Overcrowded, noisy and unsanitary…then we leave the house

Living an MTV reality show has its challenges, but outside our little drama is the hustle and bustle of a fast growing and advancing city.  We have been in Kigali, the capital city, for a week now.  It is clean, safe and growing. This forces us to look at our school project in a different light than originally.  No longer is this a cute, little rural school for a some native children, but it needs to prepare these students for the 21st century, because they will be entering the world of a rapidly developing country.

We started the week with a meeting at the building department, “One Stop Center”.  There Matt, Sonya, Andrew and I were presented with a complete checklist of everything necessary to obtain a building permit and start construction.  While discussing our plans our planner brought in others in the department that could immediately answer questions about their area of expertise.  Efficient building/planning department that treats us as a customer is a valuable lesson that our students can take back to their careers.

Rob Davis (Dean of the College of Engineering) and his family arrived this week.   We all took a mini-bus to the ROP (Rwandan Orphans Project) for a tour of the orphanage and the new property.  This was the first EWB project the dean has visited, which was quite exciting for everyone.  Andrew and Matt got an interview for our video and everyone else made origami boxes with the orphans.

This is definitely city life, we have internet and have set up a small wi-fi network in the house.  One night we went out to the local pizza restaurant that was hosting a trivia night, we made a respectable showing against the other “mazungu’s” (foreigners).

One day Sonya, BJ and I spent the day sourcing materials.  We learned how they are making their own concrete blocks, a potentially inexpensive building material.  Every market we went into was selling flushing toilets.  Not something we anticipated, as there is not a single waste water treatment system in the entire city.  Most homes and businesses in the city just have a hole in the ground in which they dump raw sewage (don’t think about that too long, there are over 1,000,000 people in Kigali), but clearly they are moving towards running water and hoping for better plumbing.

Meetings, meetings, meetings.  We have been attending and holding lots of meetings.  Using a large printout of the topo map we constructed earlier in the trip, we cut out pieces of paper representing potential buildings and placed them on the map.  We have met with the orphanage directors and teachers on three different occasions to come up with a comprehensive site plan.

On different occasions we met with local engineers and foreign architects to determine some of the unique aspects of working in Rwanda.

We made a connection with KIST (Kigali Institute of Technology).  This involved two meetings, visiting their lab (their lab is as good as any university lab in the United States) negotiating prices and writing a contract.  Jordan and Sonya have worked with KIST at the property the last two days on performing various geotech tests we will need to design the school and obtain approval from the building department. 

We made a connection with the Senior Advisor for Urban Planning and Construction for the City of Kigali, a former University of Colorado professor.  On a different occasion we were invited to attend a small meeting of consultants from Singapore that are advising on the city master plan.  Tonight we have been added to the guest list for a party at the British embassy. 

Our time is quite busy here.  No one knows the exact formula for success but, Rwandans are moving forward quickly and it will impact our project.  It also reinforces the importance of ROP’s (Rwandan Orphans Project) mission to educate street children, preparing their students for college.  

--Steve Vance

Independent livin'

               Dear world. Despite the best efforts of local malaria carrying mosquitos, we are still alive and everyone is healthy.

                The past week has seen us transition to a new phase in our time in Rwanda. As we move from the beautiful verdant hills surrounding Lake Kivu and our monitoring and maintenance of past projects at Children’s Village Kigarama back to Kigali, we are excited for what is to come, but sad that it’s time to leave.  We have made many great connections and friendships here at CVK and it’s hard to walk out of these kids’ lives and not know how to answer when they ask us when we will be coming back. We had a bonfire the night before our departure since the older kids had school in the morning and wouldn’t have time to say goodbye then. In the morning, we packed our bags and headed out to catch motos back to the bus station in Kibuye. The little kids who didn’t have school walked with us and waved goodbye as we drove away.

