More Projects :D

Peace Maker Baskets

This is a project by the same association that also operates the rabbit breeding program. Here they produce what they call "Peace Makers", which are basically insulated baskets stuffed with foil, cotton, and cloth. The baskets can be used to keep food hot for a whole day. That means that women only need to cook (I'm sorry to say that but it's just a fact in this part of the world....it's really uncommon for men to cook for their families) once a day in the morning and can keep the food warm until the evening when the children and the husband get back home; or as an alternative when the husband is unemployed, instead of "when the husband gets back home": "when the husband is hungry".
This way families can save a lot of energy and the most useful part in this, why those things are called Peace Makers, the women don't get beaten by their husbands when the food is not ready on time, because it will be, thanks to those baskets.
This is actually really true; A lot of the domestic violence in Rwanda is a result of men not getting their food in the moment they want it.
So, this seems to be a very useful project and worth suporting.




Garlic Farming

The following project is not quite as interesting but it's very typical one, a lot of the requests that reach our office are for similar activities.
This project was originally initiated by an association who's memebers had different sorts of slight disabilities (also very typical). What they decided to do in order to generate an income was; They wanted to grow garlic. This turned out to be a quite good idea because garlic is very rare in Rwanda and there was a possibility to earn a lot of money for them.
That is also something my colleague and I do at our office and out in the field; We check for the usefulness of a project.

So, since this association had worked out a good concept, they got their funds and started cultivating their garlic. All of this was unfortunately delayed because it wasn't raining enough during the rainy season. But the rain has caught up by coming down during the small dry season....which is just about right now :P It keeps raining and raining every day...and believe it or not it's actually really cold. Brrr.
But as you can see in the picture (or at least those of you that know what garlic looks like) the garlic finally started growing:D

My Job

Besides the boring translations and archiving project files that I do in the office, I also do a lot of.... nothing.... just sitting at my desk and surfing the internet :P
But the highlight of my work is when we go to the countryside to visit the projects that we otherwise only know from paper and phone calls. But even there I only watch my colleague work, smile, try to look good, and take pictures...which is not too bad because it gives me a chance to show you some of the projects ;)

The following is a rabbit breeding program initiated by a group of AIDS victims and funded by their German partners. Since this is an income generating project the rabbits will be sold once they have grown big enough. From the money the people involved in the project will be able to pay school fees for their children and will be provided with health insurance. By the way, more than 80% of all Rwandans actually have health insurance, that's the highest rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. That doesn't really mean though that those people who have public health insurance will also be treated at a hospital :S...I'm not even sure why they have insurance if it doesn't pay for any treatment.



All those rabbits were crampted into a tiny building in the middle of the city. I'm not sure how many rabbits were in those cages but there were MANY!! And you don't want to imagine the smell :P

The Jumelage

We just got back from Tanzania/Zanzibar last week, but more about that next time... There is quite a story to tell about this country, but not today because I want to talk about my work.
I work for a coordination office which operates for a partnership that my federal state back in Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate....or whatever the name is in English) has with Rwanda.
It's actually a very interesting concept because there are communities in Rwanda and Germany that have had very close ties since more than 25 years. It consists of cultural exchange programs, school and church partnerships, very dedicated private people, and of course funding of projects. Our job at the office in the partnership process is that we coordinate between the two sides. That basically means that we check on the projects that the Rwandans initiate in their beautiful country with German money.



This picture shows the largest office building on our compound. This is the first thing you see when you enter the gate to our property.






I've been put in the microprojects and income generating projects department. Where I share an office with my dear colleague Félicité.... I have to admit that it is mostly her who actually works in our office. I just do those things that need to be done in German, meaning my job is basically to do translations of finance requests. The translations are done from French to German, which taught me that you don't actually need to speak a language to be able to translate it :D


Our office is the one on the left. The other one is for social projects.

