Ny toa mzungu

(English translation from Kinyarwanda: My name is foreigner)

As I come to the end of my stay in Rwanda I've been reflecting on being a foreigner or mzungu. It's very interesting being judged on your appearance so profoundly. I'm not even what I would term a real "expat" - I walk a lot of places (and people think I'm crazy for doing so), I cook my own food, wash my own underwear and even ride the public transit. I do get rides to places more than most Rwandans and there's a lady (Vestine) who comes into the apartment twice a week to clean floors and such so I guess I'm living an elevated lifestyle to some degree. Anyway, it is interesting, like I said to be judged on appearance. I often forget how it feels when I'm not in Africa. It's a good reminder for me to not make judgements on externalities.

I really have loved living in Rwanda, there's a real positive energy here that I admire and although it can still be very chaotic, it's a lot of fun. I'm going to miss it. Here are some highlights from the last 3 weeks (I had some internet issues my last couple of weeks so I'm now posting this from Boston)

- A trip up to the north west edge of Rwanda to a town called Gisenyi. This meant a 4 hour bus ride one-way so a bit of a trek just for an overnight trip but still fun. We slept in a hostel, ate brochette (Rwandan-style kebabs - yum) and enjoyed Lake Kivu (a huge lake between Rwanda and the DRC)

Biljana and I on the bus

The crew - waiting for Broschettes

Beautiful Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu

I like to call this one:  The ID doc risking schisto (it's a silly personal joke...)

- data-entry for our project - Hurray!! We didn't think the Ministry was going to let us get on it so quickly! It was great to almost finish all the data entry - even though 10 hours a day is exhausting.

-FESPAD - A Multi-country African Dance Festival/Competition that took place at the national stadium.  We ended up being there 2.5 hours early - we were told it started at 3pm, arrived just before 4pm (adjusting for "African time" or so we thought) and got to sit there until the actual start time of 6:30pm. It was great though, neat dancing from numerous countries around Africa (including Madagascar - reminding me of the time when I and some other sister missionaries won a talent show in Madagascar for our attempt at traditional dancing - Prize: 1 live chicken - donated to a needy family in the congregation after all the ladies in the congregation were horrified when we admitted we had no idea how to kill and pluck a chicken - apparently my mother failed in her duty to teach me such skills)  Anyway, here is a video of the champions (the Kenyan drummers) - I apologize for the sad video skills, this is a new thing for me and obviously I need more practice.

- Saying goodbye to all my friends at church (although this was hard, perhaps not a highlight) - I did love attending church in Rwanda, such great people

The brand new church building in Kigali, Rwanda and branch members milling about after church

 -Eating Rwandan food!  (I couldn't go without a comment on the food of course).  No East African meal is really complete without at least 3 starches and preferably more - here we only have two:  Matoke (non-sweet banana - I totally love this stuff) and potato.  For a real feast we ought to have had sweet potato and/or cassava root plus rice and maybe pasta as well.  Here there's chicken and peas with some sauce but normally there would also be beef or goat and beans as well.  Usually there's also sauce with spinach or isombe (ground up cassava leaves).  

And finally, the finishing touch:  Fanta.  (Most prefer orange, I do not - I prefer "citron").