Sonya saying goodbye

The view from behind my moto driver

The moto to Kibuye

The bus to Kigali

  

In Kigali we were greeted by paved streets, fast internet, and a plumbed water supply. We met up with Noah, our landlord to be, and he showed us to the house we will be living in for the next month. The house is furnished with 5 rooms, 2 bathrooms, a small kitchen, and is enclosed by a wall and metal gate with a guardsman. At first this seemed a little over the top, until Andy pointed out that the cost per night is almost $10 USD cheaper per night than renting a single hotel room with a queen bed. Sean and Jenny, the coordinators or the Rwandan Orphans Project (our partners for the second half of this trip), spent the week before our arrival visiting different houses and negotiating for us. Sean looked at close to 20 houses, which he found through “Kigali Life” a yahoo page which acts as the Kigali equivalent to Craigslist.

Our Kigali house

The wall, gate and guard house (red, green, and white)

                One of the most exciting parts of having a house here has been navigating culinary independence. We have had a lot of fun diving into local markets to test our Kinyarwandan skills and attempt to negotiate prices. Intially, despite our best haggling efforts, we were getting ripped off, but we’ve made significant improvement and now are getting much better prices. Jordan and BJ have proven to be an excellent negotiating team. Jordan directly talks to sellers and negotiates prices, while BJ smiles and appeases those that we don’t want to buy from. They have a theory that maybe they get better prices because the women at the market prefer to deal with other women. Back at the house we put our cooking skills to the test. We had a slow start, but the meals have been getting progressively more delicious as we figure out how to cook with the kitchen and supplies available. 

Cooking

Toasting toast over the burner

                Our dinners as of late have been punctuated by mewling as a cute scrawny ball of fluff comes over to emotionally manipulate our team members into feeding it. When we gave the furball a name, Gollumn, and a bowl of milk, I realized that this kitten was going to become part of our lives. When a veterinary friend of BJ’s told us the cat could give us ringworm, I wondered if maybe it would be better if it didn’t. Nonetheless, Gollumn has decided that free milk is an invitation, and returns to see us every night.

Gollumn the cat

Jordan decides to put her rabies shot to the test

                On Tuesday, we were excited to have another team member, Matt Hulse, arrive in Kigali. Matt had previously been in Haiti working on another development project, where he taught the skills of electrician-ship (if that’s a word) to a number of local Haitian teachers at a trade school so that they could develop their own curriculum and teach others.

                 Thursday marked Matt’s birthday, and we celebrated with a homemade chocolate cake. Matt decided the best way to serve the cake was to cut circular pieces out from random points in the middle of the cake. Andy cringed.

Matt's Birthday

Blowing out the candles

                 The next month here in Kigali will be spent partnering with the Rwandan Orphans Project. The orphanage, located in Kanombe, Kigali acts as a home for 96 boys who were previously living on the street. They provide housing, education, meals, and counseling. The ROP pays rent to use the land their facilities are currently on, and wants to transition to operation on a new piece of land they recently purchased. In the transition, they want to expand their facilities and purpose to act not only as an orphanage, but also as a community center. The ROP wants us to partner with them to provide engineering design expertise and build a school on their new land to that will service both the ROP’s boys, and local children that can’t pay to attend public school.

                This phase of the trip is a pre-design assessment. Earlier in the trip we did the surveying of the plot of land that we will be building on. Our days now are filled with doing the leg work necessary to answer all the questions necessary to make our design possible. Naturally what this means is a ton of meetings. We met with city planners Donna and Joshua, to clarify local laws and find out how to get building permits. We met with a geotechnical expert who we are considering contracting to do the assessment of the conditions of our plot. We met with Sean and Jenny and discussed their vision for the use of the plot of land, had a planning activity, and scheduled 3 more meetings with them next week to discuss our timeline, budget, and their priorities for new facilities, and to tour local schools to see designs they would like to emulate. Our time in Kigali so far has been hugely productive and consequently fulfilling. I continue to enjoy people I’m with. We’ve got a good group and I look forward continuing to live with them and the work in the weeks to come.