About those Expectations

Husseim, maybe we can talk about this, you are pretty much the only one who knows that this blog exists and I think you would understand.
Since I came here I have noticed that attitudes can change. You get used to random children just touching you and shaking hands with you in the middle of the street, women singing songs out loud on the bus, or adults simply starting to dance in the middle of a meeting.
I read one of my previous posts again and saw that I had been complaining about a six hour delay at the airport...I don't think that I would still write that on my blog if it happened to me today. I've learned that things can even be on time if they come late, you just need to expect them to be delayed.
People in this part of the world amaze me...the other day my mum sent me an e-mail and a part of it was;
Work- as if you didn't need the money
Dance- as if no one was watching
Sing- as if no one was listening
Love- as if no one had hurt you
Live- as if this was paradise on earth
When I read this I thought: "Wow! True, that's what I need to do!" Until I noticed that most people here seem to live their lives like that...and where does this lead you? Is this really it? I've decided that there must be more to this than just the above...
So, yeah, attitudes DO change! When I happen to read what I just wrote in a couple of months I'll probably wonder what on earth I was thinking.... I wouldn't actually be surprised though if I already think that tomorrow.

Kigali-Rwanda's Capital

Home Sweet Home

It's been about 5 months now since I arrived in this beautiful country and it's only today that I'll tell you something about its capital and my new home, Kigali.

At this point I should probably mention that I had written a post about the same topic previously but I found it to be insufficient so I deleted it again.

Kigali is a relatively small city with population estimates ranging from around 600.000 to 1.000.000 inhabitants...don't ask me how they came up with such a wide range of possible numbers but it kind of suits the rest of the country with a population between 8.000.000 and 10.000.000 inhabitants. You can safely say though that no matter which of the numbers is correct it is going to be too many people. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa with an ever growing population and Kigali makes no exception. In some parts of the city like the predominantly Muslim quarter Nyamirambo (which is very close to where I live) you will sometimes have 2.000 people sharing a small space of 1 km². Considering that most of the houses here only have one floor, you probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that people share beds according to the shifts they work. That means that one person sleeps while the other one works and when the person that was working gets back home they switch.


This is one of the central mosques in Nyamirambo. The picture was taken from one of the many hills that make up Kigali.

However Nyamirambo is also one of the liveliest parts of town with a sort of Middle-Eastern atmosphere; Amazing spirit and definitely an amazing place. It’s also the place where we…meaning my two ‘permanent’ flat mates and I…do our shopping on the weekends.

We live in one of the better parts of town by the way. The place is called Kiyovu and is right in the center of town. That has it's advantages as you could probably imagine. However I think we are the only people who actually live in the Boulevard de la Révolution, the rest are office buldings, embassies and hotels.
The guest house that we inhabit is part of the office compound that we also work at which kind of comes in handy when you don't like getting up in the morning.















We are actually very forunate to live in the place that we live in; we have electricity ALL the time because we have a generator, we also have running water and can even have hot showers, we have a fridge, and EVEN a WASHING MACHINE (which is an absolutely amazing thing to have in Rwanda)! Other volunteers that we hang out with are not quite as fortunate; some have to travel for 1 1/2 hours to get to work, have no running water, no proper bathroom and NOBODY has a washing machine.

We also used to have a great garden.



Until they turned it into this...



There is so much more that I could be writing about this city, but I also want somebody to actually read this. I'm sure you'll find out more as I continue my blog.
To finish with, just a few more pictures...


My office...


My Street...(that must have been on a Sunday because it's usually not that empty)



My hill...it's the one in the background.

My Dear Friends.... I'm BACK!

I was inspired to finally continue my blog. I'm not sure what it was that motivated me, but I think it was Husseim who just started his very own blog recently.
Now I only need to figure out what to write... I already added a slide-show to the page with some of the pictures I took over the past months.

Actually there are some good news!
I'm finally about to get my visa! Hopefully by the end of this week. What a mess! The Rwandan immigration office kept asking for more and more documents, but finally after one of our drivers threatened them, they got everything they wanted now...except for the money! They raised the cost for a one year visa since last month from 250.000 FRW to 400.000 FRW (which is a little more than 500€). I really want to know who makes those prices. That's crazy! That's more than the average Rwandan earns in 2 years.

And it's Sarah's birthday today! Happy birthday Sarah! I'll see you later ;)...even though you'll probably never get to read this.