This goat is chewy!

Hello again from Kigali Rwanda! Last night was our last night in Kigali and in a few hours we will be heading north to Rhuengheri. Over the past day or so the team has had a great many experiences, all of which are noteworthy but few of which I am able to fit into just one blog entry. So, as I am typing on this peaceful morning waiting for the sun to penetrate the horizon, I will begin with two nights ago when we went out to dinner at La Palise.

While we are here we do not have any personal mode of transportation so have been relying on the public mode as well as friends, not a bad deal because the public system is very good.  That evening half the group decided to try out the motorcycles or ‘motos’ for short, which involved flagging down some of them to taxi us over to the restaurant and always happens to evolve into somewhat of a big deal after the bartering begins. It started with Jordan giving out prices like a boss, due to her being much more comfortable with the language and being the only one who had used the system before, then walking away as the driver hung onto an excessively high price tag. As this is happening, all of the other moto’s around zipped over to see what was happening and to try and pick us up with a lower price. Soon we were surrounded by new drivers, as well as a number of pedestrians, all just saying hi and investigating the scene. Being Stephanie and I’s first experience, all of the commotion was almost overwhelming and we just tried to stay as close to Jordan as possible, smiling, and pointing to her to show we had no clue what was happening. After the group had grown quite large, Jordan finally settled on a good price and the real fun began. Getting onto the back of the moto’s, we were handed helmets for protection and proceeded on our exhilarating dash for the restaurant. The driver’s goal is to get you there as quick as possible and the motorcycle is relatively small, so the ride really is exciting to say the least. We weaved in and out of the traffic playing chicken with the other side of the street many times in order to pass every other vehicle on the road. In the end we did make it to the restaurant in one piece.

At the restaurant we met up with Ariana, Michael, and Serge who had just picked up our professional mentor Kara from her flight! Dinner was filled with catching up, sharing memories, and telling jokes over a feast of goat kabobs. Michael Salka began to start a joke then had to stop, exclaiming ‘This goat is chewy!’ to bursts of laughter from everyone around the table. All in all it was a fantastic dinner and great to have our whole team together with friends. After dinner Michael and I went out on the town with Serge and were shown around some of the city. We had a blast but as Serge drove us back to our hotel we found that the gates were locked with nobody awake to answer our knocks. We weren’t about to just spend the night somewhere else so we hopped the wall surrounding the convent and made it safely to our beds. A good night!

Yesterday afternoon we worked on planning for all of our conferences that we are going to have today and in the near future and finished up all of our big city business. We are loaded down with surveying supplies, internet modems, phone minutes, and are ready to head out to the country tomorrow!

But, as the trend has been set so far, there can’t be a day without excitement of some sort. We had a stellar dinner at an Indian restaurant then took some moto’s home. Of course we had Jordan our haggling expert make the deal and we all hopped on towards home. It was a fun exhilarating ride just like the first until we started driving along some roads that didn’t look familiar and realized that the drivers may not have actually known where our hotel was.

Looking around the only other person I could see was Jordan who pulled up beside me and had our drivers pull over. As we pulled over we saw Stephanie pass by us down the road. Ariana, Michael, and Kara were nowhere in sight. Thank God for Jordan being there because I would never have been able to talk my way home without searching for a driver who knew where to go. At this point with the entire group separated and not quite used to the language we just prayed that the rest were able to get back and knew where to go. Jordan had an extensive conversation with her driver in French and we started calling the rest of the group, having the drivers discuss with each other where they were and where they should go. After another stop and some deliberation we made it back to the hotel where we were relieved to see everyone else had made it also! Stephanie did not have one of the phones and was all by herself, but luckily her driver had stopped and asked for directions. After a few moments to calm down we proceeded to play some card and then off to bed which brings us to where we are now.  

I just wanted to take a moment to discuss the safety precautions that we are observing with everything that has been happening with the embassy closure. We are paying a lot of attention to our surroundings, always traveling in pairs, and keeping updated on the news. Also we have left Kigali where things may be the most centered making us less susceptible and now that we are out more in the country we are being even more vigilant and will be getting back before dark. We just wanted everyone to know that we are aware of things and also know we all have glow in the dark Jesus’s in our rooms to watch over us at night.

I had better get packing now so I will leave you with that and you will hear from us soon!

Michael Swartz