Planning at the ROP

Our topo map of the ROP Land

Thinking through where facilities will go

---Andrew Maier

Dogs at School and Other Tails

As our two weeks at Children’s Village Kigarama come to a close, we are finishing up our engineering work and left with more time to contemplate the complex society which we are fortunate enough to visit.  I just finished reading A Thousand Hills, by Stephen Kinzer, a book that I would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in the story of Rwanda’s history and development since the genocide.  The book attempts to explain the society and culture of Rwanda in the context of its recent history, and has been very beneficial in helping to interpret situations we encounter here.  Initially, we saw clean streets and expensive-looking infrastructure projects and a noticeable lack of obvious poverty on the streets of Kigali, and I concluded that everything was progressing fabulously and things were great.  Everyone we met was effusive in their courtesy and exceptionally helpful and kind to us.  We have noticed though, that people are in general very serious and somber – which is completely to be expected given that 99.9% of Rwandan children who were alive during the genocide were effected either indirectly by the loss of loved ones, or by directly witnessing or experiencing violence.  Many of the Rwandans we have been working with at CVK have physical and psychological scars from the genocide.  Prince, the orphanage’s assistant director, lost his entire family in the violence and grew up at CVK.

There seems to be an attitude of walking on eggshells.  From Kinzer’s book, as well as people we have talked with, Rwanda appears to be aware that a repeat of genocide violence could potentially break out if control were lost for even a brief period.  President Kagame, who by most accounts orchestrated Rwanda’s recovery from the genocide and rebirth into one of the fastest moving economies in Africa, runs a pretty controlled society.  There are debates as to whether the amount of control the government exercises over its people is necessary for keeping order and averting another outbreak of violence, or whether it is an excessive display of power from a leader who has remained unchallenged for too long.  I’ve only been here for two weeks and don’t have enough information yet to form an opinion, but I will say that from an outsider’s perspective, Rwanda seems to be making progress.  And that is pretty cool.

Here is my segue:  

Segway

Updates on the team achievements are as follows:

Our three major goals at CVK were to monitor the operation of our three past projects, the high efficiency cook stoves, the irrigation system, and the rainwater catchment systems.  We have been dominating our to-do lists most days (with occasional lapses in productivity due to enthusiastic children, rousing soccer games, and Steve’s insistence that we ‘get out and exercise’).  The cook stoves, which were found to be in need of repairs, are currently being renovated by a team of local masons who were trained by Inno, a cook stove specialist from Manna Energy, a Kigali-based organization that we have partnered with on several projects. 

The team learning the basics of stove repair from Inno

The irrigation system seems to be in good repair, other than the entire piping system being infested with giant yellow slugs (which pour out of the faucet whenever the system is turned on).  We have also been testing drinking water to make sure everything is in order and the UV treatment system is working.  Yesterday, Steve and I trekked with Prince (the assistant director at CVK) to three of the spring sources from which the kids haul water during the dry season.  It was quite a hike and I almost plummeted to my death (or at least extreme discomfort) so many times that I was allocated an extra ration of pineapple for my efforts.  Steve almost died only once, and so was not appreciated as much as myself, who managed to semi-hurdle off of cliffs about every 3 minutes. 

The intensity of the hike to fetch water underscores the importance of our education mission here, which is to encourage conservation of rainwater from the collection tanks during the dry season.  Jordan and Andrew have been pioneering the education effort, and have had great success teaching the kindergarten classes with the help of CVK’s excellent teacher, Jean de Dieu.  Because Sunday is the only day of the week that is free for the secondary school kids to attend any educational workshops, we are planning an exciting educational afternoon on Sunday for the older kids and mothers to learn about water conservation and cook stove use.

Because we have been working so much with education this week, the team thought it would be a good idea for us to take a field trip to a local school with some of the kids.  Sonya and Andrew went to a secondary school English class at the beginning of the week (the rest of us stayed behind in bed after coming down with a horrifically virulent cold, which we did not want to spread to the children).  After having managed to recover enough to be less infectious, the rest of us took a trip to primary school with the kids on Thursday.  Jordan, Andy, and myself attended a P6 class with Mado and Peter, kids from CVK, and about 50 other children from the nearby area.  We sat three-to-a-desk, and wrote on notebooks made out of recycled newspaper, but this was by far the most focused geometry class I have ever attended.  The teacher, who is also the school’s assistant headmaster, taught in a fluent mix of Kinyarwanda and English, and encouraged class participation and in-class problem solving with skill I have rarely witnessed in the US.  I was highly impressed, and was also probably the most distracted person in the classroom due to the fact that CVK’s resident pet dog, Lady, managed to crawl under the orphanage fence and follow us all the way to school.  She would not leave and insisted on following us into the classroom, which I am sure was a horrific breach of etiquette in the Rwandan school system.  So, the whole time we were learning about finding the volume of a cuboid, I was trying to keep Lady happy and hidden under the desk.  It was kind of like one of those bad dreams where you accidentally forget to wear pants to school and you have a test, except it was real.  We also had a quiz in class, which Jordan and I passed with flying colors and received red checkmarks on our papers. 

