaiah Washington (Dr. Burke from Grey’s Anatomy).  The longer I look at him and notice his (loud and obnoxious) mannerisms, the more I start to really think that it’s him.  After we found out it was indeed him, he started rambling about DNA and Africa and something about the Genome Sciences Lab at UNC.  But, Preston Burke is one of my favorite characters on Grey’s Anatomy and it was awesome meeting him.  Turns out he was in Kigali for a gorilla naming ceremony?

After dinner we went to Papyrus and ended up getting back to the guesthouse around 4:30 this morning.  I slept a few hours and got up to go to church since today is our last Sunday in Rwanda L.

I went to the Presbyterian Church that’s part of our guesthouse.  It was so much different than my church at home but I really enjoyed the service.  The congregation was a lot smaller than the one I went to last Sunday.  The pastor was a woman, which is not something you would ever see in my Southern Baptist church at home.  The service consisted of a lot of singing and worship and out of the 2 hour service the sermon only lasted about 20-25 minutes. 

I really liked that the service was focused more on singing and praying and actually worshipping than the preacher preaching at you, which is what most protestant churches in the states are like.  There was a visiting group from a church in Kenya who performed a song/somewhat of a dance for us at the beginning of the service which was really cool.  Some of the hymns were the same at the ones at my church at home the beat was more fast-paced, which was interesting. 

It’s actually staring to hit me that this is my last week in Rwanda.  I feel like I’ve been here for so long but at the same time I feel like there’s so much that I haven’t seen and experienced yet.  I’ve loved the time I’ve spent here and I am about 90% sure that I’ll be re-visiting this beautiful country again in the future.