Today is the Sabbath (CVK is run by Seventh Day Adventists who celebrate Saturday as their holy day), so we are encourage to take today as a day of rest.  That works out pretty nice, as it’s a beautiful day and we have lots of planning to catch up on for our last few days here.  On Monday, we will return to Kigali, where Sean (a coordinator at the Rwandan Orphans Project) has set up a house for our team to rent for the rest of our stay in Rwanda.  We will soon be joined by two more members of our group, Matt and Kara.  We are excited to begin our project in Kigali, but will be sorry to leave the warm hospitality and good friends at CVK.

Love and pineapples,

BJ

Today we meet our lunch!

In Rwanda things connect.  We live in a world where we are separated from so many things in our lives.   We concern ourselves with our carbon footprint, recycling, community, and how large our impact is on the world.  We often do not see the direct connection to what it is we do and our place in the world.  In Rwanda there is a connection.  There is a direct connection to almost everything that happens.  We have a lot to learn, whether it is collecting firewood for cooking or rain water (a past EWB project) for drinking and washing.   The other day I noticed Rasta, our chef, walking by with a chicken, and I went over to see what was going on.  He proudly held up the chicken, then proceeded to rip the feathers off of its neck, cut its head off, place it in boiling water (so the feathers would fall out) and turned it into lunch within an hour.

We are still at L’esperance (Children’s Village Kigirama), monitoring the many projects completed by Engineers Without Borders and other groups over the years.  One of the projects was to build high efficiency stoves; this reduced the wood usage by about two thirds.  This is a significant savings for the orphanage, both in time and money.  In order to cook every meal someone must collect firewood and build a fire.  They know first hand their impact on their world.  There is a direct connection between cooking and fuel.  Saving trees is not only saving work but saving a valuable resource in their immediate neighborhood.

Because of the intense usage of the stoves, they are in need of repairs.  From the last blog, you saw that BJ and Sonya spent a day boiling water and testing the efficiency of the stoves.  It was determined that repairs are necessary.  It was particularly fulfilling to see that one of the former orphans, Innocent, is now working at the company that builds the stoves.  Innocent came to L’esperance and supervised the cook stove repairs.  He has a good job, has purchased land, and is planning on building his own home soon.  Innocent is one of our good friends in Rwanda.  And L’esperance is a good parent. 

Yesterday we decided to go to the weekly market.  The local market occurs here every Wednesday afternoon.  It is about an hour walk or a 20 minute moto ride to the market.  Many people from around the region come to this market, it is a social event.  A community connection if you will.  Vendors are selling food and clothing.  The clothes are mostly used clothes, people are trying on the clothes and then taking them to one of the many tailors working around the edge of the market to fit you into your “new” clothes.  Things and people connect.

While at the market we stopped to have lunch.  The owner was very excited and offered us goat brochettes as the specialty of the house.  After he took our order he walked into the street to solicit one of the many people strolling by with a goat, he completed the transaction then proudly walked the goat back by our table on the way to the kitchen.  We connect.  Lunch will be ready soon!

Surveying Strikes Again!

       Today marks both the one week anniversary of our arrival at CVK…And the halfway point in our visit at the orphanage. We are doing our best to make the most of everyday. It is impossible not to be happy here, with all of the children perpetually laughing, smiling, and playing.

Saturday morning we had a special breakfast! BJ was quite excited.

Andy spends quality time with the kids. They love his music!

       Our weekend turned out to be a nice blend of exciting and relaxing! Here at the orphanage, Saturday is a day of rest; work is not permitted by children or staff. Naturally, we took full advantage of this, and spent the greater part of the day catching up on some reading and much needed laundry. That night, Victor (CVK’s director) gave a special presentation for the children about his month-long journey to the United States. He showed a photo slideshow of the cities that he visited: San Francisco, Houston, and Boulder (whoop!). Each time the kids saw a picture of a person who had previously volunteered at the orphanage they would get super excited. It was really neat to see how these volunteers had made such a big impression on the children. After the slideshow, the kids (babies included) were each given a bottle of soda. A FULL SIZED bottle of soda. Keep in mind that this was 8 o’clock at night. I sat on the floor of the classroom watching them chug the sugar, praying that caffeinated drinks don’t affect them as much as they affect me. Much to my relief, nothing happened! The babies burped a little and smiled wide, but merely sat content as Planet Earth began to play, projected against a white bed sheet. We were all entranced by that movie. Clearly, baby animals are a universally enthralling concept, and lions hunting elephants will make you scream no matter where you are.

The kids take a break from school. Their kindergarten classes are so fun!

        After rebooting, Sunday was dedicated once more as a work day. Victor asked us to survey the area around one of the property’s larger existing buildings that is currently being used for pineapple drying. His hope is to expand the building in the future. With one successful survey already completed last week, we were quite confident heading out to the field at 9am. In fact, we were SO confident that we decided that instead of surveying the single required building, we would go above and beyond the call of duty and map the entire front third of the orphanage! Sonya, Steve, BJ, and I were all very excited about our new plan. NOTE: we apparently like to survey on the sunniest, hottest days of the week. For how cloudy this country appears to be, the sun sure likes to shine when we have surveying to do. Anyway, after 7 hours of measuring, defying gravity in our instrument leveling tactics, reviving long lost sunburn lines, and plenty of problem solving, we collected sufficient data to create our map. Success!

Steve took his surveying job very seriously, perilously balancing on the cistern edge.

The kids liked to help us take measurements.

        

         Meanwhile, Andrew and Andy took the kids down to Lake Kivu for swimming and volleyball to escape the hot weather. Before arriving, I was under the impression that the walk down to the lake was just that, a walk, a nice little stroll. Oh no. no no no. It is a HIKE. To get to the lake you have to scale down 750 feet (Steve measured) of hills and hope that you don’t lose your footing along the way, or else you will reach the water a lot faster than you planned. Of course, “what goes down must come up” (okay maybe not true in physics, but it works here!), which means that to get back to the orphanage you need to be in the mood for a sweaty, steep ascent. But believe me when I say it is totally worth it. The lake shore is incredibly peaceful, one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my life. 

Andrew demonstrates his excellent volleyball skills.

      Today is Monday, and our team just finished making our to-do list of things that need to be completed before leaving CVK. Water testing, map making, tree measuring, wood collecting, education lessons, and video footage are some of the things that make up our lengthy list. We live for that moment when we can draw a nice check in the box next to a task. Oh, and add “get healthy” to that list. BJ, Andy, and myself have come down with varying degrees of colds recently, so Andrew, Sonya, and Steve remain on high alert, fortifying themselves with our stash of multivitamins to avoid the plague. 

We will continue to update you as we check things off of our list!

Jordan

Boiling water and other adventures

Miriwe! 

That’s “good evening” in Kinyarwanda. Unfortunately, most of the other words are not nearly as simple or easy to remember. I’m feeling quite good about myself for finally remembering, during my second trip to Rwanda, how to say “I’m 24 years old” (and please excuse my spelling, but this is how it sounds): “Ifite imyaka makumyabiri na canne.” For some reason that was a really difficult one for me, but I’ve also learned that languages are not my forte.

We’ve been enjoying a healthy balance between work and play here at CVK. Sometimes it’s impossible to stay focused when a tiny, sticky hand slips into yours and pulls you away to join the kindergarten class or play with a giant parachute. Luckily, we are experts at guilt-tripping each other to do work, so we have managed to get a few things accomplished. 

Andrew playing guitar for some of the younger kids

On Wednesday, BJ and I led the effort to test a few of the cook stoves, which as Andrew mentioned in the previous post, are in need of major repair. Although one team member (I won’t mention names…) disregarded this nine-hour task as “just boiling water,” it was in fact quite an arduous experiment. First, we had to find some firewood and chop it into kindling that could fit into the stoves. Not wanting to inconvenience anyone, I tried to split wood with a machete by myself, much to the amusement of everyone around. A tiny boy with bare feet ended up taking over and chopping like a pro, while our safety officers winced behind him. 

 This is completely safe...

We tracked down water and pots, and had some great help starting a fire. We then had to weigh the wood and the water, time how long it took the water to boil, take the temperature throughout, then remove the flaming pieces of wood and ash and weigh it again, weigh the end amount of water, and repeat the process in different stoves under different conditions. It was a very long, hot, and sooty day, but the results of the testing showed us that the efficiency of the stoves is about 16%.

Weighing firewood! 

Today, Innocent helped us gauge which stoves should be fixed and approximate the costs. He’ll be helping to get the pumice, cement, sand, grates, and tiles to CVK next week so the repairs can begin—stay tuned for fun pictures! Unfortunately, we won’t be able to stay until the repairs are finished, but we hope to help as much as we can and learn from the masons.

Yesterday, we visited Mugonero Hospital, just up the hill from the orphanage, to check out a project there that is funded through a Rotary chapter in Colorado. We were asked to provide our professional opinion on a new potable water system being installed and to check on its progress. We dressed up in our nicest clothes to meet with the director, who spoke excellent English, wore a full jean ensemble, and was the most let’s-get-down-to-business Rwandan we have met so far. He gave us a tour of the facilities, where several young men were digging up pipes to try to find a leak in the system. The hospital looked nice from the outside, with brick building facades and impeccably trimmed lawns, but it’s hard to imagine a functional hospital without clean water. After asking lots of questions and taking notes and pictures of the water systems, we were led to a room full of dusty equipment with American power plugs in search of an incubator for our water testing needs at CVK. We found one, but surprisingly, no one at the hospital knows how to use it. All in all, it was an interesting experience.

We came back to the orphanage to find a new visitor named Amanda, who is on a quest to explore orphanages and gather information for starting a “sports center” in Tanzania. (AKA orphanage. As in Rwanda, the government of Tanzania is trying to close orphanages, so directors are creatively coming up with disguises such as sports centers or boarding schools to stay open for the children who will have nowhere to go.) She offered some great stories and insights from her 4+ years in Rwanda and Tanzania, and we gave her advice for submitting an EWB proposal to help with the design of the center. Our blog will soon be friends with her blog, so I encourage you all to check it out once that happens! It sounds like a wonderful project.

For the past two hours, BJ and I have been sitting in the classroom where we can charge our laptops with solar energy, writing emails and planning while the children play soccer in the field next to us. But now it is time for the Sabbath, and we’re not supposed to work anymore. Tomorrow will be a day of rest, although I’m sure we’ll still do our 6am team work out as per usual (usually I give up after 20 pushups and 5 minutes of ab exercises, and Steve is the last one standing). After breakfast, we plan to read (part of the Rwandan experience is to enhance our understanding of Rwandan history and culture through the rich library that Victor has here), eat good food, and hike down to the lake with the children.

As always, thanks for reading, and stay tuned!!

Sonya

Hello Moto!

                Monday morning we said goodbye to the noisy neighbors and non-existent mosquito nets of the Target Plaza hotel in Kigali and set out west to Lake Kivu and Children’s Village Kigarama. The first trial of this odyssey, and the true test of our special reasoning skills came when we tried to fit our team and excessive amounts of luggage into a small taxi/civic to drive to the bus station. Our team is becoming very close.

              

                We took the bus to the end of the line in Kibuye and caught motos (motorcycle taxis) from there to the orphanage.

The dirt road was rocky and we bounced along through the scenic verdant hills neighboring Lake Kivu. A half an hour into the trip my moto driver hit one rock too many and we had to pull over in a small town to fix a flat. While we were waiting, a group of kids saw my ukulele poking out of a bag and Andy and I pulled it out for impromptu concert number two, this time for twenty or so people that came out of neighboring shops to encircle us.

                We arrived at the orphanage in the late afternoon nearing sunset. Some of the caretakers helped us carry our bags in from the motos and we were showed to rooms where we will be staying. Andy dropped off his bag in the room and left with the words “I’m going to go check on my babies”. I followed shortly after to see Andy surrounded by a crowd of 2 year olds grabbing his legs and reaching up to him as they called his name in chorus.

                Victor gave us newcomers a tour of the facilities which include several house-dorms, each with its own rainwater catchment system and kitchen, a water purification system, pens for animals, and expansive orchards which produce fruit for sustenance and sale. Many of the projects that the orphanage is currently developing are focused on gaining financial independence and sustainability. Although there is work to do, it’s apparent that the orphanage has benefited from thoughtful planning and its partnership with outside organizations.

                Our first day was spent coordinating with Victor and his people to figure out logistics. We plan to focus on testing the cleanliness of their water sources, efficiency of the cook-stoves and may potentially need to coordinate stove repair. Wear and hard usage has caused damage to the pumice insulation of some of them. In addition, we will be investigating ways to protect the buildings and electrical systems at the orphanage from lightning strikes, and will be actively providing educational opportunities.

Interesting thoughts:

                “Poverty is not an intellectual exercise”

                “Standard of living is not the same as quality of life”

                It’s easy to conserve water and shower quickly when you shower with ice cold water.

Kigali Adventures and Feats of Strength

This is a belated notification, but we are in fact alive and in Rwanda!  The team arrived to Kigali jetlagged and a little woozy over the course of May 29^th-31st.  First, there was one: Steve the mentor, the most interesting man in the world.  Then, there were three: Steve, Andy, and myself (BJ).   We traveled around the city, visiting our new project site at the Rwandan Orphans Project and putting in reference points for surveying (in which Andy singlehandedly carried 80lb bags of concrete), meeting to arrange surveying equipment rental, and running errands all around downtown.  Then we walked to the airport and there were six: Steve, Andy, myself, Jordan, Andrew, and Sonya.  And with our powers combined, we were ready to embark on a land surveying adventure of epic proportions.

Hauling concrete to set the permanent surveying markers.  The whole time this was going on, I was like, "Andy: he is so strong."

Sonya and Andrew recording points on the high-tech total station.

On Friday June 1^st, we had our day planned out.  We rode the cramped but super inexpensive minibus to the ROP surveying site to greet the deliverer of our total station by 8am, as we had previously arranged.  He wasn’t there.  So we waited around a while, chatting with Sean, the center’s coordinator, Celestin, the director, and Tom, the accountant at the ROP.  We waited a little more and got a tour of the center – Sean is very excited about the library/playroom that Jenny (the other coordinator) has put together with donations from abroad.  The kids, who are mainly rehabilitated street children, are initially nonplussed by the idea of creative activities like drawing a picture or building something out of playdough, but Sean says that arts and crafts activities inspire creativity and expression in the boys.  The walls of the library are decorated with their artwork.  Eventually, after many phone calls, we realized that the surveying equipment wasn’t going to materialize that day.  After playing with the kids for a while, we headed back to downtown for a money exchanging adventure and lunch at Fantastik Buffet, which had a room-sized buffet lineup of all types of Rwandan dishes and curries.  It was a culinary experienced unmatched in its greatness, perhaps amplified by the fact that it was 2pm and we were starving.  That night, Andy and Andrew went back to the ROP to play soccer with the boys, and Andrew and his ukulele drew massive crowds.

On Saturday, the total station and tripod actually did arrive early in the morning, and we headed out to the ROP’s new land to tackle the land survey.  To our surprise and general happiness, the total station turned out to be a new, and super-high-tech piece of equipment.  It recorded all of our points digitally, which was fortunate as we ended up taking about 300 points that day.  We made a great crew, with Andy and Andrew trading off recording points at the total station, and Steve and I carrying the rod around the property.  Sonya took great notes of the locations of the points and drew up detailed maps, which we used to later figure out that our data had a glitch – which we hope to fix within the next hour when the owner of the total station resurfaces.  My favorite part of the day was trekking around the property with Jeando, a supervisor at the ROP, who explained their grand plans for the land and taught us Kinyarwandan words for bird, airplane, and all of the plants.  The land backs up to a river, and we saw herons, eagles, hawks, and about six kinds of brightly colored little birds.  We ended up finishing the entire land survey in about 10 hours, and stumbled back to the hotel exhausted and sunburned, but content with a job well done.  

And that’s it for now!  Today we are preparing for our moto journey to our next destination, Children’s Village Kigarama, which will be a new chapter in our Rwandan adventure!  Thanks for tuning in, and as always, we appreciate your comments!